Since we’ve gone to a more minimalist lifestyle, I’d say our lives are simpler. We have less stuff to clean, less stuff around to take care of.

We’ve always been influenced by simplicity even from the time we were first married and Quakers. I think it’s a progression in life with kids houses etc, to get more stuff and accumulate things. We still live in a very small house, but there’s less stuff. Okay, the barn still has stuff, but not too much. 

I live a simple life. I never am overly busy and never over commit. I’m always a little taken back when people say how busy they are. It’s like, wait, you have a choice. I chose to have lots of time just for me, reading, walking, cooking.  I’d like our finances to be even more simple so I’m trying to pay more on our mortgage but most of the time we have just what we need to pay the bills with a little left over. It’d be nice if we didn’t have a mortgage but that’s not what it is. So, we try and live simply with what we have. We don’t have cable or cc bills. If I use a cc it is paid right away( almost) so there’s no interest and we get points. 

I think that’s the key with living a simple life, do what you can with what you have. Don’t add more stuff, debt or time constraints.

Some things that have helped me are:

getting up early@ 5am is nice

a regular daily walk

decluttering constantly

organizing what we do have so we know where things are and they’re labeled.

a daily housekeeping ,for example, I wipe the bathroom daily, the kitchen counters are kept clean and empty, process one load of laundry daily, use fly lady’s zones on the house. There’s probably other stuff but that’s the basics. 

Life is a journey and it’s all about learning how to live with who you are.