Every day we are faced with a barrage of noise and stresses, such as ads, traffic, social media and other constant distractions. Sometimes the only way to reduce or eliminate these distractions that take away our time, focus and attention is to make intentional actions each day in order to simplify our lives and focus on what truly matters to us, and do our best to turn down the other unnecessary noise.
Here are 25 Things You Can Do to Simplify Your Life.
25 Things You Can Do to Simplify Your Life
- Avoid Ads
Wherever possible keep your eyeballs off advertisements. If you don’t know what is for sale, you won’t be so tempted to buy it. A few years back I became very interested in learning how to do makeup and before I knew it, my wishlist for designer make up grew. It wasn’t until I stopped watching makeup videos that I stopped wanting to buy more and more and learned to be content with the makeup supplies that I had. Now that I avoid those ads I only buy makeup when I need to replace something that has run out. Replace makeup in this example with whatever thing you seem to buy too much of.
Avoiding advertising is no easy feat. There are ads everywhere but there are things you can do to avoid as many of them as you can and remove the temptation to consume.
Some practical tips you can implement to avoid advertising:
- Don’t read magazines.
- Consider paying for services like Youtube or streaming services for ad-free viewing.
- Avoid watching free-to-air TV and instead stream ad-free content.
- Keep shopping and dining in at places that have TVs and advertising around to a minimum.
- Turn off your Facebook news feed and the ads that go with it by installing a browser Facebook News Feed Eradicator.
All of these attempts to avoid advertising still do not completely eliminate all ads that you’ll end up seeing, but they’ll certainly limit the number!
2. Be More Intentional With What You Watch on TV
Be more selective with what you are watching on TV, rather than just watching whatever is on at the time. I no longer just watch Operation Repo, RBT, or whatever show just because it is on TV at that moment. I limit watching TV to only watching specific shows I enjoy watching.
This has allowed me to get some much-needed time back into my schedule for more valuable things like going to the gym or working on my blog. Think of all the amazing things you could be doing with that newly freed-up time!
3. Downsize Your Stuff
Five years ago I decluttered over 70% of my belongings. This in itself has been a huge step in simplifying my life. It makes getting dressed, doing laundry, and cleaning my house easier just to name a few benefits.
When you own less stuff, there is less stuff to maintain, clean around, replace or spend money on. You might even realise that you don’t need as big a house as you thought you did, which will lead to even less work for you and more money in your pocket!
4. Stick to a List For Grocery Shopping.
If you walk into the supermarket unprepared you are going to end up buying things that you don’t need. Often you’ll end up forgetting the things that you did and you’ll have to waist time and petrol making an additional trip. Save yourself the stress of going to the shops and the guesswork and bring your grocery list with you.
This goes for all shopping. I will not step foot into a Kmart, Bunnings, or anywhere without my list! Not to mention it frees up time that would have been wasted wandering down aisles if that is not your idea of fun!
5. Use a Planner to Stay Productive.
Those super-productive people that you see on YT or on Facebook are not unicorns. They are most likely good planners and you can be too, simply by having all your To Do’s and schedule in one place.
I use my weekly schedule planner to tell me everything I need to know or do like:
- What chores I need to do that day
- When do I plan to exercise?
- What I am eating on what day?
- What To Do items I have for myself, the band, my website, and anything I need to buy like a gift for an upcoming birthday party.
I don’t know how I used to function without one, but it’s great to have a place to write down all your thoughts so you can forget them and yet feel confident you can get what you need, done. This helps you to let go of all that info rolling around in your head, get it down on paper, set your timers or reminders, and give your brain a much-needed rest. Simply write what you need on your planner and get back to focusing on your current task or goal.
6. Simplify Your Wardrobe.
One of the most effective things you can do to simplify your life is to minimise your clothing and adopt a Capsule Wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a well-curated small wardrobe selected for each season on pieces that mix and match and take the stress and work out of getting ready each day. With so many things to juggle on a daily basis, not having to worry about finding outfits that go together will help you simplify your life every single day.
