10 Ways to Simplify Your Life
Life is busy.
Life can be chaotic and stressful. Our schedules can be filled to the brim with activities and appointments and our to-do list is never ending. As mothers, we try to do it all, and quite often at the expense of ourselves. While slowing down may seem completely out of the question, an impossible feat, simplifying our lives could be exactly what we need.
In a world full of too many options, simplifying seems unfathomable. We obtain too many things, we take on too many demands, we put these unimaginable expectations on ourselves, and for who? While yes, our families do benefit from our madness and I’m sure they appreciate our efforts, even if a thank you is a distant memory, why are we breaking ourselves down and burning ourselves out to be the perfect “Pinterest Mom”? It seems silly, doesn’t it?
By simplifying our lives, we can actually accomplish more. We can be more productive with our time, we can spend more quality time with our family and enjoy life more versus daily stress and overload. When our to-do list looks massive, we are less likely to have the urge to tackle it. It can be daunting and create internal panic instead of feeling a sense of relief and reward after accomplishing these things.
10 Ways to Live a More Simplified Life
- 1. Declutter Your Wardrobe – How much of your wardrobe do you actually wear? How much of it is “in case I need it”? While holding onto pieces for special occasions is understandable, keeping things that no longer fit, are not flattering on you, or don’t match your current lifestyle or personal style, have no place in your wardrobe. If you no longer gravitate to a piece to wear or you’re always looking past it, you do not need it. Too many options in our closets creates a longer selection process, and as mothers, we do not have the time to be rummaging through a mess to decide what to wear each day.
2. Own Fewer Toys – I fall victim to the concern of, what if my child gets bored? Here is the trick, toy rotations. My son loves playing with new toys and ones he hasn’t seen in a while. If we overstimulate our kids with too many options at once and all of the time, they know they can move on quickly and leave a mess behind them. With fewer options, they tend to take their time on what is in front of them. We have only started to introduce toy rotations with our family and so far it seems to be going smoothly. This can also help filter out what your kids never seem to play with, even after they have been reintroduced, and this is your opportunity to say goodbye to those items.
3. Reset Your Living Room Every Night – Personally, waking up to a mess is not the way I would like to start my day. By taking the time to reset the living room especially, it calms the environment and allows you to relax once it is done. A chaotic space only creates more chaos within us, so let’s prevent the next day from looking like a disaster before it has a chance to begin.
4. Clear Your Countertops – Clutter is the enemy. It takes less time than we may think and we feel so much better once it is done.
5. Read – A slow activity, instead of mindlessly scrolling social media or bombarding our minds with television. Find a good book. I use fiction to clear my mind and fall into an interesting story and non-fiction to learn a new skill or nourish my brain with helpful information. I highly recommend utilizing your local library for all kinds of new and exciting sources. And when our children see us enjoying reading as a quiet activity, they too become more intrigued to follow suit.
6. Make Your Bed – Try to do this as soon as you wake up. While the rest of the house may look messy or be in shambles, at least your resting place is peaceful and put together.
7. Set a Budget – By setting a budget, you keep your bank account in check, you are less likely to buy items you don’t actually need or want and this creates less waste. While I am a bargain shopper, just because something is on sale, does not mean that we should be buying it. Having a budget teaches us discipline and restrain from impulse buys.
8. Set Goals – Setting goals gives us a focus. This can be for our family, for our future, or for ourselves. To learn more, check out my article, Goal Setting.
9. Prepare the Night Before – Planning the night before will allow you more time the following morning. This can be anything from setting out outfits, to meal prepping, making lunches, laying out your workout clothes, even setting the table for breakfast, it all creates more valuable time the next day. It is one less thing to think about when our brains are still just powering up for the day.
10. Create Lists – Lists are wonderful. They are super helpful and keep us in line and creates focus on the tasks at hand. For more list making ideas, check out Making Lists to Get Organized.
We should be stopping to smell the roses and living life to the fullest rather than burying ourselves with more and more. Like the old phrase, less is more, why did we stop living like this? We need to slow down more often, take a breath and appreciate what we have around us. As we find needs for things, that is when we should be purchasing or gaining those specifics. Otherwise, planning for a what-if situation only bounds us to more clutter and more mess. Being prepared is one thing, being overly presumptuous, is truly unnecessary.
Melanie xoxox