If you’re tired of generalized goals that feel too big to know where to start, I’ve got 5 super specific things you can implement today to help you simplify your home and life!
We’re often good at making generalized goals that sound nice and look good on paper, but aren’t always as easy to implement.
Things like:
- pay off debt
- get more organized
- spend less time online
- watch what you eat
- get more sleep
- get rid of things you don’t use
Those are all good things to aspire to, but they feel too general. Too “big”.
They aren’t specific enough to offer a clear starting point (and, we all know getting started is the most difficult part), so we do nothing and get further behind.
Sound familiar?
What if all we needed were a little more direction?
Below, I’m sharing a handful of very specific, fairly small, totally doable things you can do today (literally right after you finish reading), in just a few minutes at a time.
These ideas won’t radically change your life overnight, but practiced consistently, they will help you form new habits, and over time, these new habits have the potential to positively impact your family, home, and life!
1. Wake up 20 minutes earlier.
When do you normally wake up? Calculate 20 minutes earlier and set your alarm for that time tomorrow morning.
I know there are seasons of life when an extra 20 minutes of sleep feels like the most important thing you can give yourself… but as someone who didn’t sleep for almost 3 years due to a fussy baby/toddler, I still advocate for setting your alarm 20 minutes earlier.
With those few extra minutes, you can quickly get ready and feel more “with it” when everyone else wakes up — making you less grouchy and possibly changing the entire atmosphere in your home.
These 20 minutes could be the difference-maker in your morning, which has the potential to positively affect your entire day.
Related Reading: How to Get Excited to Wake Up Earlier
2. Remove 100 things from your home.
It sounds like a lot, but every item counts — even trash!
Give yourself 30 minutes to walk through your home with a trash bag and Amazon box. Put the trash in the bag, and items you no longer want, need, use, or love in the box.
This is an excellent habit to develop and a great skill to teach your children too.
Related Reading: How to Declutter 100 Things From Your Home Today
3. Make your to-do list before bed.
Tonight, before you go to bed, spend 5-10 minutes thinking through everything you need/want to do the next day.
Then, write it down — either as a paper list, as a notes memo in your phone, or even send yourself an email. Get it out of your head so you don’t need to worry about forgetting throughout the night.
Do this every night!
You’ll have a plan for your day, your meals, and your free time — which will be especially helpful since you’re waking up 20 minutes earlier ☺️.
Related Reading: How to Boost Your Productivity with a Top 5’s List
4. Clean out your vehicle.
Don’t worry about the outside right now… just the inside.
Grab a trash bag and a mini shopvac, and get to work.
If you think about how much time you spend in your car, having a neat and clean vehicle will have a huge positive effect on your mood.
Plus, it’s a small space, so it shouldn’t take too long, giving you that sense of instant gratification.
Related Reading: Practical Tips for Clean Vehicles with Kids
5. Create a laundry routine.
Laundry overwhelm is one of the most common complaints I get from readers and friends in real life — it just takes so long and always feels never-ending.
However, part of the problem is often that we don’t have a laundry routine, so we always feel behind.
Take a few minutes today to determine what type of laundry routine could work best for your home, your family, and your current season… then commit to sticking with it for a full month.
Maybe it’s doing 1 or 2 loads (from start to finish) each day. Maybe it’s having a laundry marathon day (this works well if you’re home one full day per week). Or maybe every person in your family has their own laundry day.
If you create a laundry routine, you give yourself a game plan, making it so much easier to stay on top of this never-ending chore.
Related Reading: Why You Need a Laundry Routine
There are countless other tasks, tips, and to-dos I could add to this list… but in an effort to keep things simple and specific, these 5 are a great place to start… do it today!
Do you have any other simple and specific ways to simplify? Leave them in the comments!
Rhonda says
I plan to start #1. We tend to get to bed at a reasonable, consistent time each night, and we wouldn’t be sleep deprived if we got up a little earlier. You’re right, it does make the day go smoother.
Andrea says
good luck getting to be on time!!! I’ve found that if I just force myself to wake up earlier, I’m naturally tired earlier so it’s easier for me to get to bed on time.
Nicky says
These are so similar to FlyLady steps and before her the Side-tracked Home Executives book. I guess great minds think alike! I found watching the YouTube videos, particularly Flylady Kat, helps motivate. As someone not naturally programmed to focus / simplification having someone talk you through it in an encouraging way is much better than simply feeling you should be doing it -which I guess is what your yesterday post was about!
Andrea says
interesting — I’ve never personally done anything with fly lady, but I’m often told I give similar tips. Maybe I should look her up 🙂
Katie says
Fly Lady is all about routines, progress not perfection, and if you get something out – put it away – which definitely aligns with so much you do Andrea! Also, she’s big on the approach that you have to declutter before you can clean, because you can’t clean clutter.
