6 ways to live a simpler life

Everyone’s idea of a dream rich life is different. I would be lying if I said I went to the shops and didnt feel like buying the new ipad. But that’s what the shops are meant to do. They need to sell. If one thing was clear during lockdown, when the shops were closed, I did not feel like I was missing out on the latest greatest technology. Would you be happy with the latest thing for more than a day? If it brings you sustained joy and use then yes go for it. But if this is something you are doing to please others, then I am sorry my friend this is not going to fill that gap.

Have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

For us, simple living is, well, simple –

1. Experiences – a long time ago we decided not to gift each other material things. We would rather do memorable things together. We do heaps of hiking, trails, wine tasting, travel, and in general, a memorable day.
2. Clutter free home – This has been completely life changing for me. If it doesn’t bring you joy or use, it is clutter. Get rid of it. If you haven’t used it in over a year, its gotta go.
3. Simple Diet – We eat simple things. We eat vegetarian food at home. We eat takeaway or eat out once in the week. Simplify your diet, include more fruits and veg in your diet. You are literally made of what you eat.
4. Simple digital life – I keep the notifications on my phone super low. Unsubscribing from emails I don’t use, and deleting apps I don’t use has been most of my digital decluttering.
5. Buy things when you need them – We buy a new phone when our old one is broken. A new car when we need one. But the key phrase here is ‘when you NEED one’. All these items are tools to make you life easier. I am not against buying the new phone, but think of it as a tool and not as a status symbol. This means buy furniture so you don’t have to sit on the floor, but don’t replace you perfectly functional one year old phone with a new one just because.
6. Simple finances – We don’t have heaps of things to think about in our monthly finance check. Just transfer to savings, paying mortgage, credit cards bills (which is where we make all our purchases). Simple as that.

Simplify your living. It truly improves your life, helps in mental bandwidth. We keep creating more and more complexities into our lives that don’t matter. Simple living is the sustainable in that it leads to less stress, and frees up more time and money for you.