Usually when we talk about setting goals, we want big goals, and those aren’t necessarily bad, but they can impact our lives in different ways. After a few years pursuing some of those big goals, we understood that we needed a change and to start simplifying life.
The financial goals we had and have been reaching were very helpful: paying off debt and building sinking funds was important for the stability of our family. But at the same time we noticed that we couldn’t fit everything we wanted to do in the calendar and that we were spending less quality time together.
We were always on the run, from one place to another, from one activity to the other. And between all the running, some checkboxes were being checked, but we were always tired and feeling we weren’t doing enough.
Instead of making an overhaul of our lifestyle and routines, we started one small step at a time. Here are the first things we started doing and that you’ll continue to see as we progress in our journey.
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5 steps to simplifying life
Step 1: An Honest Look at Our Schedule
We took a look at our week to notice why we were so tired, running so much, and losing the joy of what we were doing. It was no surprise what we found; we had no rest time in our week. My husband had seasons when he was working three full weeks non-stop between his three jobs. That also meant that I was parenting, homeschooling, caring for the house and our special needs son, working from home, and volunteering nonstop too.
We were exhausted, and our schedule was a reflection of that. Our kiddos were noticing our exhaustion and picking up on the anxiety. So we started to take time, usually while riding from one place to the other, to start a family conversation about this.
It took us many conversations to be crystal clear about what we really wanted as a family: serving the Lord, time together, and joy. Then we spent more time thinking about what we needed to do to make that possible. It all started with simplifying our schedule, appointments, school time, etc.
Step 2: Identifying Non‑Essentials
When looking more directly at our schedule, we started to identify the non-essentials, those things that were good but weren’t the best thing to do for that season. We didn’t empty all the schedule but started to question more everything that went in it.
Did we have to make it to every birthday party we were invited to? Could we move some services and appointments so we could drive less? Was it possible to delegate some responsibilities to others? Can we just stop doing this or that?
The hardest part of this process of cutting the noise in the schedule was being ok with saying no to other people. But in being able to say no, we were also able to say yes to what really mattered the most. And that started the biggest shift in how we were spending our time.
Step 3: Reducing Work Hours (and Fear)
Probably the hardest decision but the best one was to reduce our working hours. I started with taking days off from my online business and ministry and then limiting the hours I worked a week. This was hard because I was worried I wouldn’t reach my goals if I was working less. But here’s the sneak peek: I was able to do more in less time and keep moving everything forward.
Making this change helped me to move on to the next steps. But before we go there, it was obvious that my husband needed to stop at least one of his jobs. It was a hard decision because the one taking most of his time was also the one bringing the most income, 47% to be exact. The months leading to that decision were filled with uncertainty and fear.
The fear was overcome in two ways: our planning and our faith. I’ll be sharing more about both how we planned and were proactive to manage that income reduction and how this time and many more before our faith has been a pillar in our decisions.
Step 4: Simplifying Life with Daily Routines
When I reduced my working hours, I used most of that time looking at our daily routines and how we could simplify them to create calmer days. There were still activities we wanted to keep or responsibilities that weren’t going to disappear, but we needed to make more space for them in our calendar.
Again, the changes weren’t big; they were effective. Some took a few tries to implement them; others took longer. But I was very intentional about guiding us in looking at these routines and tweaking them. (Can you guess who is the planner in the family?) I’ll share more about these changes in another post, but it could be as simple as moving the mugs closer to the coffee machine.
Simplifying our daily routines helped in many ways: reducing stress, completing our chores faster, decluttering, reducing our spending, and being more present in what we were doing.
Step 5: Starting with One Small Financial Goal
When I looked at the budget spreadsheet and saw that 47% of our income would be gone, obviously we had to change our financial goals. Now instead of crunching the numbers to cut our budget the following week. We started to look at each category (example: subscriptions, groceries, eating out) one at a time to identify what small changes were possible to help us get more aligned with what we talked about in our family discussions.
After looking at every category, we started over again and asked ourselves, What are we ready to work on next? When choosing your small steps, don’t only think about cutting and stopping doing; instead, think about how you can replace or control that expense. We will cover other examples later, but here’s one.
Our family loves sweets: ice cream, cookies, donuts, etc. So much so that we have a “treats” section in our food category. We started by going for these treats less frequently. Then we added making them at home; it’s cheaper and provides a learning and bonding opportunity. Plus, when we actually go out to get them, we enjoy them even more.
Bonus Tip
Use apps like Too Good To Go to buy food that would go to waste at a reduced price. Check out what options you have close to you.
Simplifying Life: One Step at a time
I hope that as you read the beginnings of our journey, you are encouraged to start simplifying life by taking small steps, one at a time. Even though they might look big right now, you can find a way to start crafting your steps. If you want more ideas and more encouragement, stick around because I’ll continue sharing about our journey to less and how that has turned into more of what our family actually needed.
