You do not have to live a simple life, but you may prefer to live your life that way. Simple living is ought to be your personal choice. Be satisfied with what you currently have rather than with what you want to have.
Over the years, you will be able to identify the essential things in your life and eliminate the rest. But, simplifying life is a constant process as there is always too much happening every day.
Why to choose simple living?
Less is always more, and bigger is not always better. I have a simple life by choice. There are many reasons for that – appreciating simplicity, improving health and achieving balance.
1. Firstly, MORE TIME. Living with less makes total sense because you will have more time for yourself. You will be able to increase the amount of quality time for your family and friends and achieve work–life balance. If you owned too many things, they would have slowed you down.
2. Secondly, QUALITY OF LIFE. Simple living will also help you to reduce stress related to material possessions – fancy home appliances break down, cars get stolen, tech gadgets need constant software upgrades. It all takes time and money to be solved. By buying less products but of better quality, you will be able to keep yourself and your family healthy.
I am a big fan of reducing consumption and lowering spending on products, so I can improve quality of my life through simplicity. However, I will never advocate living without any money because money matters in medical emergency situations that may happen in our lives.
It has been proved by many people that reducing expenses leads to financial independence and the possibility of early retirement.
How to implement simple living?
You can simplify your lifestyle by reducing possessions and increasing self-sufficiency. To do so, throw away, give away and sell unnecessary stuff.
🏠🌳 | HOUSE: If you want to start practicing simple living, reduce your personal possessions to 100 things, buy a small house without a mortgage or move to a cabin in the wood. You can also purchase land and grown your own food to become self-sufficient. You can easily plant your own fruits and vegetables, nuts and herbs.
👔👠 | CLOTHES. You will survive owning one pair of sports shoes which you will wear until worn out instead of having five different pairs of sports shoes. Believe me or not, you do not want to own 20 pairs of shoes because you would not even know where to store them. And, cleaning all of them would take you days.
🥦 🍎 | FOOD. Pay attention to what you eat and simplify your diet to avoid the exploitation of humans, animals and natural resources. Stick to fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and herbs. Drink pure water to hydrate your body.
👨🍳👩🍳 | COOKING. You are able to make more things by yourself instead of buying ready products. You can cook my own kimchi, pickles and spaghetti sauce. Of course, it takes more time and energy, but you will spend less on raw ingredients.
📺🎥 | MEDIA. Another way to live a simple life is to stay away from mainstream culture. Try cutting down on television, radio, colorful magazines and the Internet.
Personally, I never buy luxury products even though I can afford them. Neither I indulge myself going on expensive holiday trips. I read business books instead. I choose to spend time at home reading a book rather than going out to experience low-quality pop culture.
