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Five Ways To Keep Life Simple

Living simply isn’t something that just happens. It’s something that is ongoing, and that you need to work on. While I would never have described our lifestyle as extravagant, over the last few years we have increasingly focused on simplifying our life to give time to what is important to us. So here are five things we have done to keep life simple, that you can do to.

5 Ways To Keep Life Simple (1)

Regularly sort and cull your belongings

After several years of simplifying, I have gone through all our bits and pieces and done some serious culling and organising. Unfortunately, these things don’t automatically stay organised. Kids grow out of clothing, things break, and despite my best efforts, we occasionally fall for an impulse purchase. So we need to regularly go through cupboards and check that clutter isn’t accumulating. Set aside a small amount of time aside regularly to sort and cull your belongings to avoid junk building up.

5 Ways To Live A Simple Life

Keep extracurricular activities to a minimum

One of the things we have consciously chosen for our family is to minimise the extracurricular activities for the kids. The girls learn piano, though the lessons take place at school during their lunch time once a week. We also do swim club as a family on Friday nights during the summer. That is it. One of the reasons why we chose these activities (besides the fact that the kids enjoy them) is that they don’t take a lot of time out of our week. Our kids need down time, and we don’t need the stress of driving all over the countryside to play soccer, netball etc. Instead, we get to focus on time together as a family.

I’m not saying to cut out all extracurricular activities, but if you spend your afternoons and weekends trying to juggle pottery, karate, French, football, swimming, and flute lessons, it might be time to rationalise what you and the kids are doing. Consider limiting them to just two, or designating a day that is free of activities so that you can enjoy some family time together.

5 Ways To Live A Simple Life-2

Make time for your own hobbies

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It’s very easy in a busy life to neglect things that you enjoy. For me, having time to spend on my photography and crochet is important, while CB enjoys the garden and computer games. I find the mindfulness of crochet, in particular, gives my brain a break and forces me to slow down, while photography lets me notice the world around me in new ways. Whatever your hobbies are, make sure that you get some regular time to participate in them. The mental health benefits are too good to miss out on.

Eat dinner together around the table (most nights)

It can be very easy to let this one slip. Let’s face it at the end of the day, the last thing you feel like is sitting down around the table with the kids to eat, but it is still important. It gives us the chance to connect with each other, talk about our days, and for us to instil our values into our kids. We’ve had countless discussions about everything from what we believe as Christians, to why we grow our own vegetables, to how we make financial decisions. Sitting down and enjoying good food together is one of life’s great joys and is a habit that is important for family relationships.

5 Ways To Live A Simple Life-4

Follow the quality not quantity principle

In a world full of cheap, semi-disposable consumer goods, it can be hard to find quality products, but it is always worth spending a little more to find a quality product that will last a long time. I’ve written more about this here. Whether it be buying quality food or quality clothing we try to make the best choices within our budget, and it definitely has made life better in the long run. Avoid buying items just because they are cheap, and you will also have less to keep organised (see point one).

No matter what strategies you use, keeping life simple is always going to be an ongoing process. It is something that you need to continue to put work into. Fortunately, the benefits of living a simple life are well and truly worth the effort.

What do you do to keep your life simple?

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Comments

  1. My Brown Paper Packages says

    November 23, 2015 at 9:38 am

    We do all of this, but like you said, it isn’t easy and it requires some effort on your behalf. I find that people think that a simple life comes easily, it doesn’t.

    Reply
    • Jo@CountryLifeExperiment says

      November 26, 2015 at 8:43 pm

      There really is a difference between simple and easy, isn’t there!

      Reply
  2. Sonia Life Love Hiccups says

    November 21, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    Our focus next year is cutting back on the extra curricular activities as very afternoon is such a rush that we just dont have time to enjoy ourselves like we should xx

    Reply
    • Jo@CountryLifeExperiment says

      November 26, 2015 at 8:46 pm

      I really do believe that limiting extra curricular activities helps all aspects of family life.

      Reply
  3. Katie Writes Stuff says

    November 20, 2015 at 9:40 pm

    At the moment, I’m trying to stop watching so much TV. It sucks time away from doing more productive things and it’s far too easy to sit there for hours without doing anything more than getting up for another cuppa.

    When we moved house a few months ago, I used it as the perfect opportunity to follow your first tip: de-cluttering. So many clothes and unused items went to the op shop! And yet, we still seem to have plenty of things lying around the house. Perhaps it’s time to take note of the important word you used at the start of that tip: regularly. Those spaces we clear out have a habit of filling up with new things we possibly don’t need…

    Reply
  4. All Around Oz says

    November 20, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    Love this post so much. I try really hard to keep clutter to a minimum and we also kept our kids activities to just one or two things when they were little. Recently we moved into a smaller house and I’m finding that it definitely doesn’t take as much work to look after.

    Reply
  5. Vicki @ Knocked Up and Abroad says

    November 20, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    You know I was just thinking about how relaxed I am when I’m home and stress creeps in when I need to go out and do all the things. I need to keep going out to a minimum right now with 3 little little people. I also agree with the regular culls. Junk just creeps in doesn’t it? We also like to share our dinner all together. It’s a good way to group together after a big day right? Neat tips, thanks for the reminding x

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got through shearing without a hitch (thankfully 🙏) but we’ve had a run of the flu followed by Covid run through the family since then. The kids and I have tested positive (this is my second time getting it 🦠) though so far C has managed to avoid it. There has been a lot of lying on the couch feeling pretty ordinary. Han had to reschedule her driving test for a 4th time due to Covid, which is disappointing for her because she wants her freedom and for us because it would be so much more convenient if she could drive herself places. Just to add in to the mix, our hot water system has chosen now as a good time to die so we’re on cold showers until we’re all out of iso. This is not meant to be a whinging post but sometimes life just sucks a bit and it’s good to be real. Fortunately, the sight of the fire going with a stack of wood next to it cheers us up. Things will improve soon. Onwards we go…
A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the scho A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the school holidays. We’ve been busy spending time with friends and family, harvesting the last of the summer produce, as well as a short escape to explore the big smoke. After the craziness of last term it was the break we all needed. It’s back to school for me tomorrow, and the kids are back on Wednesday. Shearing starts soon and so it’s all systems go over the next few weeks.
Covid has made some late changes to our weekend pl Covid has made some late changes to our weekend plans so we are embracing the unexpected and doing not much at home. Plenty of time for hanging out on the dam and enjoy the perfect weather.
Autumn has arrived in the orchard and the apple tr Autumn has arrived in the orchard and the apple trees are full of fruit. Yesterday we filled five baskets of apples that had fallen off the trees. Then we had apple crumble for dessert last night. Between the orchard and the vegetable garden this time of year is always super busy as we deal with all the harvest. No so busy though, that I can’t grab the camera and snap a few pics.
On weekends he makes himself a hot milo and lies o On weekends he makes himself a hot milo and lies on the veranda in the sun, just chilling and enjoying the freedom (until mum grabs her camera at least 🙄🤣).
Late summer evenings spent picking fruit in the or Late summer evenings spent picking fruit in the orchard are just the best. We take baskets down to gather the fruit and we inspect the trees and plan what we will do with it all. Tonight we gathered blackberries, nectarines and the first apples. The kids eat the fruit right off the trees - it tastes so much better than shop bought fruit. All the rain this year has not been good for all our plants; no mulberries and a lot less of some of the others. It reminds us of how much we depend on the weather and how much is out of our hands.

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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