2015 Simple Living Handbooks: Stage 1 and 2 for FREE!

 

2015 Simple Living Handbooks

 

Last year I wrote the 2014 in 2014 Declutter Handbook to help people see a simpler, slower home at the end of the year and over 6,000 people did just that. Many of them decluttered tens of thousands of items from their homes and created the simpler, slower lives they were craving.

As 2014 drew to a close, I had many requests for a 2015 challenge that would help participants extend their efforts to simplify life. I didn’t want to offer the same challenge again to those who had already completed it but I also didn’t want to ignore new participants and their need to start at the beginning.

So I created two Simple Living Handbooks.

Stage One has been written for those just beginning the journey into simpler, slower living and who need guidance in starting and maintaining their simplifying and decluttering efforts.

It is a month-by-month guidebook that leads you through decluttering all major areas of your home. Completing this book and the checklists and exercises included will change your home from one of overwhelming clutter to one of clutter-free calm.

The chapters we cover in the Stage One Handbook are:

• Baby Steps
• Utility Spaces
• Paper Clutter
• Bedrooms
• Wardrobes
• Kitchen
• Big Jobs
• Living Spaces
• Memories
• Change
• Consolidation
• Celebration

Stage Two has been designed for those who are ready to go further in their simplifying efforts. Maybe you already have a very good handle on the ‘stuff’ side of simplifying or have been actively decluttering for some time and feel ready to focus on other areas of your home and life.

This is also a month-by-month guidebook with checklists and exercises for each area we cover. But rather than focus only on the physical side of simplifying, Stage 2 looks at:

• Finding your Why
• Revisiting Clutter
• Emotional and Aspirational Clutter
• Establishing Rhythms
• Creating Simple Systems for your Home
• Adding, Not Subtracting
• Simplify you Food
• Green Cleaning
• Green Living
• Slowing Down and Moving More
• Social Media
• Comparisons
• Digital Life
• Mindful Holidays

(Please note, the complete Stage 2 Handbook will be released in March. For now, you can download the first seven chapters.)

If you’re in doubt as to which handbook you need, I suggest you start with Stage One and ensure you have the basics of simplifying on lockdown. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the past 4 years of simple living, it’s that the entire process is anything but straightforward, so you really want to have your ducks in a row before moving on to the next stage.

So, welcome to 2015! Is this the year you create a simpler, slower home?

Go ahead and download your copy here:

The 2015 Simple Living Handbook: Stage 1

The 2015 Simple Living Handbook: Stage 2

It’s free. It’s really good. And it’s going to help you get started on the road to a simpler, slower – regardless of where or what time of the year you begin.

The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life

Becoming Minimalist

The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life

Written by joshua becker · 363 Comments

 

“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” —Thomas Kempis


Simplicity brings balance, freedom, and joy. When we begin to live simply and experience these benefits, we begin to ask the next question, “Where else in my life can i remove distraction and simply focus on the essential?”

Based on our personal journey, our conversations, and our observations, here is a list of the 10 most important things to simplify in your life today to begin living a more balanced, joyful lifestyle:

1. Your Possessions – Too many material possessions complicate our lives to a greater degree than we ever give them credit. They drain our bank account, our energy, and our attention. They keep us from the ones we love and from living a life based on our values. If you will invest the time to remove nonessential possessions from your life, you will never regret it. For more inspiration, consider Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life.

2. Your Time Commitments – Most of us have filled our days full from beginning to end with time commitments: work, home, kid’s activities, community events, religious endeavors, hobbies… the list goes on. When possible, release yourself from the time commitments that are not in line with your greatest values.

3. Your Goals – Reduce the number of goals you are intentionally striving for in your life to one or two. By reducing the number of goals that you are striving to accomplish, you will improve your focus and your success rate. Make a list of the things that you want to accomplish in your life and choose the two most important. When you finish one, add another from your list.

4. Your Negative Thoughts – Most negative emotions are completely useless. Resentment, bitterness, hate, and jealousy have never improved the quality of life for a single human being. Take responsibility for your mind. Forgive past hurts and replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

5. Your Debt – If debt is holding you captive, reduce it. Start today. Do what you’ve got to do to get out from under its weight. Find the help that you need. Sacrifice luxury today to enjoy freedom tomorrow.

6. Your Words – Use fewer words. Keep your speech plain and honest. Mean what you say. Avoid gossip.

7. Your Artificial Ingredients – Avoid trans fats, refined grain (white bread), high-fructose corn syrup, and too much sodium. Minimizing these ingredients will improve your energy level in the short-term and your health in the long-term. Also, as much as possible, reduce your consumption of over-the-counter medicine – allow your body to heal itself naturally as opposed to building a dependency on substances.

8. Your Screen Time – Focusing your attention on television, movies, video games, and technology affects your life more than you think. Media rearranges your values. It begins to dominate your life. And it has a profound impact on your attitude and outlook. Unfortunately, when you live in that world on a consistent basis, you don’t even notice how it is impacting you. The only way to fully appreciate its influence in your life is to turn them off.

9. Your Connections to the World – Relationships with others are good, but constant streams of distraction are bad. Learn when to power off the blackberry, log off Facebook, or not read a text. Focus on the important, not the urgent. A steady flow of distractions from other people may make us feel important, needed, or wanted, but feeling important and accomplishing importance are completely different things.

10. Your Multi-Tasking – Research indicates that multi-tasking increases stress and lowers productivity. while single-tasking is becoming a lost art, learn it. Handle one task at a time. Do it well. And when it is complete, move to the next.

9 DEMANDS OF THE 99%

Americans across the country have spoken up. We’re sick and tired of a country that only works for the 1%. It’s time to bring the corporate agenda to an end, and it starts with these demands—common-sense policies that would restore the balance for the 99%.

What do you think we need to do to make America work for the other 99%? It’s up to you to make the ninth demand. It’s your opportunity to say what you think will get our country working again.

1. Tax Wall Street for gambling with our money. Pass the financial speculation tax.
2. Support education. Put teachers back in classrooms and ease the crippling burden of student debt.
3. Keep working families in their homes. Pass a mortgage relief plan that puts the needs of homeowners above the greed of mortgage bankers.
4. End too big to fail. Rein in the big banks NOW and hold the people who caused the financial crisis accountable.

1. Fair share of taxes from the 1%. End the Bush tax cuts for the 1% and close corporate tax loopholes.
2. Businesses should invest in jobs. Corporations must stop sitting on their profits and start hiring again here in America.
3. Extend unemployment insurance. Millions of Americans are still out of work, and unemployment insurance is a vital lifeline.

1. End corporate control of our democracy. Abolish "corporate personhood" and restore full voting rights to real people.