Growing up I enjoyed the simple things in life. My brother and I would play outside for hours on end. There was lots of make-believe and imaginative play. Most of the time we weren’t busy – I had time to read and explore interests. In fact, I still remember the look on the librarian’s face when I checked out an architecture textbook… at 12 years old.

As I got older my favorite part of the day was my reading time. I’d take my stack of school books up to my room and sit in my rather antique stuffed chair that had been my grandma’s. I’d have a cup of hot chocolate or cappuccino to sip on and I’d settle in for a couple hours of reading – Bible, literature, science, history, and whatever else I could fit in. It was bliss.

Non-Simple Living Years

But as I got older and entered college life got busier. I had classes and worked at the college library. Then I got a full-time job, got married, and settled into my grown-up life. It wasn’t necessarily overly busy or complicated, but it didn’t feel simple either. However, I never really got around to doing anything about it until our lives changed forever.

Our first baby, a little girl named Taylor, was born with a fatal birth defect and only lived for a few hours. That experience changed me more than anything in my life.

Getting Back to Simple Living

My journey to simplifying started a couple weeks after she passed. Suddenly I was home on maternity leave without my baby. It gave me a lot of time to think about the kind of life I wanted moving forward. I needed things to be simple, with plenty of time with those I loved. I realized more than ever that’s what really matters.

So I spent several weeks doing a massive declutter of our home. It felt so freeing to get rid of the excess.

I was extra careful the next year or so about the things coming into our home. But I didn’t really work on simplifying any more. I had a good reason, though – we were blessed with another baby! I was too tired from growing a baby to do anything extra around the house 🙂

Simple Living Now

After our little boy arrived, I started thinking more about simplifying again and what I wanted our lives to look like.

I pictured quiet days playing and learning with my baby. I pictured us being able to take a spontaneous walk on a nice day or driving a few minutes down the road for a visit with my family.

The thing that would make this possible is simplifying – both my online business, my home, schedule, and life.

So again, I got to work. And this is where I’m at right now – decluttering our home some more, creating simple systems, and doing what I can to keep our life simple.

Though I don’t succeed every day in making our lives uncomplicated – with each step I’m getting closer to the life I want to live.

If you’re wondering what steps have made a difference, here’s a list:

• DeCluttering!
• Paperless billing
• Sign up for autopay
• Meal planning
• Password system
• Cleaning routine
• Block scheduling for business tasks
• See the rest of my ideas here

So that’s my story.. I grew up living pretty simply and when I grew up I missed it! But I didn’t really do anything about it until I experienced loss and then had our son, which made me realize the kind of life I want to live.

You too can simplify your life. Making small choices every day to live more simply will get you closer and closer to the life you desire.