Welcome to the Simplify Your Life Series!
Over the next few weeks, I am going to be delivering to you a free series on how to simplify multiple areas of your life (including how to begin to simplify your life today):
- Simplifying your Schedule
- Simplifying Your Homeschooling
- Simplifying multiple rooms of your house:
- We’ll simplify the kitchen by finding go to recipes and mixes to keep on hand. We’ll talk about things to keep in the freezer, things to get rid of, etc.
- We’ll walk through various rooms and discuss tips and tricks for keeping them organized and simplified.
- Simplifying Your Garden
- Simplifying your Beauty Routine
- Simplifying Life with Kids
All of these will include recipes, free printables, some giveaways, and more! I’m really excited about all of these great ideas coming together!
What is a Simplified Life?
My definition of a simplified life involves four areas:
- Simplifying ingredients in our foods and arranging our lives so that we have the time and resources to eat healthy meals.
- Simplifying ingredients in our home products and body products so that we are minimizing our interaction with toxins.
- Minimizing our possessions so that our lives are less cluttered and more organized.
- Simplifying our schedules so that we are less stressed and have more time to be organized, eat healthy foods, and spend valuable time with family.
I’ve talked with so many people that feel that their lives are out of control. Their houses are a disaster and their kids are running the schedule. They live immersed in stress.
My hope is that the recipes, tips, tricks, ideas, and other resources that I can give you in this series will ensure that you take a giant step toward a more Simple Life.
Why Simplify Your Life?
1) A Simplified Life Reduces Stress
Studies on the effects of stress demonstrate that excess or chronic stress upsets or hormone balance, compromises our immune system, increases heart attack risk by 21 fold, and can lead to depression, anxiety disorders, insomnia, type 2-diabetes, and more.(1) It’s a crazy domino effect on our system!
When we simplify our lives, we are eating better, sleeping better, and are taking a huge chunk of stress out of our lives.
2) A Simplified Life is More Organized
When our lives are hectic, we often put off cleaning our house, organizing our cupboards, and making sure we are stocked up on necessities. Busy schedules and long work days can leave us with less time to be prepared. The next thing we know, our kids are asking for things we can’t find, husbands are complaining about a mess, and we can’t find what we are looking for (which often is the last straw for the evening sanity).
When our schedules, kitchens, cleaning, and even beauty routines are simplified and organized, we are free to be more spontaneous and ready for what life throws at us.
3) A Simplified Life is More Frugal
The push for more can seep into anyone’s life. We grow accustomed to what’s around us and think it’s natural for us to “need” the same. The next thing we know we are in debt and working long hours to try and make ends meet. When we seek to minimize our possessions, it is much easier to stay organized, feel that the house is clean, have what we need, and reduce stress. We then free up money to be used for more valuable things that last, things that create memories, like time spent together.
4) A Simplified Life Creates Better Family Time
When schedules get crazy, family time suffers. How many meals do eat eat together as a family with no tv or other distractions? Twice a day, once a day, once a week…less? Studies show that eating one meal a day together where you can discuss each others day leads to higher self esteem, lower teen pregnancy rates, and less drug abuse. If your life has been too crazy to sit down and eat with those you love, it’s time to make some changes.
How to Begin to Simplify Your Life
Everyone’s life is different. Even if we were under the same stressors, we will still respond to different areas of our lives differently. For example, I may become exhausted and therefore feel overwhelmed, where you may have tons of energy but feel disorganized.
For this reason, you need to do some self examination and then utilize the resources that are provided for you.
Brainstorm:
Use the Free Printable below to brainstorm where you need to simplify your life the most. This involves taking some quiet time to ask yourself some important questions.
It can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly is causing your stress when you are underneath it all. At this stress level, everything from tiny responsibilities to the large important ones all seem to be the same in priority level and stress producing capability. It doesn’t make sense, but it is our natural reaction when under stress. Everything seems important, everything seems capable of pushing us over the edge. Yet, when not under stress, we are fully capable of prioritizing and dealing with the small every day stressors without letting them harm our peace. Keeping this in mind, try to determine which areas of your life are most important for you to get control of by simplifying and organizing.
The Free Printable, HOW TO BEGIN TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE, will help you walk through those steps so that as this series progresses you will be able to pay special attention to those areas and resources.
Click here to download your Free Printable:
HOW TO BEGIN TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE
I hope to hear from you! What areas are you looking forward to tackling in this series?
Others Articles in this Series:
- 12 Tips to Declutter and Organize Your Kitchen
- Meal Planning Ideas and Methods
- 15 Simple and Healthy Breakfast Ideas
- What Stress Does to Your Body
- 20 Stress Relieving Herbs and Teas
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