Feeling like time’s flying? You’re not alone. Let’s take charge. Whether tackling money goals or simplifying life, let’s make this year ours. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive in and make things happen!
How To Simplify Your Life Right Now
If you want to manage all of this, the best advice is: simplify your life! This will help you with the clutter that is taking up physical and mental space. It will lower your stress and enable you to focus on other things. You will have more time in life to do the things you love, and you will have more control and be happier this year!
1. Less Social Media
Think about all the social media you use throughout the day; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, etc. Think about where you’re doing it; on the train, at work, while eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, while spending time with family, and more. What amount of time do you estimate to spend on social media?
One way to efficiently cut your time on social media is creating time blocks in which you can access social media and creating time blocks where you cannot access your accounts.
2. Declutter Your House (And Your Mind)
Decluttering your house will also lead to decluttering your mind. When you get rid of things, you will open up new space for other things to show up!
If you want to declutter your house, you will feel much lighter! It will lead to the following:
- Less cleaning, since there is less stuff to clean
- Less maintenance, which saves you time and money
- Earn money, and you can sell the things that you run into that are still worth a decent amount of money
3. Take A Step Back
When you are doing too many things at once, it might be too overwhelming for you. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, taking a step back and making small changes can help.
If you’re overwhelmed, this can result in you getting nothing done after all while still having the feeling of wanting to do it. Set your priorities and take a step back when you feel like you need it.
4. Focus On The Things That Matter
To simplify your life, it is important to focus on the things that matter. All too often, we are doing things for the sake of staying busy. I want to ask you to pause for a second and give yourself the opportunity to evaluate. Ask yourself if what you are doing right now on a day-to-day basis is adding to your overall happiness.
Put simply: focus more time on what you love and less on what you don’t love!
5. Don’t Get Caught Up In Your To-Do List
There are so many time-saving hacks and things you can do to be more productive. I tried to keep up with them for a long time, but not so many hacks worked for me.
One way to prevent you from getting distracted as well is by setting up a to-do list. Or rather, a can-do list. I love to write down all the things I can do in a day and then focus on them. I will never finish this list, and that’s okay. There are always more things that will be added at the bottom.
6. Quit Multitasking
This is a big one! Many people think that you can save time by multitasking. Multitasking causes many people to waste time since it will take a lot of time to refocus on your task. If you approach your tasks separately, you will probably spend less time.
For the most part, focusing on one task will allow you to spend your time more effectively. This will contribute to simplifying your life.
7. Slow Down & Be Present
Over the next year, life will probably get busier than ever. People will rush through the year without paying attention to where their time is going.
It is important to set goals and think ahead, but it’s also important to enjoy the moment and slow down to look at what is happening around you. Be present.
8. Update Your Calendar
Reminders in your calendar are a lifesaver. This is one of the easiest ways to simplify your life. When there is something I want to remember or something I want to do, I always put it on my calendar. This makes life much easier. You don’t have to worry about forgetting appointments, important to-do’s, payments, etc.
You can use your calendar to remind you about anything, like:
- When it’s time to pay bills
- (Business) tasks and to-do lists
- Doing medications
- Birthday of a friend or family member (without Facebook)
- When to issue your taxes
- Certain events (birthday parties, housewarming, etc.)
9. Know When To Say Yes
You don’t need to say yes to everything. I noticed that saying no can simplify your life. When someone asks you something, ask yourself this:
- Will it bring me joy?
- Do the benefits outweigh the additional stress?
- Will it enable me to get closer to my goal(s)?
10. Watch Less TV
The average person spends an average of 4.5 hours per day watching TV. This means that people watch an average of over 30 hours of TV per week. That’s a lot of hours! Can you imagine what would happen if you just took half of the hours back each week?
Taking back this amount of time in your week would enable you to do a lot of other things. You can spend more time with your family and friends. You can work on your side hustles. You can get outside, do some things you have wanted to do for a long time, and more.
11. Find Free Things To Enjoy
There are many ways to enjoy yourself that don’t have to cost a lot of money. If you have to pay off a lot of high-interest debt that is stressing you out, one of the worst things to do is get into more debt for the sake of entertainment. You can do many things that don’t cost you a lot of money!
For example:
- Go for a walk
- Go for a swim
- Check out free things to do in your city (free festivals, free museums, free concerts)
- Go camping
- Go for a bike ride
- Take advantage of happy hours
12. Pay Off Your Debt
Paying off your debt will make managing your finances so much more simple, as you will have less debt to stress about. Whether you have student loan debt or credit card debt, I’m sure it will clear up a lot of mental space.
Debt can result in crazy amounts of stress, and getting rid of your debt is one of the most important ways to simplify your life. Don’t stress about paying off your debt. Just focus on one small step at a time. That will prevent many future problems, like a declining debit card.
13. Pay Expenses Automatically
I want to give you something that can be done within 20 minutes. Automate your payments and eliminate the reminder that you will have to pay your bills every week/month/quarter/year.
What you can do is the following:
- Automatically pay your bills (rent, utilities)
- Automatically pay your credit card expenses
- Automatically pay your health insurance (or pay annually if you can afford this, so you will get a discount)
Paying your expenses automatically will definitely simplify your life this year. It will clear your mind and your stress level!
How are you planning to simplify your life this year?
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Founder of Spark Nomad, Radical FIRE, Journalist
Expertise: Personal finance and travel content
Education: Bachelor of Economics at Radboud University, Master in Finance at Radboud University, Minor in Economics at Chapman University.
Over 200 articles, essays, and short stories published across the web.
Experience: Marjolein Dilven is a journalist and founder of Radical FIRE, a personal finance platform, and Spark Nomad, a travel platform. Marjolein has a finance and economics background with a master’s in Finance. She has quit her job to travel the world, documenting her travels on Spark Nomad to help people plan their travels. Marjolein Dilven has written for publications like MSN, Associated Press, CNBC, Town News syndicate, and more.