15 WAYS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER AND LESS STRESSFUL

Life can be complicated and it’s easy to get overloaded and overwhelmed. However, with some careful planning and a bit of thought, we can make it so much easier on ourselves. Check out this post on 15 ways to make life easier.

HOW TO MAKE LIFE EASIER

Being honest, I have a busy life and not a lot of spare time on my side. No amount of simplifying can wave a magic wand over my life and make it totally stress-free or a walk in the park. I think that goes for pretty much all of us at some time or other!

Life can get busy, very busy and it’s not always of our making. There are so many other factors that come into play including work, family, financial or health worries, things to do and places to be (plus so much more!). All we can really do is find a balance, simplify your life wherever possible and make intentional decisions on what supports us and what doesn’t.

When I was brainstorming for this post, I asked myself some questions…

• How can I make life less difficult?
• How can I make life more comfortable?
• How can I make everyday life easier?

I made a list of things which I’ve done or have put in place which have really helped make my own life easier. They may not all be right for you, but it’s perhaps a starting point to help you evaluate your own life. Take what you can, adapt what you wish, use what appeals to you and fits with your current season of life. Even baby steps and small changes can make a big difference over time…

15 WAYS TO MAKE LIFE EASIER

Here are some ideas to make everyday life easier. Try them out for yourself and see which work for you!

1. Simplify your finances

Money is a necessity and managing it wisely is always a good thing. However, for some of us, managing our money can be stressful. We might be struggling to pay bills, dealing with debt or just can’t get our head around the maths.

Make it easier on yourself to stay on track with your money by simplifying your finances.

• Create a monthly budget to keep on top of your monthly income and outgoings
• Check your bank statements against receipts regularly
• Set up bills to be paid automatically by direct debit
• Make a plan to deal with any debt
• Put money aside for savings if you can spare it
• Shop wisely and build in strategies to avoid impulse buying

2. Declutter your home

For many of us, home is where the heart is and it’s the hub of family life. Somtimes though, are homes are more a source of stress than pleasure.

• A cluttered home is a burden on your time and energy. Too much stuff will make your home harder to keep tidy and longer to clean.
• The research also suggests that more clutter can lead to a lack of focus and increased stress levels.

None of these things are likely to make your life easier!

Have a look around your home now and see if you can streamline a few things. Do you love everything in your home? Do you need all that stuff and does it add value to your life in some way? Or does it just serve to muddle your home and muddle your mind?

Take some small steps to declutter an area or room in your home and you’ll instantly see and feel the benefits of a decluttered home – more space, more time, more freedom and less stress. Make your life easier at home with these 6 tips to help you start decluttering, find ways to stop the cycle of clutter entering your home, or these 20 ways to declutter your home for real impact!

3. Stop putting things off

Procrastinating and putting things off rarely solves anything and in my experience, it often just makes a situation worse and stresses me out in the process. Either we can’t make a decision, we’re worried about the end result or we get stuck assessing the benefits or best way of doing something. We strive for perfection and end up getting paralysed into inaction.

• When you have a problem, deal with it.
• If you’ve got something to do, take action.
• Feeling stuck and don’t know where to start? Just pick a place and dive in.
• If you have a dilemma, list the pros and cons and follow the results.

Procrastination is so bad for you! It stops us in our tracks as we just get caught up on the issue and never take action to deal with or resolve it. Be a do-er and an action-taker rather than a procrastinator!

Read more about procrastination and what to do about it in this article from Psychology Today.

4. Be intentional with your time

When many of us say that our life is too complicated, what we actually mean is that we’re too busy. If you can find ways to be less busy then maybe life might feel a little simpler? Being less busy isn’t always easy to achieve in normal everyday life. The key to making it work for you is to be strategic and intentional about your time and what you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to in the first place.

