By Leslie Josel

It’s the beginning of another new year. And if you are like me, you always start the New Year off with good intentions. Then, if you are REALLY like me, you open the freezer; see the ice cream and well… So this year I decided to be easy on myself…and my family. I’m not striving for perfection. Far from it. Just enough. Organized enough (yes, even me!), good enough, exercise enough, done enough. You get the idea. No more resolutions or unobtainable goals that set us up to fail.

But I know we are all looking for a few usable and practical strategies to get us organized in the new year. So I’ve put together a list of a few items that have helped me get “organized enough” through the years.

Create an Emergency Survival Kit: Between all the hurricanes, fires, and storms do I need to say more? There is a reason this is No. 1 on my list. AND, to make it even easier for you, we’ve prepared a FREE step-by-step, downloadable checklist that will make putting together a “Disaster Kit” simple and painless.

Make a list of your family’s doctors AND all the medications everyone takes including dosages. Make sure it is retrievable no matter where you are (Google Doc, Dropbox, etc.) I even keep a list of when the next appointments need to be made. Do you remember the last time you were at the dermatologist for your full body check? Exactly!

Corral old photos and home movies: Time to get them into a digital format. There are tons of wonderful services out there that will take all the old pictures and digitize them for safekeeping. Same with your old home movies. And don’t forget to make time to watch them too!

Give your mailbox a makeover: Take a hard look at the magazines, newspapers, catalogs, etc., that pour into your house daily. That goes for email subscriptions too! Unsubscribe by going to DMAchoice.org for easy one-stop UNshopping!

Wear everything in your closet: It is not enough to just say you want to keep something. You need to actually wear it for it to truly earn a permanent space in your closet. Wear each item of clothing for a day and see what happens. You’ll be surprised at the difference between “keepable” and “wearable”. Feeling conflicted about getting rid of your clothes? Check out Tradesy, Poshmark, ThredUp, and Crossroads to earn some dough for your discards!

Leslie Josel is the Principal of  Order Out of Chaos, an organizing consulting firm specializing in student organizing. She is the author of several books, including the recently published How to Do It Now…Because It’s Not Going Away, as well as the creator of the award-winning Academic Planner: A Tool for Time Management.