• Move body, walk more, 7k plus steps
• Drink water
• Stay Curious, like a playful child, tinkering
• Extensive note taking, harvest ideas
• Be Mindful, Focused, Intentional
• Be Proactive. Task list index and schedule in todoist
• Lagom, embrace moderation
• Smile, be kind, help others
• Learn something new each day!
• No added sugar, no cola
• No unnecessary purchases and spends
• No gossips, avoid toxic, arrogant, judgemental, and egotist people
• No toxic media. Avoid politics, religion, and judiciary.
• Declutter everything before leaving.

I think because it looks like if you are not online, you are living in some kind of limbo, a cave or outside civilization.

I hear of people who stayed off for a while but feel like I can't do it because I live on social media. I get almost all my information online. If I quit now, where would I get information? How would I contribute when others are having a discussion, and I mean sensible conversations that everybody is supposed to be familiar with, or like a trend?

How about my social life? Will that go down the drain too because since everybody is online, and I am the odd one out, I would be seen as anti-social?

The issue is not that I can't go off, it's just the fear of missing out that holds me back. I need advise, please. I know that once I go ahead and stay off, there is no holding back but I need enough reason to justify why.

I know social media is not really helping me right now because of information overload and the algorithm messing my life but I am scared to be seen as ignorant because simple topics I have no idea about.

I really want a life outside social media, I know it would do me much good.

Im currenlty unhappy with the amount of shoes I want or need. I live somewhere that gets lots of snow in the winter, so for the winter I have regular winter boots, combat boots and a pair of pink uggs for fashion. For the summer I have a pair of sneakers, sandals and rain boots. Theres this ideal world where I also get a pair for going dancing but even 7 pairs feels like alot.

How many shoes do yall have? Any advice? I might just put my winter boots away for the season

I consider myself a pretty clean, organized and owner of not so many things, but I always felt like it was hard to constantly keep my things where they needed to be. I started this new thing that when my little one’s diapers get delivered monthly I take that box and keep it in the hallway and throughout the month I just casually throw donations in it until it’s full and ready to be dropped off at the local thrift shop.

I honestly didn’t realize how much stuff that I still own and don’t actually need until I started this. I’ve been doing it since January and I’ve cleaned out so many small items I never even thought about.

If you need a sign to start your decluttering journey, this is it.

Just finished this quick read and loved it!! It's on Kindle unlimited if you have that. It's a short fiction novel about loss, love, and learning to appreciate what really matters in life.

edit: title typo!! if cats disappeared* from the world

I'm looking for books that I can consult that make me feel whole--that bring me comfort and a sense of contentment.

Suggestions are welcome!

Today, I'm going to spend my Sunday doing grocery shopping, baking, food prep, and a birding walk. I'll probably do a couple of chores I've been meaning to catch up on, like folding my laundry I washed yesterday and washing out my cat's litterbox.

How do you deal with thoughts that feel recurring when you are on your healing journey? There is constant comparison with anyone you come across. How do you focus on yourself in a way it's not selfish or detaching. How do you build a strong sense of self

I have been trying to live more simply by resisting the urge to consume and not impulse buy things that I ‘desire’ since moving from a small country town to a large city a few years ago.

Yesterday I had time to kill in a bigger city I was in for a conference and I went to a huge shopping mall. I browsed some clothing stores and while there was definitely cute pieces and things that I would like, I felt no urge to buy anything. It was exciting to realize that I am calm enough not to give in to the impulse buy urge !

I think as a teen growing up in a small town with no access to shopping, I would always get very excited when I went to a mall in a city, and I would impulse buy knowing I wouldn’t t get another chance for a while. I have been trying to train my brain not to feel that way as an adult and finally feel like it’s working !