7. Avoid The Shops
I try and spend as little time as humanly possible at the shops. I don’t go shopping unless I have something specific in mind and usually even then it needs to be a few things to warrant me even driving there. Some might find the experience of shopping thrilling and enjoyable but for me, it is filled with stress from crowds, loud music or advertising, and frustration at waiting in long lines for parking or to pay for your items or the changeroom.
Simplify your life and your schedule by shopping less and only shopping when you genuinely need to, not just to pass time. Keep a wishlist of things you want or need to buy and build that up over time so you can hit the shops once that month rather than going multiple times.
8. Learn to Say ‘No’.
For some time, I felt extremely stressed thanks to not having enough downtime. On weekends I’d cram in band practice or a gig, on top of trying to see family, go to the city with friends, see more family, get groceries, attempt to catch up on housework, and still have an outing with my husband. After a few years of this, I found myself completely burned out and overwhelmed.
If this sounds like you, and you want to simplify your life, start making space in your schedule for rest and downtime. Don’t feel the need to fill every hour with some kind of social event. The next time someone asks you to do something you aren’t feeling, just say ‘I’m sorry but I won’t be able to make it’, and give yourself some time just for yourself.
9. Use Homemade Cleaners.
I know this seems the opposite of simplifying when I tell you to make something yourself, but stick with me here.
I started using homemade cleaners a few years back. I love that with only a handful of products I can clean my entire home as well as avoid nasty chemicals as much as possible. And best of all – no more overflowing under sink cupboards packed full of different cleaning products!
Instead of having 20 different cleaners, you’ll find that just a handful of homemade cleaners can do the work of many different products. Basic ingredients like vinegar, bi-carb, dishwashing liquid, and lemon you most likely already have in your home.
For more homemade cleaners be sure to check out Clean My Space for some of Melissa Maker’s amazing cleaning recipes!
10. Learn to be Content With Less
When you minimise the excess you can begin to enjoy the benefits of minimalism and simplify your life. Minimising your wardrobes make for less laundry and a less stressful time getting ready.
Minimising your makeup collection means you can easily find what you want to use and everything can have its own place and not clutter up your vanity top.
Having fewer books means you can see the ones that truly bring your joy and you can eliminate the guilt you always felt for not reading the others you never got around to.
It may sound opposite to what we are always told – having more is more, but I promise you when you own what you love and what brings you joy you will have a newfound appreciation for what is essential and not miss all that extra clutter in your home making your life more stressful and disorganised than it needs to be.
11. Let Go of Your Aspirations For a Carrie Bradshaw Esque Shoe Collection.
Before I discovered Minimalism, I was a shoe hoarder. At my highest count, I had about 50 pairs of shoes. That may not seem like a lot to some of you but to me it was. I have since eliminated the excess shoes I owned and now have selected a few shoes that are versatile enough to go with everything.
Most of my shoes are black and there is a reason for that. It means I can run out the door in whatever shoes I have and know that there’s a 99% chance they will go with what I am wearing and also be comfortable. Not all of us are gifted fashionistas, so having a simple shoes collection helps simplify leaving the house everyday.
It may be time to be honest with yourself.
Ask:
Do you really need 10 pairs of heels when you only wear them to weddings twice a year?
Do you really need 20 pairs of sneakers when you prefer to wear two of your favourites and the others just sit there on show?
Do you really need 10 pairs of $10 flats from Kmart or would one quality pair do you?
After a while of living with just the shoes you need and love, you’ll wonder why you didn’t downsize your shoe collection sooner!
12. Automate Your Finances
Simplify your life and take the mental workload involved in paying your bills by setting up direct debit billing.
This has saved me in late fees that are no longer an issue as the bills are paid before I can forget to pay them.
