7 Areas of Your Life You Need to Simplify

Do you find yourself dreaming of ways to simplify your life while your days are filled with unimportant, but must-do obligations?

The truth be told, that was me for years. In fact, there are still times I look at my day and find it overrun with countless decisions, numerous errands, organizing, scheduling, and planning for things that are just not that important.

These are areas of my life that I have really been working on simplifying, to allow my life to run more smoothly.

But seeking to simplify our lives can be challenging at best. Yet, I am also finding that it’s so worth the effort.  After all, living simple is about clearing space so we can do what we love.

I firmly believe everyone should have the freedom to pursue those things that make them truly happy.  However, when life is complicated it’s not always easy to find what it is that truly makes you happy. On the other hand, being purposeful in simplifying your life allows us to weed out the clutter and noise to find what matters most.

As I have been simplifying different areas of my life, I’ve also learned it’s important to go slow, to simplify a little at a time. If we move too fast, or try and simplify everything all at once, simplicity can become a strict regimen. This results in the opposite effect of what we are trying to achieve, which is freedom. Freedom to pursue those things that bring you joy and allow you to live a life that you love.

With this in mind, no matter where you are on your journey, there are seven key areas of life that we all need to simplify if we want to live more fully.

1. Our Stuff

I think you kinda knew that I would start here 😉 Do we really need all we think we do? The answer is almost universally no! For most of us, our homes are overflowing with stuff we don’t use or rarely use.

Physical clutter has a big impact on our stress levels because it interferes with achieving the things that are truly important to us.

You see everything we own takes some amount of our time. Whether it’s the time spent earning the resources to purchase all that stuff or time spent maintaining, cleaning, and storing all that stuff.

To simplify your life you need to take ownership of your time. And taking ownership of your time means eliminating whatever it is that does not line up with your priorities or is interfering with them.

Simple living is all about clearing space for what matters most. This means only holding on to the things that you love or that truly adds value to your life.

Start eliminating the excess today.  You can start by spending a few minutes going room to room in your home collecting the surface things that can be donated or just thrown out.

Here is a detailed guide on how to get started on a clutter-free home. It will walk you through the process.

2. Our Food Habits

If we are honest, most of us could easily do a lot of simplifying when it comes to the area of food. We have so many choices when it comes to buying food that we don’t even think about some of those choices as cluttering up our lives.

On more than a few occasions, I’ve gone to the grocery store for one or two items and left with a half-full cart of random stuff.

I do realize that buying in bulk or stocking up on a great sale can save a lot of money, but sometimes we need to ask if the few dollars we save are worth all the space we’re taking up?

Especially, because it’s not just physical space. This food stockpiling uses a lot of mental space as well. It leaves us with too many decisions to sort through just in trying to figure out what we’ll make for dinner that night.

Be honest, aren’t there times you look in a full cupboard and because of the sheer amount of food cant figure out what to make.  I know I do it, and because of that overwhelm, I end up going out to eat or running by the drive-thru.

Happily, this is pretty rare today. I learned that to help simplify your life, before heading to the grocery store make a list of what items you’ll need for the week, and stick to that list!

In addition to simplifying by reducing the amount of food we buy, many of us need to simplify our diet, with healthier, more natural choices.

Honestly, when I started reading the list of ingredients on the products I was purchasing, I was shocked at the number of sugars and processed items in so-called “healthy” food choices.

To begin simplifying in this area, take some time to find recipes and methods for eating simple, delicious real food on a daily basis. I have enjoyed many of the recipes from the Garden Grazer.  You can also find recipes for seven clean eating family meals here.

3. Our Email Subscriptions

How many emails do you receive on a daily basis? Most of us probably can’t count.

The reality is, there is clutter everywhere, including our technology. We are on information overload. So much information comes at us, that it ends up zapping our focus and dilutes our attention.

While initially, we might seek this information to better our lives, what ends up happening is that we get so much information we don’t know what to focus on.  The result is we end up accomplishing less than we would if we had less information.

Also, ur energy is depleted with each new piece of information we are consuming. Because of all of this, we end up feeling buried under the weight of information overload.

We need to think carefully about what we are subscribing to and be willing to “unsubscribe” from what is not adding measurable value to our life.

Look at your subscriptions and pick a few favorites that you would like to focus on and unsubscribe from the rest. If you find you really miss something you can always re-subscribe.

4. Our Commitments

The ability to simplify your schedule can be tough depending on the season of life you’re in.

If you’ve got a house full of school-age kids involved in one or two extracurricular activities your schedule is going to be full, that’s just the way it is. On the other hand, if you’re kids are older, you’re an empty nester or you’ve got an infant and/or toddlers your schedule may be a lot more flexible.

The key to simplifying her isn’t really about how many activities you have scheduled or the amount of white space in your planner, rather it’s about your answer to this question:

Does my schedule reflect my priorities?

If asking that question stung a little it may be time for some adjustments. You see if our priorities don’t line up with our schedule something needs tweaking, either our priorities or our schedule.

Spend some time looking over your current commitments. Are any of these commitments being kept up with out of obligation? If so, drop them. Keep only those commitments that align with your priorities.

It may be hard, but remember your time is the most valuable commodity you have, it is precious and you need to guard it!

5. Our Worry

Worry is a negative emotion, yet many of us spend a lot of time worrying. We waste energy worrying about the future or the past. Not only that, but worry clouds our thinking and occupies our mind with things that are generally out of our control.

Instead, we need to focus on living in the moment. We need to recognize that our mental space deserves, even more, attention than our physical living space. Our mental space is where true peace and happiness live.

If you find yourself spending time worrying, try writing down your thoughts. Often writing things down gives clarity to the situation.

Another thing that is helpful when you find yourself dwelling on a worry is to get busy with a task that doesn’t take a lot of focus. For me that usually involves cleaning. I turn on the music and just start cleaning everything, by the time I’m done I usually feel much better.

Also, exercise is a fantastic antidote to worry. Exercise literally releases feel-good endorphins into your brain.

When it comes to simplifying life, kicking the worry habit is a great place to start!

6. Our Goals

I love setting goals and I think goals are important. Goals allow us to be intentional with our life. In fact, I believe that without actionable goals you won’t move forward. This is why I set goals every single month.

However, studies show that we are only capable of focusing on two to three goals at a time. When we have more than two to three goals, we are less likely to accomplish any of them.  Excessive goals result in our filling every waking moment of our day. The result is no downtime to recharge and a longing to simplify your life.

Goal setting is a perfect example of where less equals more. Look at the current goals you are working on and pick two or three to focus on, put the rest aside for now. As you accomplish those two or three goals you can build on them with new goals.

This is one of my favorite features of the Living Well Planner, as it has a dedicated page at the start of each month to set out three big goals for the month. The planner helps you break them down so that they become actionable and you’re able to continually move your life in the direction that matters to YOU!

By all means, set regular goals, just simplify by limiting the number of goals you’re setting, and make sure they’re actionable!

7. Our Shopping

Simplifying means being mindful about what we introduce into our homes. Take a look at your credit card statements, do you see funds going to places or for things that you don’t necessarily enjoy. There are many things we spend money on that do not add true value to our lives.

In the same way, you need to ask yourself whether your schedule matches your priorities, you also need to examine whether your budget reflects your priorities.

Are you spending more on things or experiences? Do you have room in your budget that allows for generosity?

A key component to simplifying is making sure that your money goes toward things that you truly value.

To simplify your shopping habits stop buying things you don’t need or love -period.

These are the areas I am seeking to simplify more, what about you?  I would love to hear what you are working on simplifying in your life.