31 Days to a Simpler Life ContentsDays... · Page 4 || 31 days to a Simpler Life The start of a journey towards a simpler life... with one step.” Today’s world is complicated

Contents

Introduction.…….…...............................................................................

.......4 1. 8 Awesome Reasons to Kick Negativity Out of

2. 3.

31 Days to a Simpler Life

BY HENRIK EDBERG

Page 2 || 31 days to a Simpler Life

Copyright Henrik Edberg, 2012. You do not have the right to sell, share or claim the ownership of the content of this guide. This course is for informational purposes only and it contains my opinions based on my experience. You should always find the advice of a professional before taking action on something I have published.


Contents:

Introduction…………………………………………………………………..4

About the author……………………………..………………………....10

Simplify your email process………………………………………....11

Unclutter your workspace…………………………………………...15

Create your no-distractions zone. ……………………………....19

Unclutter your desktop. ……………………………………………...22

What are the 4 most important things in your life?........24

Create a very simple to-do list. ………………………………..….26

Unclutter your wallet or handbag. ……………………………...28

One thing you can minimize or stop doing at work?......30

Take one hour of solitude for yourself………………………...32

Declutter one drawer or shelf in your home. ………………34

Declutter one clothes closet. ………………………………………36

Do errands you have been procrastinating on……….......38

Unclutter one messy drawer in your kitchen……………….39

Throw out old food from your fridge & cupboards…..….40

The one week food shopping run………………………………..41

A day of slow mindfulness. ……………………………………………..43

Become more conscious of how you spend money…………45

Find ways to reduce your recurring costs. …………………..….47

Reduce or eliminate one or two recurring costs. ………..….49

Automate your bills. ……………………………………………………….51

Start to let of one thing that is occupying your mind this

week..…………………………………………………………………….……….52

Unclutter your life schedule. …………………………………………..55

Re-evaluate your social life. ……………………………………………58

Revisit your peaceful place for one hour. ………………..……..60

Take a media free day.…………………………………………….……..61

Unclutter your digital information feed. ………………………...63

Find a home for each of your most important items……....65

Unclutter your bathroom.………………………….……………………67

Declutter your magazines and books. …………………….………69

Unclutter the flat surfaces in one of your rooms.…………...71

A time to reflect and to plan for simpler life.………….….…..72


The start of a journey towards a simpler life...

Today’s world is complicated and often overwhelming. It can really drain the life out of you and stress you to and beyond what you can handle. So what can you do? Well, some people may just accept that things are that way. Or they may not be aware that they do not have to live life in such a negative way. Others may read and dream about a simpler and lighter life. The aim of this course is very simple. To take it a step further than that, beyond just dreaming about simplifying your life. The aim is to get you take action step by step. To help you do one task per day for 31 days. But the aim of this course is not small. Because when you add one small step upon another you can go on a big journey. The daily steps add up to a big difference. And at the end of this guide you will find a plan that will help you to make the habits you learn throughout these 31 days to habits that will stick with you for life. Plus, by making these changes over the coming month and seeing and feeling the positive results in your life you will build a positive momentum within. You’ll be inspired and motivated to keep going, to tackle even bigger stuff and to keep building habits of simplicity.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tzu


So each day for 31 days you’ll read one or a couple of pages in this guide. You’ll get an approximate time it will take to do that task and you follow the specific instructions. That’s all you need to do. On some days it may take you 10 minutes to do the task of the day. On other days it may take you 30 or 60 minutes. Before we begin, here are a couple of questions and answers that will help you during these 31 days.

What do I do if I fall off the horse? As you are doing the daily tasks life may interfere. You have too much to do at home or at work. You get sick. Life throws you a curveball. And you get behind in doing the tasks for a day or more than that. What do you do then? Instead of stressing yourself out and trying to cram in three tasks in one day, relax. Instead of beating yourself up for not keeping up, be kind to yourself and nudge yourself on to the right path again. Do that by starting again where you left off and by taking the tasks one at a time and continue to do one a day as before. And if you need a day of rest or two during these 31 days then take them and then continue were you were. If you get a few days behind the 31 days schedule then that is totally OK and you will reach the final day anyway. It is important to not stress yourself out during this course but to take things one step at a time.


Should I continue doing the daily tasks every day to build new habits during the course? You could for example continue to process your daily email in the simpler way as you’ll learn on day # 1 every day for the remaining 30 days of this course. But doing that at the same time as the new and daily tasks could become too much. It could feel overwhelming and stressing and you might feel like quitting this altogether. So I would recommend just focusing on doing the task of the day each day during these 31 days. After the course is finished you can choose to focus on for example simpler email processing and building it into a stable habit by doing it every day for a month.

How do I simplify my life when other people in my life are not interested in simplifying? What do you do if other people around you – partner, family, friends – do not want to simplify their lives and follow along with you on your new journey? Do not try to push them. Do not nag and try to convince them. They have to be allowed to live their own lives and move at their own pace. Plus, trying to convince someone to do something or trying to help someone when that person is not ready doesn’t work. It just leads to annoyance, resentment, more resistance from the other person and conflict.


Instead, be the change you want to see in your world. This is the most influential thing you can do. As you take these steps and simplify your daily life your family, co-workers and friends will see how things are becoming better and simpler for you in a tangible and very real way. And then they may want that for themselves in their lives too. So when they ask for advice, tell them how you did it and help them out when they are ready.

Tell them about the upsides of simplifying. If you are feeling enthusiastic or someone is curious then talk about simplifying and uncluttering life in a non-pushy way. But don’t put the focus on that you want to do it but rather the benefits of doing so such as having more money for other things you really love, less cleaning to do, the happiness and inner calmness that can come from having a simple home and so on. Talking about those very real benefits can be a positive influence on the people around you. Compromise. If you have a family or a partner then things may not reach a perfect simplifying solution. As with many things in life then try for a compromise that works better for everyone.


How do I stay focused and motivated to complete each daily task? If you bought this guide then you are probably pretty motivated to start simplifying your life. But that doesn’t mean that you cannot become distracted or feel like you are losing your motivation during these 31 days. So here are a couple of tips that will help you with that. Use an egg-timer to stick with the task during a time-period. If you become distracted and start doing something else after 5 minutes of doing, for example, your decluttering task of that day then use a kitchen egg timer. Or the stop watch on your cell phone or wristwatch. Set the timer for the time specified in the task and just focus on doing that one task and nothing else until the bell rings. This one works very well for me because I know that I do not have to stay focused and un-distracted forever. I just have to make an effort for a relatively short period of time until the bell rings and then I can do something else. Reward yourself after the daily task is done. See the positive results and pat yourself on your back. On some days you can also reward yourself with a tasty snack, a walk in the park, playing some videogames or something else you enjoy. This will make it easier to keep up the motivation and to stick with it on days when you feel like procrastinating instead. The reward of seeing how your life becomes simpler day


by day and doing something fun after you are done with your task can help you to keep going. But if you slip and miss a day then as mentioned in answer #1 in this section: do not beat yourself up. Tell yourself: just for today! If you don’t feel like doing the daily task then tell yourself: “I will do it just for today!” Tomorrow you don’t have to do anything. You can make a new decision then. Commit to only doing today’s task and then you can relax and/or reward yourself.

