Mar 15
- Everyday for a week, fill a shopping bag with things you don’t want/need. At the end of the week, take them all to your local thrift store and donate.
- Set up a basic food schedule for your family, weekly or monthly or however works. You can be as general or as specific as you like: Monday/ Chicken, Tuesday/ Pasta, Wednesday/ Sandwiches/ etc.
- Carry a “Need to Buy” list with you - in your planner or just a notecard in your purse. On it, have a list of the items you need to buy in the near future - clothing for family, supplies for projects, furniture, decorations, gifts. Then when you see a great deal you’ll know if you should take it home or just take yourself home.
- Purge your bedroom. Clean off your night tables and keep only a minimum - lamp, one book, one bottle of lotion - your minimum.
- Empty your laundry basket everyday and sort the clothes into marked baskets in your laundry room. You’ll know as soon as you need to do a wash, or if you have a set laundry day it will go much faster since everything is already sorted. Plus your bedroom or bathroom will look better when the hamper isn’t overflowing.
- Install wall-hanging magazine racks anywhere you read magazines, or books, or newspapers - in the bathroom, by your bedside, by the couch or your favorite chair. You can also use slim towel bars for this and just hang the magazines over the bar.
- Get into the habit of picking your outfit for the next day the night before. Hang it in the bathroom or in a designated spot in your closet. Be complete - lingerie, socks or stockings, shoes, jewelry - everything you need. If you love having it all prepared, you could try picking the outfits a week in advance. Just line them up in the closet and pull each day’s out as you go.
- Have 1 or 2 or 3 breakfast meals and just rotate them through the week. My husband would be happy eating the same thing everyday for breakfast, but I get bored so I usually rotate through 3 different options. Right now it’s granola (with milk or yogurt), scones, or eggs and toast. After a while I’ll switch the rotation but still keep it simple. That way I can buy enough to get us through breakfasts for a couple of weeks at a time.
- Plan your menu! One week at a time works for me. Plan it, make your shopping list from it, and then do it! It’s so nice to know what’s for supper.
- Set up a mail center. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. I keep a decorative plate in the center of the table - that’s where my husband’s mail - or any mail I need to ask him about - goes. Once he’s looked at it, it gets tossed or filed as appropriate. I sort mine - it goes into the trash, into the “Bills” folder, into the files, or into my “to-do” inbox. This all happens at my desk, where I also keep a little tray with stamps, envelopes, return address labels, a checkbook and a calculator. It’s all here, it’s all handy, and I can get it taken care of quickly.
Simplification is not about achieving a constant state of tranquility or foregoing all commercially produced items, even if those are noble goals. Start simplifying with simple steps.
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