Organisation has quietly become my favourite life upgrade. The right systems remove pressure, reduce decision fatigue, and make everyday life feel calmer, especially when you’re balancing business, kids, and everything in between.

In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I’m sharing the practical ways I organise my home and life so things run smoothly without constant mental effort. From night-before routines and family calendars to drop zones, auto-reorders, and the small habits that save time every single day, these are the systems that help me protect my energy, my nervous system and stay focused on what matters most.

For me, this is about creating ease, clarity, and momentum in a full life and I wanted to share these with you in the hope that maybe, they might help you as well in some small way so you can keep running your business like the boss you are and your life is humming along beautifully at the same time. Sharing is caring!


OUTLINE

0:00:00 Introduction & Context

0:01:50 Night-Before Preparation: Bags, Bottles, Outfits

0:03:50 Pantry Systems & Labeling

0:04:45 Using Google Home as the Household Brain

0:06:10 Personal Appointments Booked in Advance

0:06:55 Family Calendar Comes First

0:08:13 Drop Zones for Bags, Shoes, and Kids’ Stuff

0:09:10 Desk Organization & Pending Tray

0:09:55 Nightly House Reset Routine

0:11:30 Prepping Breakfast the Night Before

0:12:45 Reality Check: Not Perfect, But Highly Organized

0:13:40 Personal Goals: Reading Physical Books

0:14:30 Why This Level of Organization Matters

0:15:40 Closing & Listener Invitation

Hayley Osborne

So let’s talk organisation, because that we are the second episode in for the year, and I know that it’s February, but it doesn’t change the fact that I think with systems and processes inside and outside of your business, it just helps, and being organised just helps. And I thought that I would share my ways and how I organise my life, like it’s a competitive sport, because it is. It can be a little bit crazy. And what I’ve noticed is, you know, over like the summer and, you know, the time I’ve had a little bit of a break from a business, its people have come in and into my home and my life, and kind of have had the same kind of things have been said, like, you’re really organised.

Everything just flows. It’s very calm in this house, considering that you have, like, an 18-month-old, a three-and-a-half-year-old and a five-year-old. And you know that flows into my business as well. And I wanted to share with you what I do, simply for the fact that for you, you might pick up something that also could be a little life or business hack that helps you to do the same thing. And have, you know, your day running smoother as a whole.

And you know having this podcast is all about sharing and helping you to uplevel. And if you can have, say, part of your life at home organised in a better way, where everyone’s calmer and more efficient, and all the things that then flows into your workday, and how you start your workday and run your business, and all the things. And I think they’re very interconnected. And so whether you’re a health brand or not, this could actually help you, or by all means, if you have a better hack of doing something or a better way of doing something, send me a message on Instagram.

I would love to hear it, because sharing is caring, right? So I build so many efficiencies into my day and into my week that I want to share them with you. And I think it’s important, and it’s a really nice way to start the year running with the podcast, because I’m just doing things differently. So how do I organise my life like it’s a competitive sport, the first thing I want to talk about is bags packed the night before. Okay? So depending on who is doing what, the next day, life gets sorted accordingly and ready to go.

And we have, you know, an area in our home where they all go and everyone knows what they’re good at, except for, like, the two little guys. The big guy knows what he’s doing the next day. And so bags get packed. Things get organised. If I’m going to the gym early in the morning, the bag gets packed like life, everything the night before. Water bottles are always filled the night before, so in the morning, there’s no scrambling, and everything is, you know, ready to go. I plan my outfit the night before. It’s not war and peace, but it just saves so much time in the morning, and I get it out, ready to go, and I literally just put it on and that’s done, and I’ve thought about it the night before. And I usually do this the night before after I have a shower, so I’m like, fresh from the day, the other clothes are gone in the wash, and then, you know, I’m ready the night before.

