Living a simpler life doesn’t have to be an idyllic dream you hope to one day experience. It’s something you can make progress toward daily through an easy-to-follow set of practices.
One of the most common reasons that people fail to achieve simplicity is having an all-or-nothing mentality. If they can’t make their life “simple” in one shot, they get discouraged and give up on the whole project.
However, making a little bit of progress can feel great if you reset your expectations. We’re always in a rush to arrive at the desired state, but the journey is worth savoring. You can change just one aspect of your life and indulge in newfound simplicity for weeks on end. Then, when you feel good and ready, you can layer on another change and ride that happy momentum for weeks more.
Simplicity can be simple. It doesn’t have to be a grand challenge with existential stakes.
I encourage you to browse the list below. Many will be familiar ideas, but try to see them anew. Embrace the idea of new rhythms that lighten your load slowly over time.
9 Practical Ways to Simplify Your Life
1. Wear the Same Outfit Most Days of the Week
Instead of starting each day with the puzzle of what to wear, you can outsource that decision to your past self. Find an outfit or two you really enjoy, buy multiples, and treat yourself to the simplicity of wearing them as often as you can.
2. Eat the Same Breakfast and Lunch Every Day
Along the same lines as creating a daily uniform for yourself, it’s nice to offload the decision of what to eat for every meal. I’ve found that it’s much easier to eat more healthily and avoid overeating when two of my three meals are planned. Eventually, habit takes over, and that’s all you want to eat anyway.
3. Keep a Short To-do List on Paper
There are so many things to do, but only a limited time each day. Too often, we carry the unnecessary stress of other tasks we should or could be doing instead of the few we actually can get done. Release yourself from this weight by writing down a few tasks on a small piece of paper and letting yourself know that it’s enough.
4. Limit Your Social Media Time
Social media can occasionally be a fun bit of entertainment, but, at least for me, it gets my mind working in ways I find unhelpful in my everyday life. For example, it raises my baseline for an acceptable level of stimulation so that ordinary tasks feel boring. The less time I spend scrolling, the more my brain adapts to the slower pace of a happy life.
5. Create a Weekly Meal Plan for Dinners
As with lunch and breakfast, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel each week when it comes to what to eat for dinner. Although it’s nice to have a little variety, it can easily be achieved with a one- or two-week meal plan, possibly with a free day for extra novelty. A rotating meal plan makes buying groceries many times simpler, and eventually, you get really good at whipping together dishes you prepare so often.
6. Keep Flat Surfaces Mostly Empty
Removing visual clutter is a surprisingly effective way of making your life feel simpler. The easiest way to do that, I’ve found, is to keep the flat surfaces of your home as clear as possible. A quick daily stroll through your home with a collection basket might be enough to keep things looking good.
7. Use a Separate Card for Discretionary Spending
Financial concerns can sometimes take up a bigger chunk of our mental energy than we’d like. The more tightly I try to track and micromanage our spending, the more energy it seems to drain from me. The rather simple solution I propose is to open a separate checking account for nonessential spending and seed it monthly or annually with a certain dollar amount. Let all “essential” spending take care of itself and focus on what you can control.
8. Have a Consistent Morning and Evening Routine
The bookends of our day have a powerful effect on how we perceive the whole day to have gone. If you consistently start or end in a state of chaos or stress, your life can feel weighed down with concerns. My best advice is to create a routine you truly enjoy so that you’re pulled toward it rather than having to force yourself to “be good.”
9. Remove 2 Items for Every 1 You Bring In
With five kids—one just newly arrived—we’ve been fighting clutter for more than a decade. What I have found is that the impact of my massive decluttering weekends pales in comparison to the consistent habits I apply each day. The one habit with the most impact is removing multiple old items for every new item that enters the house. It’s a simple rule that, although not perfect, generally keeps a lid on the amount of “stuff” that accumulates over time.
Please remember not to let yourself get overwhelmed by this whole idea of change. Living simply is not another task to be accomplished; it’s the peeling away of the unnecessary layers you’ve accumulated over time. You don’t have to try to change everything at once, and in fact, that would spoil the fun. Take it nice and easy and enjoy the simple life today.