Despite the fact that the excess of the 1980s has made a comeback, (Did you know Target is selling VCR tapes again? Oy vey!), many of us continue to strive to simplify our lives. We’re tired of the ‘have it all’, ‘do it all’, ‘know it all’ mantra which the world pushes on us at every turn. We’ve learned the hard way that this mindset of ‘more’ only leads to discontent, debt, and a constant fear of missing out. Here are 9 ways to simplify your life that will help you focus on what truly matters.
Hint: it’s not more hair scrunchies and stone-washed jeans!
9 Ways to Simplify Your Life
If you’ve been running yourself ragged for so long that you don’t even know where to begin when it comes to slowing down and simplifying your life, I recommend starting small. Pick one or two points on this list and aim for slow and steady changes.
Please don’t feel you need to do everything at once. That’s the opposite of what we’re trying to accomplish here!
More time, less busyness. More money, less debt. Less mindless consuming, more joy. Sound good to you? It’s time to seek ways to simplify your life this year.
1 | Simplify Your Commitments
Take a good, long look at your calendar. Do you have an activity or event scheduled out for every single day for the next few weeks or months?
If so, it’s time to do some serious editing.
Cancel any obligations which do not line up with your vision of a simplified life. Doing so will allow you to prioritize the important stuff such as time with family and friends, time for exercise, and more time for candlelit bubble baths…
Give your schedule some breathing room and stop suffocating under the weight of too many commitments. Go ahead…you have my permission.
If you have kids, reevaluate their activities based on the value they add to their (and your) lives. If you find that you spend more time in the car running your kids around than you do eating meals with them at the dinner table, some subtracting may be in order.
Related: How To Say ‘No’ So You Can Say ‘Yes’ To What Truly Matters.
2 | Simplify Your Shopping
If you find yourself constantly overspending due to impulse shopping every time you enter a store, why not automate your shopping by doing it all online instead?
Conversely, if you lack control with online shopping, you may want to cancel your online store accounts and step away from the computer for a while.
I once had to do this with Amazon. In 2015, I looked back at my order history and discovered that my spending in 2014 had gotten out of control. Like…WAY out of control. So, I banned myself from Amazon for an entire year. Crazy, right? But, it worked.
I broke the habit of mindlessly shopping for crap I didn’t need.
Y’all, I live RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Wal-Mart. While some people may consider that a good thing…I’m not one of them. Just stepping foot inside that store makes me feel anxious and overwhelmed.
Think about it…you’re isolated in a windowless box lit with flickering fluorescent lights, overflowing with hundreds of thousands of (must-have) products all designed to make your life ‘better’.
That place is truly a minimalist’s nightmare.
Which is why, I’ve decided to automate my shopping as much as possible with Amazon Prime.
I plan to start by reducing the products our family ‘needs’ to the bare minimum. Then, I’ll use Amazon Pantry Subscribe and Save to have those products delivered to me on a reoccurring basis.
For household decor, products for my business, etc. I will add items to my Amazon wishlist for a minimum of 30 days. If at the end of that 30 days, I still have a want/need for the item, I will purchase it.
Due to the fact that Wal-Mart’s free grocery pickup is not available in my area, I will still have to go to the store for groceries. However, to reduce the time I spend in the store, I plan on making a master list of foods and recipes which my family and I regularly eat, and shopping once a week based on that list.
Also, I will try my hardest not to go grocery shopping while hungry. {pinkey swear}
3 | Simplify Your Mindset
I’ve spoken about this before, but it bears repeating:
If you want to simplify your life without feeling deprived, you must first change the way you think about the world around you.
Choosing to live with less is countercultural.
The moment you make the decision to start turning down outside commitments, decluttering your belongings, and eliminating mindless spending, you WILL face opposition. Whether it be questions from confused family and friends, admonishment from your grandparents (who’s generation tends to believe getting rid of stuff is ‘wasteful’), or even criticism from your spouse.
Having a clear vision and knowing your ‘why’ will help you stand strong in the face of opposition.
Also, when it comes to simplifying your life, you may discover that you first need to change how you view things. For example, are you a glass-half-empty kind of person? When you start a new diet, do you find yourself focusing on the foods you CANNOT eat instead of the foods you CAN eat?
In order to be successful at this whole ‘simple living’ thing, a complete mindset shift may be necessary.
Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” I couldn’t agree more.
Instead of focusing on all of the events you are missing out on, all of the gadgets you can’t buy, and all of the stuff you’ll never own, focus on the new experiences you will be free to have, memories you’ll be able to make, and ways you’ll be able to serve others.
Related: How To Be Content No Matter What Life Throws At You
4 | Simplify Your Entertainment
Are you overwhelmed by all of the choices in entertainment available to you? I know I am. Growing up, we had like 5 channels available to choose from. Less if it was raining outside (#antenna).
Nowadays, we have hundreds of channels to choose from, along with millions of websites, YouTube channels, video games, podcasts, DVD’s, CD’s, Pandora, Hulu…
It makes my head spin just thinking about all of the entertainment options. Add to that the multitude of hobbies you can choose to partake in as well as the vast abundance of books on virtually any topic you desire to learn more about.