Don’t forget to do the same for your savings transfers each month! Taking the work out of paying bills and savings means you can ensure your finances stay under control without too much work from you.
If you want to learn more about about how you can spend your money with intention book in your complimentary 15-min financial coaching Q&A session.
13. Eliminate Paper Statements.
If you hate filing, I’ve got a simple solution for you, e-filing. Request your bills to be sent to your email rather than by mail. It means not only less time spend sorting mail and filing it, but leaves less in terms of paper clutter!
An added bonus is this saves you the fee most companies now charge to mail you paper statements and only takes a once-off quick phone call to make the change.
14. Learn to Delegate.
I used to think that I had to do it all. I soon learned that this is not sustainable and things getting done by someone else, is better than not at all, or that task staying on your never-ending to-do list.
If you have too much to do, ask for help from those around you. Get your partner or kids to help out around the house even if it is just 10 minutes every other day. Small amounts of help add up.
If you can afford to, consider hiring someone to help mow the lawns or clean your home once a week or fortnight to give you back a few hours of your freedom and make day-to-day tasks that little bit less overwhelming.
And the same goes for work, if you are snowed under speak up. There’s no shame in asking for help!
15. Unsubscribe
Something as simple as a full email inbox can be a huge stressor! Take a quick moment to action emails as you go, rather than letting them build up where you feel that you can’t catch up.
If you get an email for a store or a website you either haven’t signed up for or aren’t interested in seeing in your inbox, quickly open the email and select Unsubscribe. Then delete those emails from your inbox. (type in the search the company name and all emails will show up so you can quickly delete or prior ones from your inbox).
This will save you one set of ongoing emails from taking away your attention on more important things and will help you keep your inbox under control and organised.
16. Focus on One or Two Hobbies.
Sometimes we can get carried away with multiple hobbies and interests, but the most effective way to get good at something is to limit those hobbies to 1-3 max. For me, that is my blog, music, and gaming.
Sure I would love to add some DIY projects in, to learn to paint and learn more instruments but those expectations are just not going to happen in my life right now where I am balancing full-time work with my social life, cleaning, my current hobbies, and having downtime.
The last thing you want is for your passion to turn into another stressor in your life and chore. By limiting your hobbies to just a couple you can get the most out of those hobbies without them taking over your life. As a bonus, by limiting your hobbies you can also limit the clutter that can come with having too many hobbies.
17. Speed Clean
Cleaning used to overwhelm me on a daily basis until I discovered the art of Speed Cleaning. Instead of letting cleaning take over my entire weekend, now I try and speed clean for 10-15 minutes most days. This doesn’t always happen, but if I can keep the house reasonably tidy day-to-day, and save the bigger stuff like the floors and bathrooms for the weekends, I don’t get as overwhelmed. And the best part is, it’s such a short time family might be more willing to join in and help.
Speed Cleaning has simplified my life as it is not something I dread as much compared to a huge clean-a-thon and makes it easier to clean in smaller chunks rather than tackling a disaster zone at the end of the week.
18. Meal Plan
If you only adopt one thing from this list, I highly encourage you to take up Meal Planning. And I am not even talking about Meal planning where you cook for three hours on a Sunday and eat the same 3 meals day-in-day-out. That’s not for me, although you may prefer that version of Meal Planning.
I am talking about Meal Planning where you select your meals for the week ahead and shop accordingly.
This allows you to:
a) Not have to stress about what to cook when you get home – you’ve already sorted that part out
b) You don’t have to rush off to the shops after work to buy groceries meaning you get home even later and still have to cook. That part has already been done.
c) You can save money as you will only buy what you need and plan to eat. This helps reduce food waste
Once you have seen how much just 10 minutes of meal planning a week can help you simplify you’ll never look back!
19. Be More Mindful of Photos by Deleting As You Go
Have you ever gone through your phone to look for one set of photographs only to see hundreds of blurry, poorly shot pics.
Yep? Me too.
