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We live in an age that is all about hustling, #girlboss, and “I’m SO busy!” But at the same time, books like Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up are flying off shelves as people try to simplify and find meaning in the hustle and bustle of their lives. Does having it all really mean having less? The idea behind the simplification movement isn’t about sacrifice or “giving up” anything; instead, it’s about looking at your life and figuring out what unnecessary stuff weighing you down to get rid of: making you happier, more productive, and more fulfilled.
Let’s start with technology. I love my phone and computer as much as the next girl, but email ads? Constant notifications from that one wordsearch app? Not so much. We spend so much time every day on our devices; eliminating those little annoyances adds up and makes a big difference really quickly.
✔ Head to your notification center. Turn off everything you don’t want. Do you really need updates every time your friend likes a tweet? Or someone follows your wedding board on Pinterest? (Let’s be honest – we all have one.) Turning off notifications like Instagram likes can also help us use those apps more intentionally, so instead of constantly refreshing, we can really appreciate our feed in a more focused way. When your phone buzzes, ask yourself, “do I need – or want – to know this right away?”
✔ Clean up your computer. Start by picking a screensaver you really like (I recommend the gorgeous ones over at DesignLoveFest) so every time you open your laptop, you see something you think is really beautiful – not just the default welcome screen. Alternatively, try a column-style screensaver to organize the files you’re using. (Try this or this.) Plus, we’re all guilty of digital hoarding – downloaded files from 2013, papers from high school, or ancient photos. Use cloud storage, a USB drive, external drive, or burn some storage CDs to free up hard drive space; not only will your computer run faster, it will also be way easier to find the things you actually need.
✔ Liberate your inbox. Unroll.me is a great site to find out just how many email subscription lists you’re on – many you may not even be aware of. (It found 187 for me! Yikes.) Just typing in your email will bring up every single list you’re on, and makes it easy to get rid of all the ones you don’t want, which, odds are, is most of them.
✔ Reevaluate social media. Annoyed by constant memes from a friend on Facebook, but don’t want to unfriend them? Take advantage of the handy unfollow option. Are travel vloggers giving you serious FOMO on YouTube? Unfollow if it’s becoming more stressful than enjoyable. The opposite holds true too: if Instagram photos of Parisian macarons and globetrotting it girls provide a nice escape from Econ homework, embrace it! The goal is not to necessarily cut down, but make sure that you’re getting the content you want.
Next up, the nitty gritty of day to day life – the mechanics of living. So many tiny details go into every one of our days – checking in every now and then to make sure everything’s working for you, not against you, is a great practice to start.
✔ Take a look at your closet. This may seem overly simplistic, but how many of your clothes do you actually wear and love…and how many linger in the back or lie on the floor, getting in your way as you try to find your other clothes? Formal wear is held to a slightly different standard, obviously, but that high-lo skirt you’re going to wear “someday” or those fisherman sweaters that were a Buy One Get One 50% Off impulse buy? Don’t let anything hold you back from just straight up getting rid of them. Drop them off with a friend, find a thrift store, or schedule a charity pickup. It might even save you money in the long run – once you get realistic about what you actually do and don’t wear, it’s easier to buy things you’ll love and use for a long time instead of getting distracted by sales and trends. Do you have too many socks (that get everywhere), or not enough? Tiny details like this can make getting dressed in the morning so much easier.
✔ Recycle, recycle, recycle. Old notes, crumpled worksheets, scribbled post its in the back of your desk drawer, syllabi from last quarter: free up that space! If you have things that are piling up, but that you can’t throw away, you have a few options. Receipts? Start putting expenses in an Excel file or Google Spreadsheet. Reference books? Scan the relevant pages and put them in a folder. Digitize whenever you can!
✔ Make habits. Always running late in the morning? Try laying out your outfit the night before or grabbing a smoothie on the way to class instead of a sit down breakfast. If you’re always searching for your keys, put them in the same place every day; once you settle into routines that streamline your life, you can save so much time every day.
✔ When you feel overwhelmed, apply the 4 D’s to your to do list: Decide, Delegate, Defer, or Delete. Either Decide (do something right away), Delegate (ask someone to do it, or pay to have it automated, like laundry service), Defer (do it later if it isn’t urgent), or Delete (does it really have to get done? If not, focus on what’s really important).
In the end, it’s all about what makes your life easier or more enjoyable. Sometimes that means adjusting your priorities, eliminating things, or even adding elements that make you love your life more. Charles Warner wrote, “Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.” You don’t need anything weighing you down – you have a world to take on.
Go out there and conquer it.
(cover image, image 1, image 2)