A simple life doesn’t just happen. You need to work on simplifying your life to live simply. Life tends to get easily complicated if you don’t take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and financial issues, and don’t try to manage them well by keeping things simple.
“To realise the soothing power of a simple life is to find the secret of happiness!”.
~ Mehmet Murat Ildan
Simplifying your life will bring you balance, freedom, joy, and peace of mind and you find more time and energy to focus on the things that matter the most, that add more value to your life, and that bring you long-term pleasure.
I live a pretty simple life but it has taken me years to ‘find’ my way of living – all my life, I have lived my life based on the way I was brought up: “The more you have, the happier you’d be”, this, of course, I realised back in 2019 was far from the truth – I then went a journey to self-discovery.
From my personal experience, I know that simple living starts with a positive mindset and a vision for a meaningful, fulfilling life. It’s a lifestyle that often includes cutting back on what is unnecessary and streamlining your material possession, and living a more intentional life – It’s not a destination but a journey. You can’t ever stop working on it. It’s a continuous process but a rewarding one. Since embarking on my Simple Living & Minimalism Journey, I’ve parted ways with more than 80% of my belongings – and it’s an ongoing journey.
Today, I’m going to share some ideas to simplify your life that I regularly implement to keep my own life as simple as possible.
A simple life reflects your passions, your purpose, and your priorities. It pushes aside much of the busyness to make space for what truly matters. So, make a few changes to slow things down, reassess your priorities, declutter your home, your mind, and your online/offline life, and reclaim your mental and physical spaces to restore yourself. Life will get so much simpler and happier!
Own Less
The journey towards a simple life starts with owning less. Simple living is all about finding beauty in less and putting quality over quantity. It’s about valuing things that make us happy instead of chasing status symbols or societal expectations.
When I was decluttering & simplifying my overall life, I asked myself: “How much do I need to live a good and meaningful life?” I wrote down a list of things that I’d NEED to live well – and it wasn’t nearly as much as I thought it would be and that was an eye-opener.
I made (and still make sure) that anything I have in my life adds value to my daily life, and serves my purpose well. I don’t buy anything if I know it’s something unnecessary or I can do without – I am very mindful and intentional about this.
I now invest in experiences, instead – like in September I went on a day trip to Llangollen, Wales and in November I went on a day trip to the Lake District – these experiences enriched my life and made me happier than material possessions ever could.
Declutter regularly
Declutter your home to simplify your life. It has a profound impact on your mind and your spirit. One room at a time. Go around the room, and eliminate the unnecessary and unwanted stuff. Keep only what you can use and what is truly valuable. Try to leave only the things that give you joy and add value to your life, and let everything else go.
Organise your home
Once you are done with decluttering and reclaiming your precious living spaces, take some time to organise the things in your home. Find the right place for everything you are going to use – give everything a home.
As soon as you are finished using something, put it back where it belongs. That way, everything will be where it’s supposed to be when you need it, and that will reduce your stress.
Remember – decluttering comes before the organisation. If you declutter enough, you won’t need to organise much.
Have fewer goals and focus on what is important and meaningful
Many of us have tons of goals in life that keep us busy with things that are not truly important and meaningful. We often underestimate how much effort and how long a task will take, and then we beat ourselves up over not making enough progress. As a result, you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and unhappy.
Go through your priority list, remove those that don’t go with your current values and principles, and only focus on those goals that make an impact.
Spend quality time with your loved ones
Spend more quality time with the people you love and care for – that inspire you, support you, and whom you enjoy spending time with. Whether those people are a spouse, children, parents, siblings, other family members, best friends, or neighbours, find time to spend quality time with them.
Learn to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty
It took me a long time to learn to say ‘no’ politely without feeling guilty. As a result of that, I was unnecessarily making my life harder by keeping busy with the things or people that only added clutter and stress to my life. Every time you say ‘yes’ to something you don’t like to do or don’t have time to do, you are saying ‘no’ to something else that you want to do.