What if I do not have the time to do the task of the day? As you simplify your life during this course you’ll free up more time for yourself to, for example, spend on personal growth and doing the daily tasks in this course. But if you have a busy job, perhaps kids and truly have little free time on some days then do what you can. If the time set for the task is 20-60 minutes then just try to spend 20 minutes on the task. At least put a big dent in it if you do not have the time to complete it or to work on it for the full time period. After the course is done you can come back to tasks that are unfinished and complete them.


Hi! I’m Henrik Edberg...

… and I live on the west coast of Sweden. I’m the author of five books & courses: The Self-Esteem Course, The Art of Relaxed Productivity, The Power of Positivity and The Simplicity Course.

I’m also the creator of the popular personal development website the Positivity Blog and the Positivity Newsletter where I write weekly articles and newsletters about simplifying life and improving your happiness, social life, health, productivity and awesomeness.

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Simplify Your Email Process

Time: 15 minutes. A good place to start with simplifying your life is at your place of work. At your job, with your business or at school. So for the first few first days of this course this is where we will spend our simplifying efforts. Let’s start with one of the most central things at work and also one that can suck up a lot of time and add stress to your day. Let’s start with your email habits. My very brief guide to handling email the simple way contains only 4 basic steps. Follow these steps today and see how that works for you. Step 1: Do not check and empty your email inbox first thing in the morning. If possible, try to hold off with processing your emails for at least a few hours in your work day. I wait until the end of my work day but that may not work for everyone. Instead, when your mind is fresh and rested, fully focus on doing the more difficult and important tasks of the day. Spend at least one or a few of your peak hours with working on the big stuff. Not on busy work and things that may seem urgent but really isn’t that important.

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Step 2: Delete. This is the first step I use when I open my inbox. Look at the emails in your inbox and, starting from the top, delete the ones that you have no use for. Filter and send spam to the spam folder. Step 3: Archive or delegate Go through the emails from the top again and move emails with information you may need later on to an archive folder (if you use Gmail then there is already an archive folder and I’m sure many other email providers or programs have a similar feature). Then when you need some information from one of the emails later on browse the archive folder or use the search function. If you have people to delegate tasks to then forward the appropriate emails with instructions or your request. Step 4: Reply and then archive the email Keep your replies short. I tend to not write back more than 2-5 sentences. I have standard replies for a few common questions saved in my drafts folder that I can copy and paste and customize. If people ask me about a problem then I usually give them a link to an article or two on my website that addresses that problem. A few emails require longer replies but they are not that many. Writing short replies saves time and it can also teach people to be more concise in follow up emails since how you respond can teach people about how they should behave. If you keep it simple then they are more likely to keep it simple too.


When I am done with an email in Gmail I archive it so that it is out of sight, feels done and does not clutter my inbox. If you like, you can activate the “Send & Archive” function in Gmail by first clicking Settings, then on the Lab menu and then find the “Send & Archive” function on that menu to both send and then archive the email by pushing just one button. If an email requires me doing a task then I add that task to my to-do list and then do that at a later time based on how I prioritize it. If an email requires some thought before I reply I let it sit in the inbox until I am ready to reply. That will usually be one day or two because if you let it sit there for too long then you procrastinate more and more about the reply. Two bonus tips: Here are two bonus tips that have made my life with my inbox even easier and simpler. Feel free to work on the second one if you have the extra energy and time today or save them for after this course is over.

Batch the emails. I usually wait until I have about 40-50 proper emails (not from mailing lists or spam) before I start handling them. It takes me about two days to reach that amount. By batching the emails I get into email mode so to speak and the batch gets handled faster and with less stress than if I were to respond to emails several times each day.

Put up a frequently asked questions section on your contact page. If you have a website then on your contact pages put up a few rules that will decrease your


email inflow. Before anyone emails me they will for example see a couple of sentences on my contact page that say that I do not swap links or accept any guest posts. Doing this has decreased emails about those two topics by about 95 percent.


Unclutter Your Workspace

Time: 15-40 minutes. Today we are going to start simplifying your workspace. We’ll do so by focusing on clearing out the clutter that is distracting you and filling your desk and drawers. But first, why declutter your life at all? A couple of the best reasons that motivate me to do so are:

It becomes easier to find inner peace, to focus and to keep your attention on what is most important and meaningful in life. Clutter creates distraction. It can create stress and confusion that you may not be aware of that it is creating. But after you have uncluttered there is usually a sensation of feeling calmer and lighter, a bit more upbeat and being able to think more clearly. Decluttering a drawer, shelf or some kind of space in your life can be an unexpectedly positive experience not just practically but for you as person both emotionally and mentally.

You get more space. Space is limited. And by having much of it occupied by clutter it becomes hard to add new things and to feel like you simply have enough space without things tipping over or crowding you as you try to live and do your work.

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You reduce unnecessary costs. Things usually cost money. Things can spend money in form of for example electricity. And the extra unused clutter in your workspace, in your home and so on add extra costs that you are not getting any value back from.

With that said, now let’s move on the practical guidelines for uncluttering your workspace. These general guidelines can be used for future decluttering tasks in this course too.

First, do not try to do it all at once and be all over the workspace. Instead, take a deep breath and start with a drawer, perhaps the one under your desk or the top one - if you have several - in your desk. Open the drawer and empty everything in it into a pile. Clean the drawer. Then make choices about the items, one at a time. The choices are to: 1. Trash it. Throw out what you do not have any need for. Only keep the things that are useful for you. Put the trash in a trash bag. 2. Give it away. Perhaps you have something in that drawer that a colleague could use or that you can give away to a friend in school. 3. Keep it and find a home for it. If everything, every item in your workspace has a home where it lives - it could be at the front of your drawer or to the right in top shelf of your book case for example – and you put back in its home after you have used it then


the clutter in your workspace will decrease a whole lot. So as you keep a meaningful and useful item during this process also designate a home for it in your workspace. And, as best you can, every time after you have used an item then put it back in its home. 4. Have I used this in past year? / Put the item in your 6-month box. Maybe you are unsure if you want to throw out or give something away. You think: “I might have use for this, I just don’t know”. If that is the case, first ask yourself: have I used this in the past year? If not, then it is often pretty safe to say that you won’t be using it in the future either. But if you are still unsure after that question then put the items you are unsure of in a paper box/bag. Put the box/bag away somewhere where you can easily access it – a closet, a storage room etc. – if you need something from it. On the outside of the box/bag, write the date when you put the stuff in it. 6 months later, get the box or bag and see what is still in it. If you haven’t used those things in the past 6 months then you have no need for them and you can safely give them away or throw them out. What to do today Now, I don’t know much clutter you have in your workspace but at least make a start today. Declutter the items and spaces one by one in your workspace for about 40 minutes (or less if you don’t have that much clutter). Unclutter your drawers, shelves and your desk. Unclutter the walls in your room or cubicle so that you only have the most meaningful or helpful items left.