Are you exhausted yet?
Listen, there are only so many hours in a day (or a lifetime for that matter). There’s no way we could ever possibly consume all of the entertainment available to us. Even if we binge-watched/read day in and day out for the next 50+ years.
Would we even want to if we could?
On the rare occasions when my husband and kids are not at home, (before I start binge-watching This is Us), I make a priority to spend at least some of my alone time in absolute silence.
No tv, no podcasts, no music…it’s a wonderfully, refreshing time for my brain (and my ears) and it helps me refocus and stay motivated.
5 | Simplify Your Gadgets
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to exclusively own Apple products in order to simplify your life (but the fact that you can sync them does help).
Given the sheer amount of apps, cloud services, planners, kitchen gadgets, and electronic devices available to the average consumer, it’s far too easy to end up with a house/computer/phone full of gadgets/apps/services that are redundant.
For example, do you currently use Evernote, Microsoft Word, Pages, and Google Docs? My advice…pick a platform, use it to its fullest potential, and ditch the rest.
Same goes with cleaning supplies, apps, kitchen equipment, digital services, etc. Choose to own quality items and pay for the only the best apps and services that can do double (or even triple) duty. Eliminate everything else.
When something breaks, stop and think if you can use something you already own in its place. Or, better yet, challenge yourself to go without it altogether.
Related: 40 Things I Do Not Buy Since Simplifying My Life
6 | Simplify Your Planning
BTW: it’s not enough to find the perfect planner…you actually have to use it for it to work!
If you’re currently using a multitude of planners, home management binders, sticky notes, digital calendars…etc to get and stay organized, it’s time to STOP the madness!
For the longest time, I tried to convince myself that I could stay relatively organized using only a digital calendar. It worked…to a point.
I have recently rediscovered my love for physical planners and binders and now I’m more productive than ever.
In case you’re wondering, I am currently using this super-awesome planner. I still love me some sticky notes, but now I keep them contained inside my planner.
Minimalism allows you to add quiet, calm, and peace while you subtract chaos, busyness, and clutter.
7 | Simplify Your Budget
I have a confession to make…I’m horrible with money. Hey, I never said I was perfect. I am currently reading the book, The Minimalist Budget by Simeon Lindstrom in the hopes that it will help me streamline my budget. I’ll let you know how it goes.
One thing I do know is that simplifying your budget isn’t rocket science. In fact, there is a very simple formula we can all follow in order to save more, spend less, and simplify our budgets:
- Stop Unnecessary Spending
- Reduce Expenses
- Create a Budget (and use it)
- Automate Savings and Bill Payments
- Pay off Debt
- Live on Less than you Earn
Tip: Do you know your credit score? You can check it for FREE with Credit Sesame.
8 | Simplify Your Health
Much like budgeting isn’t rocket science, neither is taking care of ourselves. For example, we all know we should:
- Get Enough Sleep
- Eat Healthy Food
- Exercise
- Get Outside a Little Each Day
- Drink Plenty of Water
- Eliminate (or at least reduce) our Intake of Sugar/Junk Food
- Reduce Stress
But, if it’s so easy to simplify our health, why oh why do we (okay, I) continue to skimp on sleep, stress over things that we can’t change, eat crappy food, choose soda over water, and often not see the sun for days on end?
Like anything else on this list of ways to simplify your life, we can simplify our health by taking baby steps. Positive change doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing undertaking.
For example, we can start going to bed thirty minutes earlier each night, incorporate more fresh fruits and veggies into our diets, and take 5 slow cleansing breaths whenever we are feeling stressed.
These simple changes, while small, can help simplify our health if done regularly.
9 | Simplify Your Focus
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus
This is because the human brain isn’t wired for multi-tasking.
Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at MIT, says that while we may like to think we are masters of getting stuff done via multitasking, we are actually
“…not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously, but switching between them very rapidly.”
Which explains why the more things we try to focus on, the less we actually finish.
So…maybe, just maybe we need to stop multi-tasking start mono-tasking instead.
Here’s what this looks like in real-life:
- Instead of making a milelong to-do list every day. Prioritize the top 3 things that must get done (then, do them).
- Schedule blocks of time to get things done (e.g. from 7-8 a.m. check and respond to email, 8-9 a.m. browse social media, from 10-12 a.m.work on a project)
- Stop eating while watching tv, checking emails, etc.
- If something takes 5 minutes or less to do, stop thinking about it and just do it.
- Brain-dump thoughts and ideas on paper to refer to later. Doing this will keep you from forgetting an important concept/idea while allowing you to maintain focus on whatever it is you are currently working on.
- When you’re having a conversation with someone, stop whatever else you are doing and…wait for it…listen to them.
There you have it: 9 helpful ways to simplify your life Now, pick one and start simplifying!
READ MORE:
- 40 Things I’ve Stopped Buying To Save Money And Simplify Life
- 10 Amazing Benefits Of Simple Living That Will Inspire You To Simplify Your Life
- 12 Things I Stopped Buying When I Lived In A Tiny House
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» 10 Amazing Benefits of Simple Living That Will Inspire You To Simplify Your Life
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