How can I simplify my home and my life? It’s a question many are asking today. It’s a good question because simplifying your home is one of the most important things you can do to simplify your life.
We are not meant to live in a state of constant stress and chaos. Yet, we can’t always control the stressful situations we encounter on a daily basis.
However, we can control our home environment by simplifying our homes. The end result is it simplifies our life.
What Does It Mean To Simplify Your Home
Simplifying your home and life starts with being intentional with what comes in and out of your home. Yes, this means clearing the clutter.
But here’s the thing, decluttering your home doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You do not have to do it all at once to start enjoying the benefits of a simplified and decluttered home. Nor do you have to declutter the things you love and represent who you are.
Simplifying and decluttering your home is really just thinking about what you have and why you have it. Yes, you’ll have a home with fewer things, but those things will be useful or represent the beautiful things that mean something to you.
It’s about keeping things simple, the less stuff you have the more you are able to manage your home with ease and the simpler life will be.
If you’ve never gone through the decluttering process and are not sure where to start decluttering – start here. I have lots of articles in the archives that will help you with your decluttering journey, feel free to check them out.
Why Simplifying Your Home Matters
I get it, decluttering your home sounds hard. It also sounds like a lot of work, so does it really matter?
When we think about our modern world it’s all about instant access to everything. This creates a constant sense of urgency. We give in to the tyranny of the urgent at the expense of the important things that matter.
Add to this the fact that we tend to be reachable no matter where we are or what we are doing. Now we have this fast-paced lifestyle that makes the world feel stressful and chaotic.
This alone shows why having a simplified home is more important than ever.
Your home should be a peaceful and calm environment. In other words, it should be a place you can relax, connect and feel at peace. A place that allows you to escape from all the chaos of the outside world.
The last thing you want when you enter your home is to feel assaulted by a space that has so much going on visually your brain has a hard time stopping and relaxing. You don’t want your home to feel like a never-ending to-do list.
Instead, by simplifying your home you have a place to go that quiets the pace and craziness of the outside world. Life begins to feel simpler and less complicated when you have a place to relax, unwind and connect with your people.
How Simplifying Your Home Will Simplify Your Life
If you’re not convinced that making an effort to declutter and simplify your home will carry over to simplifying your life, let’s look at 10 specific ways simplifying your home impacts your life.
1. Simplifying your home frees up your time
There is no way around it, everything you own takes up some amount of your time. Cleaning, maintaining, or even storing all your stuff takes time. The more you own the more time you are spending on your stuff – plain and simple.
However, by simplifying your home you will simplify your life because the time spent caring for all that excess stuff can now be spent on the important things.
The bottom line is, that the more you simplify your home, the more free time you will have. This is true simply because you’ll have less “stuff” taking up your time, resources, and attention!
Devoting as little as 10 to 15 minutes a day to decluttering will add up to big changes in the way your home feels and looks.
Not only that, but when your home is easier to maintain and keep tidy, you will feel less stress and more peace.
2. Simplifying your home allows you to tidy quickly
If I had to pick just one habit I implemented in my home (other than decluttering of course) that allowed me to stay on top of cleaning it would be my 15-minute nightly tidy-up.
As part of our evening routine, we spend 15 minutes picking up anything that’s out and putting it away. This allows us to tidy quickly so that the house never feels overwhelming or out of control.
Of course, this would not be possible without simplifying your home first. By reducing clutter, keeping your home tidy becomes simple. Your home becomes easy to maintain.
When your home is tidy it creates an overall sense of peace in your life. Life feels simpler because you have things under control where it matters most, in your home.
3. Simplifying your home allows you to find what you need
There are some fascinating statistics on clutter. These statistics show the amount of time we waste searching for things we need. Let me highlight just a few of these statistics:
- The average person spends two and a half days searching for misplaced items, such as the remote control, keys, or glasses each year. (Reference)
- Nearly 25% of us are late to school or work at least twice a week as a result of searching for lost items. (Reference)
- American households spend more than $2.7 billion each year replacing lost items. (Reference)
- Most people use 20% of what they own, the other 80% is made up of items we don’t use, think we should use, or think we might need someday. (Reference)
Simplifying your home means less stuff interfering with your ability to find what you really need. Clearing the clutter will put an end to wasting time searching for the things you need.
It also clears up space so that everything you own has a designated home. Things will be easier to put away. Everyone will know where things go and you’re not fighting clutter to fit them into their home.
By having a space to keep the things you need, you’ll always know exactly where they are when you need them. You’ll save countless hours making life feel so much simpler!
4. Simplifying your home helps you appreciate what you have
When you take the time to simplify your home it gives you the opportunity to really think about what you have and why you have it.
As you choose to simplify and declutter you’ll find yourself naturally becoming more intentional about your purchases and what you bring into your home. The result is that you will find you have a greater appreciation for the things you do allow in your home.
As you go through the items in your home consider the following:
- Usefulness – How much will you use it? Or do you already have something else that will do the same job?
