Many years ago, my life was all about working! My home was not a priority and it looked like it. I had no outside interests. I was living for work. No regular cleaning schedule. Dust collecting. Clothes piling up. Sink full of dishes. My home was not a sanctuary for me. One day, enough was enough. I cleaned the house from top to bottom. It looked clean and smelled clean! There was nothing piled up. Open and serene space was all around! It felt very tranquil to have a clean home! I was on my way to living the simple life.
Discovering Living The Simple Life
I started to realize the relationship between a clean space and having much more peace of mind. The more orderly the house looked, the more orderly the brain seemed to be. Browsing through bookstores was always something I loved doing. One day, I came across a book called “Living The Simple Life” by Elaine St. James-circa 1994. It absolutely changed my life! It must have changed many other people too, as Elaine wrote several more books on the art of simplifying-many of which I own as well!
Here’s Elaine’s book here. You can pick up “Living The Simple Life” through this link.
Through her books, I learned that clutter appears in our lives in many ways. The most obvious one that people think of is having too much physical stuff. We can carry around a lot of mental clutter too. Too many commitments, too many errands to run, too many household tasks, too many bills, too much time invested in things that probably don’t really matter! It was a real eye opener for me! I knew I was unhappy with my life as it was, and this book was paving the way to change. I started working to reduce the amount of physical and mental clutter I had in my life and what a change it made!
The Concept Remains-25 Years Later
“Living The Simple Life” by Elaine St. James, has been around for 25 years now. Her book was the blueprint for the simplified and decluttered life I now lead. It was interesting to re-read my book with all of my highlighted notations. The concepts are still very relevant in 2019, despite some technological advances over the years. Her books can be purchased online through any of the major bookstore’s websites or on Amazon. I can’t recommend this book (or her series of books) enough. They were definitely transforming for me!
It sounds great, doesn’t it? Does the whole idea of simplifying your life just seem like too much of a hill to climb? Well, identifying those areas is where it starts. Some of these areas could be:
- Job related-long work hours, a job we don’t like, a difficult boss
- Family related-not enough family time, ailing parents, family expectations
- Community related-overcommit for community activities, unending charity requests
- Finance related-too much debt, living paycheck to paycheck, easy access to money
- Home related-too large a home, too many possessions
Get Your Free Workbook To Identify Your Primary Clutter Points
It all begins RIGHT HERE! This free workbook will help you identify several points of clutter in your life. Take the first step to conquering clutter. Just sign up for my email list below and your free workbook will be on its way to your inbox!
Coming up, in my next blog post will be a method I used from “Living The Simple Life” to build my strategy to reduce clutter. My blog post, “Simplify Your Life By Planning A Self Retreat and Profoundly Change Your Life” will help you develop your plan to get started on your clutter clearing journey to a better life. Stay tuned!
After years of weight issues, I have finally found the formula of combining healthy food choices, regular exercise and positive behavior change to lose weight for good. Coupled with, exploring self-development, being productive and living simply, I am now maintaining a healthy lifestyle and in a good place. I enjoy writing articles to help my readers to become the best they can be!
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