A small win for me in a consumerism focused world 🙂

It's still wintry weather where I am and my bones are always cold since I don't use heat. I am always sipping on something warm, mostly herbal teas but I often run out. What to do? I often have my 64 oz pump thermos (the ones see you at potlucks) filled with boiling water so it always contains hot/warm'ish water. Well, my new hack is to just drink that water in a mug or yeti and it's doing the job! I am experiencing the delusion of drinking a warm beverage other than water and it's also warming and comforting (am eating a protein bar right now with it) as I work on my computer.

Hi all,

I posted last week and was so touched by your responses:

https://www.reddit.com/r/simpleliving/s/EDwvYZuuhh

After reading your comments, taking time to figure out what was going on with me, and a lot of conversation with those I love I’ve come to realize my job is the problem. I’m coming to realize that the environment I’m working in has caused a lot of anxiety. Management is micromanaging my workload and time throughout my days.

Have you pivoted your career in hopes of more simple living? Or have you stayed in your career and found simple living and balance? I feel like at this point I need to define my workplace values and find a job that aligns with who I am.

I’d love to hear your experience if you are in a place to share 🩷

Sometimes simple happiness is walking your dog on a beautiful Spring day.

As an extension of simple living and minimalism, What are your views on quitting social media ? In case one quits twitter or instagram, how does one keep track of good knowledge & wisdom from high quality accounts ? Some advocate moderation instead of quitting social media altogether. Your views pls

I had a trip to Sri Lanka about almost 2 years ago. (I’m Tamil-Sri Lankan btw, 👋🏽 to any other Tamil ppl reading lol) The moments I cherished the most was dinners eaten together as a family with my relatives.

Over here, I just feel like I’m my own person and everyone else in my family is doing their own thing. (In the West)

Simple living was also beautiful over there with all the nature🍃

What has helped you minimize phone (and all the apps that come with it) usage? I use the wellbeing settings but inevitably there's a day where I think I need more time and then it's all out the window. I have uninstalled all social media apps and Amazon which has helped but I still feel so tied to my phone. I think part of it is because I use it for work during the day and then the other part is my family constantly hitting me up. I thought about telling them I'm unavailable from 7-10pm or something but inevitably they message me and then I see it and respond for fear of forgetting to later. I am in therapy and am strategizing there too. But I really want to be more present and I'm just wondering what has maybe helped others or just some encouragement in general. It feels like everything is so tied to the phone it sucks. And my family sucks at boundaries so that gets exhausting to. Any tips?

I used to shop a lot - clothes, bags, shoes, name it. Maybe it had something to do with having no kids yet and both me and my husband working so basically I have money to spare. What made me stop? My clothes don't fit my closet anymore! It was so overwhelming and cluttered. As I am folding clothes from laundry, I saw a lot of other clothes I haven't even worn, some still with tags and some don't even fit me anymore. With bags and shoes, I also find myself using the same bag and shoes that I had over the years because they are more comfortable to wear. I realized I was just wasting money. And so little by little, I have disengaged from shopping. I rarely go to malls anymore, uninstalled shopping apps, and challenged myself to a 'no buy/low buy'. I've been pretty consistent so I am proud of myself.

Next challenge: decluttering. :) wish me luck!

A while ago, I decided to cut out caffeine and alcohol. It was a lot harder to cut out caffeine, as I had become dependent on it for over a decade. That fact did not sit well with me, and was part of my reasoning for quitting. I was not a big alcohol drinker but it was something I enjoyed from time to time and I noticed that when I did drink, it negatively affected my sleep and I think just prevented me from feeling my best overall. One day I just decided that as an experiment, I would try to cut both of these out completely and see what happened.

In the beginning it was really hard to not have caffeine. Besides the headaches, it was just hard to concentrate and get myself motivated to do things. It was hard to not have alcohol when the craving randomly arose on a hot summer’s day.

It took a good long while until the cravings for both finally subsided, but they eventually did. And now I can say I am much better without them, both physically but more so mentally I think. It’s really nice to not have the mental burden of cravings or dependence. It’s forced me to rely on myself more to give my body what it needs. I don’t rely on a stimulant to give me the push I need to start working in the morning. That has to come from discipline now. It’s also easier to notice when my body needs rest, because it’s not masked by adrenaline so much. I don’t rely on alcohol to loosen up after a stressful day. I have to rely on old fashioned relaxation techniques for that. I feel more in touch with myself for having to do these things. It has definitely impacted me on my journey for a slower, simpler life.

