Something I’ve discovered in my journey toward minimalism is that anxiety is one of the biggest reasons for overconsumption. Just think of all the “dorm essentials” people buy when their kids head to college. Preparing for pregnancy, birth, and baby is another high-emotion life milestone. So many things are advertised as “pregnancy essentials.” And almost all will just become clutter. I still remember the anxious days leading up to flying to my host country with the Peace Corps right after college. My mom bought me tons of camping gear and gadgets advertised to solve various problems in the absence of electricity and running water. I packed it all into two giant suitcases and showed up at my host family’s home with more…
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In today’s world of non-stop stimulation and productivity, it’s no wonder that many of us are dreaming of a simple life. The simple living movement is a response to an environment that’s gotten a bit out of control – information overload, overconsumption of cheap products and food, jobs that can reach you at any time of day, jam-packed activity schedules for kids, and constant reminders of a million things you “should” be doing. In order to truly create a simple life, you may at some point want to overhaul your career, living situation, habits, and so on. But you don’t have to do it all at once. I wrote previously about easy steps you can take today to simplify your life. To build on that, I…
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If you’re anything like me, you heard about minimalism, got inspired, and did a big home declutter. But then…you hit a wall. You have less clutter than before. But you still have enough stuff that it stresses you out. That’s what happened to me. Then it hit me that I was going about the decluttering process all wrong. Below, I’ll explain how to declutter backwards for significantly better results. Before I learned how to declutter backwards, decluttering was a labor-intensive – and emotional – process. Dwelling on each item in your entire house is exhausting. By the end of a session, you’re full of guilt and questioning things. Sure, there’s some low-hanging fruit you can clear out quickly. But then you get into the painstaking process of deciding the fate of every possession. And decision fatigue is real! But is there an easier and…
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If you found this blog, you’re probably on board with the idea of simple living. You might aspire to totally transform your life. To move to a cottage, quit your 9-5, and raise chickens. All that is probably great, honestly. But it’s not actually necessary in order to drastically improve your life. A while back, I shared 10 ways to simplify your life today. I wanted to prove that you can take action immediately to start simple living. You don’t have to dream about “someday.” And I want to share these tiny simple living habits that changed my life for the same reason. These are extremely simple changes I’ve made that have majorly upgraded my life. Sure, there were some bigger life changes I gradually implemented over time that really made…
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I didn’t grow up cooking. My parents worked, and we found the usual American solutions to having no time to prepare food. We ate at restaurants, picked up fast food, and microwaved frozen dinners. At the time, it wasn’t clear to Americans how negatively those habits affected our health. When I got married and had a kid, I wanted to prepare real food for my family. But I felt totally overwhelmed by the responsibility of cooking. And frankly, I resented it. Even though I knew it was something I could enjoy. But then I developed these simple cooking ideas that saved my sanity and my family’s health. And I want to share them with others who feel they just do not have time to handle dinner every night. …