Here are some things for you to try:

• Look closely at your calendar and remove any activities or commitments that no longer serve you, add value to your life, you or your family have outgrown and/or that you no longer enjoy.
• Factor in some free time each day to relax and just go with the flow.
• Could you get up earlier and use this time to get things done that you can’t do during the rest of the day?
• Or what about spending 20 minutes in the evening preparing your bags, lunches or clothes for tomorrow, so you don’t have to do them in the morning?

Be intentional with your time and spend it wisely.

5. Define your priorities

Have you thought about what your true priorities might be? Not just the ones that shout loudest from your diary or To Do list. A new car or a bigger house? Or would it be making your kids laugh or watching them ride a bike without help for the first time?

As Stephen Covey reminds us “The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

Sometimes busy life pushes and pulls us in all directions and we lose sight of where we want to go in life and how to get there. Take a moment to identify your true priorities in life and appreciate the intrinsic value of the simpler things in life. Jot down in a notebook the people, activities, places and experiences that mean the most to you. Make a pact with yourself to try to do something each day to honour those priorities

6. Plan and prepare

Planning and preparing for what’s ahead will definitely help make life easier.

It will help you:

• Be less likely to forget things
• Know what needs to be done and when
• Foresee and avoid any problems before they come up

Some of us are better at planning than others. If you find it difficult, just remember that it doesn’t have to take ages and the time you’ve saved planning can more than cover the time you waste dealing with the fall-out of not being prepared!

For example, imagine forgetting a birthday and then having to make a special trip to the shops for a gift and card when you could have got this last time you were at the shops anyway?

Make life easier and do some regular forward-planning:

• Check your calendar weekly (and preferably daily) so you know what’s happening
• Keep a visual To Do list on paper or on your phone so you know what you need to do. Don’t rely on storing this information in your brain where you’re likely to forget it!

7. Get organised

Putting systems and procedures in place so you’re generally more organised, efficient and productive can make life simpler and easier. Some examples could be:

• Regular weekly meal-planning and food shopping,
• Filing systems for paperwork and important documents and spreadsheets to track your spending.
• Find a proper ‘home’ for everything from hats and gloves to toys and DIY tools so you can find everything quickly and easily. It also helps avoid those dreaded clutter hotspots!

For organisation and productivity tips check out this post on 25 ways to be more organised.

8. Set clear goals

Do you ever set goals for yourself and then wonder why you never achieve them? Perhaps you wing it through life not really knowing where you’d like to be in 5 years’ time, let alone next month? Only then to wonder where the time has gone and why haven’t you saved that money, bought that house, pursued that training and so on?

Simplify the process and achieve things in life that you really want to achieve without getting side-tracked by the unimportant. You might enjoy this article on how to set goals and achieve them for more help with this!

9. Establish household routines

Running a home can be a real drain on your time and your energy. Cleaning, washing, tidying, sorting. It all needs to be done even if you don’t feel like it. Make life easier and put some regular household routines in place. A little bit done often is much easier on your time and energy! Your home will run on auto-pilot and free you up to get on with the rest of life!

Check out my post on how to set up household routines to help you get started.

10. Declutter your clothes

Do you have plenty of clothes in your wardrobe but still can’t find anything to wear each morning?

Make life easier by decluttering your clothes. Remove anything that doesn’t fit, you don’t wear or is damaged. You’ll be left with clothes that you love and a few less items to sift through. Deciding what to wear in the morning will be so much quicker and easier!

You might find it helpful to develop a signature style of clothes that you enjoy wearing and feel comfortable in. Use this style to create a personal daily uniform and make it much quicker and easier to get dressed each day (and make clothes shopping easier too!). Here are some other tips on how to decide which clothes to declutter and some simple ideas on how to declutter clothes in 10 easy steps.

11. Make peace with yourself

Accept yourself for who you are and what you have. Stop trying or wishing to be somebody different. Spend time improving your own life rather than being envious of others and you’ll find your life will be much easier!

