How to Declutter Your Life, Simplify, Plus Save Time & Money

1. Create a capsule wardrobe

Creating a capsule wardrobe involves picking out a few key versatile articles of clothing that you love. Choose items that can be worn in many different ways. You will need some basic neutral staples that you can mix and match in a variety of ways.

A capsule wardrobe can help reduce decision-making fatigue by making it simple to choose outfits. Learning how to make outfits from a set number of pieces makes it easier to manage your clothing.

2 Batch cook and meal plan

Cooking in large portions and freezing food will save you a lot of time. Cooking more at once will stretch one bout of cooking into many meals. This way when there are nights that you’re exhausted or don’t have a lot of time, you can just pull something out of the freezer.

Not only will this help you avoid the headache of cooking more often, but it will also help you avoid spending money on takeout or ready-made meals.

3. Reduce your commitments

This may seem easier said than done, but it’s worth the sacrifice. Reducing the number of activities you do in a week can help you feel calmer and reduce stress.

Having fewer commitments will make your life feel more manageable and help you move more efficiently through the commitments you decide to keep.

4. Automate your bills

Set your bills so they are automatically withdrawn from your bank account. This way you don't have to think about them. Try and set them up to go out just after payday.

This will make it easier for you to keep track of what is needed for bills. It’ll also give you more peace of mind to spend later in the month, knowing your bills have already been paid.  

5. Reduce and regulate screen time

Reduce the amount of time you spend looking at your screens. Carefully choose the things that you actually want to spend your time on. It can be really tempting to just sit through a whole series on Netflix in one night.

Instead, try to limit yourself to one episode a night. This will lengthen your enjoyment of the experience and allow you to spend less time looking at a screen. This puts the agency back in your hands which will help you to feel calmer and more in control.

6. Clear your debt

Clearing debt is no simple task, but it is surely worth the effort. We don’t even realize how much extra stress we experience from looming debt. Use whatever you can to start paying off as much as you can.

Even if you still have a lot of debt, getting yourself to move in the right direction of paying it off as opposed to getting in deeper will bring you so much peace of mind.

7. Shop less

Having less leads to a simpler way of life. Shopping can be quite exhausting and time-consuming. Simplifying your life by spending less time in shops will clear up time to do other things.

You will have more time to relax. You’ll have more time to engage with people and experiences. These are things that will bring you a lot more value than anything you can buy at a store.

8. Practice saying no

Knowing how to say no to people can be a bit of a battle. We say yes almost instinctively. We say yes to activities we don’t care to partake in or do favors we don’t really have time for. We need to get in the habit of saying no and recognizing our own needs first.

Think carefully before agreeing. Think about your needs and your availability so you can manage your time better. It feels good to make people happy and help them with things they need, but we can help others more effectively when we get more efficient at managing ourselves first.

9. Simplify your chores

Create habits and strategies around cleaning. Set a day or a specific time for cleaning and straightening up. Find routines that work for you. For example, I noticed that I only really need to vacuum once or twice a week. I don't need to do it daily.

Simplify the chores that you have to take care of and make sure that everybody in the house is involved. It takes the pressure off one person when it becomes a joint activity.

10. Turn off notifications

This is my favorite tip to simplify your life. I very much live by this. I set up my phone so I only get notifications for messages and phone calls. There is no need to get social media notifications.

I can see the notification when I click into the app and that's enough for me. It’s hard to relax when your phone is grabbing your attention for every unimportant thing happening on every single app. 

Taking off notifications allows you to choose when to look at your devices. It puts the control back in your hands. I don't want to be looking at my phone every five minutes.

Turning off notifications creates boundaries and space so I can choose when to click on the app. This works really well. We don’t realize how exhausting it is to have to redirect our attention constantly.

Stay in control of your attention by checking your phone when you want to, as opposed to when your apps demand your attention. 

How to simplify your life

Those are ten effective ways that you can simplify your life. They may not all be easy but they will be very impactful. I'm hoping that you give these methods a try to see if you can make your life a little bit easier and simpler to manage.