Have you ever had a yearning to simplify your life so you could just focus on the really important thing? Do you want to just live simply, stay healthy and sleep well? It might take a serious paradigm shift to live simply or it might just take some baby steps in the right direction. Whatever your situation, you will find some tips here that might help.

Get a Plan and a Planner

The best planning system I have seen so far is the Franklin Covey planner. Franklin Covey also teaches a good system to identify where you are wasting time and how to identify the areas of your life where you will want to spend more time and focus. This planner helps you set small daily goals to reach your bigger long term goals. Find a partner and hold each other accountable.

Clothing

You should be able to get up and throw anything on from your closet or drawers and look and feel great in it. Shopping, maintaining, deciding each day what to wear can take a great deal of energy.

Find a simple style that suits you and your lifestyle and discipline yourself to stay within those parameters.

Eliminate having to make decisions about clothing by making a commitment to a particular color pallet.

Pick two stores that carry styles that you like and only shop at those stores. Give up the all day shopping excursions.

Eliminate everything from your closet that doesn’t fit the “uniform”.

Toss everything that is stained or in need of repair if your really aren’t going to mend it.

Take a Stand Against Clutter

Get a good de-cluttering book like Clutter’s Last Stand by Don Aslett. This is a life changing book.

Pretend you are moving and you are going to have to pack everything in your house - now go through each room and drawer and get rid of everything you would rather not pack.

Stay away from the mall, garage sales and flea markets - don’t use shopping as a recreational activity.

Do you really need that knick-knack, gadget, cute coffee mug, magnet for your fridge or one more owl for your owl collection? Get in the habit of throwing away or donating things that are not useful.

Start de-cluttering by making a commitment to throwing out 50 things a day. You will be surprised at how easy that is. Just look under your bathroom sink or in a closet. After a month or so you may want to revisit the commitment and ratchet it down to just 30 items. You will begin to see a positive remarkable change in your environment.

Make a regular weekly visit to the library to check out movies, books and magazines.

Cancel your magazine and newspaper subscriptions (see previous tip).

Clean out your cupboards and donate extra mismatched dishes and utensils.

Get rid of all your old VHS, cassette tapes and cd’s that you never listen to.

How many towels and washcloth and linens do you actually need? If you buy new towels or linens because your old ones are worn and you are tired of them - throw out the old ones.

Friends and Acquaintances can be the worst kind of clutter in your life. Ask yourself if you really enjoy that person who soaks up so much of your time. Does that person edify you and encourage you? Do you feel worn out or energized after spending time together. Slowly but firmly back out of those relationships that are not satisfying and spend more time focusing on people that you like to be with.

Just Say No

People will often try to give you their cast offs that you don’t need or want but that you take because you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Practice these few responses in the event that happens. “Thank you, I appreciate your thinking of me but I just don’t have room for that in my house.”, “Thanks but my storage room is already busting at the seams”, “Thanks, that really is beautiful (nice, great, interesting) but I just don’t have need of that”.

Early to Bed Early to Rise

Discipline yourself to go to bed early, get 8 hours of sleep. Get up early and spend some time in prayer or thoughtful meditation. Plan your day before you get busy.

Not all these things are going to be suitable for everyone but if some of it speaks to you, why not take a step or two toward a simpler life.

Spend some time with old friends and make some new ones.

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