Simple Steps to Simplify Your Life

If you’ve ever run a marathon you know that you don’t run the race thinking of all the miles ahead of you. You focus on the mile you’re in right then. Thinking too far ahead can lead to negative thoughts and defeat. Often those miles in the middle are so challenging it can be difficult to think about the ten or more miles you have left. You just keep telling yourself to finish this mile and when you finish it you tell yourself to finish one more.

Small steps, or miles run one at a time, add up. When you’re facing down those last few miles in a marathon you have all that work and sweat behind you propelling your forward.

Simplifying your stuff and your life is a marathon.

The stories I hear from people that have been successful at decluttering their home and life are ones of long term work and slow progress. They set small goals each month and pick away at making changes. They keep the rest of their life running as they whittle their wardrobe and spend an afternoon every other weekend clearing out the garage.

Burnout in simplifying is a thing. I was on maternity leave when we did our big declutter. I had the time to devote to radically decluttering our home. And it was hard. I put in a lot of work over three months. Selling, recycling, donating. On repeat. At the time we were in debt and I wanted to sell as much as I could to put towards debt. Nowadays we send our good hand-me-downs to friends but back then I was listing them on Craigslist and arranging meet ups with people to sell things for $10. And I had a lot to sell. It was exhausting work all at once.

But simplifying doesn’t have to be a slog.

So how do you avoid burnout when simplifying?

Make your decluttering goals tangible and attainable.

Write your goals down. Make them as specific as possible. Make them reasonable. Mesh the hours and minutes these tasks will take into your current routines and responsibilities. Here are some ideas for tangible goals:

• I will pare down my wardrobe to fifty pieces per season and no longer have to store off-season clothing.
• I will be able to park my car in the garage by May 1st.
• I will keep my fifty favourite books, ones that I want to read again, and sell or give away the rest. *A nice add on to this one: I will only use the library this year and will not buy any new books.
• I will make $1000 selling things we don’t use by July 1st.
• I will give away/donate/sell 2019 things this year.
• I will only buy new things after putting them on a list and waiting 30 days.

Here are some other very specific goals around simplifying:

• I will track all of my spending for one month. *Add on: I will make a realistic budget and track all of my spending this year.
• I will resign from/give up some things so that I have one volunteer position and one hobby at a time on my schedule/commitments.
• I will turn off screens by 9pm and be in bed by 10pm six nights a week. I will track my success and progress with this goal in a written journal.
• I will teach my kids/partner to wash dishes/do laundry/make lunches/etc before May 1st. *Add on: I will permanently hand over these duties to other people in my household.

Make yourself accountable for your goals.

Sharing your goals with someone else, hopefully someone with similar goals, will greatly increase your chance of success. Have a weekly check-in with a friend. Plan a spring garage sale together. Trade afternoons of help. It is so much more fun to have a friend helping you clean out a closet (and then helping them do  the same) than to do it on your own. Put some music on, chat and get the work done together.

Let the Internet hold you accountable for your goals. If you’re on Instagram or Facebook, declare your goal and then keep updating as you work your way towards it. This is what social media should be used for: support and encouragement. You may also find others that want to simplify or declutter by sharing your goals publicly. Use the Internet for good!

Need more ideas for specific areas of your home/life? Check out the Getting Started section here or simply use the search bar on the right side of this page to find specific topics. Here are some popular posts on specific subjects:

Decluttering Kid’s Toys

Toys are often the root of kid clutter. Find out how to reduce them for happier more engaged kids and less clean up.

How we paid off $80,000 in debt in two years. 

Minimalism gave us the gift of being non-mortgage debt free. For me, this was a first. I had had credit card debt since I was 18. Happy to report that seven years after getting out of debt we are still non-mortgage debt free.

What to do with kid’s art. 

With three kids we constantly have art and crafts coming into our house. Here’s how we keep it all from piling up.

Paring down your wardrobe to simplify your life.

Having less clothing (and shoes!) greatly simplifies my life.

Getting over the fear of letting go of stuff. 

A big barrier for some of us is the idea that we will someday need stuff that we get rid of. Here’s how to get over that fear.

Living in a smaller home to save money and time.

Condo living and small homes can create a windfall of money and time. Check out our home tour from when we lived in an 1100 sq ft apartment as a family of five. We live in a house now (roughly 1400 sq ft) but living in an apartment really showed us what we needed.

Have a drawer full of electronics? Many Americans leave old phones, tablets in the drawer.  There is still value in these items  – so by selling them through SellCell.com they would be sure to get the best value, even if the device is broken. This is a great option for decluttering and making money!

You don’t need to spend any money to simplify and declutter.

I’ll tell you right now I did my big declutter with mostly just accountability (my sister was decluttering as well) and inspiration from some blogs. You can too. You don’t need to buy a book or really anything to get started and get it done this year. Giving your neighbour down the hall your old maternity clothing or taking a twenty of your thirty coffee mugs to Goodwill really costs nothing. Grab an old notebook from whatever you currently have and start recording everything you giveaway. It will feel great!

Want more help? There are lots of books at your local library that can help you. My book Do Less has sold almost 30,000 copies (thank you to Urban Outfitters that stocked it for two years!) and has helped many, many people declutter their homes and schedules. If your library doesn’t have a copy make a request to add it. And there are so many more books to help you. Search your library for Joshua Becker, Brooke McAlary and Courtney Carver for more how to and motivation for simplifying your life and stuff.

What if you need more help?

If you’ve been trying to declutter and simplify but can’t make progress, you’re not alone. Some of us need more help. You’ll know you’re a person that needs structure and more guidance because you probably already have that in place in other areas in your life.

You’re more likely to take an Italian course one night a week than use an app or a book from the library. You need to make a significant commitment like time – the rest of the class is counting on you to be there – or money – you paid to do this course and there’s no way you won’t finish it – to get things done.

I’m like this with fitness: I need to have some kind of investment to regularly do the work. When I paid for a fitness app for audio workouts I used it 4-5 times a week. But when I just said I was going to vaguely ‘workout’ – nothing specific or structured or planned – I ended up working out a lot less. If you are someone that needs extra help and motivation in certain areas don’t beat yourself up about it. Just find a system that works for you.

You can sign up for course like Uncluttered (check this link for when the next course starts) or buy a book like Do Less or The Joy of Less. Make a bet with a friend to see who can get rid of 2020 things first this year.

Small steps can create big change.

A lot of people laugh at New Yea’s resolutions but I love them. I like any kind of reason or easy to find motivation to try new things. This year I want to have more fun (I can often be very task oriented) and I’m going to do that by doing more outdoor activities like skiing, hiking and going to the lake with my kids. I want to do less housework so one of my goals is to teach my kids how to do more tasks around the house (I’ll  have another post about this because I’ve already found some easy and simple wins).

If you have goals around decluttering and simplifying make them specific, realistic and measurable. I’ll have more posts in the next few weeks with inspiration and how-to. Happy 2019!