And I even planned my outfit the night before. If I’m having a work from home day or no meetings, or I’m, you know, even if I’m just going to the playground with the kids, I always have my outfit planned, because it’s just so much easier than putting something on and the oh, that doesn’t work for today, and blah, blah, blah. So I really, really planned the night before. The other thing that I think is very helpful to be organised is everything in the pantry, and everything that is kind of like a pantry item, we have labeled, and we have them in like clear pantry containers so we know what’s running Low to be able to and where it belongs, to be able to reorder it very easily.

You know, stuff like kids’ wheat picks and cereal and all the things, they all have labels, so you can see that it’s running low. And it just makes it so much easier to keep everything restocked. And so it’s all very clear. And so it just removes the guesswork. It is like finding stuff, because you can see straight through the container, and it removes that fatigue of stress in the morning or in the day or even at night when you’re cooking.

Everything that can be labeled is labeled. And I just love this. The next thing I wanted to say is we have a Google Home in our house, and it pretty much runs our brain, or runs my brain at home. So shopping lists, reminders, Amazon lists, timing. So if I have something on in the oven, I just set a timer, and then it goes off, so I don’t forget that it’s in the oven because I get it. I am tracked by my kids’ needs and wants and demands, like every second of the day. And so if I’m cooking something that goes off, I don’t even have to worry that I’m going to burn it because I set the timer. You know, all the shopping lists are audio, so it connects to our phone, and it’s all like systemized.

And so whenever anything’s running low through the week, I just add it to the shopping list, voice activated, so I’m not keeping lists and random papers and random notes in my phone. The phone is for notes, for important stuff, and then my brain doesn’t have to hold on to these things. There’s also Amazon lists in there as well. So hard items like shopping powder, baby wipes, nappies, all that sort of stuff that’s all on reoccurring order. So it’s not really something that my brain has to remember to do. It, just all those boring essentials are on reorder. Glad wrap. And if it’s non-negotiable, like, I never want to think about it again, so it’s out of my head. It’s done. And the next one is personal appointments. So this is hair.

They’re booked like now, six months in ahead, in advance. So future me is definitely grateful for this one, because I need to get in when it fits in with my life. And this year, we have a whole new routine and way of working, because kids are doing different things, and so that’s really nice. Now it’s a little bit more planned, and they’re locked in. I don’t have to think about it. I just go, I just rock up, and it’s set, and it’s when I want, and it’s organised, and I don’t have to spend time ringing and booking and ringing and booking like it’s done.

So if you can find the time to do and book things like that in advance, even if it’s I didn’t do it for the year, I just did it for six months, and then I’ll do it again. So I’m really only doing it twice this year, which feels really good. And then the family calendar comes first always. So we don’t have a shared calendar, but the calendar requests come through for our family. You know, my husband and I put them both in, and so I’ve put everything in and around what the kids are doing for the year now in the calendar in terms of the formalities, and then work fits around that, and not the other way around. So if you know, you can’t possibly book something in with me where I have a commitment with kids’ stuff. So I think that’s pretty cool. And everything is color coded.

So in my calendar, at a glance, it might sound super crazy and kind of, you know, my calendar is like an Olympic sport, but I can just look at it and I know, okay, I’ve got a bit of work and a bit of play with the kids tomorrow, or, like, the week in advance, what that looks like. So it just becomes super helpful. And I’ve been doing this for a few years now, and it really, really, really works. The next one is, like, backpacks and people’s stuff in the house, so every bag has a permanent like drop zone spot, so that it is, you know, they’re not randomly, like, sprinkled all over the house, like rubbish and know, like, where you put it, you know?

Now, when the kids take their crocs off, it’s like they know that they have to go to a certain spot. I don’t ask them to put them in their rooms, but they have to go to a certain spot in the house. So they’re not like, right where people sit down on the couch, or right where I need to be in the kitchen, like they know. Now, right? You take them off; you put them in a certain spot. And so I think this has become a bit of a game changer, especially as they’ve gotten older, and it’s not the biggest thing I’m asking them to do. And you know, there’s only a few little things that they know they need to do, because they’re still so, so little, and that’s one of them, and yeah, the bags in a certain spot.

