Simplify Your Life!

Next week is “Simplify your life week” and boy do I need to work on that myself! I have caught myself loosing sight of my priorities lately in exchange for all the “things” I NEED to do. I know many of you find yourselves in this situation as well. Here are a few tips to help you simplify things:

* Set priorities! Make a list of your to-do’s and prioritize them. This will help you stay focused and not be so stressed about remembering what to do.

* Keep a master calendar of events and your prioritized to-do’s. Take 5 minutes at the end of your day to plan the next day so you wake up with a mission.

* Schedule family time. If your family time or “date” time with your spouse is penciled into your calendar you won’t feel so guilty during that time as if you should be doing something else.

* Include the whole family in chore time. Make it a family event by playing fun music while giving everyone one job to do. You can make a list of necessary tasks and have a drawing to see who gets to do which tasks. Have a race to see who does the best/ finishes first.

* Don’t stress about the house! It won’t hurt to be imperfect.

* Limit your kids’ extracurricular activities. Allow them to pick only 2 or whatever number works for you. They will benefit more from family time than one extra activity.

* When cooking, double your recipes and freeze for later. Always cook ahead and freeze staple items like browned ground beef or baked chicken. This will dramatically reduce your kitchen time.

* TURN OFF THE TV! You will be amazed at how much more time you have to spend with your family without the distractions of the tv.

Take the challenge to work this next week towards simplifying your life in some little way and be sure to do something nice for yourself!