If you find life isn’t going in the direction you’d like or you feel out of sync with life in general, maybe it’s time to take stock? Here are some practical tips to reset your life, find focus and get clarity on your life and how you feel about it.

12. Look after yourself

It doesn’t matter whether you can snatch just 5 minutes or 5 hours. Take some time each day to do something for yourself (a bath, read a chapter of a book, bake a cake and so on). Recharge your batteries with a little time for yourself and life will feel a bit easier, even if it’s not!

For some simple self-care ideas that are sustainable, practical and realistic, try this post on 20 ways to look after yourself.

13. Put boundaries in place

Avoid wasting your time and energy on things that don’t add value or aren’t important.

• Stop saying yes to things you really don’t want to do.
• Don’t spend time doing something when you’d rather be doing something else.
• Don’t let one-sided relationships and friendships take your energy.

Life is complicated enough so make life easier by putting in place boundaries. Make some broad decisions about what you’ll let into your life and what you keep out and this will remove some of the small, minute decisions you make every day. Check out this post on how to set up boundaries and get your free worksheet.

14. Identify the biggest cause of your stress

Is there one thing in your life that causes you a lot of stress, upset or overwhelm?

• Maybe it’s body confidence and you’d like to lose weight?
• Not enough time for yourself or time in general?
• A friendship that’s a bit one-sided?
• A job that’s going nowhere or isn’t flexible enough for your family life?

Choose just one thing that’s getting you down and make a plan to deal with it this week. Next week, pick another or build on the one from the week before.

15. Take regular exercise

Taking regular exercise is an important way of keeping your body and mind strong and healthy. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just a daily walk in fresh air or some gentle stretches are fine. Listen to your body and move it as much as you can.

Build good habits into your life for regular exercise, movement and healthy eating. Your body has to work hard for you, for as long as possible, so try to do what you can to look after it!

For other self-care ideas, check out my free Self-Care Challenge.

PUTTING THE CHANGES INTO ACTION

I hope these 15 ways to make your life easier really help you. They might not all be right for you just now. But, if you can take on board at least a few suggestions then some aspects of your life will definitely seem a bit easier.

If you can’t manage all at the same time, pick one or two that appeal to you most and work on these for a week. Try another two during the next week and so on. They’re just small changes that can have a big impact on making everyday life easier, no matter what life throws at you!

IN SUMMARY

Here are 15 ways to make life easier and your everyday life less difficult.

1. Simplify your finances – spend wisely, save more
2. Declutter your home – have less stuff
3. Stop putting things off – deal with things today
4. Be intentional with your time – say no as well as yes
5. Define your priorities – get clear on what you want
6. Plan and prepare – save time and stress
7. Get organised – establish systems and routines
8. Set clear goals – focus on what’s important
9. Establish household routines – run your home on auto-pilot
10. Declutter your clothes – make it easier to dress each day
11. Make peace with yourself – stop chasing
12. Look after yourself – practice regular self-care
13. Put healthy boundaries in place – be clear on what you’ll accept
14. Identify the biggest cause of your stress – make changes
15. Take regular exercise – move your body and de-stress your mind

RESOURCES TO HELP MAKE LIFE EASIER

If you’d like to explore intentional living and ways to make life easier, here are some resources which you might find helpful:

• 20 ways to simplify your life – ideas to create ease with less stress.
• 18 signs you are too busy – and what to do about it
• What does it mean to simplify your life?
• Quick and easy ways to simplify your space
• Declutter Starter Kit – a free guide and workbook to help you understand the what, why and how of decluttering. Projects, tips and guidance to clear the clutter in your home and life.
• 24 Simple Daily Habits to Make Life Easier (+ Free Habit Tracker)

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I’m Antonia and on this blog I share practical inspiration to simplify your home, time and life. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest! You can also subscribe to Balance Through Simplicity and receive regular simplicity tips straight to your inbox for free. Make sure you never miss an article plus you’ll get a copy of my free Declutter Starter Kit as a welcome gift!