Sometimes you need to jumpstart an idea, a goal, a lifestyle, a change. Sometimes it takes a few small steps to snowball into giant leaps. A simple life requires intention and some good old fashioned hard work. And it can feel overwhelming and too much and good intentions can sometimes be left undone. So before you write off a simpler lifestyle or a simpler motherhood, why not try choosing one small way to simplify today. Who knows, maybe it will snowball for you.
Grab a garbage sack
This is about as simple as it gets and earns you some major impact. Grab a garbage sack from under your sink and do a walk through of your house. Take 20 minutes to walk through each and every room and pick up anything you can get rid of: garbage, knick knacks, happy meal toys, forgotten books, broken toys, old magazines, paper clutter. Don’t think too much about this, your goal is to get rid of anything you don’t need that’s cluttering your home. I suggest doing this without your kids around to gain the most impact.
After you have done the walk through, quickly throw all the trash away and put the garbage sack in your trunk to take to your nearest donation site. DO NOT LOOK BACK INSIDE THE BAG AFTER THE SORT. Get to your donation center as soon as possible with your sack and pat yourself on the back for jumpstarting a simpler lifestyle.
Box up the toys
Not ALL of them. I’m not trying to start WWIII. When your kids aren’t around, box up about half of all toys. Again, don’t think too much here, just pick toys that aren’t played with often and leave the favorites. Box up half the toys and put them in a closet with the date on them. Enjoy your simplified spaces and wait to see if any toys are asked for. If after a few days there are toy requests, allow your kids to switch out some toys. But whatever you do, do not get the entire box or boxes of toys out. Your hard word will be undone quickly. If there are toys unasked for after 60-90 days, take straight to your nearest donation site.
Clear a surface
It’s been proven visual clutter affects women’s stress levels. UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives and Families (CELF) studies show clutter has a strong affect on mood and self esteem. The same study concluded the amount of stress women feel at home is directly proportional to the amount of physical stuff they have accumulated.
Stuff=Stress
Amazingly (or maybe not so amazingly) I have discovered visual clutter does not affect my husband as much as it affects me. I know this may not be the case for every family, but it’s something worth considering.
An easy way to make some of the visual clutter disappear is to clear a surface. I suggest the kitchen or dining room table because you will get a lot of bang for your buck. If your family is anything like my family, we spend loads of time in these spaces and clearing a surface can make a world of a difference in how we are able to use the space.
After you choose a surface to clear, take everything off the surface and then quickly sort through, throw away, and put away everything else. Make it a goal to keep that surface clean for the next week or so.
If you want to simplify but don’t know where to start, these are three ways to jumpstart a change. Tell me, where will you begin?