Living Simply: Simple Changes

Living Simply: Make 2018 Better

     Yesterday I wrote about living 2018 intentionally. What are some things that you could intentionally choose to do, maybe daily, maybe a few times a week, maybe a few times a month, the time frame and frequency isn't the end goal - thinking and living differently is the end goal. You start down a path, making baby steps along the way, and after a while, you find yourself heading in the right direction, having come further than you expected. Here's some ideas to think about for your own life and mindset change.

1.  Make do with what you have - stop trying to keep up with the Joneses. Stop going into debt to
     keep up with what advertisers tell you to buy.
2.  Be content wanting less. Once you let go of the desire to own everything, life becomes simple.
     You go to a museum but don't feel like you need to take it all home with you. It's the same way
     with things. Someday you'll go into stores and think, "I don't really need ANY of this stuff."
3.  Be more creative - plan free date nights, make your own gifts to give others, use what you have in
     new ways to decorate, etc.
4.  Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator - work in fitness without expensive membership
     fees.
5.  Schedule "me" time - no phone, no computer, just let it all go.
6.  Don't text and drive. Seriously, if you're still doing this, STOP IT NOW. Don't think you're so
     unique that you won't cause an accident. Every statistic thought the same thing. It can wait.
7.  Cook more often. Even just one extra night a week saves a lot at the end of the month. The more
     you cook at home, the more money you'll save.
8.  Sign up for a class learning something you've been wanting to know more about for a long time.
9.  Read more - whether it's self-help, marriage/family themed, financial, or fiction to escape.
10. Make eye contact with others throughout your day. Let them know you see them.
11. Eat a vegetarian once (or more) per week - like a Meatless Monday - it'll improve your health.
12. As you run out of cleaners or personal care items, replace them with healthier, more natural ones.
13. Plan time for your friends and family that you care most about. Stop saying you don't have time.
14. Add vegetables to more meals, even if it's just once a day, it'll add up in the long run.
15. Volunteer for something worthwhile - shelter, church, food bank, coaching, etc.
16. Give blood if possible. There's such a shortage. If you aren't phobic about needles, give.
17. Buy local. It keeps the money in your local economy and supports your neighborhood families.
18. Eat less prepackaged, processed foods. All those chemicals are killing you. Switch out for some
     healthier options.
19. Listen a lot more than you speak. If you're a talker, you aren't listening, you're just waiting for
     your turn to talk more.
20. Compliment people sincerely. Look for the good in people and let them know you noticed.
21. Walk instead of drive to close, nearby places - again, adding exercise that's natural.
22. Substitute water for other drinks to become healthier. Drop sodas and fruit juices.
23. Make your coffee/tea at home and save loads of cash at the end of the year.
24. Start a gratitude journal. Write down something you're thankful/grateful for every day.
25. Donate and declutter your space: home, office, garage, etc.

Living Simply: Being Intentional in 2018

   

New Year's is just around the corner. For many, it represents a new start. For some, it's a time of making resolutions. So many people today can't/don't/won't stick to a "resolution", so they just don't bother even trying. What I'm proposing instead is a way to focus on getting to new places in a simple living kind of way.

   

What if you simply decided to live 2018 INTENTIONALLY?

Where resolutions are a set of rules in a way, simply living intentionally is much less formal. There's no focusing on what you can or can't do (for example, a common resolution says you can't eat baked goods or sugar anymore). Intentionally living would be more like making a choice to do something healthy every day to move the ball forward in the direction of being more healthy. Maybe your choices could be to skip dessert one day, to walk instead of watching tv another day, to read something in a self-help book instead of watching a movie, or trying to cook a few nights a week instead of wasting loads more money eating out all year.

     If a resolution is to get debt-free, then the simply living intentional way of doing that isn't about setting spending amounts or setting aside a particular amount each week/paycheck/month - here's why:  If you do, the first time you have a bad paycheck, or your car breaks, or you have unexpected medical emergency expenses, you'll have to blow your resolution, guilt and feelings of failure set in, it's all too black and white, succeed or fail. If instead you work intentionally at getting your debts paid off, it looks different. It would mean that every day, every purchase, you stop to consider the item's value or lack of value compared to being debt free. You would make daily choices to get you closer to being debt-free. You're whole mentality would begin to be aware of your spending and saving habits. You would change your ways, not just have a weekly or monthly task list to pay or save something extra. In the long run, it's changing the HABITS that got you into debt so you can get free. Resolutions are more of to-do lists and they don't usually change your daily habits and get you going in the right direction for more than a handful of times. Most resolutions are forgotten by spring.

     What intentional habits would you like to develop in the next year? Imagine if you made little daily choices, baby steps, but actually kept them up for the next 12 months?! Where will you be this time next year? I can give you some insight...you will have lived intentionally, changed bad habits, developed some new ones, improved the way you think about things, and will be living a more simple life that resembles the goals you intentionally pursued through daily decisions. Isn't that far better than ending the year feeling nothing more than, "I can't wait for this year to end, I blew all my resolutions and I am right where I was a year ago," maybe even worse off.

   

   This year try living simply through being intentional. We'll discuss this topic a bit more next time. In the meantime, think about what kinds of things you'd like to do, become, improve, etc. over the next year.