The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life

Start Over by examining how you spend your day. “Dump out” the contents of your schedule: put every activity and commitment on paper, so you can see it all laid out in front of you. List everything: going to work, getting your nails done, shopping for groceries, going for coffee, doing the laundry, reading the newspaper, cooking dinner, watching te

A common example of such standardization is document templates. If you often need to produce paperwork with a specific format—such as an invoice, memo, or letter—save a blank version of it as a template. Then, you can dispense with all the setup each time you start a new one. Simply open the template, save it as your new file, and get right to work

Cross out those two hours of television each night, and you’ll gain over half a day each week. That’s quite a windfall!

In pursuing a minimalist lifestyle, we need to resist the temptation to recreate the outside world within our abodes.

On the other hand, perhaps you get manicures because your friends do, watch television to keep up with water cooler chat, or read certain magazines out of habit. Here’s your opportunity to do some purging! When we ask ourselves why we do certain activities, we may be surprised at the answers; we probably never stopped to think about it before. Such

Embrace “good enough” Have you ever spent too much time writing the perfect email, cooking the perfect dinner, preparing the perfect presentation, or finding the perfect gift? (I know I have!) The quest for perfection can throw our to-do lists in a tailspin; what we should have been able to complete in short order takes us two, three, or four times

Saying “no” to new duties ensures that your current ones aren’t neglected, and that the people who deserve your time most aren’t cheated out of it; in essence, it’s saying “yes” to your present responsibilities and your loved ones. Furthermore, it’s also saying “yes” to yourself: scheduling a little “me time” is essential to your personal developme

Now, imagine your ideal day. Which activities would you include, and which would you omit? Of course, you’ll probably still need to go to work and cook dinner; but would you visit the park instead of the coffee shop, or do yoga instead of surfing the Internet? How closely does your ideal schedule match your real one?

Although I don’t condone such a formulaic approach to writing, I think it’s perfect for the repetitive tasks we face on a daily basis. After all, there’s no sense in reinventing the wheel for every item on our to-do lists. By making templates, we can complete them more quickly, more efficiently, and with a minimum amount of effort—leaving us time a