Simplify Your Life
If your life is the perfect example of a Rube Goldberg machine, then maybe it
is time for you to switch to the KISS principle of Keep It Simple, Stupid!
After all, the simpler your life is, the fewer openings there are for the
stress bugs to crawl through.
Frugal living is a way to simplify your life and to save money at the same
time. Although we do not expect you to sacrifice your motorcycle for a push
bike, there are no doubt plenty of expenditures in your life that you could do
without. For instance, can you really tell the difference between
brand-name toilet paper and generic toilet paper? Do you think the cockroaches
and other insects care whether you have dropped a few extra bucks on their
poison? Similarly, if you are not much of a gearhead, consider saving yourself
a few thousand bucks on the car you buy. Relax -- we will not send you into
Volvo territory by reminding you that a car is a device to go from A to B. As a
final idea in frugal living, investigate whether you can use an Internet phone
or voice-chat software to communicate with your long-distance loved ones.
For finance, the first step in simplification is to pay off all your debts. Do
not spend wildly while you have debts accumulating; they will come back to
haunt you after you have had your thrills. You can simplify your bill payments
by arranging for direct debits. Ideally, you should have a separate bank
account for your direct debits so that your bank statements are simplified and
easy to follow. Then all you have to do is "feed" your secondary account from
time to time. You can also use the secondary account for your online purchases,
online sales, and online banking -- doing so is probably safer than using your
primary bank account anyway.
Limit the number of people who have your cell phone number and other contact
details. This way, you will have fewer calls to handle. Free yourself of
stressful commitments by developing the assertiveness to say no to people when
you are not interested in doing something they would like you to do.
To save yourself from having to do a lot of extra work around your home or
apartment, limit the amount of washing you have to do by wearing some of your
clothes two or three times. Iron only dress shirts and pants -- the rest is a
waste of time, and no one will be able to tell the difference anyway. If you can
afford one, buy a dishwasher to automate another tedious chore.
Among the many ways of simplifying your online life, you can use RSS feeds to
simplify your Web surfing. These will let you know when your favorite sites
have updates, eliminating the need for manual checking. If you are an email
addict, consider limiting the number of emails you initiate. (You thought we
would say the number of emails you reply to, right? Hey, we are not that rude!)
Also, unless the emails you receive are matters of urgency directed to your
superhero business, you can probably limit yourself to checking your email only
once or twice a day (morning and night). Better yet, download a free
email-notification utility that will let you know when you actually have email.
Get rid of unneeded books, clothing, furniture, and other freeloaders
around the home. Consider donating your used clothes to a charity or a homeless
hostel. Sell your unwanted junk on eBay -- one popular saying assures us that
what you consider junk, another may consider treasure. Tidy up your desk and
bookshelf so that you have only the essentials of business and pleasure.
Two books that you may find inspirational are Walden, by Henry David Thoreau,
and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, by, well, Benjamin Franklin. One
book that may change your life is Getting Things Done, by David Allen. Allen
suggests that the first step for effective living is to transfer all your "open
loops", or things to do, from your mind to an advanced system of activity
management. Indeed, the simple act of unloading a huge to-do list from your
memory to a piece of paper reduces stress immediately.
PPPPP
Word Count 712
|
An Anti-Stress Grab Bag Although there are countless activities known to relieve stress, we will select a handful that require ...
read more
Are Eustressed Out Lately? What would you pay to receive that one piece of information that promises to transform your ...
read more
Be Your Own Stress Therapist Psychotherapists have many tools at their disposal for helping clients overcome stress and related issues. ...
read more
Creating a Stress-Free Workplace Stress in the workplace is one of the top reasons for employee dissatisfaction and subsequent drop ...
read more
Dealing with Stress at the Computer I Asthenopia, better known as eyestrain, is a huge problem for the computer user. ...
read more
Dealing with Stress at the Computer II An increasing number of people are quitting the office job and discovering the ...
read more
Dealing with Stress at the Computer III Sitting in front of the computer for extended hours can easily lead to ...
read more
Dealing with Stress at the Computer IV Organizing your computer system for the work you do can help you reach ...
read more
Dealing with Stress at the Computer V One prominent item on the A-list of computer-related stressors is finding yourself in ...
read more
Express Your Stress Sometimes when the pressure becomes too much, it helps to transfer your internal stress to an external ...
read more
Improving Your Sleep to Fight Stress Getting enough quality sleep is one of the best weapons in the stress-relief arsenal. ...
read more
Kick Stress in the Butt There is an inextricable link between feelings of stress and feelings of being unable to ...
read more
Managing Your Stress Psychotherapists have many tools at their disposal for helping clients overcome stress and related issues. One of ...
read more
Meditation Is Not Just for Hippies When most people hear talk of meditation, they envision pot-smoking hippies with long dreadlocks, ...
read more
Overcoming Procrastination and Its Stress Quite a number of books have been written about overcoming the habit of procrastination and ...
read more
Preparing for Stressors Miguel De Cervantes said that to be prepared is half the victory. No matter what the twists ...
read more
Simplify Your Life If your life is the perfect example of a Rube Goldberg machine, then maybe it is time ...
read more
Speed Reading to Combat Stress For many people, dealing with a stack of unread books, newspapers, magazines, journals, and correspondence ...
read more
The Basics of a Stress-Free Diet The first connection between natural remedies and mental health was established when it was ...
read more
The Biology of the Stress Response It is often the case that you have to understand something before you can ...
read more
The Easy Way to Ace Exams When it comes to exams, are you in the habit of leaving everything until ...
read more
The Stress Triangle As an individual functioning in the world, you can have only three kinds of problems: problems with ...
read more
Treat Yourself to a Massage There are few things in life that are almost guaranteed to relieve a person of ...
read more
What Philosophers Tell Us About Stress Epictetus, the Greek Stoic philosopher, is reported to have said, "Men are disturbed not ...
read more
What the Net Offers for Stress Relief "Hi, my name is Bob, and I am an alcoholic." "Hi, my name ...
read more
|
|
|
Disclaimer:
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in
the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not
warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate
due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site
is a common sense guide to Simplify Your Life. In practical advice websites,
like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made.
Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their
individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site
is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or
financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent
professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any
perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
|