Over the past few years, I’ve been taking steps to simplify my life and make life easier. Although I have gained more responsibilities now as a mom of 2 young kids, I’m still able to run my life smoothly. In essence, I’ve come a long way.
I used to be an overthinker with everything, but it took up so much of my energy, so that’s when I decided that I had to make some changes to make my life easier.
Life will never be perfect, and it won’t always be easy, but there are things that we can do and steps that we can take to make our daily routine run more smoothly. Here are 13 tips that we can adopt to help save time, work smarter and feel happier.
1. If it’s not my business, don’t get involved
Sure, sometimes I see a friend who needs help moving over the weekend, but if it’s got nothing to do with me, I don’t get involved. If I volunteer my time and energy, it’s just going to add more stress and worry in my life.
Friends, memorize this phrase and you’ll be good.
2. Simplify your finances
Money is a necessity for all, so managing it wisely is always a good thing. For some people, money can be a stressful thing to handle. However, simplifying your finances can make it easier for you to stay on track.
Here are some simple ways that you can adopt:
- Create a budget and stick to it
- Deal with debts slowly with a plan, with the understanding that you cannot eliminate debt overnight
- Set up automatic payments for regular bills
- Shop with a budget
- Put aside a small sum every month towards your savings
3. Declutter your home
For most of us, home is where we spend most of our time.
For me, since I work from home, home is where I spend 90% of my time every day!
That is why it is so important for me to keep a clutter-free home.
A cluttered home can be a source of burden to many people. If you have too many things at home, it is harder to keep it neat and clean. You’ll feel so overwhelmed and won’t even know where to begin.
With a clutter-free home, it’s much easier to focus and relax.
Now, knowing that I have 2 young kids at home, it’s been so hard to keep my home neat 100% of the time, but we try to declutter, donate or sell things that we no longer need once in every quarter.
Take small steps and tackle one room at a time. Let me assure you – you will definitely see the benefits of having a bigger and cleaner space. Besides, throwing out or donating things can be a liberating experience.
4. Clean as you go
Cleaning doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t have to spend hours everyday to keep things neat and tidy.
I find the clean-as-you-go system so easy to maintain. For example, I put things back to where it belongs after using them, or I spend an extra minute every morning to make my bed. When I have pockets of time while waiting for my kids to get ready for school, I pick up toys from the floor, or pop the laundry into the machine.
A few minutes here and there goes a long way.
5. Set daily intentions
At the start of the day, check-in with yourself first. Ask yourself what you need to get done for the day, and set the right intentions to tackle your to-do list.
Throughout the day, just keep reminding yourself of the intentions and channel your energy towards fulfilling them.
6. Be kind to yourself
We usually treat ourselves worse than we would treat others.
Sometimes, things can go wrong even though you have the best intentions. During these trying times, we just need to keep reminding ourselves that it’s ok to make mistakes. If you catch yourself being unkind to yourself, redirect that thinking immediately.
7. Cut out toxic people from your life
Eliminating toxic people from your life can be one the hardest thing that you have to do in your entire life. Sometimes these people can be your family, or close friends, but if they do not lift you up, but drag you down, be decisive and cut them off.
8. Be intentional with your time
I’m sure you have a lot to do everyday, but we only have 24 hours in a day.
Being less busy is not an easy thing to achieve everyday. However, the key here is to be intentional with your time, and remove any activities and commitments that are not beneficial to you from your calendar.
Only do things that will add value to your life, and commit to things that you and you family enjoy doing.
In other words, spend your time wisely.
If you feel so overwhelmed with everything, practice the “pause”. In other words, take a minute, slow down so you can make better decisions after thinking about it.
9. Simplify mealtime
When it was just the two of us without kids, I used to spend hours cooking elaborate meals.
Nowadays, I only spend 30 minutes a day cooking.
There are so many systems out there that you can try, but I do a little meal prepping each week and keep the meals simple for my family. Check out my post here for some more mealtime hacks for busy moms.
There is no one right way to do this, but if you find something that works for you, stick with it and make feeding your family less stressful.
10. Practice self-care
As a mom of 2 young kids, I often forget to take time for myself.
Self-care is always the last thing on my mind because I don’t have the time.
However, self-care is so important, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. For example, I put on a face mask after a long shower. I also make it a point to have 30 minutes of quiet time to myself at the end of the day to do whatever I want.
11. Designate one day in the month for all the appointments
Between the dentist appointment, doctor’s appointment or visit to the hair salon, all these little trips take up time.
Why don’t you just designate a day in the month as the appointment day, and do all your visits in that day. You can also designate that day to make all the phone calls that you’ve been putting off.
12. Limit social media
I used to spend hours every day scrolling through Facebook and Instagram. These activities can take up a lot of time and you don’t realize it!
Now, I just set aside 15 minutes a day to check-in on my accounts, and limit my time by setting an alarm. Once 15 minutes have passed, I tell myself that it’s time to move on to another task.
In addition to setting limits, I also delete all the unwanted apps from my phone and desktop. Out of sight, out of mind right?
13. Unsubscribe from all unnecessary emails
To be honest, I get way too many emails in a day. Some of them are subscription emails from providers that I no longer use.
In addition to decluttering in your physical home, it’s always good to declutter your inbox too. Unsubscribe from emails that no longer interest you instead of deleting them everyday.
This list may not all be right for you, but hopefully it can be a good starting point to help you evaluate your life. Take what appeals to you and implement what you wish. Every baby step counts and start making the small changes in your life now! Over time, it will make a big difference.
What are some of the things that you’ve implemented to make your life easier? I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment below!