The chaos that surrounds a person’s life is incredible. Between relationships, work, hobbies, and happiness, it is really hard to find time for anything extra. Now try adding in doctor appointments, daily treatments, pills, and sick days. It gets kind of crazy, doesn’t it? Organizing all of this is probably one the most difficult, but helpful things you can do for yourself when you have a chronic illness. College was the was the most disorganized time of my life, but also the time that I needed organization the most. Not just in my CF life, but in my school and personal life too. That’s when I really started to step up my organization game. Luckily, my parents had designated spots for my medications and whatnot when I was a kid, which gave me a really good basis to start organizing my adult life. Before I could even think about organizing my CF life, I had to get the rest of my life in order. This was no easy task because I was going to school full time, working full time, and had my health to take care of full time… That was like having 3 full time jobs.. Yikes! Even looking back now, I have absolutely no idea how I did it. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and just be impressed by yourself later. Haha. Well anyways, it took me a good 5 years to figure out how to organize every aspect of my life, but it is just so much less stressful now! I know a lot of people have been asking me to write about all my organization tactics, so I thought I would just write a list of tips that worked for me and you can decide what you like and what works for you.
Tip #1: Get a really good planner
This is probably the #1 thing that helps me every day of my life. I have always been known for being a little crazy with calendars/planners, but it’s what helps me keep everything in my life organized. Otherwise I end up forgetting about things or double booking myself. It was a real problem for a while. When I was in college and had to balance school, work, friends, and my CF, I was never seen without my Uncalendar. This was my lifeline, and I truly believe this to be the best planner in the entire world. I also had this pack of TUL Highlighters that I would carry around with it. Everything in my life was color coded from class to treatments to work to homework. I was also able to keep my future appointments in the monthly calendar in the back, my homework assignments and things to do for the week in the list section, and I even kept a record of my PFTs and weight in the graph in the back for a short while. Do you see why I was in love with this thing?! After I graduated and didn’t have all that class and homework to keep track of, I started using my phone calendar instead. I don’t need such a detailed planner (which the Uncalendars are a little on the expensive side too) anymore, but instead I need the reminders for future appointments and when to refill medications. You just have to find the planner that fits your lifestyle best and DON’T settle!
Tip #2: Designate a treatment area
As far as my CF life goes, this is the most important tip for organizing to me. I noticed that when I didn’t really have a designated treatment area, I was much less likely to do my treatments. When you are setting up your treatment area, make absolutely sure it’s a place that you actually WANT to hang out in for a while. I set mine up a little too well because I very often have to kick my boyfriend out of it! I made sure that I had a comfortable chair that could be easily moved out of the way since it is supposed to be only used during my treatments and doesn’t need to be out all the time. I personally use my butterfly chair from when I was a kid (if any of you remember those)! I also made sure that all of my machines, medications, and hobbies were kept in the designated treatment area. It has everything that I need in order to be successful at completing my treatments. Also, a very important aspect when picking your designated treatment area is to make sure that it’s an area that you will ALWAYS be able to do your treatment. For example, my treatment area is out in our living room because if it were in our bedroom I might interrupt Andy sleeping if I have to get up before him (or when he used to work 3rd shift). That would give me an “excuse” to not do my medicine. If you have people that do homework or work in the living room and might bother them, then maybe your bedroom would work better for you. You still want to be considerate to the people you are living with. Your health is super important, but their lifestyle is important for them. Just be respectful when picking your area is all I’m saying.
Tip #3: Surround yourself with fun
This tip for organizing will help you want to spend time doing your treatments because it will be fun. I have so many different hobbies that I do during my medicine. One of my favorite hobbies to do during my treatments is video games. I think it’s because I feel guilty doing it when I know that there is cleaning or other work to be done, but I HAVE to do my treatments therefore I HAVE to play video games! Haha. Some other hobbies that I do while doing my treatments include reading, knitting, watching TV, or working on my blog. I even have a fold up table that is kept right in my treatment area so that I can set my laptop on it and double it as an office area. So just figure out what you like to do and use treatment time as an excuse to do those things! Another way to make your treatment area full of fun is to decorate. I have a drawing that one of my best friends drew for me that says “just breathe” on it. So draw yourself some pretty pictures, or ask me to!
Tip #4: Make sure medications are near
One of the most important tips for organizing that I have to successfully completing treatments is making sure all of your medications are in your designated treatment area. When I had my medications spread out throughout my house, I would finally get myself to my treatment area and realize that I forgot my Pulmozyme or some pills or just something else. Then I would avoid getting up again until I got too tired or had to go to work or something. I moved all of my medications to be in the one designated treatment spot, as well. It is so helpful having all my medication in one spot because I am never running around the house in a rush trying to find things or getting annoyed when I am in one place and the medication I want is in another place. Now that I have everything near me, I don’t have that problem! Everything I need is within arm’s reach.
Tip #5: Invest in tools for organizing
This took me some time to figure out and collect, and you can see how it turned out in the picture at the top of the post. The first tool that I ever had for organizing was actually what used in the dorms to store all of my extra pills (because I get 3 month supplies for most of my medications). I use an old suitcase from when I was a kid. It is pretty small and holds everything in one place. For the bigger boxes of medication I have a cabinet that I got from a thrift store that also holds my dog’s grooming tools and medications. I noticed that my 3 month supplies of hypertonic saline and albuterol fit fantastic in the cupboard, while I am able to keep everything else in the drawers. Then I have one of those 3-drawer desk organizers that I got from a friend that was giving her stuff away when she was cleaning out all of her things to move. That holds the individual saline and albuterol vials, then on Tobi months it holds my Tobipod as well. The saline vials come all attached to each other and I hate ripping them apart every single time that I need to do my medicine. So instead I just rip them all apart at once and throw them in this drawer. Another really helpful tool that I have is my mini-fridge that I had from when I was living in the dorms in college. This is the best because I put my Vest and nebulizers on top of it, and I am able to keep my refrigerated medications inside of the fridge. One of my more creative solutions and organization tools is our drying rack for all my nebulizer cups. It is one of those grass drying racks that was intended to dry baby bottles. I realized after my sister had my niece about a year ago that a lot of tools that are made for baby bottles and baby care are just fantastic for taking care of medical things too! I even used a baby bottle sanitizer when I lived in the dorms and sanitizing my cups was really difficult. Lastly, one of the more obvious tools I use for organizing is a pill organizer. I had one of these when I was a kid and I just hated using it… I’m not really sure why because as an adult I LOVE it! The one that I like to use is one that I picked up from Shopko, but I found it on Amazon to show you guys here. I prefer this one because I can pop each day out instead of bringing the whole pill container if I am out for the night, plus I used to work late and would need to take my pills before I would get home. The downfall is that sometimes I leave the empty pill day wherever I was, so I had to buy a whole new pill container just to replace one day. I know some people like to get separate AM/PM containers so that they can leave their AM pill container by their coffee machine and the PM pill container by their bedside. It’s whatever works best for you!
Tip #6: Always have positive attitude
This little tip will help you go far in life no matter what. Life is so much easier when you go at it with a positive attitude. It really does have an effect on your health too. So make sure you grab your positive attitude when you are organizing your life. Remember that this doesn’t happen overnight, as convenient and wonderful as that would be. It took me 5 years to get everything the way that I like it. So keep your chin up and keep going. All you can do is what is best for you!
I’m not an expert on organization, but I am pretty dang good at it (and I LOVE it). If you want help figuring out an organization system for your life I would be happy to help. Subscribe to my blog and feel free to contact me with any questions!
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