So here I am going to suggest that rather than leaving these photos to take up space in our phones and clog up our phone, laptop or cloud memory that we get into the habit of deleting these unnecessary photos as we go.
If it takes 20 photos to get the perfect selfie, delete the other 19 that looked not as good.
Better yet, don’t take hundreds of shots in a day, just take a few and enjoy the moment without the camera. Curate your photo collection to only the best shots.
This can also be applied to anything that you want. If you are done with a to-do list get rid of it. Have an app you used once but aren’t happy with it? Delete it as well.
Keep only what you love and need.
20. Less is More
The Minimalists always say ‘less is more’, but what does that mean?
‘Less is more’ is about all the things that come about from having less.
- It means less time spent cleaning because you have less decor to dust around
- It means less photos to sort through as you only kept the ones that bring you joy
- It means less time looking for your favourite lipstick because you only have your two favourites
- It means less time finding an outfit that matches because you have a capsule wardrobe with only the clothes you love!
When you eliminate the excess: the decor you don’t love, the clothes that no longer fit you, and the overflowing makeup collection, you can simplify and claim some of your time and mental energy back.
21. Downsize Your Home
Downsizing your home is a very practical way to simplify your life.
When you have a smaller home you have less space to organise, upkeep, and clean.
You have less bills to pay like electricity to heat your space and can spend less money on furniture and decor.
You also have smaller rent or mortgage payments so you can choose to work less if that is your desire.
Bigger is not always better.
22. Eliminate Wasteful Spending
When you spend more intentionally you can simplify your life. Eliminating wasteful spending can allow us to eliminate unwanted clutter from our homes and ensure that we only bring what truly adds value into our homes.
Instead of buying every book that takes your fancy, only buy books as you are able to read them. You can always write a list for new books that you want to get when you are ready to read them.
Buy clothes to fill the gaps in your wardrobe rather than just grabbing anything at random because it is on sale.
Don’t buy anything for your home unless you know there is a need for it, or you have a designated place to put or store it.
By being more intentional with spending we can simplify our life and reduce the excess stuff in our homes that can add stress and anxiety.
23. Create a Morning Routine.
Having a morning routine can make all the difference in simplifying your mornings and having a good start to the day. The best part is it can be completely catered to you.
Avoid just waking up and looking at your phone or hitting the snooze button and take charge of your mornings. Even if it is just a small 10-minute window where you try and enjoy the start of the day.
Your morning routine might involve sitting and reading before starting the workday with a coffee or glass of lemon water. It might involve a workout, yoga, or stretching. You might get started on tidying up so you can come home to a tidy space later on in the day or dedicate your morning to journaling.
24. Create a Nightly Routine
A night routine can also help set us up for a restful night’s sleep and a stress-free morning.
You might choose to have a shower or bath before bed to relax and wind down.
Moisturise and have tea.
Set out your clothes and lunch for the day ahead so it’s one less thing to worry about the next morning.
You might choose to meditate or tidy up rather than do those in the morning.
This routine is something you can curate and tweak over time to see what is the best fit for you and help you simplify your nights.
I have recently started tidying before I go to sleep, getting my work clothes ready, and preparing my lunch, and have found this to be a huge stress relief come morning and a great and easy tool to help me simplify my life.
25. Have an Emergency Fund
I have never felt as at peace financially, as I have since having an Emergency Fund.
When you have money set aside for unexpected financial emergencies you take a weight off your shoulders that many of us carry around with us everyday!
Having an emergency credit card is not the same. It needs to be a saving’s fund set aside purely for financial emergencies.
Once you have one you will never look back or miss the days when you were potentially a moment away from financial stress.
This weeks comment question: What have you implemented to simplify your life? Let’s discuss this in the comments 🙂
Want to Simplify Your Finances?
If you want help to simplify your finances and spend your money with more intention so you can create your ideal life book in for your complimentary 15-min Q&A call to discuss how I can help you.
