I don’t know about you, but life feels complicated these days. Aside from everything going on in the world right now, I’ve had a lot of changes going on in life. I’ve been reflecting back and am so thankful during this time for the ways in which I’ve simplified my life. I would love to inspire you with 15 steps toward simplifying your own life.
These changes have had a tremendous impact on my life. Some of them are easy tweaks you can make today, others take a little more time. But they have all allowed me to thrive in the midst of complicated seasons!
Steps Toward Simplifying Your Life
Before we get started it’s important to note that simplifying your life is very personal. It’s not a one-fit-all kind of thing. In fact, I think a mistake I often see people make in trying to simplify their lives is they tend to mimic what they see other people do. But you have to do what works for your life!
So as you go through this list, understand it is not a list of rules or must do’s. It is intended to inspire you and see if any of these are steps you can take toward simplifying your life.
Declutter Your Home
I have to start here because without a doubt this is the number one thing I have done to simplify my life. Everything you own takes up some amount of your time. This means the more stuff you have in your home the more time you have to spend cleaning, maintaining, and caring for all that stuff.
Life gets a lot simpler when you clear the clutter!
There are so many benefits to decluttering your home. They range from increased financial security to improving your health and well being. By taking the time to declutter your home you’ll gain more. This will allow you to deal with the important things in your life and you’ll enjoy the peacefulness of a clean and organized home.
Decluttering does not have to be complicated. 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there will add up quickly. There are a lot of things you can do to declutter your home as you go about your normal day. While it will take some time and effort it is one of the best steps toward simplifying your life.
Create Morning and Evening Routines
Create Morning and Evening RoutinesCreating simple routines is a great step to take toward simplifying your life. Routines allow so many of our daily must do’s to be put on auto-piolet. This removes the stress of remembering every single thing every single day.
You see routines reduce the number of basic decisions we have to make each day. This frees our brains for more important decisions. For example, Steve Jobs was known for wearing the same outfit every day so he didn’t have to think about or make a decision as to what to wear.
Simple Morning Routine
My morning routine is pretty simple because it takes a while for my brain to wake-up! My mornings involve:
- Hitting the snooze button (I allot time for this because I know I’m gonna do it)
- Make coffee
- Devotions
- Make my bed
- Get ready for the day
- Eat Breakfast
Simple Evening Routine
My evening routine is a little more involved because I firmly believe that your day starts the night before. When you have an evening routine in place, it allows you to prepare for the next day before it’s even started. The more you can do the night before the smoother your day will run.
I don’t always hit each of these every evening. However, I generally do and find it incredibly helpful for my day when I get through the entire routine.
- 15 minute tidy-up of the house
- Write out a short to-do list
- Set out clothes for the next day
- Prepare lunches
- Prepare for bed (shower, wash face, brush teeth)
- Write in Gratitude Journal
- Read for 15 minutes
That’s pretty much it. This simple routine is all I need to get a jump on the next day.
These basic routines have helped me simplify my days!
Simplify Your Closet
Simplify Your ClosetI’ve always been someone who loves clothes, and probably always will be. However, when I started simplifying my life, my closet was a big issue. Despite my overstuffed closet, I constantly felt like I had nothing to wear.
I set out to simplify my closet and began with eliminating everything that was not in good condition, that didn’t fit well, or I didn’t feel great in. Next, I choose neutrals as my staple pieces. By investing in some good quality basics in neutral colors, it’s easy to mix and match other items I love with colors or patterns.
Simplifying my wardrobe allows me to spend less time deciding what to wear, less time shopping, and most importantly less time doing laundry!
Here are a few of the benefits you’ll gain by simplifying your wardrobe:
- It is easier to make decisions on what to wear each day
- You get ready for your day much faster
- You’ll always feel put together
- There are fewer laundry piles
- More space in your closet and drawers
- It’s much easier to organize and clean your bedroom
- Surprisingly, you’ll receive more compliments
- You will develop a signature style
- There will be more money in your bank account
Gain more money, more contentment, and more time in your day by simplifying your wardrobe!
Batch Tasks
There are many articles written on the value of batching your tasks. Basically you “batch” similar tasks together and do them all at once, rather than throughout the day.
For example, try and have one day for running all errands and appointments. You can also set aside a specific time for making phone calls and another time for reading and answering emails. Have a dedicated day and time for taking care of bills and budgeting matters.
When you perform similar tasks together you stay focused on your tasks and make them simpler to get done.
Clean As You Go About Your Day
Clean As You Go About Your DayThis was not easy for me. As much as I love to have a tidy home and I don’t function well when things are a mess, neatness does not come naturally to me. This is especially true in the kitchen.
However, developing the habit of cleaning up as I go about my day makes my home so much simpler to care for.
I have two 15 minute tidy ups that I do twice a day. One in the afternoon and one in the evening. With just 15 minutes you can quickly tidy up the entire house (assuming you’ve tackled the clutter).