- Quality – Is this a quality item that will last sufficiently to justify the purchase or keeping it?
- Enjoyment – Does the item add value to your life such that it is worth keeping long term?
When you’re able to answer yes to those questions you’ll appreciate what you have so much more.
Having a simplified home brings a sense of relief and openness to your home. The items and decorations you do have will be even more treasured when they are not being drowned out by less cherished items.
5. Simplifying your home eliminates clutter hot spots
Clutter is the number one culprit when it comes to things that complicate your home and life. Having a simplified home means getting rid of clutter hot spots.
A clutter hot spot is any spot that quickly and easily collects clutter. These are usually the flat surfaces in your home. Areas such as kitchen countertops or the dining room table.
However, by simplifying your home you will notice the clutter collecting right away. This will allow you to take care of the clutter before it becomes overwhelming.
You decide in advance how much space you’re willing to devote to any particular category of stuff. When that space limit is met it keeps you from accumulating more stuff than you really need.
By eliminating unneeded or used items in your home you cause the clutter hot spots to disappear.
6. A simplified home makes it easy to put things away
We all know it’s important to put things away when we are done using them. However, it’s not always easy to do.
Sometimes it’s because we’re just tired after a long day. But most of the time it’s because we have too much stuff in our homes. Too much stuff makes putting things where they belong a chore.
However, when you declutter the excess and simplify your home you create extra space. This then allows you to designate a specific space for all your stuff to live. In turn, it becomes much easier to put things away and simplifies your life.
Because it’s easier to put things away, you eliminate the visual clutter in your home. This in turn makes your home feel orderly and put together which impacts how your life feels as well.
7. Simplifying your home ends decision fatigue
Decision fatigue is a real thing. If you are not familiar with decision fatigue, it refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual, after a long session of decision making.
The average person makes upwards of 35,000 decisions each and every day. When you add clutter to the mix you have too many decisions to make, complicating your life.
However, by simplifying your home, you’ll have less stuff which means less decisions. For example, instead of a closet full of clothing making it difficult to decide what to wear, you’ll have only those outfits that you love and feel great in.
The fewer decisions you have to make in your home, the simpler life feels.
8. Simplifying your home makes it easier for your family to maintain
The more clutter you have in your home the more difficult it is for your family to keep up with your systems. As you simplify your home your family will be more receptive to helping out.
One of the biggest things that make it hard for your family to stay on top of their stuff is not having an assigned place for the stuff to go. By simplifying your home everything has a place and stuff no longer ends up all over the floors, tables, and dressers.
Just like us, kids get decision fatigue. This is why they thrive on fewer choices. In fact, we all do better knowing what to expect. When clutter is everywhere there is no consistent expectation to put things away.
On the other hand, simplifying your home allows everyone to see exactly where things go. It also makes it easier for your family to put things away. They know what to do and what is expected.
The best part is you’ll no longer feel like you’re nagging or getting frustrated with your family. Instead, you are creating an atmosphere of peace and comfort thereby simplifying everyone’s life!
9. Simplifying your home gives you space to unwind
My favorite part of simplifying my own home has been creating a space to sit, relax, de-stress and clear my mind.
Even if you are still in the process of simplifying and decluttering your home, you can create a clutter-free zone that allows you to enjoy the immediate benefits of a simplified home.
When you create a simplified space it allows you to clear your mind and makes life feel so much simpler. This is because your brain feels most calm and relaxed when you don’t have a bunch of clutter assaulting your visual senses.
Having this space allows you to feel like you’re simplifying your life even as you work on simplifying the rest of your home.
10. Simplifying your home eliminates the temptation to buy more stuff
How many times have you run to Target to pick up one or two things? As soon as you get into the store you see something new or on sale, something you think could be useful in your home—so you buy it. Before you know it you’ve now added several more items to your cart that were not on your list.
I think you know you’re not alone on this, I have been and still am occasionally guilty of this. But… truth be told, since simplifying my home, this is a pretty rare occurrence these days.
While we’re all guilty of buying things that we don’t need or have much use for, this will become the exception rather than the rule when you simplify and declutter your home.
The benefits of simplifying your home soon overtake the temptation to buy more stuff.
You’ve worked hard to declutter and are enjoying your home, perhaps for the first time in years. The last thing you want to do is re-complicate your home and life by adding a bunch of clutter.
Simplifying your home replaces the temptation to buy more with gratitude for the peace you’re creating in your home and life.
Simplify Your Home to Simplify Your Life
Today’s post is all about the ways in which simplifying your home will simplify your life. Focus on clearing the clutter and keeping things in your home as simple as you can.
When you create a simplified home it fosters a sense of calm and peace that carries over into the rest of your life.
Your home and your life become easier to manage! Because your environment has a big impact on how you feel, having an orderly and put-together home carries over to the rest of your life.
Now you have the freedom to spend more time doing what you love and enjoying your life, instead of just cleaning up after it!
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