Overall I’m really happy with the results of the experiment. I hope I can continue and see where it leads. I’m curious if anyone else has had similar experiences with cutting out either or both of these and how it went.

To each his own but I have struggled since my teen years (I am 27 years old now) because I believed 'hustling' is what keeps you afloat in the pool of wants and needs (I am not ruling out the fact that it works for some people). I was depressed for so long but kept chasing the bag relentlessly, much to the decline of my health, walk with God, and social life.

I just took a break and I feel so good. I am now taking a course in the area of my career interest as opposed to being a jack of all trades...

Fear of the unknown kept me on a directionless lane, fear of lack made me get so busy without achieving much, it was frustrating. Working so hard yet getting little or no result, coupled with the absence of peace of mind, unnecessary pressure to not be left behind.

Now, my life is so much happier and I am moving with intentionality and calmness. I love my peace of mind and the simplicity of my life. But like I always say, do you. Do what makes you happy because life ends at some point, we just don't know when.

P.S I didn't just quit my job, I saved up what would last me for a year before I took the bold step. Thank you.

Hello!

I’m 22, working full time making a pretty decent salary. I live at home with my family still, out in the country, about 30 minutes out from the nearest city.

At this point I’m making enough that if I saved for another year or two while living at home, I could probably buy a place with a solid down payment, but it may be tight bill-wise and I would probably be somewhat house poor, or furnishing would be slow going.

My parents offered to sell part of their land to me for very cheap, and to help me build a house there in a few years. But the thought of living that close to them makes me uneasy, just because I like my space quite a bit, recently especially when it comes to my family.

I’ve also been giving some thought to renting in the city, maybe with a roommate, maybe not. I would be closer to work, and would get my own space. This also feels like it would be a good opportunity to learn to live on my own without the house maintenance that would come with owning a place/property. Like an intro to living alone kinda deal.

I’m also not 100% settled on living in this area forever, so not being tied to a house or mortgage is appealing.

I’m not sure what I’m asking for here lol, lately I’ve just been feeling suffocated by my family and living in such close proximity to them. Like I mentioned, I really like my own space, and the thought of having my own place is very appealing.

Any words of advice for me on making these kinds of decisions or just dealing with living in a full house?

After watching a few episodes of Konohana Kitan, which is basically about a fairy tale purgatory - to put it simply for us Westerners, I found out that this genre is called "iyashikei".

For me, it was healing when Eastertide came this year. One of the earlier episodes in particular, that's about a similar Japanese custom/story.

It's a sub-genre of the slice-of-life genre, that's supposed to be healing and calming in its nature. It can range from anime or manga to regular movies and books. It tends to be Japanese, but not necessarily.
I thought that those attributes would make it a perfect option to help others stay more grounded, to appreciate what and who they have in their lives.

There's been a movie called Perfect Days, that's been discussed profoundly over at r/minimalism and in this sub. I myself have commented about it a lot in one of those older Reddit threads. After having this genre-revelation, I think that it kind of fits under that "slice-of-life" umbrella, too, and a little bit of iyashikei. It won't make you happy as some pure iyashikei works, since it's lacking that lingering comfort factor, but there are some moments that might qualify.

Are there any works of art that you would classify as iyashikei and recommend them to other Redditors here?

Some examples:

Iyashikei - Anime - MyAnimeList.net

Iyashikei Books (goodreads.com)

Iyashikei movies - IMDb

Iyashikei - Wikipedia

Maybe this is obvious to others here, but I have recently been reflecting on how honesty is a crucial part of my philosophy of living simply.

