I’m sure you’ll agree that being prepared for emergencies is better than running around like a headless chicken when disaster strikes.

I suggest having an ‘emergency box’ that contains the stuff you would want to grab if you had to leave at speed. That does not need to be a box, any portable container will do (a box, backpack, or a small suitcase) as long as it can hold whatever you have decided is something you need in an emergency (a health crisis, a fire, flood or any other reason you’d have to leave in a hurry).

Consider this: how much time and energy do you spend beating yourself down instead of lifting yourself up? Imagine what your home could be like if you stopped being a perfectionist, people pleasing and comparing yourself to everyone else.

Self-sabotage often goes hand in hand with a lack of self-awareness or a disconnect between a person’s desires and their actions. People may unintentionally sabotage themselves because of low self-esteem and fear of failure.

When it comes to dealing with clutter, we often focus on the status quo: the stuff that sits in our space and – maybe – how it affects and is affected by the mental health of the person living in that space. While this is an excellent starting point, there are other elements to the physical clutter that is often overlooked, but that have a huge impact on understanding what is going on and the necessity to deal with it sooner rather than later.

Once the last child leaves the family home, parents tend to experience a sense of emptiness and a certain amount of nostalgia called “empty nest syndrome”. What now?

Downsizing might be on the horizon, but before you trade your four-bedroom for something cozier, there’s one big question: what do you do with all their stuff? Who gets to decide?

“Going shopping” has turned from a necessity to replace worn out clothes into a fully-fledged leisure activity. In itself, this is not a bad thing: in our free time we like to do things we enjoy and if this is what you enjoy, why not? However, shopping can be a slippery slope when it becomes more than a necessity or a pastime you share with friends.

More and more people go shopping for more problematic reasons, and it can easily turn into retail therapy, i.e., shopping to make oneself feel more cheerful or to distract from sometimes serious problems. Then it’s no longer all about finding that special thing, but running away from issues in real life that need dealing with.

Dealing with the items left behind after a death in the family is probably the most common – but by no means the only - situation where you have to deal with items intrinsically associated with grief.

It’s a difficult time to start with, fraught with emotions and a certain dullness of thought, so having to deal with whatever precious things remain in that person’s home will likely be emotionally charged and can bring up memories, thoughts and regrets at every turn.

We are all collectors in some way, it seems to be baked into being human. Some collect beautiful things at random, others have hobbies that require certain materials, and in some cases the collection is digital (photos on your phone, anyone?).

Of course, collections can be a healthy way to occupy your free time, but they can easily take a turn towards the dark side, when collecting becomes an obsession. "Collection" can mean many things, though...

I’ve talked about using lists, journals and calendars as simple tools to stay organised, plan ahead and ensure that things that need doing aren’t forgotten. Often, though, those simple tools are not flexible enough or don’t offer the exact solution that works for you.

Of course, there are more complex tools to consider that may need a little more time and input to make them work, but could possibly serve you well.

I don’t often bring up the subject of minimalism, but bear with me: it is related to being organised! Let’s define a minimalist as “someone who owns little by choice”. Much of the minimalists’ focus is on physical objects, assuming that owning less stuff makes it easier to keep your space organised.

Interestingly, minimalists often start out with the intention to gain a clear mind by allowing only things into their space that do not deter them from this goal.

Have you been overwhelmed by the number of items on your to-do list? Or have you ever found yourself flagging and wondering what to do next? If anything, this should have made it obvious that there is an advantage to being organised. And yes, I know that there are those who feel restrained by too much pre-planning while others need the structure to be able to function.

How can you organise yourself and the regular or one-off tasks? You’ll be familiar with many of the tools: calendars, lists, bullet journals, electronic calendars, task managers and that collection of scribbled sticky notes on the fridge. Then why is it that you still feel disorganised?