How To Simplify Your Life Without Becoming A Minimalist

No one likes to feel consumed by stuff. Most of us feel motivated to reduce, purge and toss.

Here are a few tips to help you simplify your life, without becoming a minimalist.

1. Get rid of things you really don’t need. Honestly, do you really need 3 can openers? The more stuff you have, the more time it takes you to clean up.
2. Don’t allow things to accumulate in your home. The process of reducing (as per step 1) doesn’t end because there are always going to be more papers, toys, and things. The trick is to sort through things before they are allowed to settle in your home.
3. Take your time simplifying. You don’t have to get it all done this weekend.
4. Don’t let the dishes or the laundry or the papers pile up. If it gets overwhelming, no one will want to do it. It’s a downward spiral.
5. Give each family member a cup in the morning. This must be used all day. “You want a drink? Where is your cup?” If you are a family of four, then at the end of the day, there are four cups to wash, not sixteen.
6. Even though you may declutter, there is no way you can pick up the house all by yourself. Everyone needs to be responsible — even the little ones. Keeping it all picked up is something the family can do together, five minutes at a time. Put on a song to make it more fun. It’s also great if we can help pick up each other’s things, not just our own.
7. Put hooks on the wall in the entryway so you have a place to hang coats and bags and keys. When your family comes home tired, it needs to be as easy as possible to put things where they should go.
8. Keep the things you need, where you need them. This simplifies your life in a big way.
9. If you’ve got kids, box up half of your children’s toys and rotate them every few months. You don’t need to get rid of them, but they don’t all need to be available to play with, or on the floor. Better yet, let your children decide which toys they are done playing with for a while. Do the same with children’s books.
10. Declare toy-free areas. Perhaps your kids can play with their toys in their rooms, but the living room and kitchen are toy-free zones.
11. Choose your battles. There are certain battles you can’t win, so don’t fight them anymore. If you have told your kid a thousand times how to make the bed, and she/he still doesn’t make it exactly as you like it, give up! Trying is good enough. Hopefully, it will get done right, eventually.
12. Organize your stuff, but know when to stop. Organizing your stuff should save you time, not consume it.