Five Ways to Simplify Your New Year

We all live fast paced and sometimes cluttered lives that seem to take over and drive us a little crazy.  We have too many appointments, too much work to get done without enough time to get all of completed.  Our phone seems to have a mind of its own and rings at the most inopportune times.

Try these five simple steps to simplify your life and find some much-needed calm.

1. Reduce the amount of “things” that you carry around or have in your house.

We all have closets that are jam packed with clothes that we think that we will get back into because they will come back into style.  Or if we only could lose 15lbs we would have a new wardrobe that nobody has seen in a decade.  Or when you open the garage door does it look like you may have been robbed?  How about the purse that weighs enough that if you dropped it on your foot you may have to go to the emergency room? 

We have clutter everywhere and it does a couple things to our minds:

1. It makes us have to think about where something is when we are looking, and
2. If it is not organized correctly or in an orderly fashion we get frustrated and do not know where to start.

So how do you simplify your stuff?  Begin with the closet, if you have not worn a particular item in your closet in the past year….donate it to a good will charity.  Give yourself 10 items that you can keep over the 1 year mark but those items have to have been worn in the past 2 years.  Anything over 2 years has to go. 

This will be a little difficult at first, but once your free yourself of your “old stuff” it will feel exhilarating.  And when you do lose that 15lbs, go buy new clothes, you deserve it. 

Do the same thing with your purse and the garage.  If items are not being used, ask yourself the question, do I really need this in my life?  We enjoy our items but we become slaves to them as well.

2. Designate time to yourself so that you can just be.

When was the last time you were able to just have a relaxing bath without the kids running in or the phone ringing?  When was the last movie that you saw by yourself? When were you able to have that day off from work and actually enjoy it?  You probably have many other activities that you have not done in a while because you have too many responsibilities, and in general life is getting in the way of you having a life. 

So how do you designate time for yourself?  First off, keep track of your schedule for a couple days and see what kinds of interruptions are taking up time but are not that productive.  Realize that you deserve to take time for yourself.  You work hard and having an hour or two each week to meditate or go to the spa is a wonderful way to recharge your batteries.  

Next, free up time. If you can afford it take the clothes to the cleaners or hire a house keeper to help clean up.  If you have a hard time finding quiet time, try to go to bed earlier and wake up before everyone else does, so that you can enjoy the peace and quiet.  Head to the gym after work and get that body moving the the endorphins pumping.  Spend time finding yourself and your passion through some meditation exercises.  Do not discount the importance of “self time”. 

3. Reducing the amount of paper in your office or home.

When the computer was introduced and started to make its way into our lives it was supposed to reduce the amount of paper and reports that were necessary.  It now seems that we have more paper backups and reports than ever and we still have not learned how to reduce this amount. 

A couple of ideas here to help minimize paper and stop letting it pile up.  First, start by only handling paper once when it come into your possession.  This means when the mail is delivered, go through it and either take action on it, file it or throw it away.  If you need to keep it for later reading have a reading file. 

Emails, read and take action and if possible put them into the archive.  You will still have acess to it but it will not be on your main screen. 

Paper files seem to pile up quickly because we keep so much backed up.  Go through each folder and see if you really need to be keeping three years worth of records on utilities.  Reduce, reduce, reduce. 

Another way to help is to start using a program called Evernote.  It allows you to keep all your notes, folders and business cards all in one place.  It has simplified my desk by getting things off of it.  What I like about Evernotes is that it links up with all my devices including my home computer so that when I enter something from my phone it also is able to be read from my I-pad and home computer.  Try it and see if it helps.

4. Reduce your debt.

Having a high amount of debt can easily become stressful and frustrating.  You have to make sure that you have enough money in the bank so that if you have automatic payments they are all covered.  You may have to write out checks every month to all these different companies.  What if you missed a month or were short and could not pay and got behind on your bills.  All these situations can be stressful.

By reducing your debt you start to gain back your freedom.  The easiest way to do this is to start with the smallest bill or credit card.  Try and double up or pay this card off as soon as possible.  Once you have paid off this card you can take that payment and add to the next bill. 

I know that every time I was able to “knock” off a bill and not have to worry about it anymore, it was a great feeling.  It starts to become a game as to how much you can add to the next month’s payment and how fast you can reduce the debt.  I personally have knocked off my credit card, my car payment, and my furniture bill that I financed.  As you move forward with this new type of life (more and more debt free) you begin to realize that you can save and pay as you go.  No debt equals plenty of personal freedom.

5. Have all your social media post at different times and locations.

How time consuming can social media be when you have 4, 5, 6 or more accounts that you are trying to keep up with and stay relevant.  Social media has become a juggernaut in keeping yourself aware of what is going on with your friends and family, and now it has also is a business vehicle that can propel your business to greater heights.  But we have been talking about simplifying your life and making things easier. 

The app that I like is called HootSuite.  I downloaded it on my computer and was able to start working on all my media platforms that were included in the free version, and I will probably go to the paid version which is only $8.95 and includes many more applications. 

The great thing about this program is that they estimate how much time you save by using their product.  It amounts to hours and days at the end of the year, and if you can just save one hour a week you can start to make changes for the better. 

Happy New Year and please feel free to contact me about this article or any of my other services.

Jeffrey Comerford

{Transition Expert}

I help people who are frustrated in their lives find more FREEDOM.