As a travel nurse, organization is essential. While you are traveling, it can be difficult to keep your home and personal documents organized and neat. Check out this list to stay organized!
Declutter your home
To start, you should consider going through your belongings and travel necessities and getting rid of excess belongings. Before you leave for your assignment, be sure to ask your recruiter about what’s included in your housing assignment. Some housing situations include more furnishings than others, so it’s imperative to know what you don’t need to bring.
Plan out your wardrobe with basics to mix and match. Some simple research on the internet can help you build a wardrobe that has the bare minimum amount of pieces.
Sort your documents
Since you are starting a new assignment, keeping your personal documents filed and organized is extremely important. Nobody enjoys spending 30 minutes looking for their birth certificate or proof of insurance. Organize these by institution/organization and topic. Doing this sooner will save you time as more documents come in!
With that being said, if you aren’t a file organizer type of person, scan your important documents! Things like online bill pay, mobile banking, electronic books, streaming media and the world of apps will lighten your moving load considerably.
Once you get to your destination, a great way to organize daily items is to arrange them by how you move through the house. Many times, it makes sense to organize things by category or room of the house, however, it’s much easier to put things where we conveniently use them rather than where they are “traditionally” supposed to go. For example, when you walk through the door, put a hook on the wall to unload your backpack instead of dropping it randomly on the floor. Move a table by the staircase to drop off your laptop. Make the home convenient for your depending on your behavior!
Let technology help you:
More often than not, overly complicated processes are hard to follow. Simplify things to create a flow and streamline your own processes. Here are some additional packing hacks you can use, most of which are on your phone.
Travel:
- Skyscanner – searches for the most affordable and best options for flights, hotels and car rentals.
- Packpoint – organizes what you need to pack based on length of travel, weather and activities planned.
- Circa – helps you keep time across multiple locations and time zones.
- TripSaver – track spending and save more so you can travel longer.
Files/Notes:
- Evernote – helps you capture and prioritize ideas, projects and to-do lists.
- DropBox – simplifies your work and is a great place to save important documents.
- LastPass – remembers all of your passwords so you don’t have to.
- RescueTime – helps you understand your daily habits so you can focus and be more productive.
We wish you the best of luck on your travel nursing adventures and hope that these tips will help reduce your stress when packing and organizing your new living situation!