My partner and I were recently in a situation where he was negotiating a job offer. His mentors all recommended that he withhold a piece of information, but he decided he was uncomfortable with that and proceeded with honesty. In this situation, honesty led to a better outcome because the employer appreciated the candor and worked to make an accommodation that would not have happened if he withheld the information. There have been a not insignificant number of situations like this one where family or mentors have recommended we lie in order to obtain an "optimal" outcome. Sometimes it has worked out better for us to be honest, sometimes it has not. Regardless, in all situations, lying would have surely brought all sorts of complications and stress that is incompatible with our goal of living simply.

My partner comes from an upper class family and they lie constantly. They lie to use to get us to do things that they want, when all they had to do was ask. They lie to customer service agents when returning products. They lie to salespeople in order to get better deals. I am not sure if this is an upper class thing in general or his family in specific, but I am willing to guess it is not all that uncommon. All the lying does for them is create stress and distrust, and in a best case scenario it saves them a little bit of money when they are already incredibly wealthy.

Maybe the idea isn't about the honesty in particular, but about not approaching every negotiation or transaction like you have to come out of it the "winner". Choosing to be honest has just proved to be a useful fallback for me when I do not know how to handle a situation.

I'm curious about people who have a simple but "abnormal" domestic life, a home and lifestyle combined that most people would consider odd.

If you have managed to create a home life that affords you both peace and security but is different from just renting an apartment or buying a house, please share your experience!

I'm so tired of just working a 9-5 and renting, and I don't desire to put down thousands of dollars for a house (or the maintenance of it). Unsure what I actually want, but I'm open to all kinds of ideas, and I wanna hear what people's journeys and lives are like.

I kinda needed this reminder today with summer coming up fast.

I never thought I'd be 24 years old and excited about a washing machine but here I am! My washing machine has been broken for about a week and a half but before that it was getting old, slow, and malfunctiony.

When it finally crapped out my husband and I were reluctant to get a new one because of cost but we desperately needed one. We have a 6 year old son who has developmental disabilities that still isn't potty trained (bedsheets) and adhd wanders away from the table to spread crumbs galore over every blanket and cloth surface he can find! Not to mention his clothes.

It also crapped out just when I had been coming out of my winter depression haze and having energy to deep clean, declutter the house, and had my husband start doing tons of piles of laundry lol. I don't even do the laundry in our house but I'm just excited I can get back to cleaning the house without suffocating under increasingly monstrous piles of dirty laundry!

Also I'm getting rid of clothes and blankets. This incident has shown me we have way too many!

On a hiking trip, recently had a conversation with a stranger on how mountainous natives locals or nomads live a simple life in sync with nature and environment. They do not overprotective themselves from natural elements like urban generally do. They are peaceful and healthy due to the simple life they leas. What are your views about it? What meaningful conversations or thoughts you would like to share on simple living?

A post from earlier today pushed me down this train of thought. Bear with me, if you will. There is much to be said about an individual’s progress, and how ultimately inner growth supersedes external success, to an extent. The question I have pertains instead to the extent and meaningfulness of external, societal progress, and I think the same applies.

By external societal progress, I am not referring to the social aspects of improved equality, but tangible technological advancements. We have medicine, surgery, computers, the internet, AI, rocket ships, and a million innovations in between that we take for granted. Certainly, technology has helped reduce mortality (though much of this is actually just due to access to clean water and sanitation rather than any of the fancier innovations) and improved quality of life.

But, I can’t help but to wonder, is life truly “better” today than it was 100, 500, 1000, 10000 years ago? Is society as a whole “better” than it was? The short answer is, of course, yes, because the infrastructure we now have makes life not only more convenient but significantly more livable. But is there an extent beyond which this is no longer true? Have we, somewhere along the path, reached a threshold, where progress from here-on-out is really, just, extra? A cherry on top, or a whole jar full, at that?

This is not by any means meant to suggest the futility of further technological advancement, but to put it into perspective. When I go down these trains of thought, I always come back to realizing all that really matters is being kind to yourself and one another and doing what we can to reduce suffering. Everything else is gravy.