How to handle your papers If you have papers on your desk then put them in one big pile. Then process them like you would do with the email. Go through the papers from the top and choose to trash, archive, delegate or make a note in your to-do list to reply/take some action with that piece of paper. If you have quite a bit of clutter and a big pile of paper, try to for example spend 20 minutes on your papers and 20 minutes on the rest of your clutter. Put a big dent in both of those areas. Tomorrow we will continue with simplifying your workspace. But for now, do the task of the day and then take a look at how much simpler and calmer your workspace is and feels. Pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for a task well done.


Create Your Simple No-Distractions Zone

Time: 5-25 minutes.

We will continue to create a simpler and more work-friendly workspace today. And we will do that by creating a zone of where you can focus, a zone of no distractions. Or at least a zone of a lot less distractions compared to how it may be now. So what guidelines can you use when you are in this zone to keep your attention steadily focused, to prevent distractions and to keep the stress and overwhelm away so work becomes more enjoyable? Use just one inbox for your papers. Empty it each day – or every other day if that suits you better - as best you can. Use the steps that I described and go through each paper in your daily pile and choose to trash, archive, delegate or to make a note in your to-do list to reply/take some action with that piece of paper. Check and process email just once a day. Checking your inbox can become an addiction. You feel good when you open it because you have gotten an email from a friend, received something important for school or

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work or simply something funny from a newsletter you are subscribed too. These positive feelings, the sense that you are important and the instant gratification you get is quite addictive. To keep such a stressful, distracting and unproductive habit at bay choose to just check and process your email once each day. As I mentioned on day #1, I do it at the end of my workday when my creativity and energy is usually low. By making that choice I can spend my peak hours on the most important tasks and projects. If that is not possible for you then at least try to get a fresh and undistracted hour or two of work done on your most important tasks before you process the email.

Shut your door. By doing so people will be less likely to disturb you for some small matter and you keep the distracting noises and other such input out. If you have no door try using noise cancelling earbuds/headphones with or without music playing to keep distracting noise out. And to put up a small barrier so that people are less likely to bother you - unless it is quite important - while you are working on important tasks. Shut down your communication devices. Shut down your browser window, instant messaging programs or even the internet connection if possible. Put your cell phone in silent mode when you can.


Bonus tip: Simple inspiration (1-2 items). Yesterday you may have decluttered your walls and desk quite a bit. By doing so you kept only the most meaningful items around you in your workspace. If you didn’t get that far with the decluttering or don’t have inspiring items in your workspace then consider having just one or two simple sources of inspiration around you when you work. It could be an inspirational quote on a piece of paper. A photo or two of your family or something else that inspires you. Or a beautiful flower in a vase. Only do this if you have a little extra time and energy today. Otherwise, just save it and do it after the course is over.


Unclutter Your Desktop

Time: 5-15 minutes.

Here’s a relatively quick and simple task. To clean up and unclutter that computer desktop of yours. The desktop can become cluttered with all kinds of shortcuts for programs, random files you have left there to get to later and other stuff. It’s messy, unorganized and not helpful if you want a workspace that helps you to focus. To simplify and to keep your desktop uncluttered you can simply follow similar guidelines that you used to declutter your physical workspace. Trash it or create a home for it. Remove the shortcut icons to programs from your desktop and instead access them by having shortcuts for the most regularly used programs on your taskbar at the bottom of the screen (if you use a PC). Keep the rest of the shortcuts hidden away on your Start-menu or a similar menu if you are using a Mac. Then just have a couple of folders on your desktop.

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My suggestions for three folders are:

1. In progress. Things you are working on today, this week or month and that are ongoing projects for instance.

2. Archive. Your archive of work you have done before. You can create subfolders

for various projects in this folder later on or do some of that now. Use the search function to find old stuff when you need it.

3. Fun. This might be games, photos and other stuff that is fun and not work-related.

Look at each item that is still on your desktop one at a time and choose to either trash it or put it one of your three folders. Then as you download or receive a new file put it in the appropriate folder right away so that you can find it easily and to keep your desktop calming and simple. Bonustip: Find a desktop wallpaper that makes you feel good. If you like, and you don’t have one already, go online or somewhere and find a background image for your desktop. Choose something that inspires you in some way or makes you feel good. It could, for example, be your dream destination, a piece of beautiful nature or something very simple and calming. It will be extra visible and it can really shine now when you only have a few folders that take up space on your desktop.


What Are the 4 Most Important Things in Your Life?

Time: 5-30 minutes.

Keeping your attention and your focus on what is most important in your life is essential to be able to live the life you want. A simpler life where you put more of your time, energy and attention into to the few things that are the most meaningful things in your life. A good way to help yourself to do just that is simply to write down the 4 most important things for you in your life right now. Then you post that note where you can see it every day. You may want to put it in your workspace. And/or somewhere beside your bed or on your nightstand so you see it first thing and last thing every day. Or find another very visible place in your daily life. An example of such a list could be:

Providing for and keeping my child safe.

Reducing my debt every month.

Improving my social life.

Working on and being creative with my photography skills.

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These four things can be a mix of specific goals or your highest values or the important things you want to spend time on each day, the things you truly want to make more room for in your life and schedule. Over these weeks we will simplify and reduce the clutter in your life so that you will have more space, time, energy and money over to spend on these four most important priorities. Now, get to writing. If you come up with more than four things then try to reduce that list to these four most important things.


Create a Very Simple To-Do List

Time: 5-10 minutes.

This is one of the most important habits that help me to keep a simple and focused life. This habit helps me to stay focused and to work towards and on the most important things in my own life. Now, today’s task is to create a very simple to-do list. And I would recommend making this one of your first habits to focus on for 30 days or more after the course is done. I use teuxdeux.com for my daily to-do list. It is free and since I do my work in front of the computer it easy to just have it as an online service. But you may want to choose to use an app on your cell phone or a pen and notebook for example. The very simple to-do list is obviously very simple. Instead of having a list like many do with 7-10 important items a day you reduce the focus of your list to just your top 2-3 items. These few tasks should be the ones that are most important for you to work on. The ones that will bring the biggest payoff or most important result. These tasks also tend to be some of the hardest of the day. The five steps to creating and using your own very simple to-do list:

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1. Write down the tasks you need to do today. 2. Prioritize them and put the 2-3 most important ones – based on results you

predict they will bring you if you complete them – at the top of the list. 3. Move the rest of the tasks much further down the page or to the next page in

your notebook or to the Someday field if you do not have to do it today and you use Teuxdeux.com.

4. Start working on the most important task of the day. If you finish it today, continue with second most important task. If you like, do this work in your no-distractions zone.

5. Towards the end of your day, do the most important of the short errands, somewhat urgent phone calls and email processing that you have put way down on the page or on the next page.

By going about things this way you complete or put serious dents in the most important tasks early each day. Instead of filling that time with checking email and similar activities that may feel urgent but seldom are that important.


Unclutter Your Wallet or Handbag

Time: 5-15 minutes.

Let’s do something very easy and quick to break up the job related tasks. Choose to either unclutter your wallet or your handbag if you have one. Empty out your wallet or handbag and shake out small stuff caught in nooks and crannies. Put the things you have no use for in a trash bag. For each item that may seem important, ask yourself: Have I used this in the past year? If not, throw it out, give it away or put it in a 6-month box to keep in a closet in your home.

