Are you still going strong on your New Year’s Resolution? Did you know that according to U.S. News and World Report, 80% of Americans fail at their resolution by mid-February? Well, we are heading towards spring, which means you can start fresh! Renew your intentions! Maybe your goals have shifted over the first part of the year. Often, as spring rolls around, people are looking to simplify their life, renew and shed. Shed pounds, shed behaviors, shed beliefs or maybe shed junk! However you look at it, most of us would like to get rid of something.
Living a Simple Life
Getting rid of things inevitably leads to simplification, and most of us could probably simplify something in our life. A simplified life sounds like a breath of fresh air when we are running around from one task to the other. We’d like to share a few quick ideas for simplifying. Nothing complicated, just simple ideas that will help you find that breath of fresh air on a daily basis.
Limit trips to the store
In light of the current circumstances in our world, you may be doing this already. Have you noticed a difference from before COVID-19? Did you used to run to the store every time you were out of something or just to grab one item? Now you may be planning weekly or monthly shopping trips. You have given yourself a gift by doing this, the gift of time. You are saving gas, time and mental energy! You’ve added an element of simplicity to your life, savor it.
Shed Junk
Put a box in the corner of your kitchen and commit to putting one thing in the box every day that you want to get rid of. I have a story to share about how my family made this task of “Junk Shedding” into a game. We were inspired by The Minimalists Challenge and during the summer we worked for 30 days to get rid of 1 thing on day 1, 2 things on day 2, 3 things on day 3…you get the idea! However, by day 20, it got hard! My kids started to hunt and scavenge; they started digging through closets and packed up toys, I found a box of miscellaneous picture frames and was able to get rid of at least 10 frames that were not being used any longer. We calculated that over the course of a month, we had gotten rid of over 400 items! And, it was fun! Things felt a lot less cluttered, visually and mentally, after we donated all of the items we had accumulated.
Prioritize
Instead of saying “I don’t have time,” make time for things that are a priority. Make a list of things that really matter. Try saying “no” to anything that is not on your priority list.
Simple recipes for healthy eating
Simple healthy recipes do exist! Planning is key; make a list of ingredients needed for the week and shop on the weekend to be prepared for meal prep during the week. This goes along with our point above about limiting trips to the store! Here are seven plant-based recipes, with prep times of under 30 minutes, from Forks Over Knives. https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/30-minute-meals/#gs.z3wprt
We hope that these few simple ideas have inspired you to dust off your intentions, simplify, and shed as you head into spring.
