Falling in Love with Simplicity

Simplicity - the quality or condition of being easy to understand or do.

One thing I know for sure is that today's world is anything but simple. In order to simplify your life it takes a conscious effort because you are going against the grain of what is considered normal in our modern society.

I tend to have a romanticized view of simplicity in my ideal life. I picture a darling little house with lush flowers gardens in which I meander about with a wicker basket and pruning shears to cut fresh bouquets to adorn my home. All the while, I'm wearing a white flowy dress....

Sigh, a girl can dream! 

But seriously, when you are starting out on the path to simplicity it can be a tad scary. All of your life you've been programmed to work more so you can earn more money to buy more stuff and then expand to bigger and better. 

What are you supposed to do now?

Well, this is where you will have to evaluate your life. 

• What's working?
• What's not working?
• What is causing you undue stress?
• What can you do to ease the stress?

For many, money is one of the biggest stressors. If you have been accustomed to living above your means, you have big changes ahead. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Begin tracking your spending. Note what you're spending on and how much. Do this for at least 30 days, but 90 days to get a better idea of where your money is going.
• Create a budget each month. Your income minus your fixed and variable expenses.  (Let me know if you need help with this and I'll make a separate post - or maybe a video - to help walk you through it.)
• Do you have money left over after everything is paid or are you living off your credit cards until the next pay check? Obviously, this will have to stop.
• Your variable expenses is where you can really reduce your outgo: gas, food, utilities, etc. so this is where you want to start cutting back.
• Don't drastically reduce your budgeted amounts immediately. Aim to cut 10% off and slowly work on reducing further in the coming weeks.
• Have money meetings each week with your spouse so you are both on the same page and can plan together and brainstorm if needed.

I used money in this example as the main stressor, but obviously there are other areas. Maybe your stressor is clutter and your constant embarrassment over the state of your home. We will get there, I promise! 

Share in the comments what is the one thing that stresses you out the most? 

Money stress?

Clutter?

I've been there, honey...

I'm listening. x