Common things that can clutter up your wallet/handbag:

Business cards and cards for different clubs and memberships you never use anyway.

Unnecessary receipts. Put the most important receipts in a folder, a box, a drawer or somewhere where you know you have them in case the new TV or shoes breaks.

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Common clutter in the handbag:

Makeup items you never use anyway.

Random notes and shopping lists, paper tissues, pens, coins and pieces of gum and mints.


What is One Thing You Can Minimize or Stop Doing at Work?

Time: 5-45 minutes. To find more time for your most important tasks of the day and to find more time in general it certainly helps if you can eliminate or minimize the amount of energy and time you spend on other things. So today, figure out one thing you can minimize the amount of time you spend on at work. Or eliminate doing that one thing altogether if possible. Then take action on that idea to simplify your workweek. Some examples of things you may be able to do less of or eliminate - either by stop doing them or by delegating the work to someone else - are:

Meetings. Perhaps you can just do one meeting with someone each week instead of two? Perhaps you can have 30 minute meetings with a clear plan for what to discuss and decide on rather than 60 minute meetings without a plan?

Meetings in person. Instead of doing every meeting in person maybe you can do half of them via Skype of something similar to save travel-time for all parties involved?

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Checking your inboxes and social media accounts just once a day. I have already mentioned that checking and processing your email just once each day – and having a frequently asked questions section on your contact page – will give you more time and energy to focus on the most important things. You can expand upon this and also check and process other inboxes and social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn just once a day too to not become distracted and waste time. I recommend doing all of that in one big batch at the end of the work day to get it all done quickly and smoothly.

Reduce or eliminate a part of your business to reduce extra work. Perhaps you can reduce or eliminate a feature in your software or services that tend to add a lot of extra work and support? Maybe there is one or a few clients that add a lot of extra admin work and paper work that if you were to let them go would only result in a small decrease in income?


Take One Hour of Stillness and Solitude for Yourself

Time: 60 minutes. By now you have gone through 8 days of this course. It is time for a breather and to find some stillness. That is today’s task.

If you want to simplify your life then it is probably pretty crowded and busy. Perhaps it sometimes feels overwhelming. You put in effort, you keep your focus steadily on what you want and you spend time with all the people in your life. But you also need rest. You need to alternate between these two things and get away sometimes. So today I’d like you to simply take some time off. Set off an hour – or more if you like – and shut off your cell phone. Find a place where you can find some stillness like a beautiful spot in nature. Go there for that hour and just be there without any interruptions from family, friends or work. You can sit there in the park, the woods or by the sea and think about what you want to think about. You can dream. You can just be there and be still and breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the view and do nothing at all. You can have some time just for yourself, away from it all in silence and stillness.

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By doing so – hopefully regularly after this course is over – you can recharge your batteries, empty your mind of all those everyday thoughts for a while and take well-needed breather that will make things feel simpler, lighter and a more peaceful when you return to your regular life again. And you may even come back with one or a couple of good thoughts or ideas about how you want to live your life or what you want to keep your focus on. And if the weather is bad then simply find somewhere peaceful and quiet in the local library or museum. You can use headphones with some relaxing music if you are unable to find a place that is quiet. The stillness and solitude is something we may not take the time for in our busy lives or it may not feel that important. But if you actually spend some time in solitude and stillness then you’ll notice that it can make a huge difference in your inner and outer life.


Declutter One Drawer or Shelf in Your Home

Time: 10-20 minutes. Up until now you have been focusing mostly on work-related simplifying. Today it is time to switch the focus to your home and spend a whole bunch of days in this course with creating a simpler life there. I have however split these home-oriented tasks up into a few chunks with other tasks in-between to add more variety to the course. Now, the task of the day is an easy one: to unclutter one drawer or shelf of your choice in your home. Do not choose one in your kitchen or bathroom though. Those rooms will pop up in future tasks. Here are the guidelines for uncluttering again, now neatly summarized:

Get 2-3 bags. One bag for things to throw out. One bag for things to give away. Additionally, you may want a bag for things you think you can sell online, to a shop that deals in used items or at a yard sale.

Empty the drawer/shelf. And clean it out.

If you don’t know if you should throw an item out then ask yourself: have I used this item in the last year? If you haven’t then put it in one of the bags.

Find a home for what you keep. Give every item that you keep a home on the shelf, in the drawer or somewhere else in your home where you think it belongs.

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That way you will naturally have better order in there and you’ll find things more easily.

Use a 6-month box. Use a 6-month box for things you are unsure of if you want to get rid of. Write the date on the box when you put the item(s) in it. 6 months later get rid of the items that you haven’t fetched to use in those past months and that are still in the box.

Keep the bags. If there is still room in them you’ll have more use for them tomorrow again.


Declutter One Clothes Closet

Time: 20-30 minutes. Grab the bags – throw out bag, give away bag and sell bag – that you used for the shelf or drawer yesterday. Choose one of your clothing closets – preferably the most cluttered one if you know which that is – and ask yourself if you have used the clothing items in it the past year. Declutter the items into the appropriate bags and get more bags if needed. Use the odd hanger if you are unsure of what you use How do you know what clothes you actually use and what clothes just hang there? It’s not always easy to really know that (you may for example think you use some pieces of clothing that you in reality haven’t worn in over a year). If you’re like me you probably have an odd looking clothes hanger. And if not then put a piece of colored tape or a sticker on a hanger. Create an odd looking hanger that you recognize. Then put the hanger the farthest to right on the rod where you hang all your hangers with your clothes. After you have used an item of clothing and want to reuse it or after it is back from a run in the washing machine then put it to the right of the odd hanger.

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Do this for three months with your clothes. After those three months you will see what clothes you are actually using by looking to the right of the odd hanger. And you’ll see what clothes you haven’t used in those months by looking to the left of the odd hanger. This will give you a good indication of what clothes to get rid of. If you are unsure of if you want to get rid of some of those items, then continue to use the odd hanger system for another three months for more clarity.


Get Those Errands You Have Been Procrastinating on Done

Time: 20-60 minutes. If you have a couple or more errands that have been piling up for some time now then today is the day to get those done. Sit down and consult your to-do list or memory and write down your errands. Try to target the errands that you have thought about doing many times but always forgotten about and the errand(s) that produces quite a bit of inner negativity because it is not done yet. Try to go somewhere where you can a whole bunch of errands done quickly like a mall or a certain part of town that have all the stores you need close to one another. Then don’t think about it anymore. Get up and go and finally get those errands done. Get at as many errands as you have the time for in 20-60 minutes out of the way. It will feel great to get those things you have procrastinated on done. And they will probably be quicker and easier to get to done than you may have feared before you got started.

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Unclutter One Messy Drawer in Your Kitchen

Time: 10-15 minutes. For the next three days the focus will be on a specific part of your home: your kitchen. Get more bags or boxes for decluttering and go to town on a drawer or a kitchen cabinet space. My recommendation is to go for the most cluttered one you can find or one that you often get irritated about because you cannot find things in it. Put the contents of that messy drawer or space in one big pile on your kitchen table. Stick with the usual one year question and declutter the pile until you just have the things you actually use there. Remember to give each of the things you keep a home so things don’t get as messy as before. And the rest of the items will be in decluttering bags/boxes to throw out, give away or sell. Or in a 6-month box.