And I did say outfits the night before. Yep, I said that I’m just going through a few dot points for this podcast episode and our desk stuff. So I keep a little tray, like a pending tray, on my desk, so anything that is pending that needs to be done sits in there so it’s not strewed like random papers all over my desk. I have, to some extent, mostly a paperless desk, and that just helps to keep everything compact and in order. And then when it’s done, it gets moved out. So I you know, the admin lives in a sleek velvet tray on my desk so nothing is scattered, nothing is forgotten, and it’s just one clear zone of action in that tray. And I love that.

The next thing I do is, before I go to bed, I just make sure that the house is reset. So it might take me 10, maybe 20 minutes, but it helps so much that all of the toys in my house get put away in their homes. And I know this sounds like a massive job, and trust me, three kids, it is a massive job, but it starts to look like a really clean slate the next day. And I try and do it as the day goes on, but obviously, you know, at night, there’s just stuff that, and you think, how did that end up under there? Or, like, how did that go from where it was to over there?

And the rest of the little whatever you’re playing with didn’t and it’s just so interesting to see what they do with their toys, and how they get to where they are, and all the things, but that gets reset, surfaces wiped and clean, dishes done and put away. You know, it’s not like super, super perfect, but it’s done enough to start the day calm and you know, things like puzzles and things they get put back away how they were. But you know, there’s some toys that are in parts and pieces in different tubs in my house, because it’s just not that big a deal.

But they get put away clean enough so that my house doesn’t look like it’s, you know, a play zone when, like, I wake up in the morning, it’s just beautiful and reset and clean and how it should be. And the other thing I do before I go to bed is try and organise what the breakfast looks like. So whether that be putting together a chia seed pudding, which, when you know how, and you’ve got that recipe down, put in your head, it becomes like autopilot and automatic.

You know exactly what goes in there. You know exactly the bowl that you use, that you like, that it works, that you like to eat it out of or overnight oats or homemade granola, which we love. And everyone eats as well. And I start the day just getting it out and feeling really healthy and done and dusted like in the morning. It’s just great. Now I’m not saying that my life is just one big thing like walking on a cloud. I live in Fairyland and I’m so organised, because I am organized for somebody that has three small children.

Yes, I am very, very organised. But it’s not like a textbook. It’s not robotic. It is just kind of crazy. But if you can input some of this stuff into your world, it will help you to start the day on the right foot, you know. And some mornings, I train really early, and then I’m home before the kids are even, you know, eating their breakfast, which is great, and just being really organised to make that happen. So you know what you’re going to do the next morning the night before, and you set yourself goals to be able to do that. Now I’ve got a couple of goals this year.

Personally, I want to actually read some more physical books, which I did a lot of audio books last year, and the physical books just didn’t cut it. Because if you know, don’t forget that. At the beginning of last year I had a newborn, and so it was just difficult to actually read a book. But not the beginning of this year, life is a little bit different, so it’s pretty awesome. I want to read some physical books. I’ve got heaps of audio books in my audible wish list cart ready to go. And yeah, that’s one other thing I want to do. So for me to be able to do that, I have to put the book out near my bed, and even if I get a couple of pages in before I go to bed, then that is like a win for me.

Anyway, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode. It may sound intense, but this level of organisation buys me some calm and clarity and capacity to be able to run this business and be able to do what I love, because I think it’s kind of funny, like it’s without this, I wouldn’t be the mum that I Am, and without being doing that and being the mum I wouldn’t be able to run the business that I do. So I kind of need both to thrive and both make me so happy.

So I’m just a better mom because of this, and with kids, life moves so fast, and the systems and the processes that I’ve put in place helps to slow it down, and honestly, I think that is where the real luxury lives. I hope that you’ve liked this episode. If you did, let me know on Instagram, send me a voice message, or even, you know, a text over on my DMs. I would love to hear from you, and that’s all for this week, guys. I will catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.