Also, learn to put things away as soon as you’re done using them. Keep disinfectant wipes in the bathroom to do a quick wipe down of the sink and other surfaces as soon as you finish getting ready for the day.
When you are done with your morning coffee, wash your cup instead of putting it in the sink, it only takes a few extra seconds.
These little habits do not take a lot of time, yet they make a big difference in your home!
Set Up Autopay For Your Monthly Bills
These days pretty much everything is online. This makes it easier than ever to automate your regular bills. Most of us have our paychecks direct deposited, so why not auto pay your monthly bills. You can automate your utility bills, insurance payments, and even your monthly credit card payments.
By setting up autopay you avoid any late fees and save the time and stress of paying those bills. All of this makes managing your budget so much easier.
When I think of the various ways I’ve sought to simplify my life over the years, I have to say paperless and automated billing ranks at the top!
Go Paperless
The more paper you have lying around the easier it is to get overwhelmed and lose track of important information.
To this day paper is my biggest struggle when it comes to clutter. This is true even after making huge strides in decluttering the paper. Paper is one of those things that’s just hard to eliminate. But you can lessen the struggle and conquer your paper clutter!
The number one place to start is to limit the amount of incoming paper. As we discussed above, signing up for online banking, using direct deposit, and enrolling in paperless billing will eliminate a lot of the incoming paper.
In addition, unsubscribe from any magazines or catalog subscriptions, you can read them online now. The same is true for any manuals you have, get rid of them. Find them online if needed rather than searching for them in your home.
Start scanning all of your receipts and other papers that you do not absolutely need a hard copy of. You can also scan all of your kids’ artwork and school papers too!
Going paperless as much as possible is a big step toward simplifying your life that you’ll be so happy you did.
Make Your Bed Every Day
Make Your Bed Every DayIt’s important to have a place to go that is clean and clutter-free, where you are able to relax and feel at peace. I always recommend this be your bedroom. Your bedroom is the first room you see in the morning and the last room you see at the end of the day.
When you take just a couple of minutes to make your bed each day, your bedroom will automatically feel tidy and put together.
By making your bed every day you will have a least one area in your home that will be a little refuge. When things begin to feel complicated, you have one room to go to that already feels put together and calm.
There are many discussions on the value of making your bed every day. My absolute favorite involves a commencement address given by a navy seal. This is what he said about making your bed:
“Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.
And, if by chance you have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made — that you made — and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.”
So if you want to take steps toward simplifying your life —- make your bed!
Limit Social Media
There is no question that we are in a social media-driven world. Between Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter it’s easy to spend hours and hours on social media each without even realizing it.
I must confess, I myself find it easy to fritter away hours during my week on social media. Also, it’s important to note that I don’t believe social media itself is a bad thing. Within moderation, it’s a great way to keep up with friends and family. In fact, I regularly publish blog updates on my Facebook page.
However, if not careful, it leads to wasting valuable time each day. The other big problem I have with too much social media is it leads to discontentment. We often look at other people’s social media accounts and compare our lives with theirs. Soon we can feel like we are missing out and become discontent with our own life.
But the thing is people only post a very small part of their life on social media. It is not an accurate picture of what their life is really like.
To take steps toward simplifying your life, you don’t need to give up social media altogether. Instead, limit your time to certain times of the day and set a timer on your phone before you even open your favorite social media app. When the timer goes off that’s it, close the app.
Watch Less TV
Another huge time waster is your television. It’s pretty rare for me to sit down and watch TV. At the same time, I do tend to have the TV on for background noise. Even though I’m doing other things it still takes some of my focus and can be a distraction.
Several years back, we canceled cable, honestly in the beginning it took some getting used to but now I could not fathom paying for television and don’t miss it at all!
We do have Netflix and Amazon Prime, but those are only turned on if we are going to sit down and relax to watch something particular. They never play as background noise.
Keeping the TV off throughout the day means I’m intentional about turning it on only when there’s something specific I want to watch.
Life definitely feels simpler because I have more focus in my day when the TV is off.
Be Willing To Pay For Helpful Services
Be Willing To Pay For Helpful ServicesI’ve always been budget conscience which makes it hard for me to pay for things I can do myself. However one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in simplifying my life is that time is more valuable than money!
We can always make more money, but when your time is spent that’s it, there’s no getting it back. Trying to do it all is what makes life feel incredibly complicated. Learning to delegate some of your tasks by paying for helpful services is a good thing.
You don’t have to do it all the time, but during those busy seasons, pay to have groceries delivered, hire a house cleaning service, join amazon prime for next day deliveries. The time you save makes the few extra dollars you spend so worth it!
Valuing your time one of the best steps you can take toward simplifying your life.
These are 11 steps I have taken to simplify my own life. They may not all work for you, or they may, but I hope they inspire you to take a few small steps toward simplifying your own life!
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