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Throw Out Old Food and Junk Food from Your Fridge and Cupboards

Time: 10-30 minutes. Cupboards and fridges can become cluttered just like any other place in your home. Old stuff past the expiration date sits at the back of shelves. Junk food that you may have bought for the weekend – or your cheat day if you have one – may take up quite a bit of space and still be consumed just because it simply is there. So today we are going to do some food uncluttering. We are going to throw out the old and prepare for the new good stuff that you will bring home in tomorrow’s task. Now, if you want to throw out your junk food then that is up to you. This isn’t a course in losing or maintaining weight. But in my own experience it becomes easier and simpler to eat healthy, to function better mentally and physically and to maintain your weight if you create the habit of not always having easy access to junk food. But at least go through your fridge and cupboards – and possibly your freezer if you have the time – and throw out anything that is past its expiration date or that you simply never use.

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The One Week Food Shopping Run

Time: 40-60 minutes. How much time and money do you spend on popping in the grocery store many times a week? How much extra stress and costs does that add as you stop by the store on your way home from work or school with serious hunger pangs? I used to spend quite a bit of extra money and frustrating and unnecessary time in the grocery store. You can do more fun stuff with your money and time. Nowadays, food shopping is something I do once a week instead. Me and my girlfriend plan what we will eat and need for the whole week. We plan for what we will eat for dinner each night and make sure to make more servings so that we have lunch and leftovers pretty much every night. This does not mean that you have to cook each night, we for example usually have takeaway food for at least one dinner and often have extra leftovers from another dinner each week. However you choose to eat, at least try to plan and shop for week today. Here are some simple steps to help you with that:

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Find simple weekly meal plans online. If you want to cook for all dinners this week or for some of them then you can often find simple weekly meal plans with quick recipes at big recipe websites. Also, check your cook books and your memory for simple and easy to make meals that sound or are tasty.

Write down everything you need. Go through the recipes and write down what you need on a piece of paper or your cell phone.

Don’t forget to add the other stuff you may need for the week. Add stuff to the list like breakfast food, toilet paper and soap.

Go to your local, big supermarket and do all the shopping in one big swoop. The big supermarket usually has good prices, fresh food since a lot of people shop there and a wide selection of food.

Go food shopping when you are not hungry. This will help you to stick with the plan and to not buy a lot of unhealthy snacks and stuff like that because your body wants it right now.

This weekly food run is sometimes boring and the food planning can take a bit of time. But it is so worth it in my experience. Because if you establish this as a weekly habit then you’ll have more free time, money and a little less stressful life to enjoy.


A Day of Slow Mindfulness

Time: Today. Today’s task is one of the odder ones in this course. But it is also one most helpful ones if you want to live a simpler life with more clarity, more curiosity and positive feelings and less stress, overthinking and worries. Today’s task is all about mindfulness. For as much time as you can move through today in a slow and mindful state of mind. By being mindful I mean that you are where you are. When you are walking up the stairs you focus on how the steps feel under your feet, how they sound, the pace of your feet and the effort of getting up the stairs instead of thinking about a meeting tomorrow. When you are walking then you look at the surroundings, smell the scents and hear the sounds. Instead of thinking about something that happened last week. When you are talking to someone you are fully there and not daydreaming about something or someone else. This is not easy to keep up and you will most likely float back and forth between being right here, right now and being in the past and future in your mind. Make it a slow day. To stay in the present moment as much as you can during your day do things slowly. Move slowly, drive slowly, type slowly and read slowly. And so on. By doing so you naturally focus more on what is happening right now.

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If you get lost in the past of future in your mind then remember to slow down. You can also reconnect more easily with the present moment by:

Taking breaths with your belly for two minutes. And by just focusing on those slow and somewhat deep in- and out-breaths you will draw your attention back to the here and now fully.

Just focus on what is front of you. And around you. On you. See it, hear it, smell it, feel it. When you do so your attention is transported from somewhere in your mind to what is here right now.

Today is just here to give you a taste of how living a more mindful life can have a positive and simplifying impact on you, your thoughts and your life. After this course is over you can continue to build on your mindfulness habit.


Become More Conscious of How You Spend Your Money

Time: 30 minutes. Let’s simplify and improve at another very important area of life. For the next few days the focus will be on simplifying your money habits and finances. We started with this area two days ago in a sort of way by simplifying your food shopping and at the same time most likely saving you some money. Today we’ll take a look at how you spend your money and how you would actually like to spend it. It is easy to have ideas about how you spend your money. But it is better to get a sobering truth than to keep guesstimating. So one thing you can do is to save your receipts during one month. This is not something you can do today but perhaps something you want to do after this course is over. But what can you do today? You can become a bit more conscious of how you spend your money each month. Here are 3 steps that will help you to do that.

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1. How did you spend your money? Go into your online bank account and as best you can check what you spent your money on last month. Or check any other information you may have saved such as receipts or a checkbook. Try to get a broad overview pretty quickly. 2. Then ask yourself: on what did I spend more money on than I’d need to or like to? Maybe you bought clothes, fast food or books on impulse to satisfy an immediate need at the time? But when you look at it now, when you have had some time to think, you perhaps see that you didn’t need or even want all those clothes or books. Find any such trouble spots - maybe you are already aware of it or them - if you can where you satisfy one need right now but later realize that you would have been much more interested in spending that money on a trip or one really awesome piece of clothing rather than the four you bought. 3. Write a reminder and put it in your wallet. Write down your major insight that you got from the previous question as a reminder on a piece of paper and, for example, put it somewhere in your wallet where you can’t avoid seeing it when you are about to make a purchase. By doing this you raise your consciousness about how you spend your money and how you would like to actually spend them. And this can help you to catch yourself when you are about to do more impulse purchases or kind of unnecessary purchases.


Find Ways to Reduce Your Recurring Costs

Time: 20-40 minutes. Subscriptions and other recurring costs that you pay each month without thinking much about it can eat up quite a bit of your money without you getting much value out of it. You may want to use that money to make better purchases or to save up for something you really want. Or you may simply to save the money for financial security. Now, take out a piece of paper and a pen. Go through the areas and common and recurring costs below, use online searches and company websites to find more information and write down what or if you can do something about these areas to save money. Tomorrow we will use the results you come up with to reduce those expenses.

Your car. Can you use public transportation and a bicycle instead? Or car-pool or get a slightly used car that may consume less gas?

Subscriptions to magazines, cable TV etc. What magazines, premium cable TV channels and premium online services do you pay for? How much do you use them? Do you feel like you are getting your money’s worth from those services? If you are subscribing to a magazine or TV-channel but rarely have the time or interest to actually use them then cancel them. You can always buy the magazine in the store when you really want it. And you can for example rent or buy the DVD or downloadable episodes with your favourite show later on.

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Travelling. When you travel can you save on unnecessary expenses such as eating out too much or can you find a similar ticket but a bit cheaper? If you ride the train or plane often, what membership or monthly fee can you pay to reduce costs?

