20 Lists to make to organize your life

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Making list is my all-time favorite, I am that person who instantly grabs a book and starts making a list of things to do. There is something therapeutic about making lists, all the foggy brain and overwhelm you feel is gone and you start to feel more confident and calm.

A list is a powerful tool for being organized, so let’s try to organize life with the help of lists. 

Here I am sharing 20 lists to make to organize your life.

As I said I love making lists and I have found them very useful to organize my life.

I had initially started by making a few lists eventually I got so hooked by their benefits that I now make lists for many things and they just make life so easy.

There are some lists that I make at the start of the year, some on daily basis and some are updated and maybe will need updates until the end of life.

Benefits of making a list

There are many benefits of using a list. Some of these are:

• A list takes off the load from your mind when you move your thought from your brain to a list.
• It helps you plan your life better
• It helps you prioritize tasks well.
• It makes you feel less overwhelmed.

Now that you are aware of the benefits of lists. Let’s look at how you can organize your life by making a list.

20 life organization lists you must make

Here are the 20 lists to make to organize your life and be more meaningful with your life.

1: Wish list

The first list that I want to share with you is the wish list. With everyday routine life, we often get carried away with work and the responsibility of our life and forget about many things that we want to do. Making a Wish list take care of it. When you have your wishes written down you would be more aware of them and seek opportunities to fulfill them rather than just have a wage dream.

In your wish list, you can include anything that you want to achieve in life. Here are some quick ideas to help you start with your wish list.

To your wish list, you can add:

• Things that you would like to do like paragliding, scuba diving, attending a concert
• Places you would like to visit
• The food you would like to taste
• Restaurants you would like to explore

There are many more things that you can add to this list.

2: Goals list

A goals list lets you be very intentional and clear about life and hence helps in life organization.

You can have a goal list for a different period. It can be a 5-year goal list, this will be more like the vision for your life. You can also have a yearly goal list, these goals will be big and significant enough to be completed in a year’s time frame.

The yearly goals can be made into monthly goals, these will be more action-oriented and will help you achieve your bigger goals.

Post related to planning you may like:

Goal setting and goal planning for the New Year, that’s actually effective

Weekly planning secrets for work-life balance

Monthly Goal Planning for Balanced Life under 30 min

3: Daily To-do list

A daily To-Do list is a list I swear by when it comes to lists to make to organize your life. With many things to take care of, it is very difficult to stay on top of things. A daily to-do list lets you do that.

It is one first list that you should start making to be more organized with life and work.

Be realistic with your To-do list and do not add tasks that you can complete. You can start with the 3 most important tasks for the day and take on any other ones once these are completed.

P.S. You should read 10 Ways To Make An Effective To-Do List

You must try my Dynamic Excel To-Do List, it is a list cum planner cum tracker. A simple system yet very effective.

4: Gratitude List

Life is difficult and it is easy for us to forget all the goodness we have and the support that is extended by our friends and family. At times we become ungrateful and complain about life, at this time the gratitude list helps.

You can write all the things that you are grateful to have in your life in a gratitude list. You can write a gratitude list on a daily basis too if you feel.

But in my personal life, I write gratitude lists once in a while and read them in time I feel things are difficult to read.

Just reading the gratitude list, lifts the mood and makes me feel positive about life.

It is one of the lists that you may not feel to be really related to organizing your life but trust me for the effects that it brings to your mood and energy it is a must for your wellbeing and in turn contributes to an organized life.

5: Monthly Task Lists

You may have come across many tasks that are repetitive in nature and need to be done every month. All these tasks can be listed as a monthly task list so that you do need not to spend time thinking to do them each month. Also, by making a list of monthly tasks it is highly unlikely that you may miss it. It functions like a checklist of all the things that you need to do. 

It can be:

• Rent or insurance payment
• Paying electricity and phone bills
• Ordering groceries for the month
• Monthly planning and reflection

A monthly task list can prove to be very useful for life organizations. You should also do a review of the previous month to identify your monthly tasks and priorities.

P.S You would like to read How to do Monthly reflection quickly

6: List of things to buy

Has it happened to you that there are some essential things that you need to get for yourself or your house but forget when you actually have the chance to buy them?

It happens to me so many times that there would be an appliance or book or gadget that I would need and wait for some sale to get good discounts, and when the opportunity comes to actually avail a good discount I would miss it.

I know you may think that if I forget it is actually not essential but I am not talking about impulse buying. When we add an item to our list of things to buy you are more intentional in your decision to buy and more likely to get it at a good price.

7: Grocery Master list

A grocery list is again one of the basic lists to have. You can identify the grocery items on a regular basis that you need to buy and your grocery list is ready.

Nah!, that’s not what I am talking about, I suggest you make a grocery master list with every possible item that you would ever buy and use this as a reference when you plan to buy your grocery. By doing this I am sure you will nerve have a situation where you come back from shopping for your groceries just to realize that there were items that you forget to add to your grocery list.

To make a grocery master list, you can make different categories like cereal, spices, fruits, vegetables, hygiene, etc., and under each category list out all the possible items that you can think of. 

It will be time-consuming to make but you will need to spend time making it only once and use it for a very long time.

This will make grocery shopping and your life so organized.

8: Meal list

The next important list to make to organize your life and have your household and life running smoothly is to have a meal list.

