Summer is a great time to try out living a simpler life. Things are slower, schedules are looser and you have time to reflect on the lifestyle you're living. Check out some tips for how to live a simpler life after the jump.
Over at New Greener Family they have put together 10 fantastic tips for living a simple life. Check out the first three:
I could have made a huge list of steps, because goodness knows there are a lot of ways to simplify your life. But for the sake of simplicity I purged it down to the top ten. In no particular order, here are my 10 steps to live a simple life:
- Purge things you do not need and use. If it has been sitting in a box for weeks, months, or even years get rid of it. If it sets gathering dust on a shelf, get rid of it. If it doesn’t fit, get rid of it.
- Put a limit on media. That means TV, computer, and even your cellphone. The fewer electronics you use, the simpler things will be.
- Create a routine. From a cleaning routine to a work routine, setting a specific schedule and sticking to it will make things far more simple than jumping around haphazardly.
Check out the rest of the list at New Greener Family.
(Image: Flickr Member geoffeg licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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How idiotic and consumer-oriented to suggest something that's been in a box for *gasp* is useless to you and should be gotten rid of.
Seasonal changes alone necessitate either buying anew each year or having the foresight to realize that storage is not always wasteful. It's not green to ignore that.
Wrong josiedaisy. It's about paying attention to things that never come out of the box.
It's called doing with less, so you have to store and maintain less.
Of course you keep the seasonal stuff. No one is telling Colorado folks to ditch the featherbed in July.
sheesh.
Oh Josie, you took the box thing out of context, the first sentance in that point states that "you not need and use". Now if you have something in a box that you need and likely to use, keep it. If not, give it to someone who can give it the love it deserves.
I know what they are getting at with number 2, less mindless surfing on the net, chatting etc but for my own life, I respectfully differ. I use my computer daily to write which may not make my life simpler but enriches it. Is also invaluable in the workplace. Also, the synching calendars, appointments on my iphone has ended the "missed meetingitis" as the shopping list has ended the "drove all the way to town and forgot to buy amnesia". Tech is so ingrained in my life and that is positive.
I just think the emphasis on many green sites on either buying cool new green stuff or mixing up tips on de-cluttering for actual "green lifestyle" is kind of sad.
Eat everything in your pantry and stop shopping for the 'pending famine!!'
My mate is in the middle of a de-clutter, she always had the mind set that half of her (rather large) family were going to call and stay at the drop of a hat so she had food for 3 months and bed linen for about 10 beds (plus changes of linen!!!).
I hear you Josie. I think Re-Nest should have posted the entire list, not just the top three. Taken out of context, it's difficult to see how the article relates to green living. I did read the entire list on "New Greener Family" and in its entirety it focuses having less posessions including holding onto stuff and limits on buying new. Simplifying your "inventory" can mean a smaller home for some. Purging and giving something away that will just languish in your closet but that someone else may need and can reuse may reduce the recepient from buying new.
This list is the same one seen everywhere...no news here. Gee...WRONG yourself Heidi! I think that the definition of "need" would set many of us off. Do I need the collection of movie/concert stubs or is that just trash? The problem with this list is that for some of you (like peacenik or Heidi) it works. The list doesn't help me. It's that simple. It is the same list I see over and over and listening to a show about life brings up to me what it wrong with that list/advice- it hasn't evolved.
Wow. Heated. I feel this discussion would be simpler if everyone just took what they found useful from the list and disregarded what doesn't work for them. You'll be hard pressed to find any "10 Things..." list that works for everyone in its entirety.
I'll add an eleventh tip: Don't sweat the small stuff...
(Nice post, thehalfie.)