Going out and entertainment. If you go out a lot then how can reduce your spending? Perhaps you can get into the habit of alternating between drinking one beer/drink and one glass of water instead of just going for the alcohol filled stuff? Can you join a movie club to get cheaper tickets at the cinema?

Cooking and bringing your own lunch. Could you simply cook more food when you cook so that you have an extra serving or two for lunch at work or in school instead of eating out so much? Or could you make sandwiches to bring to work/school a couple of times a week?

Gym membership. Can you go out running, get free weights or a treadmill for your home or a good home exercise DVD and cancel your gym membership? You can always mix the free/inexpensive activities with going to the gym a couple of times a month too.

Your phone bill. Can you get a payment plan that better fits how much you use your phone, send text messages, browse online and call?

You may not want to eliminate all of those things. Perhaps you just want to cut down something a bit. Or leave it as it is because it so important and/or enjoyable for you. By doing this exercise and actually going through your recurring costs instead of just paying them month after month you can spend your money in a more conscious way that you feel makes your life better, more fun and more exciting. Tomorrow we will take action on the insights you got today.


Reduce or Eliminate One or Two Recurring Costs

Time: 15-40 minutes. Yesterday you went through your subscriptions and recurring costs. You wrote down what you can do about them. Today it is time to take action on that list. So simply do what you can with that list right now. To drink less beer when you are out or to sell your car is probably nothing you can do today. But you can:

Call someone up or go online and cancel that subscription for the magazine or online service you never or rarely use anyway.

Cancel that cable channel subscription because you haven’t watched the channel in months.

Cancel your gym membership and go out and replace that with walking, running, cycling, lifting free weights or doing push-ups at home.

Change your phone subscription to one that costs less and better suits how you use your phone.

Get that membership that you will make those cinema visits or your travels less expensive.

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If you have several things you want to reduce or eliminate from the list then at least get started today. Get the ball rolling. Make one or two changes to reduce your costs and to have more money for something you’d rather like.


Automate Your Bills

Time: 20-40 minutes. Paying your bills manually can eat up time and create extra work that isn’t much fun. But you can almost always automate your bills nowadays. And that is today’s task. If you have bills that are not already paying automatically each time after you have gotten your salary then either:

Go to your online bank account and change that.

Call your bank and set it up. This will save you time and if you set it up so that you bills are taken care of automatically right after you receive your paycheck each month then it doesn’t feel so much like you have to pay the bills and worry or get irritated about that. Because that money is nothing you ever see or have in your hand anyway and so that can reduce inner mental clutter and negativity. Plus, by having the bills taken care of automatically right away you don’t risk spending a bit too much money on impulse purchases or other things and then having to worry about the rent.

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Start to Let Go of One Thing That is Occupying Your Mind This Week

Time: 15-30 minutes. Now, let’s do at a couple of things over the coming days that will simplify your social life and personal life. We will start doing so by exploring letting go. This will free up more space inside of yourself for new things and for more positive emotions. So focus for about 15-30 minutes today on just starting to let go of one thing that has been on your mind this week. Perhaps it is something that is stressing you out or creating worries. Maybe it is something you are angry or irritated about with someone. Or maybe it is something that has been on your mind a lot for a long time. Choose an issue or thing that has been on your mind this week that you cannot do much about such as taking some obvious action to solve the problem. By following these 4 steps today I hope that you’ll be able to let go of this issue partly or fully.

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1. Ask yourself: is there really a problem here? We often create our small or big monsters in our minds. We create problems in our own heads that aren’t really out there in reality. So relax a bit. And think about if this is really a big problem. Ask yourself: Is it something that will matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks?

Life becomes less stressful and complicated when you stop making mountains out of molehills (or just out of thin air).

2. Give up “being right”. Realize that you may cling to things because they might make you feel right as you replay an argument or conflict over and over in your mind. It gives you a certain sense of satisfaction as the other person is wrong. But you have to give up that kind of satisfaction to move on. 3. Accept how you feel. Then let it go. When you accept something instead of resisting it you stop feeding more energy into your problem and you stop making it even bigger. This is useful when it comes to letting go. If you first accept what you want to let go off then you aren’t so emotionally attached to it and still feeding it with your focus and energy. And so it becomes less powerful and easier to just drop. As long as you resist it then it will be hard to let it go.


So instead of trying to fight the feelings and thoughts about this issue tell yourself: “This is what is right now and this is how I feel”. After a few minutes of fully taking in this uncomfortable feeling and the thoughts surrounding it and accepting them then they starts to lose steam. They’ll just seem to float away or they become smaller and you feel more open and emotionally balanced.

And you are now in a good position to let this issue go and to get on with more important things in your life. To help with the letting go you may once again want to ask yourself: Is it something that will matter in 5 years? Or even in 5 weeks?

4. Talk about it. Sometimes it is hard to do the letting go by yourself. You may need a hand and to let it out and talk to someone about your issue. Letting it all out can release a lot of pent up emotions and let you get a new, more positive and healthy perspective on things. Often we build our own small or medium-sized problems into big scary monsters in our minds. Letting the monsters out into the light and letting others see them can make us realize that we were making a too big of a deal of it all. It allows us to lighten up a bit, to not take things too seriously and to start moving out of the self-created slump. So talk to a friend or family member. If you find no one to talk to about your problem with then consider using a journal on your computer or on paper and write it all out. Just letting it all out in some form can help you to release that pent up inner pressure. And assist you in finding a new perspective.


Unclutter Your Life Schedule

Time: 15-45 minutes. An overcrowded schedule filled with recurring commitments can sure make life outside of work or school more complicated and stressful too. And actually less fun and exciting although that is not how it may look on paper or how you imagined things would turn out when you said yes to all those things. But still, here you are. And if you feel like you would like to have more time and energy for the most important things in your life or for more rest and recovery then you may have to minimize or eliminate something else from your schedule. So today’s task is:

1. Find one less important or fulfilling activity. Find one thing in your schedule – not your work-schedule but the rest of your days – that you can stop doing or do a lot less of to have more space in your life for other things.

2. Minimize or eliminate. Take action and follow through on that so that your schedule is lighter as soon as possible.

Examples of things you may want to eliminate or cut down on are:

Going to meetings every week for some local and/or global organization you are a part of.

Participation in something pretty unofficial like a private book club or movie club.

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Going out clubbing or going down to the pub.

Practise. Maybe you can cut down on the number of times you practise soccer, World of Warcraft or chess each week. Or maybe it is time to quit because the activity isn’t as fulfilling as it used to be.

Other kinds of keeping up. Maybe you can cut down on the TV-shows or online forums you keep up with every week.

To quit or cut down on your less important activity to make more room for other things you may need to send an email or make a phone call and say no in some way. Saying no isn’t always easy but a few things that help me to do so are: Remember that you have the right to say no, that your time is as valuable as other people’s time and that this is YOUR life to live. Just keeping this in mind makes it easier to be the boss over your own life, to make decisions and to say yes or no in various situations.

Disarm and then state your need. It becomes easier for people to accept your no if you disarm them first. You could for example do that by honestly saying that you appreciate the wonderful experience you have had with this commitment. Then you, for instance, add that you do not have the time to do this anymore. Or that you need to focus on other priorities in your life right now. Since some pushy people want to overcome your objections and convince you to do something even after you said no with a valid reason you can try this: state how you feel as a reason for saying no.


