Let’s start with a few basics that won’t overwhelm your life but get some clear direction on where to start. Simplifying your life doesn’t mean throwing out all your belongings. It turns out that there is nothing at all simple about simplifying your life. It’s a slow process that pays off in the long run. It won’t change your life over night but it will change it for the long term.
A few years ago, I was so overwhelmed with keeping up, keeping my house organized, my schedule organized, and struggled not feeling burnt out all the time. I was starting to believe that I was not very good at this organizing thing, turns out I just needed less. I needed to eliminate half the items I owned so everything had a place and could easily be put back. I needed to stop over scheduling myself, I needed to learn to say no, to say no to things that drained me of the precious little energy I had. I needed to learn to stand up for myself, I had allowed myself to be talked down to, belittled, and it was time for me to draw a line in the sand. I had to learn the hard way that I was the problem, I was the reason my life was a mess, and I also learned that I was the solution. So, if you are just starting out on your own simple living journey or if you are struggling with the concept like I was in the beginning, here are a few tips on how to start simplifying your life.
Get Clear on your most important “things
Let’s face it, life is busy. At the end of the day most people don’t have much time for themselves. Take time to evaluate your day to day needs. Which ones are the most important? Write them down and live by them. Then ask yourself, are you giving them the time they deserve? I would suggest reworking your schedule to include your personal list of important non negotiable things. Let’s be honest, most of us are doing that concept backwards. I know I was. I was listening to a podcast once that said “when we are lost or struggling on what is most important or our legacy that we are leaving behind, then the best plan is to create a personal mission statement”. This hit home hard, at the time I was spending so much wasted energy on all the wrong areas of importance. Now its your turn to really put the thought into it and remember that our mission statement will change as we grow and evolve into better people. Once I got that straight in my own life, things started to fall into place so much easier. Don’t get me wrong, I still struggle with it, but with it in place, the decision to get rid of 75% of my belongings was so much easier, I stopped over buying items, or buying items to fill a void and I eliminated toxic people in my life, I started listening to my inner voice, I stopped being a people pleaser that always said yes, and most importantly I rested when I needed to instead of running myself into the ground because society tells me I was supposed to. I started living life the way I wanted and stopped living it to the way others were pushing me too.
Financial situation
Get your financial situation in check. You would not believe how much your day to day stress stems from all these bad financial choices you made. Stop buying clothes, cars, jewelry, and fancy dinners that you can’t afford to impress others or fill a void in your life. They don’t have to pay your bills at the end of the day. And honestly, if they don’t like the truest form of you then they aren’t your friend. Stop putting yourself and even worse your family into debt to pretend to the world you have your crap together. Or maybe you aren’t in debt but you still spend all your extra money on things you don’t need to impress people you hardly know. Get your butt into therapy and deal with the root issue. Once you stop buying so much and put that money towards being financially secure, going back to school, or getting yourself out of debt. Once that starts to go away, you will be amazed how much of your stress will go away with it. If you don’t know where to start, sign up for a financial class at your local church, get connected to a financial support group on social media, listen to podcasts about finances, or read books about finance. But get started and stop making the excuses. Take one baby step forward at a time and refuse to quit till you achieve the goal you set out for yourself. You won’t get it perfect every time, but don’t give up and keep trying.
Physical clutter
Getting rid of the physical clutter is hard. The items seem to quickly accumulate and before you know it, it’s gotten out of control. I know you don’t have lots of time to just stop your life and de-clutter, but let’s start with simple steps so we have somewhere to start. Don’t spend too much time thinking about it, just start. Start with your closet, a drawer, a corner of the room, a shelf on a book case or even your purse. Start with something fairly small and don’t move onto the next area till that task is complete. When I started my journey, I would set a goal each day of a number of items I was going to get rid of. Say it was 15, I would walk around my house till I found 15 items I was going to sell or donate. They would never come back into my home. Once the area is the de-cluttered then the second part of your goal is to maintain it. Refuse to allow yourself to fill it back up. This takes time because we are rewiring our brains to think and react differently. Just remember you didn’t create the mess overnight and you won’t de-clutter your life overnight either. Small but consistent steps is key.
Mental clutter
Reducing mental clutter is in my opinion one of the most important ones. When you start to free your mind, it begins to relax and greatly reduce stress and mental strain. Physical clutter is such a visual item but mental clutter might be causing way more damage than you think. That endless To do list, those unanswered emails, those phone calls you need to make, that project that needs to be finished, that laundry that needs to be put away, those dishes that need to be washed, etc. Your brain is very aware that these are unfinished tasks that need to be complete. You won’t sleep well because your brain is trying to tell you to get them done. Now I know we will never have a full checked off list, but learning to manage this properly can ease the mental mess that is going on in your head is the key. My advice is to grab a piece of paper, nothing fancy needed and write everything and I mean everything you can think of down on that piece of paper. You will not believe how much this simple task does to help reduce the mental clutter. Once all written down, start prioritizing the unfinished tasks and create a plan to start working through them. Once we start to rethink our thinking, we can to restore some balance in our life.