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Declutter Your Life for Simple Living
By
Danelle Ice - Home Ever After |
February 10th, 2009 |
Category:
Clutter Control |
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Do you ever wish you could declutter your life? I’m not just talking about the items or objects you own, but about all areas of your life- even the things you do and the activities you participate in. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything was simpler and more streamlined? With the busy lives we lead, it seems like everyone has stress that is unavoidable.
We sometimes go through our daily lives doing things we don’t want to do but feel we have to do. We spend our time wishing we had more free time and less to worry about. Or maybe we get paralyzed by our houses full of stuff that we have to clean, store, move, organize, work around, and wade through to accomplish what we need to do. Sound familiar?
If you answered yes, then you may want to learn more about simplifying the different areas of your life. Simple living at first consideration might seem restricting, or give you the feeling that you’ll be missing out on things you and your family members enjoy now. In reality, a simple life can be liberating in more ways than one.
If you found yourself nodding as you read the first paragraphs, take comfort in knowing that it doesn’t have to be this way! Deliberately simplifying your life to give you more free time, less stress, and more of what you want with less of what you don’t, is well worth the little bit of work it takes in the beginning.
We’ve listed several broad areas below that people often wish were less complex. Not everyone chooses the same areas to simplify in, since everyone’s families and situations are very different.
Consider these possible areas that could be simplified:
- Kids’ extracurriculars, afterschool activities and sports.
- Decluttering your home to eliminate unnecessary items.
- The processes we use to accomplish things. Systems that work can cut out work that’s not needed.
- Placement of furniture and other items in your home.
- The flow of incoming information (emails, instant messages, mail, media, etc.).
- Your work and professional productivity, accomplishments, and progression.
- Family obligations, events, holidays, and other family time.
Questions to ask yourself when you’re considering simplifying an area listed above:
- Am I happy with how much time I spend on this?
- Does this activity make me feel happy?
- Do I feel like the doing this activity is a good use of my time?
- Is this an activity that only I can do, or could I outsource or delegate this to someone else?
- Am I doing this in the most efficient way? Is there a faster, easier, or better way to accomplish the same thing?
- Do the items in my home make more work for me or less?
- Do I spend time cleaning, organizing, and managing items that I do not want, do not use, or do not like?
“Declutter Your Life” will be bringing you specific tips, how-to use, and strategies for simplifying many of these common overly-complicated areas of life.
Photos courtesy stock.xchng. For more Works for Me Wednesday, check out Rocks in my Dryer.
Great advice. I’ll be back to read all of your Clutter Control articles!
Thank-you!
@Lisa- Wonderful! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ll tell us what you think of the different parts of the series!
Barbi
Very helpful and thought-provoking check-lists, thank you!
@Kirsty: Glad to hear it! I hope you’ll check out the coming series too, and let us know if it’s helpful. Thank you for coming by!
Barbi
My life wound up getting super cluttered after I had my daughter. Now I’m slowly getting back to a normal stress level by decluttering. I see my life as a work in progress and I’m always looking to improve how I do things. I think it really helps to look at it this way.
Well, I’m all for simple living – “Do I spend time cleaning, organizing, and managing items that I do not want, do not use, or do not like? ” – This is a GREAT question, that we all too often answer “Yes” !
I’ll be back to check out your Clutter Control articles …
@Buffie: Great point. If we were ever “finished” with our lives, we’d have nothing to do or improve upon anyway! It’s true that having kids causes a lot of things to change, including home and personal systems that may have worked before you had kids that just don’t make sense anymore. I can completely relate.
Barbi
@Mo: Very true- and that question is a mantra that I say aloud while decluttering! It has helped me immensely. Thanks for stopping in, and I can’t wait to give you the Decluttering articles!
Barbi
Great post..I look forward to the future articles on this topic.
And I subscribed to your blog today.
@Niki: Thanks for subscribing! I’m anxious for you to read the upcoming articles. I’m so glad you left a comment!
Barbi
I have been “decluttering” for a while now. It is actually difficult to get rid of STUFF. I don’t want to trash it, you know, I want it to go to people who can use it. It takes time to find how to get rid of things responsibly.
Great tips Barbi! I love the process of simplifying my life.
Stumbled.
@CanCan: I know exactly what you mean. When I started donating items to the local women’s shelter instead of Value Village, I found it much easier to declutter and part with things. Knowing that it would get much better use than it would by staying at my house made all the difference for me. Thanks for sharing!
Barbi
@Marc: Thanks for coming by! I have LOVE LOVE LOVED your site since the first day I found it and have read every article since that day. You are a true inspiration in my life. All of our readers that love personal development / simplification should really visit Marc and Angel Hack Life right now and subscribe to their RSS feed- you won’t be disappointed.
Barbi
Thanks for your submission to the February edition of the Advice for Women from Women blog carnival.
I, too, am looking forwad to more in this series! DeCluttering my life makes organizing my life so much easier. And that is an area I really am trying to get better control of!