What is your idea of a simple life? Is it no work? Is it doing what you want when you want? Newsflash everyone, it’s (pardon the pun) simpler than that! It’s about living a life without excess. Ok, I know. You’re thinking, “define excess.” Well, the excess I’m talking about is physical possessions, mental clutter and commitments that are, how can I put it, unnecessary! Keep life simple. But is it that easy? To do it, you need to be mindful of your needs, intentional about what you want and self disciplined in a way you never knew possible.
The Myth of Simple Living
If you have ever watched one of those documentaries that discuss this, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the art of simple living boils down to less than 50 items, a black and white wardrobe and a tiny house, but let’s face it, that’s not it, at least not for the majority of us. Simple living is about removing from life the things that no longer serve us so that focus can be given to what does.
Decluttering like your life depends on it
Simple living starts with the glaringly obvious, that scary thing called declutterring. But do you declutter with all great intentions? Or do you hit the sentimentality wall and struggle with chucking anything out? There are the items of clothes you cannot bear to part with; favourites that you’ve always loved. The notes and cards from loved ones that you should chuck out but feel bad doing so. Decluttering is like a break-up with who you were, but you must liberate yourself from that feeling and just go for it.
So, where do you start? Start with your wardrobe. Pull everything out and put back what you decide to keep. How do you decide? That’s easy. Does it fit? If the answer is no, throw it in the bin. If the answer is yes, hang it back up. I know this sounds OCD but I hang my clothes together in colours so I can find what I want easily. Once you have hung up everything you want to keep, start at one end, and ask yourself this question. ‘Have I actually worn it in the last 12 months?’ If the answer is no, pull it out and bin it.
Now, the kitchen
At what point in life did we decide that every single cooking method needs a gadget? Seriously, when did that happen? You want rice, buy a rice cooker. You want a casserole, buy a slow cooker. You want chips, buy an air fryer. You want a toasted sandwich, buy a sandwich maker. How many gadgets do we need?
Think about it. Do you really need a slicer for salad or fruit? No, you don’t! What’s wrong with a knife? Do you really need an electric can opener? No. What’s wrong with a manual one and how often do you use it anyway because most have a ‘key’ opening. Do you need that rice cooker? Nope. It all comes in handy sachets now that we throw in the microwave. Simple living means just that, keep it simple. A good knife, a pan, a baking tray and a wooden spoon. That’s it, you can cook anything with those four things, and you’re not spending time searching for your gadget, cleaning it, and trying to untangle cords!
You don’t need to be busy to be productive
Society and the media glorify the world. Look at this woman who is juggling two jobs, three kids and a perfect home. Look at this woman who is doing a high-powered job and is top of the class in her degree, while training for a marathon You get the gist don’t you. But you do not have to be doing all these things in order to be productive. Sometimes all you need to do is just ‘live.’ What do I mean by ‘live?’ I mean, ‘doing nothing.’ Yes, you heard me right.
Just for a second, imagine this. You are sitting on a chair outside of your house, in your back garden. You have a book beside you and a steaming hot cup of coffee. You don’t have your phone or iPad. You are all alone. The doorbell rings and you ignore it. What a rebel you are! But think of how you will feel after time spent just for you. Time given to no one else.
Finances and Freedom
Simple living and financial freedom have the potential to go together through life. When you are purchasing things, especially large purchases like a car, there are three questions to ask yourself. (1) Do I want it? (2) Do I need it? (3) Can I afford it? The general rule of thumb is that if you can say yes to two of those statements, it’s good to go ahead. If you buy only what you need, as opposed to frivolous purchases, then you’ll have the finances to buy what you want in life.
Let me put it another way. You are in a store and walk past the scented candles. Do you really need another one or are you hypnotised by the idea that a cranberry/fir tree smell is compulsory near Christmas? When you spend $7 on a coffee, does it really taste that much better, or has it just become a habit?
Saying no without the attached guilt
If you try and minimise conflict and try to please everyone (like me!!) this next part will be hard. When you get an invite or a request for something, try not saying yes to everything. Chuck in a few no’s occasionally. Explain with a few “I’m sorry but I cannot….” every now and then, and life will get simpler all by itself. Because someone asks you something, it does not oblige you.
Society, social media, and the general media have conditioned us to believe busy is important. Saying yes to everything and juggling those fifteen balls in the air is what life is all about. It isn’t. You are allowed to decline a night out or event without feeling you need to write an essay to explain it. “I can’t make it” is your explanation.
Digital Declutter
This is the worst. Due to the influence of technology, emails, social media and more, we have turned into overstimulated versions of ourselves. Who checks their feed late at night? Who plugs their phone in beside their bed just incase they’re needed? Who wakes in the night and checks for messages? If you have answered yes to even one of those, you may very well need a digital declutter.
Start with the little things. Unsubscribe from all those crap newsletters, offers, emails from shops you visited just once 20 years ago! Get rid of them. My rule is that I sign up for a newsletter if I need to make a purchase. When my purchase arrives, I cancel the newsletter. I keep my ‘subscription emails’ simple. Pandora stays as they send me money off vouchers and celebrate my birthday!! NetGalley stays as I get notified if there are books that I am offered that may be needing review. I keep email notifications for local breweries – Your Mates, Slipstream Social House, Sunshine Brewery, Moffat Beach, and a few others. That is pretty much the crux of it. Keep it simple.
Any other email notifications…. mute is your friend! If you need them, but don’t want to hear them, mute!
To conclude…
Whether you adopt simple living philosophies or not, there is a realisation that you need to accept. Life, and by extension, things, do not have to be perfect. Life will still be messy sometimes. You will still lose your keys sometimes. You will have days that you do food shopping and buy three of the same thing and wonder why. There will be times where you walk into the kitchen and wonder why you’re there.
Simplicity has a beauty and strives to ensure that you have space for joy and laughter. It leaves you with time for what matters. Forget the perfect minimalism that you see online and strive for. Start small and your simple life will come naturally.
