The first week of August is National Simplify Your Life Week! It’s an official, yet little known observance that encourages you to organize and de-clutter your life. I don’t know about you, but I need more than one week during the year to reduce the stress brought on by work, family, bills, commitments…life. We overextend ourselves daily and then try to compensate by taking a long weekend or a week of vacation. But what happens after we return? The same worries, commitments, tasks, and responsibilities are still there – waiting for us to return. Personally, I always dread returning from a vacation, not because the vacation is over, but because I know I will have so many things to catch up on and twice the work to squeeze in when I return.
So why don’t we do things every week, or every day to help alleviate some of the stress in our lives? If we simplify our lives daily, then maybe we wouldn’t feel so stressed and we could enjoy life just a little more, even on vacation. Here are some ideas to help you get started simplifying your life.
- Too much e-mail? Check e-mail at designated times during the day, 9 am, Noon, and 3pm, rather than all day long. Sticking to a schedule keeps you from getting distracted. E-mail is a major time waster.
- Unsubscribe! Have you registered and signed up for every e-zine and forum on the planet? Which ones do you actually enjoy reading? Which ones do you actually read? Do you move them to another folder in your e-mail client and tell yourself that you’ll read them later, only you never do? Then unsubscribe! Take 30 minutes this week and just do it! You’ll have less e-mail to weed through and more time for other things.
- Dread the trip to the grocery store? Try shopping from home for one week. There are several on-line grocers. You can shop directly on their site and have your groceries delivered to your door! Imagine spending time with your family instead of packing everyone up, loading them in the car and taking them to the store where everyone wants something different and you don’t have to say NO! Check out NetGrocer, PeaPod or Schwan’s. Your local grocery store may have a program all ready in place.
- Take a long relaxing bath! This one is pure indulgence. We need to do it more often. Pick one or two nights each week and put it on your calendar. Light candles, play your favorite music, add your favorite scented oil to the water and soak your worries away for half an hour! You’ll feel relaxed and refreshed and will sleep great.
- Get a sitter! Are you a work at home mom? Check out your local Mother’s Morning Out programs or swap hours with a friend and care for each other’s children once or twice a week. What could you do with an extra 3-6 hours each week?
- Make an end of the day list! I am the queen of lists. I have a list for practically everything including: to-dos, groceries, chores, bills, and more. Each day before I leave my office, I review my current to-do list, make a list of things I need to do the next day, and review my calendar for the next day. When I return the next morning, I do not have to spend an hour trying to figure out what I need to do next or where I left off with a project. I’m also reminded of any morning meetings or conference calls. I leave my office feeling as though I’ve left nothing outstanding and I start my day knowing what needs to be done without wasting any time!
- You’ve got mail – open it and purge daily! Postal mail that is and if you are anything like me, I used to avoid it like the plague! I used to let my mail pile up every week and then open it on the weekend. I kid you not when I tell you that if I stacked my mail up on a weekly basis and measured, it would be at least 10 inches tall. Get a ruler…that’s a lot of mail. Most of it is junk mail, but sometimes you don’t know it is junk unless you open it. Now I have a system. I go through my mail daily as it comes in, I purge what can be purged, put anything that needs to just be filed (like any Explanation of Benefits from my medical insurance company) in the To Be Filed box, things that need my action in one pile and bills in another pile. Then when I get ready to pay my bills, I don’t have to weed through the mountain of mail for an hour each weekend to find them.
- Business owner? Get a Virtual Assistant! Don’t like accounting? Outsource it. Hate writing letters or putting together marketing packets? Let your VA do it. Does your newsletter, blog, e-zine or tip of the week take too much of your time? Then get a VA to do it for you.
There are tons of ways to simplify your life, and these were just a few! Make your own list and do one per day for the next seven days. Take a few minutes every day to slow down and start enjoying life! It’s easier than you might think.
P.S. Have other ideas on how to simplify your life? Please share your ideas to help others simplify their lives by commenting below!