For example say that you do not feel that this commitment is a good fit for your life right now. Or that you feel overwhelmed and superbusy and so you cannot do whatever they want. Stand your ground if you feel that saying no in this situation is the right decision for you. The point of telling someone how you feel is not only to make them understand your side of the issue better but also that it is a lot harder to argue with how you feel rather than how you think. How you feel is your thing and no one can really come up with good counterarguments to that. Realize that a negative response isn’t that common and not the end of the world.

We often fear that people will be angry or very negative towards the choices we make. But you may have noticed in your life that people do not react that way to a no as often as you may fear. So, adjust your expectations to your past rather than letting your imagination run wild. And if someone has a negative reaction then that is not the end of the world. It is uncomfortable for a while. But if you have priorities in life you will in many cases be able to refocus on what is important for you and shake that negative experience off pretty quickly. That has been my experience.


Re-evaluate Your Social Life

Time: 15-45 minutes. Who do you spend your time with? Who would you like to spend more quality time with? Who would you perhaps want to spend less time with? Those questions are at the centre today as the task is to take a good look at your social life. To stop for a while and look around instead of just keep on going in the same social routine or even rut you are in. Like with so many other daily tasks in this course, this one is about finding more time and energy for the most meaningful things in your life. And few things are so important, fulfilling and full with potential joy and fun as our relationships. So taking a look at this area and to perhaps re-evaluate, declutter and to reorganize how you spend your social time can pay off in huge and unexpected ways. For example, keeping up with everyone if you have a busy social life may not be the most fulfilling thing. It may feel like too many shoulds on your plate and become stressful rather than fun and fulfilling. So take a look at your social life. And use a pen and a piece of paper and answer these two questions:

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1. Who would you like to spend more quality time with? For some possible guidance, take a look at the 4 most important priorities list from day #5 in this course. On that list you may find your family, a partner or a friend that is one of the absolutely most important things in your life and you want more of in your daily and weekly life. Or it could simply be some new people in your life that makes your life happier and more positive. 2. Who would you like to spend less time with? It could be a person(s) who drags you down, who does not make your life more fun, exciting, loving or someone who adds few or no positive things but instead mostly drains you or leaves you indifferent. But you may still socialize a lot with this person or persons because that is what you have done for years. Now, find the time for your people and you Take a look at your schedule for this month and make at least 1-3 calls or send at least 1-3 emails and arrange your month so that you can spend more time with the people you want to spend more time with. Set up movie nights, coffee dates, walks in the park, a night down at the pub or a badminton game. By doing so you can replace at least some of the time you spend with the more negative person(s) with more positive relationship time. And after this course is up you can continue to focus on building on this positive relationship recharge.


Revisit Your Peaceful Place for One Hour

Time: 60 minutes.

Today is break time. You have done tasks for many days in a row now, and some of them were probably not that easy. So today’s task is simply to continue what you started on day # 9 and to take another hour (or more if you like) of solitude and stillness for yourself. This is a habit that is often neglected in today’s busy life but it is so important for one’s well-being. So set aside one hour and shut off your cell phone during that time. You can revisit the place you were at on day # 9. Or choose another place if you like, I’m sure you have several beautiful places around where you live, work or go to school to spend some time with relaxing and recharging yourself. Or perhaps to quietly contemplate things that have been spinning around in your head, to let new ideas grow in your mind or to reflect upon what you have done recently and learn from that.

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Take a Media Free Day

Time: Today.

I love this habit and make sure to take at least one media free day per week. Why do I do that?

It is so relaxing. It is so relaxing to just let go of the need for information. To not check your email, your Facebook and Twitter, the TV news and the websites you visit regularly fills the day with quietness and makes things feel lighter and simpler.

It recharges me. Since I, like many, spend my work days in a flow of information this break makes me more eager and excited to return to work again the next day. Rather than feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.

It leaves spaces to be filled. When you reduce the input into your mind this much then I find that I become more creative, new ideas pop up and I have more time and energy for thinking about other things that I usually may not spend as much attention on.

It puts focus on what is most important. When you fill your mind with news and conversations and challenges via email, Facebook and Twitter it is easy to get lost. To get lost in a routine of checking and processing those things once or several times a day. And so your attention is pulled away from things that are really more important in your life. By taking away the media for a day it becomes easier to

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shift your attention back to more vital things or things you may have neglected somewhat.

So how do you take a media free day? Well, first, I don’t know what day it is when you read this. But it might be easier for you to take a media free day if it is on a Saturday or Sunday. So if you like, switch this task around with the one that you are supposed to do this upcoming Saturday or Sunday. And do the task from that day today. And today’s task on that weekend day. Other than that, fill your media free day with fun and exciting activities and maybe some rest. When you feel the urge to check Facebook or the news or your email inbox on your media free day then take a deep breath and just be still without doing anything for a moment or two. Then ask yourself: Can I do that tomorrow instead with little or no consequences? The answer is most likely yes.


Unclutter Your Digital Information Feed

Time: 10-30 minutes.

Here is sort of a follow up to yesterday’s task. Today we are going to unclutter your digital information feeds so that you what you let into your mind becomes more focused and meaningful. So, here are two steps for today: 1. Unsubscribe. If you are subscribed to various email newsletters and RSS-feeds but you rarely or never read them then unsubscribe. Go through your RSS-feeds and email inbox and ask yourself: Have I read something from this person/newsletter in the last month? If not, unsubscribe.

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2. Delete bookmarks. Do you have some sites or forums you visit a lot online? Perhaps you procrastinate away a little too much time there? One easy thing you can do to decrease the usage of those sites and to reduce that information intake is to remove the any kind of bookmarks to those sites from your browser. By doing so you put up a small obstacle in the way to getting to the site. You now have to type in the address of the website. That may not sound like much but such a small barrier has helped me to reduce my usage of sites I can get stuck on. When that very easy access is gone I often find myself not going to one of those sites in days or sometimes weeks rather than once or several times a day.


Find a Home for Each of Your Most Important Items


This is the home stretch. Only five more days to go. Four of which will be spent on doing some more simplifying in your transforming home. As mentioned several of times in this course, one of the most helpful habits to ensure that you keep clutter away each and every week is simply to give each of your items a home. So today we are going to find homes in your house/apartment for some of your most important items. You may already have given some of those items a good home during previous tasks in this course. But do what you can with the rest. Giving those important items a home where they always are does not only keep clutter away. You also always know where to find some item when you need it the next time. What are some common most important items? Some examples:

Keys.

Cell phone.

Wallet.

Passport.

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Handbag or briefcase.

Important papers.

Memory sticks with backups of important documents and files. I for example keep my wallet and keys in the same place in my bedroom so that I always know where to quickly find them if I am in a hurry. I keep my memory sticks and most important papers in a drawer under my small work desk. Things don’t have to be more complicated than that. You may choose to keep many of those most important items in one spot or a small basket near the door so you don’t forget them when you leave your home. If you have many important papers consider putting them and ordering them in folders (you may not have time for doing all of that today, but at least make get started with it and get that ball rolling if you can).

