Simplifying the life and mind is to get rid of the stuff not needed anymore. Needing less to live better.

When I talk about simplifying my life, I am not talking just about the material things I own. I am talking about the commitments I have, the obligations I try to meet, and the people in my life as well as our homes.

For now, I will talk about the home and things we have in it. As this series goes along, we will get to the rest of the simplifying of our lives. As you will see, this all flows together and one thing will lead to more.

In my home, the worse the house becomes, the worse I become. I become grouchy, disorganized, lazy, cluttered, emotional, and very frustrated. I like my house to be clean. Not a perfect clean, just a liveable clean. You will never see the dusting done every week and the dining room table totally cleared. But you will see things being picked up, put away, and cleared walkways. That is my goal every week.

What does your home look like? Is it something you can live with or is it cluttered with things?

Things can become the issue to simplified living. We have things that we become emotionally attached to for some reason or another. That can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. I always need to ask myself why I am attached to things. Too many things becomes a problem to living simply.

For example, my third daughter’s room is a constant disaster. She is a collector of things. She finds a purpose for almost everything. While that can be an admirable trait, she is disorganized. She loses things very, very quickly. If she was clean and tidy, she would know that everything should have a place and put it there. If there is no space, the thing should find another home or she needs to discard something else. She could put something down and not be swallowed by the mess in her room.

Truth be told, my office could be considered a mess. I am constantly working on cleaning and organizing the desk and the room. I have learned to deal with the mail right away, to keep a big trash can in there under the desk, and not to keep even a piece a paper if I don’t have a purpose for it. I do have a problem with getting things organized in a timely matter, but I try. Having it cleaned up and organized goes a long ways towards my sanity being intact.

So how can you apply this to your home? I have a few tips.

First thing I do is walk into a room and ask myself what bothers me about that room. Is it messy? Is it cluttered? Does it look like a museum of things? I will then proceed to mentally clean the room paying attention to all surfaces: floor, tables, furniture, shelves, counter tops  In the past, I have realized that I have way too many knickknacks, too many pillows, too many small appliances sitting out, too many cans and bottles on top of the  bathroom counter, too much furniture for one room, too many toys, etc.

Then I will go through that room, organizing and decluttering. For the kitchen I will look at what is sitting out on the counter. Sometimes we have small appliances sitting out that are not used daily. Find a place for them. I have cabinet where I stash mine at, but as you can guess, I had to clean that out first to make them fit. I have a lot of things in the kitchen that sit on the counters waiting to be put away in the basement or on the pantry shelves. I tackle that next. If I notice that my cabinets are cluttered, I will go through them and reorganize and get rid of unneeded items. Unbelievably, I can do this once a year and still get rid of a box of things.

Then I will clean the room paying attention to the surfaces of the room. Sometimes a problem comes up then that I didn’t see before. Too many knickknacks, something the kids stash on a table behind something else, DVDs overflowing the shelves holding them, etc. I will declutter those items and keep cleaning.

Step back and take a look at your work.

Do you feel better? Do you like your sense of accomplishment? Do you feel calmer knowing that the room is clean and ready for you?

I love that feeling!

Simplifying life starts with you and your home. Starting with a calm, peaceful place for you to come home to will kick down the door to the rest of your life.

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Erica

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