Lessen The Load! Five Ways To Simplify Your Life! (and become happier!)
11th Jan 2018 3 min read
— Tags: gemma bray, how to be happier, how to be less stressed, new mom, new mum, simplify your life, stressed mom, stressed mum, the organised mum, The Organised Mum Method, TOMM
I bet if I asked you to sit down now and list all the things that you are thinking about/need to do/think you should be doing, we’d be here a while waiting for you to write it all down!
Without a doubt, life is getting busier and the sweet irony of it all is that the more time-saving devices we use/buy, the more we end up doing … because we think we have more time to do stuff .. so we buy an Alexa … and on it goes! So here are my top tips to help you find more breathing space in that hectic brain of yours.
Work smarter, not harder.
This is such a biggie for me. Efficiency is key to making less work for yourself. To save yourself from running around like a blue bottomed fly, at the start of every day THINK about what you need to do. Are there any jobs that you can double up on? Phone your mum whilst walking the dog? Clean the bathroom whilst you are bathing the kids? Do your pelvic floor whilst waiting for the traffic lights to turn green …Hey, don’t judge I’ve had three kids!!
The kitchen is a PRIME place to simplify stuff have a look at my kitchen hacks.
Learn to not sweat the small stuff!
Now, this is certainly something that does not come naturally to me. If left unchecked I will micromanage lots of bits of my day and it always leaves me frazzled! So I have learnt to delegate and just breathe when things are not done exactly the way I want them.
A great example of this is the way I have taught my older kids to make their beds. I tried to teach them how to tuck it all in tight, but it soon became clear that it wasn’t going to happen! So I taught them an in-betweenie way … watch what it is here! It makes my life so much easier, as that is one job ticked off the list without me having to lift a finger!
Whilst we are talking about delegating have a watch of the jobs that you can get your kids to do! Remember it is good for them to learn how to do domestic stuff!
Realise that there are only 24 hours in a day
It is so important to be realistic about what you are going to able to achive in the time that one day gives you! If you are working, come home to kids/homework/dinner/dishes, want to go for a run AND clean your house AND catch up with Big Little Lies, then it won’t be long before you run and hide under the bed with brain overload!
You need to sit and work out what you want to achieve and spread it out over a week. Make a plan for when you are going to everything you want to. That way you can chill knowing that by Sunday night you will be a little bit smug … because you will have got it all done and in an EFFICIENT, non-stressy way!
I have a fab video all about how to be more efficient with your time which you watch here
If you don’t want to do something … don’t do it.
You can’t do all things. There I have said it. If you try you might balance it all for a bit but you WILL break in the end.
I don’t mean don’t clean the bathroom … that is an important part of adulting that nobody really wants to do!
I mean if you don’t want to sign up to be on the PTA, don’t feel pressured. If someone is stood in front of you with a clipboard and you feel pressured to say yes, take a deep breath and say you’ll think about it. And then send a very polite but firm email saying you are too busy right now. Seriously try it – it is soooo bloody liberating!
Start to become the guardian of your own time.
Learn to Let Go
In order to simplify your life, you need to start with your mind. I think we are all bombarded with perfection on a minute by minute basis and if you are reading this blog via a link from one of my social media accounts, you will without a doubt have been subjected (most probably subconsciously) to lots of images of perfection that might have left you feeling a bit lacking. Let go of that urge to strive for the picture perfect life and embrace the good enough.
You will be blown over by the difference this makes.
Big Love
❤️
