How to Simplify Your Life [Simplifying Lifestyle Ideas]

Lately, I have been reaping the benefits of a simple life. Decluttering was the first step and now I know simplifying our lifestyle was the ultimate goal. Now I rarely say “I am busy.”

Here is how I benefit from simplifying my lifestyle!

Here is the easiest way to simplify. Do more of what you love and less of what you don’t love.

This sounds easy, but you have to question what you really like or love to do. Sometimes we think we love to partake in things that are habits rather than truly joyful endeavors.

For instance, a lot of people tell me they love shopping.

Heck, I use to like shopping too, but it turns out that it was just a habit. I would be bored at home and instead of doing something interesting I would default to shopping.

It was easy and a distraction from having to put some effort into finding something to do.

Now I am more likely to go for a walk, paint a picture, write a blog post or do something fun with my family. Have a close look at what you love to do and do more of that.

Start by making a list of everything you like to do and everything you don’t like to do. Then try to eliminate as many of the items you don’t like to do.

How to Simplify Your Life:

Simplify Your Home

Think about how many things you have in your home that you don’t use. Now go through and declutter all of those items. If you aren’t using them then you don’t need them. I have a full decluttering course if you need help!

Analyze how your time is spent on tasks around the house. Simplifying as many tasks as possible. I have found it saves me a lot of time to do all the laundry one day a week.

Focusing on getting the laundry completely done and put away. This helps me avoid piles of clothes sitting around the house.

Try doing all your grocery shopping for the whole week in one day. This saves you the time and energy of going back and forth to the store over and over.

Set up habits that keep your home naturally tidy. As soon as you get out of bed, make it. When you are done eating wash your dish immediately.

This way at the end of the day you won’t have a giant mess to deal with.

Streamline Clothing

Only keep the clothes you wear on a regular basis. Believe me, you won’t miss anything that you, “might wear if ____ happens.” We all tend to keep too many items just in case.

Streamlining clothes will save you the time and frustration it takes to try things on to see how it looks.

Get rid of anything that:

Doesn’t fit
Looks bad
You never wear
Goes with nothing else
Feels uncomfortable
Was trendy 10 years ago, and you are waiting for it to come back in style
Makes you feel bad

Simplifying Lifestyle : Work

I am a stay-at-home mom and a full-time blogger/artist. (if you are looking to become a blogger check this out, you won’t regret it!) My biggest tip: Only do things that MOVE THE DIAL! Stop doing everything else.

This is a hard concept to grasp as a business owner because my natural thinking is the more I do the better.

WRONG! Here is an example that hopefully, you can apply to whatever business you might have. I am on a few different social media platforms that do well and I am on others that do nothing for me.

Stupidly I was trying to grow an audience on a lot of different platforms. All this did was dilute my time, make me constantly busy, and didn’t move the dial.

Now I am focusing on what is actually moving my business ahead and leaving the rest behind.

When I use to work for a large company I remember we had these hour-long meetings once a week that did nothing. Every meeting was exactly like the previous meeting.

Try to simplify repetitive tasks, for instance, a meeting once a month would have been good enough. Saving us hours of time.

Edit Your Home Decor

I love home decor even though I am a minimalist. With home decor less really is more. The less decor you have the larger your home will look. Plus you won’t have to clean and dust as often.

Get rid of the unnecessary furniture and dodads. I bet you will think your home looks brighter, cleaner, and larger right away.

Grocery Shopping List

Most of us are creatures of habit. We buy and eat the same things week after week. Simplify your life by writing out a shopping list on your phone that you refer to each time you shop. This way you don’t have to start a fresh list each time. Read: How to Meal Plan the Easy Way

Simplify Meals

I try to aim for meals that I can make quickly and easily. Focusing on healthy fresh food that doesn’t have artificial ingredients.

Sometimes we make more elaborate meals, but daily life is easier when I can make something easy.

Kids and Simplicity

This might sound crazy to some people, but it is ok for our kids to be bored. Remember when you were a kid? Weren’t you bored?

When you are bored you have a chance to get creative and find something to do. Simplify kid activities.

We only do one sport or extracurricular activity at a time. This way we aren’t in the car all day rushing from one thing to the next.

Simplifying kids’ clothes and toys have also been a game-changer in making our home easy to tidy. Less stuff = Less Mess

Say No More Often

Instead of cramming your schedule full of appointments and ways to stay busy, try scheduling some downtime. You are still important even if you aren’t busy 24 hours a day.

Unplug

Try unplugging for a while. Turn off all electronics and see how much time you will find. It is amazing how much time is sucked up with apps, TV, and our computers.

One crazy thing you will see when you come back to social media, it’s still there. You didn’t miss anything by unplugging for one day. Try a media fast, you might even like it!

Quality Time

Focus more on quality time with your friends and family. When you are with your family turn off distractions. Don’t check your phone constantly. Focus on the conversations or try to go do something where you don’t need your phone.

Nothing is more annoying than spending time with someone and their phone is dinging and binging the whole time.

Simplify What you Take

This was a big change for me. In the past when I would go somewhere I would pack as if I was going for a week. I soon realized most of the time I didn’t use half of the things I brought. Now I only bring what I will really need when I go out.

Unsubscribe To Simplicity

Unsubscribe from email and mail that you don’t need. At the bottom of every email is an unsubscribe button. Streamlining the number of emails you get saves you time and the annoyance of seeing ads.

Unsubscribing from physical mail will save paper waste and help the environment.

Driving

Try to do all tasks that involve driving in one day. When I need to go grocery shopping I will try to also go by the bank and do all of my errands in one trip. This saves time, energy, and money spent on gas.

Don’t Multitask

Multitasking sounds great. Getting a lot done at one time!

The truth is most of the time you are accomplishing less. The only time I recommend multitasking is when one of the things takes no concentration. For instance, going on a walk and listening to a podcast at the same time.

With multitasking, you will probably find you have started a bunch of things and finished nothing.

Simplify Your Finances

Take a close look at your finances and see what can be automated. Set up automatic deposits into savings each month, this way you are saving without having to remember. Look closely at everything that is being charged to your credit card.

I know people that signed up for a monthly program and completely forgot. Don’t pay for something monthly that you aren’t using.

Budget

Make a budget so you know where your money is going. The goal is to save enough money (emergency fund) so you are not completely stressed if something unexpected pops up. Like the time both of our cars broke down in the same month.

Simple Goals

It is easier to accomplish a goal when you only have one or two. I use to make a huge list of things I needed to do each day. Now I only write down 3 things on my to-do list.

This is a great thing to practice because you are able to focus on the main goals and actually get them done. It feels great to cross everything off your list for the day and start again fresh in the morning.

Scheduled Downtime

Set aside some time for yourself. Make sure you use your time to do something that you truly enjoy.

This can be something very simple too. Like going for a walk, reading a book, or just relaxing outside.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

One of the biggest ways I have simplified my life is to stop worrying about small things. If a dish breaks, oh well. My kids want to wear pajamas all day, that’s fine.

Spending my time battling or getting upset about small things is a terrible waste of my life. Gained 5 pounds, who cares? My point is to try not to obsess about small things that don’t really matter and spend time enjoying the things that do.

Here is a similar article on simplifying hacks.