When you have found a home for your things, try to stick with using those homes. When you get to your house or apartment put your wallet, handbag and keys in their homes right away, rather than just dumping them somewhere. Sticking with your homes and using them will make your life simpler.

Bonus tip: An additional tip is to find a home on you when you are out and about. To always keep your wallet in the same pocket. To always keep your keys in the same place in your handbag or pants. This way you can quickly notice if you have forgotten them at home or if you have lost them and you can go back right away to go looking for them.


Unclutter Your Bathroom


It is time to take a look at and unclutter what is maybe your smallest room. Your bathroom. What is important to think about when uncluttering your bathroom? To follow the same steps as when you unclutter other spaces. But first, think about safety. Things you have in your bathroom such as old medicine or medicine you do not use anymore should not be disposed by just throwing it out. Check how you should go about disposing of such items where you live. Get a special bag to keep such things that you want to dispose of in. Be careful if you have children and/or pets in your home when you handle these items and make sure the bag with those things is kept in a safe place until you can dispose of the items in the proper way. Also, get a to-trash bag and a to-give-away bag for other bathroom items. Empty out each shelf or drawer in your bathroom at a time and put the items in a pile. Clean the empty shelf, drawer or small space. Then, as usual, go through the items one by one and choose to either:

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Trash it. Old nail polish, creams that didn’t work as well as you had hoped, shampoos that are not good for your hair and items at the back of your bathroom shelves are common things you may want to trash or give away.

Give it away.

Find a home for the things you keep.

Used this in past year? / Put the item in your 6-month box. Like with other things, maybe you are unsure if you want to throw out or give some nail polish or a nice eau cologne away. You think: I might have use for this, I just don’t know. If that is the case, first ask yourself: have I used this in the past year? If not, it is often pretty safe to say that you won’t be using it in the future either. If you are still uncertain, put the items in a 6-month box.


Declutter Your Magazines and Books


Today’s task is pretty simple. Just spend some time going through your magazines and books and do some decluttering. Put the magazines in one big pile, clean the space they were in and as you go through them one by one decide if you want to throw out, give away or keep that magazine. The “have I used this one in the past year?” question can be helpful. A 6-month box can also be helpful if you are unsure about some magazine(s). If you chose to cancel one or two magazine subscriptions during day # 19 then you’ll also have fewer magazines to declutter in the future. If you have a lot of magazines then this may fill your unclutter time for today (chose to do it for about 20-40 minutes). If you, like me, do not have that many magazines then have a look at your bookshelf. Go through the books and if you have read a book then ask yourself: “Am I likely to reread this book?”. If not, then put the book in a bag or box and then either give it away to your local charity or sell it online or to a used books store.

29 Day


If you haven’t read the book, then ask yourself how long it has been in your book case. If it has been there for a year or two and you do not have a very long books-to-read list then chances are that you will never read that book. So consider adding that book to your bag/box of books that are going to the used books store/website or charity. Let someone who needs it more enjoy and learn from that book.


Unclutter the Flat Surfaces in One of Your Rooms


Let’s finish these days of uncluttering your home with a pretty quick task. Let’s declutter the flat surfaces such as tables and tabletops in one room so that you only have the most meaningful decorations and useful items left. Doing this simple thing can transform any room into something lighter and more beautiful. By removing the often very visible clutter on flat surfaces the room becomes more calming and peaceful. And the decorations and items that really mean the most to you get to shine and set the tone for your home and positively affect the mood and life for you and people around you. So choose a room. The kitchen or the living room are two choices where there are often quite a few things on such flat surfaces. Put all the things from the flat surfaces in that room into a pile. Then, as usual, choose to trash, give away, sell or find a home for the item. Or if you are uncertain, to put it in a 6-month box. And when you are doing this, really think about what few, most meaningful things you want to keep. Think about how you want to put those few things in the spotlight and let them set the tone in that space by finding really good homes for them in your room.

30 Day


A Time to Reflect and to Plan for a Simpler Life


Today is the last day of the course. So how did these past 30 days turn out?

Take a few minutes and review how your month went. Use a piece of paper and a pen and answer these 4 questions:

1. How many of the tasks did you do? 2. What tasks you did not do? 3. What tasks are not quite completed yet? 4. What 3 tasks or simple actions from the course you would like to focus more on in

the coming months and make into stable habits? By writing down the answers you gain some realistic insight into your results from this course. And you’ll find out what you want to focus on to continue to build a simpler life now that the course is coming to an end.

31 Day


What is unfinished? First, before you start working on building the habits, have a look at the tasks that are not completed yet or areas that feel unfinished for you. You may for instance still have recurring costs you want to minimize or get rid of besides the one or two costs you reduced on day # 19. You have put a big dent in the clutter at home but will probably have closets, shelves and flat surfaces in your home that are still cluttered. Or maybe some work to finish the uncluttering of your workspace. Take a couple of days to finish at least some of those tasks. Or complete one such task a week by maybe taking some time out of your weekend while you work on one of the suggestions from the next section below. Focus on finishing the things and tasks that feel most important for you, the ones that you feel will give you the biggest payoff. Build habits that stick After you have gotten those most important things that were unfinished done focus on building solid habits. I would generally recommend that you focus on making one habit into a solid and natural part of your life at a time. Focus on just one habit for 30 days and try to do it every day if possible. It could be to:

Manage your email in the simpler way as described on day # 1.

Continue the decluttering work you have done and to declutter for a few minutes every day.


Find maybe not an hour but a few minutes for yourself every day to spend in nature and solitude. Or to take one hour for yourself out in nature or a quiet place every week.

Continue what you tried on day # 16 and focus on being more mindful in your daily life.

Use a very simple to-do list from day # 6 every day for a month.

Work in your no-distractions zone – from day # 3 – for a month. Or do something else that you really like from the course and/or need in your life for a month. If you like, you can combine this with working on one weekly habit at the same time. An example would be to manage your emails in the simpler way each day and to do the grocery shopping run from day # 15 once a week. Or to use the simple to-do list every day and have one weekly meeting at work instead of two or more as suggested on day # 8. This course was designed to help you kick-start your simplifying habits. To let you try different simplifying habits, get several quick wins under your belt and do tasks that will make your life simpler in just a month. You have that forward momentum right now, so be smart and use it. Continue to simplify and to add one simplicity habit after another so that you can keep your life simpler three, six and twelve months from now too.

To find more tips that will help you to create such stable simplifying habits after this course is done, take a look at the bonus guide that you got with this purchase called “Beyond 31 Days: 9 Tips that Will Help You to Create Simplifying Habits”.


A small request If you have a minute to spare, write me a sentence or two (or more if you like) and answer this question: How has 31 Days to a Simpler Life helped you out? Share that and other opinions you may have about the course. It would be really helpful for me. Send your feedback to my email address: [email protected] Finally, I would like to thank you for purchasing, reading and using this course and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. I truly hope that this course has and will help you to live a simpler, happier and more meaningful life. Because that is what the information in this course has helped me to do.

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31 Days to a Simpler Life ContentsDays... · Page 4 || 31 days to a Simpler Life The start of a journey towards a simpler life... with one step.” Today’s world is complicated