Monday, October 22, 2012

Simple Ways to Uncomplicate Your Life.

Simple Ways to Uncomplicate Your Life.

http://weorganizeu.com/simple-ways-to-uncomplicate-your-life/

Overwhelmed by life’s complications? It seems we have more and more things in our lives, but less and less time to spend with them. Simplifying your life will save you time, money and energy. Try some of these ideas:
100 Ways to Uncomplicate Your Life
  1. For every item you bring into your home, take one out.
  2. When adding a new activity to your schedule, choose one to discontinue.
  3. Stop watching news on TV.
  4. Spend less time on personal calls. Learn how to end conversations graciously.
  5. Cancel magazine subscriptions.
  6. Lower your expectations about how clean your house has to be.
  7. Wear clothes more than once before washing (if still clean).
  8. Use bath towels more than once before laundering.
  9. Rather than rushing to the store when you run out of something, shop only once a week for groceries, toiletries and other items.
  10. Clear out your fridge and pantry before going grocery shopping.
  11. Take a list when you go shopping, and stick to it.
  12. Become more resourceful. Find creative solutions instead of shopping for more things.
  13. Eliminate impulse-buying by keeping a list of anything you see and want; wait 30 days before purchasing it.
  14. Cut ties with people that drain you.
  15. Don’t accept invitations to social events you’d rather not attend.
  16. Let go of all but one or two volunteer obligations.
  17. Stop volunteering to do things out of guilt.
  18. Reserve one weekend a month (or at least one day) as ‘down time’. Do only what you feel like doing – even if it’s absolutely nothing.
  19. Just because the phone rings doesn’t mean you have to answer it. That’s what voicemail is for.
  20. Put together two weekly menus and rotate every second week.
  21. Avoid automatically turning the TV on when you enter the room.
  22. Limit the time you watch TV – and only do it purposefully.
  23. Trade babysitting duties with another parent on a regular basis.
  24. Set aside one morning or afternoon a week to run all your errands at once.
  25. Avoid buying things you have to assemble.
  26. Stop watching infomercials.
  27. Reduce the amount of credit cards you own – or at least that you carry.
  28. Pack only half of what you think you’ll need when you travel.
  29. Drop any activity you are only doing to meet someone else’s expectations
  30. When someone offers helps, accept it.
  31. When you need help, ask for it.
  32. Before purchasing things you will only use occasionally, consider borrowing or renting instead.
  33. Simplify your time management system so you’re not spending too much time keeping it up to date.
  34. Delete (or delegate) any task that has been on your ‘to do’ list for over a year.
  35. If you’ve been meaning to have a garage sale for years, call a charity to pick up your stuff instead.
  36. Let of go perfectionism.
  37. Give yourself extra time to get to where you’re going.
  38. Refuse to engage in gossiping.
  39. Eat your meals at the table (not in your car, at your desk or standing over the countertop).
  40. Stop trying to do two things at once.
  41. Learn to say ‘no’. Feel the guilt and do it anyway.
  42. Go to bed half an hour earlier.
  43. Get up half an hour earlier and have a leisurely breakfast.
  44. If you can walk there, don’t drive.
  45. Shop early in the day to avoid crowds.
  46. Explore options to work closer to home or from home.
  47. Do what you can to avoid travelling during rush hour.
  48. Let go of trying to control everything and everyone.
  49. Let someone else do it for a change, even if it’s not done to your standards.
  50. Stop living in the past.
  51. Stop living in the future.
  52. Each time you do a task, ask yourself how you can do it easier and in less time.
  53. Make bed-making easier: Reduce the number of decorative pillows. Use a duvet instead of several blankets. Eliminate the top sheet.
  54. Let go of the expectation that you have to read everything you come across. Be selective.
  55. There are many situations when closing the door is the best option.
  56. Get rid of high maintenance plants.
  57. Get rid of worn-out towels, chipped plates, and warped food containers.
  58. Limit the amount of decorative items on your shelves and tables, to make dusting simpler.
  59. Resist buying so-called ‘convenience’ items you don’t really need (bread maker, pasta machine, food dehydrator).
  60. Create more breathing space in your kitchen cupboards by getting rid of all the ’convenience’ gadgets you seldom use.
  61. Buy all-purpose cleaning products and put one on each floor of your home. Use up or get rid of all the others.
  62. Don’t let the dishes pile up. Rinse plates as soon as you’re done using them.
  63. Wipe spills right away.
  64. If you use something, put it back where it belongs as soon as you’re done.
  65. Sort the mail daily.
  66. Get off mailing lists and phone lists.
  67. Simplify your wardrobe. Avoid trends. Limit your color scheme.
  68. Move to a smaller home.
  69. Move to a home with less property.
  70. Borrow books from the library instead of buying them.
  71. Eat the same thing for breakfast with a little variation. (Oatmeal, with blueberries today, raisins tomorrow).
  72. Buy pre-packaged snacks. They cost a little more but save you time.
  73. Shop closer to home.
  74. Before you bring something home, decide where you’ll keep it.
  75. Request that your friends and family stop buying you (and your kids) gifts, and instead spend time with you – or contribute to your favorite charity.
  76. Reduce your gift list. Stop overloading other people’s lives.
  77. Look at where you are doing things ‘over the top’ in your life and scale back.
  78. Resist taking on other people’s problems.
  79. Take steps to stop the worrying habit.
  80. Give yourself permission to let go of that unfinished project you never get around to.
  81. Stop doing things you feel you ‘should’ do in order to be other people’s idea of ‘perfect’ (perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect employee).
  82. Stop rushing. Drive slower. Eat slower. Live slower.
  83. Go for a walk every day. Preferably in nature.
  84. When you have something to say, speak up – don’t suppress.
  85. Don’t wash your hair every day if you don’t have to.
  86. Reduce the amount of make-up and skin care products. Do you really need 10 different eye-shadows?
  87. Look for ways to simplify your grooming routine.
  88. Streamline your household chores by focusing on just one thing each day. (Dust every Monday, vacuum on Tuesdays).
  89. Wash your colors with your darks. (Use cold water)
  90. Adapt to your natural rhythm. Work when your energy is high and relax when it’s low.
  91. Get enough sleep.
  92. Have breakfast foods for dinner on nights you are busy or too tired to cook.
  93. Get ‘caller display’ and let unfamiliar callers leave a message.
  94. If you answer the door or the phone to a sales pitch, save your time and their’s by immediately saying ‘no thank you’.
  95. Make sorting socks simpler. When buying socks, buy several (7-10) identical pairs – so you don’t have to mate them. Wash and dry each family member’s socks in their own mesh bag.
  96. Avoid buying clothes that have to be ironed.
  97. Don’t print things if you can save them on your computer.
  98. Resist bringing papers into your home if you don’t have a specific use for them. (Brochures from a show, pamphlets collected on vacation, business cards from people you’ll never contact.)
  99. If you’re not already using online banking and automatic bill payment, consider setting it up.
  100. Resist scheduling every last minute of your day.
Let me know which of these ideas you’ve tried and how they worked. Also, feel free to share other ways you’ve simplified your life, in the comment section below

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