You may be well aware of the benefits of meal planning, but one of the struggles of meal planning is thinking about what to cook for the whole week. 

But by having a meal list you can do meal planning very easily. 

To organize your life and meal prepare a meal list, this list will have names of all the foods that you can cook.

You can categorize this list into  different types based on your preference such as:

• One pot meal
• Meal from different ingredients like green vegetables, pulses, etc.
• Family favorite
• Chicken meal
• Fish meal

There are many more categories to create once the meal list is prepared you just need to select an item from each category to have your complete week meal planned or based on the ingredients available with you look out for meals under each ingredient time.

Trust me this is the best list to have especially for working women and working moms who have less time. The meal list reduces the big task of meal planning, helps you serve a healthy meal to your family, and organizes your life.

9: List of inspiration and ideas

Many times we feel inspired and creatively charged to do additional things like

Taking on some hobbies. 

• Making a Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
• Redecorating the house
• Organizing a section of your house

But with the limited time, we push it to do some day and that day hardly arrives. I like to make a list of these ideas so that these are not forgotten and anytime I find some good time like long weekends, or holidays I refer back to this list to plan activities for these ideas and make sure these are done.

10: List of books to read

A book lover is never satisfied with the reading. We come across many book suggestions in routine life and either forget their name and author or just forget about our keenness to read a particular book. So having a list of books to read comes in very handy you can select your book by referring to this list. I personally like to plan the books that I would read in a year at new year goal planning and always go back to this list.

If you are looking for some self-improvement book suggestions you can refer to 27 Best Self-Improvement Books to Read

I love this notebook from Amazon to make my lists to organize like. It comes in many pretty cover options. After all making lists should be fun too.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.

11: List of movies to watch

I like to keep a list of movies or web series I would like to watch. At times on weekends when I actually have some time to watch I spend time thinking and searching for what to watch and waste time. With this handy list, I don’t waste time and can pick the right entertainment for me based on my mood.

So this list keeps the entertainment part of my life organized.

12: List of important events

At the start of the year, you should make a list of important events and dates these can be birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, holidays, membership renewal dates, etc. so that you can plan things well in advance and not miss any important things, by having personal events listed you can apply for leaves at work early and also plan vacation well.

13: List of things to clean and organize

For the cleaning and organization part of life, prepare an elaborate list of all the cleaning activities that you need to take care of. These include daily cleaning tasks, and weekly and deep cleaning activities so as to not miss any of these and you can refer to them and schedule your cleaning. 

I like to keep this list in my regular view by placing it on the refrigerator and use as a checklist.

If you are land up with a messy house with a busy life you should read How to get household back on track after busy times

To make your life organized and plan everything in 1 place use this Digital Life Planner. It has 10 planners to take care of tasks, monthly planning, setting goals, tracking habits, plan meals, routines, budget, and grocery list. And the best part is it has a daily dashboard that shows everything that you need to do for the day.

14: List of expenses and income

Finance is an important part of our life and many of us lose track of our expenditures and do not even plan for investment. Losing track of our finance can have a big impact on our lives and this need to be taken care of by tracking our expenses, income, investment, and saving available. A list taking care of your finance is a must list to make to organize your life.

15: List of accounts and password

This list is debatable, some suggest we should not keep our passwords listed but I think it is required especially in times when everything needs a username and password that is unique to the requirements. It is best to have all usernames and passwords listed.

To keep this data protected I make essential account and password lists in google sheets or excel and password-protect the document. Writing them in books may not be safe. 

16: List of memorable events

I like to keep a list of memorable events of my life these can be small events or major life achievements but having them listed makes me feel good. It gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement in life.

In times when I feel low and lost, I like to go back to this list and just relive the great moments or remind myself I have come a long way and it will be better. Highly recommend making this list if you feel dissatisfied or lost frequently.

17: Packing list

A packing list is a recent addition to my make lists. This is especially required for people who travel frequently for work and for moms with babies and toddlers.

For every travel plan be it work or vacation we can make a packing list to ensure everything required is packed but I keep a packing list just with the basic work trip essentials to make packing easy and not keep thinking about if anything is missed.

18: List of journal prompts

For every planning session such as weekly planning and monthly planning to be consistent with the planning routine and be more intentional, I like to keep a list of all planning or journal prompts. Using them make my planning session easy and fast.

P.S. You should read my post on 100 monthly reflection prompts it is useful for new month planning.

19: Affirmation list

The affirmation list makes a good way to add motivation to your life. You list down all the affirmations that you feel are relevant to the feeling you are experiencing and the things that you would like to see for yourself. 

You can read these affirmations on a daily basis and bring motivation and confidence to your life.

20: Intension list

Do you feel sometimes that you are not being the way you intend to be? With work life and many things to take care of, I seldom find myself disoriented to what I believe and would like to be. Having an intention list helps me get back on track to where I wish to be. In an intention list, you list out the intentions and beliefs you would like to bring to your life. Writing them makes them more real for you and you can revisit them to remind yourself. And hence is one to include in the lists to make to organize your life

Conclusion

These are 20 lists to make to organize your life. With these life organization lists, you will feel less overwhelmed and have better control over your life. These lists do not only take care of work and task organization but also bring value and mindfulness to your life.

You can start with those that you feel are really essential for you to have better organization in your life and gradually move to others. I am sure you will find them very useful and really enjoy the process.