Kristen says
My baby wakes up early and takes a long time to fall back asleep if it’s close to “morning” so a lot of times I end up sitting with her in a rocking chair and “resting” for an hour until she finally falls back asleep. Today I decided to just stay up and get some stuff done. I thought to myself, “I’m just like Andrea!” (Lol) and you’re right – I did get a surprising amount done, even with my little 5 month old “helper” 🙂
When I was a working mom one thing that helped me a LOT was to pick out my clothes for the entire week over the weekend. I had time to try outfits on if I wanted to make sure they looked good, and I could try to balance out different “looks” instead of just a cardigan and black pants every day All I had to do at night was grab the top outfit from the pile – no time wasted searching the closet with “nothing to wear,” or trying things on!
I would also make an extra “dinner” over the weekend and take that for lunch every day. (I know a lot of people take leftovers but we didn’t usually have enough to do this consistently!) I still do this sometimes even now that I stay home, because it’s so easy to heat up part of a casserole or something!
Andrea says
yay for pushing through and just doing what needs to be done! Sounds like you already do a lot of things to stay on-top of life! It might feel like a lot of busywork at times, but I’m positive it pays off later when you aren’t frazzled and stressed and running late for everything!
BB says
Thanks, Andrea! You have such a great mind and way of making things sound so simple and easy with your routines to get things done. I also want to thank you for keeping up with making the title a clickable link so one can put it in another tab from email and then add to a browser bookmark to come back to when one needs that refresher read to get back on track! The links have been SO helpful for that, as I have folders for different things so I know just where to go!
I sure do enjoy your posts and they are so very helpful for getting our brains straight and giving an actionable plan to start and build from. Thank you SO much for your wonderful free advice and help you give to so many via your blog.
Andrea says
Thanks so much!! I appreciate your long-time readership and all your comments 🙂
Katie says
So many of these are so good!
The laundry routine that works for us is to do one load of laundry per day. With 2 adults working outside of the household full-time and 2 small children, I don’t want to spend my weekends doing laundry. A load gets started as soon as one of us gets home from work, and it’s easily folded or hung up on the drying rack after the evening rush is over, while watching TV or chatting.
We also have a routine for keeping our cars cleaned up – I generally try each day, but let’s be realistic – laptop bag, purse, lunch bag, coffee mug + kids stuff daily means inevitably stuff gets left behind. So, on Fridays, as soon as we get home, I grab 2 garbage bags – 1 for trash, 1 for stuff that needs to go back in the house. If the kids don’t empty the “house” bag by Sunday evening, it goes in the trash too. It takes 5 minutes but makes a huge difference! I often then take another 5 minutes to grab the shop vac and do a quick once over.
I’d add one more suggestion to the list if anyone is looking for something they want to add and they already do these things – empty the dishwasher as soon as it’s done running!
Andrea says
Yes — I’m actually mentioning that in a post later this week! We always ALWAYS run the dishwasher right after dinner, and then clean it out right after the kids go to bed (which is usually exactly the time it finish running)! It’s a great system for us right now!
Mary in Maryland says
I combine numbers four and five. Things that are leaving the house get put in the car trunk. And their existence and destination are written down on a list near the driver’s seat. Whenever I get in the car, I check the list to see if there is something I can drop off on the way.
Kristi says
Love this idea! The list would keep it top of mind and ensure we aren’t wasting time and gas money making single trips to drop them off.
Andrea says
yes, this is a good plan Mary! And good idea with the list. Thanks for sharing!
BB says
I LOVE this, Mary! I already use a ‘circuitous route’ when I run my errands so I am not zigzagging around my area, but putting stuff in the car and then checking the list of places you need to drop it off while you are out doing other errands is GENIOUS! Thanks so much for adding this gem to the thoughts here!
Sarah says
This is a timely post for me. Today I decided to start getting up 15 minutes earlier… And I actually did! I’m trying to get myself ready for a school schedule, as my oldest is about to start kindergarten next week.
I always appreciate your lists of different types because they help to narrow down in my brain the many, many things I want to try to do well or better. Too often I have the problem of wanting to improve or do everything at once and then I am paralyzed into inaction because I can’t figure out where to start, so I just don’t. So many times your advice to “just start somewhere” has helped me tremendously.
Andrea says
yay for waking up earlier. I’m naturally a morning person, so it’s easier for me to do this — however, there are still many morning when I just want to roll over and go back to bed. My day runs so much better when I wake up early — apparently that’s motivation enough for me to keep waking up early!
Luba @ Healthy with Luba says
Andrea,
Beginning tomorrow, I am going to wake up 30 minutes early to get my day started with my devotions before I make my husband’s food.
At the same time, I’ve started purging 100 things (19 down already).
Andrea says
sounds like a good plan — how many purged items are you up to now?? Did you find 100?
Christine says
We are moving our family of 7 this week, to a new house in the same town 5 minutes away. I can’t even begin to tell you how much your blog has helped me in the purging and simplifying process before packing. I feel as though we’re only taking things we need and like to the new house! I think #4 stood out to me the most, as we’ve never had a mud room and still won’t in the new house (until we convert the “breezeway”). Thanks for all the free good tips all support!
Christine says
*and support
Andrea says
oh wow — happy moving!
So glad some of my tips have helped you along they way!