Unplug
We often complain that we don’t have enough time to do all that we need to do, but honestly, we waste so much of our precious time by staring down at a screen for hours. It doesn’t have to be permanent but deactivating social media and significantly cutting back on TV time, even for just a few days once in a while, can help remind us of what’s truly important.
Organise your finances
Having organised finances is important because it gives you a better sense of where your money is going so that you’re not surprised by unexpected expenses. When you keep track of and organise your finances, it gives you a better sense of control over your financial life.
You can also identify areas of improvement and achieve your financial goals more efficiently when your finances are organised. You get a clearer picture of your finances so that you can make the next best decision with your money.
Being financially organised also contributes to overall better mental health. When you control how your hard-earned money is working after each paycheck, the stress of worrying about paying your bills eases. It helps you feel better and more secure financially and mentally!
5 Simple steps for organised finances:
- Automate your bill payments
- Establish a budget
- Track your spending
- Keep track of your bill due dates in one central place
- Separate your money for each of your goals
- Address your debts and pay them off soon
- Save for an emergency fund
Understanding your finances is an important step toward simplifying your life. How simple your life is will be determined by how many “needs” you have, how well you manage your finances, and your freedom to make important life decisions.
Downsize
Downsizing is an important part of simple living. Anything large or big can be downsized with careful planning. If you get rid of all the clutter or unnecessary stuff from your home, you may realise that you don’t need that much space or a bigger home – this is something I have been doing for the last 8 years, every time we move, we downsize and move into a smaller property – now we live in a 1-bedroom lofts apartment with an open-plan kitchen, dining & living room.
A bigger home means more time cleaning, more energy for tidying up, more money for maintenance and repair, and more stress, too.
Live within your means
This is one of the most important steps you can take to live a simple life. Without living within your means and without making the most of what you have, you can’t simplify your life. Be content with what you have, and focus on what is truly important and meaningful. Don’t spend what you don’t have, on things you don’t need, to impress people you don’t care for.
Create a budget, and stick to it. Spend less and save more. Simple living isn’t about painful deprivation, but it’s about freedom from that unsatisfying cycle of desire. Once you learn to live and manage well within your means, your life will get so much easier and stress-free.
Slow down and live more intentionally
You can’t, despite your best efforts, be in constant motion and be at your best. You need to know when to slow things down, take a little break if needed, and do things mindfully.
If you are always rushing to get your chores done, you will end up feeling emotionally drained, mentally stressed out, and physically exhausted. By slowing down, you can pay more attention to what you do, breathe easily, enjoy things more, and have the ability to start living simply.
Do one thing at a time
Instead of multitasking, try to do one single task at a time. Multi-tasking means more stress, and it’s a far less productive way to get things done.
Establish daily routines
A great way to simplify your life is to create daily routines to get your important tasks done on time without rushing or stressing over things. Get some regular routines in place and stick to them, and your home will function so much better without you running out of food, cleaning clothes, or having to do a whole day of tiring deep cleaning sessions.
Advanced meal planning and preparing simple healthy food at home saves your time, money and energy, and helps you live a healthy life.
Also, incorporate some self-care ideas into your daily routines so that you can show some love and much-needed care to yourself, and feel recharged and rejuvenated.
Enjoy the little things in life
Those who know me well also know how much I talk about finding beauty and pleasures in simple things around us and appreciating all the blessings we have, however little they are.
When you take time and allow yourself to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and be grateful for that, you will experience an increase in your level of happiness and mental well-being. So, make a list of your favourite simple pleasures and sprinkle those throughout your day.
Your life is a result of your decisions and the choices you make regularly. And a simple life is built upon a thousand such humble decisions and simple choices that you have to make every day. Be deliberate in making life choices because you have to live with the consequences of your choices and decisions.
Let’s choose simplicity and enjoy life more…
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