Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need: a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing.

Life can be pretty simple, it's just that we insist on making it more complex than it needs to be.

Including me.

So I created a "simplicity reset". A list of things to ponder when life feels heavy. A list of actions to take when trying to cut loose unnecessary baggage.

This means removing all that is non-essential. Reducing the amount of:

• Input
• Meaningless/trivial choices you have to make
• Time spent on things that are not worth it, needed or that you simply don't enjoy
• Hours working/commuting
• Social commitments
• Time spent in the future (worrying) or the past (regret)

This reduction frees up time, money and energy that can be spent on what's worthwhile.

It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested.

Here's the list, in no particular order:

Simple wardrobe

Having a simple/'capsule' wardrobe. Basically a collection of pants, t-shirts and dress shirts that can all be combined together. Find clothes that don't need ironing, can be washed together and can be worn for longer periods. This reduces time spent washing and the trivial "what I'm going to wear today" question.

Similar meals

Just pick some simple, quick & healthy meals you like to eat and eat those all the time. You're probably already doing a variant of this. Imagine all the time saved not agonizing over that equally horrible question: "what am I going to eat today" and reduce the time spent cooking, prepping, shopping, creating meal plans/grocery lists and doing dishes. Standardize, especially with a family.

Buy consumables in bulk

If you have the room for a pantry, it can help to never run out of essentials and is probably cheaper. Paper towels, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, shaving cream, rice, cleaning supplies, ... .

Remove social media and reduce phone use

They don't serve your best interest. Your attention is being sold and your mind is molded to be perpetually unsatisfied, restless, anxious, and bored. Remove accounts, remove dedicated social media phone apps, remove notifications, don't carry your phone everywhere, allow yourself to be bored, install blockers, listen to podcasts in the car, lower the # of apps you have, let the phone go to voicemail, don't pick up unknown numbers. Phones are there because they serve you. Not to serve others.

No tv in living room

Don't own a TV or don't keep one in the living room. Humans are creatures of habit and will choose from the options that are available to them. If you don't have a television, you'll automatically choose better activities to relax. In the time I've removed the TV I've started drawing, writing, playing board games and read several books. Upgrade your free-time. It's worth more than the brief interlude between work. Give it a purpose on its own.

If you're not learning, earning, improving or having fun, what exactly are you doing?

Connect

There's not many touchpoints during the day to connect with loved-ones. In the moments you do have quality time, make the most of it. Get a conversation going, involve yourself in their life, ask a question, bite through the awkwardness and connect.

Depending on the source, the average person watches 3 hours of TV and spends 3 hours on their phone per day.

Digitize

I've digitized most books, (home VHS)-movies, CDs, photos, paperwork, notes, calendars, planners, cameras, cash, wallets. The analog age is over. Less things to weigh you down. Special shout-out to Mediafix for digitizing old photographs and helping to preserve memories forever.

Own less

Especially big, heavy or expensive things. Often, increases in income are used to buy 'status' possessions that permanently inflate your lifestyle creating financial obligations that become hard to return from. Expensive car payments, a vacation home/investment property, boat, piano, treadmill, tech gadgets, ... . They chain you to your job (because now you need more money every month) and a location (because a big object is harder to move).

Humans are rarely able to see the long-term consequences of their actions. The goal of increasing income/resources should lead to less work and less expenditures, not the opposite where you inflate your lifestyle. It creates an environment with more (unanticipated) responsibilities, making it harder or even impossible to return from.

Rules for buying

Rules for buying. Whenever an item costs more than a day of work I add it to a list in my notes and wait at least 24 hours. At the top of the list are some questions to ponder:

• What material goods do I really need? Will it make me happier?
• Is it worth the emotional stress you're going through while thinking about it/deciding on it?
• Is it worth the freedom/time I've spent on collecting the money for it? What other items am I saying no to by buying this item?
• What are day to day objects I use that could use an upgrade instead?
• Is the amount I'm spending on this proportional to the happiness it will give me?
• Am I rushing the decision?
• Is this something I should rent or buy second hand instead?
• Is the price I'm paying according to the amount of times I'll use it/wear it?
• Have I waited at least 24 hours if it costs more than one day of work?
• Stuff brings in more stuff. Phones come with chargers, cases, screen protection, car magnets, ... . Don't just consider the one purchase, consider the additional peripherals as well.
• Get rid of something else when buying something new. 1 in 2 out
• Is it easy to clean/simple shape/multifunctional/not too loud color?
• Is this going to simplify my life?
• If you can't move it alone, don't buy it.

Don't start collections

Find hobbies that are a consumable experience instead. Get a subscription for the things you want to dive more deeply into.

Limit spares

How many brushes, chairs, plates, forks, knives, glasses, towels, socks, ... should a family have? A simple rule is maximum twice the number of people living in the household.

Multiple use items

Let the items you have work more for you. A bed that can be used as storage, a multi-season jacket, foldable furniture, .... . Limit single-use items. eg: plates just for pasta, glasses for 1 type of drink, specific vegetable/fruit tools, ... .

There exist so many things, which I do not want - Seneca

Leave shoes at the door

Home feels more like a sanctuary. Most of the cleaning comes from bringing the outside in.

Don't commute

Work where you live or live where you work. Commuting is a curse and a tax on your life. It's worth earning less for additional free time.

Rent over owning

Subscriptions are better than owning for most things. Gym, board games, movies, music, housing. You avoid maintenance, upkeep, upfront cost & storage.

Slow down

When you eat, wait in a queue or are in a conversation, focus on the moment. Don't automatically grab your phone. Allow your brain to be bored once in a while. Don't compulsively fill every crevice of downtime with distractions or "productive" tasks.

Don't just do something, sit there.

Say no more often

Over time our calendars become filled with activity traps that we don't truly enjoy but have stuck out of habit. Sit down and see if you wouldn't rather spend the time on other things. Cancel, say no, schedule some me-time. When was the last time you had a free evening during the week?

Block most mail

I block constantly. Any mail I didn't want to receive gets blocked. Many keywords go through an automatic filter to trash. I wish the same was possible for physical mail (stickers/removing from lists don't work IMO). I'm counting down the days until a physical postal box isn't required anymore.

Gifts

Ask for consumables or experiences. Be specific about what you don't want. Gifts are for the benefit of the receiver not the joy of the giver.

Socks

My girlfriend had this enormous sock drawer of all non-matching different socks of different sizes and color. A treasure-trove built up over 20 years. We simplified by throwing everything out and just got 20 pairs of the same socks.

Drop off points

A place for everything and everything in its place. A key/clothes hanger at the entrance, laundry baskets (in bathroom/bedroom), labeled shelves, ... . After use, put it back. Everything that doesn't have a drop-off point can go in a "junk drawer". Clean out the junk drawer periodically.

Drive on the gps

Just follow the blue line. Don't think about where you're going.

Reduce costs

The ultimate freedom is the time you can last without needing an income. Every cost you can lower/avoid/delay is time given back and burden of life lowered.

That's it for now!

Not all these tips work for everyone. Try and evaluate for yourself what works. If you enjoy cooking or doing the dishes it makes no sense to do less of it.

But making your life lighter is a pursuit worth considering. We only have 1 life and time is precious. These tips have helped me, although I don't follow them 100% of the time either.

Let me know: what has greatly simplified your life that others could try?

Sources

• Simplify Your Life - Elaine St. James
• Living the Simple Life: A Guide to Scaling Down and Enjoying More - Elaine St. James
• The Quest of the Simple Life - William James Dawson
• Slow - Carl Honoré
• On The Shortness Of Life - Seneca