Tag: living simply

Have you ever thought, well I’d quite like to simplify my life, but I don’t know where to start? Well this is a video just for you!

This is a video that will start getting you to ask yourself the types of questions that could help you tackle areas in your life that are maybe giving you stress and you don’t even realise, and help you actively take practical steps to help you simplify your life.

Firstly, let’s talk about some of the benefits. Your life can be less complicated. We all know this. My life can be even less complicated than it is now, although I’ve been working to simplify my life for some time. So you want to be able to have more balance in your life, so you can better enjoy your life as a whole. You want to be able to take the time to embrace and enjoy the process of what you do, without feeling the unnecessary burden of other ‘stuff’ in your life, that just isn’t nourishing for you. There are many other reasons, but this is one of the main points of simplifying your life.

Let’s dive straight in.

Q1. How do you spend your time?

This is a big one…..! Do you do too many things? Should you be thinking about where you could say ‘no’ a bit more often? Perhaps there is space for a bit of a mindset change, are you thinking about being constantly busy? Do you describe your life as being busy all the time, and perhaps you think that is a good thing? Newsflash! That is not a good thing, and you don’t have to live that way. So think about how you spend your time, what activities do you give your time to? What could you do less of? Think about your regular commitments and activities. And these could be all ‘good’ things and ‘good’ activities and ‘good commitments’; but it’s not about getting rid of the ‘bad’ stuff (I mean, what exactly is ‘bad’ anyway) as these could be all really good things, but the point is, are you doing too much? A bit of soul-searching for us all here.

Q2. Let’s talk about the clothes you wear!

The thing about clothing is that you want to put on clothes that make you look your best, feel good, is functional, and are clothes that you actually WANT to wear. You want to open your wardrobe, look at your clothes and think ‘yeah, I really want to wear that; I enjoy wearing that; I love how I look in that top; I love how those jeans fit me’. So what clothes in your wardrobe do you enjoy wearing? What do you actually wear?

So take a look at the stuff you wear regularly – what are your go-to things? You may find that if you have a pile of clothes that for whatever reason, you don’t wear that often, is bigger than the pile of clothes that you do wear, then that’s an alarm bell for you! Things change in how you wear clothes – perhaps you are now leaning towards certain colours, or perhaps you have a sort of uniform in your clothing (I like jeans and a black top).

Do you go for v-necks or maybe plain colour tops? Maybe that flowery number in your wardrobe that you wish you could wear more often but you never do, maybe it is time to admit to yourself that it doesn’t really fit your personality anymore and it could be time to let it go – even if it is brand new 🙂 So there is a lot here to unpack, but this could be a good place to start.

Q3. How and What Do You Eat?

What do I mean by that? How do you go shopping for your groceries? Where do you go? Is it somewhere that is quite convenient for you? Is it local to you? Do you go shopping at a time of the day that is perhaps less busy? Is it a time of day that fits in with your energy levels throughout your working day? Basically, are you working with yourself to think about how you do your grocery shopping. Another little thing is, do you go grocery shopping without a list? It really does just get rid of the clutter if you have a list, and say you’ve got 5 items and you know that’s what you need. So even if you have to go to the ‘supersized’ store, as opposed to the small regular store, with all the distractions, and all the aisles, and running a marathon just to get around the store, you have your list and you know where you’re going, and you do it and you get out. Are these types of things, things that can help you?

And what do you eat? What foods are you cooking at different times of the day? Are you trying to fit in a meal, that takes 3 hours to prepare, on a weeknight when you’ve been hard at work and quite honestly you just want to be able to cook quickly and eat and then just relax and enjoy your evening. Are there ways that you can better work with yourself, to simplify these little things. Yes they are little things, but they are things you do everyday, which is why they are great places to start. Have a think about when and how you prepare your meals, as there could be ways you can streamline your processes, to make life a lot easier for yourself.

Q4. How do you wear your hair?

It is wonderful to be able to express your personality and your character with your hairstyle. It’s fun to be able to change things up if that’s what you want to do. But does it suit your lifestyle? Do you have to travel hours to get to a specific hair salon, to get a specific stylist, to have your hair done? Does having that extra travel time and effort, and maybe a price that is a little too rich for your taste, is that overcomplicating things for you? Could you change up your hairstyle so that it’s lower maintenance? If you have physical restrictions, then maybe you would prefer to be able to do your hair yourself or have a stylist come to your home? So some little things to think about here.

Q5. How do you manage your personal finances?

This is a whole massive area and I could do an entire video on just this! But, you’re not just looking at your mindset in terms of how you spend, are you aware of what you are spending? Do you have a budget that you use each month and do you follow that budget throughout the month? Do you know at any given time how much money, or how much leeway you have in your different accounts? Are you building up stress because you’re uncertain as to whether there is enough money in your account to cover your bills? Do you need to take another look at how you are paying off your debt, if you have debt? Do you need to get some advice on how you can start automating your finances, where you automatically have money going into different saving pots each month, into your investments, or into paying off your debts? Or for whatever you’re doing at the moment like saving for a holiday, or planning your wedding. Do you feel as though you just don’t have it under control when it comes to your personal finances? That would be an indication that this is a good area for you to tackle, that will really help to simplify your life.

I really just want to encourage you to start asking yourself these questions, so that you can take a real inventory of your life, and see where you can make some practical changes to start making things simpler, and living simpler. It’s always been a fantastic tool for me and I hope it helps you too.

I look forward to hearing how you get on.