Simple Living Guide

There is no perfect simple living guide since we are all unique as people but there are some common ideas, patterns, and even attitudes among us.

If you're not sure where to start, this page will help you by showing you some things you can do right now and by giving you more ideas and ways of analyzing your own life to make it what you want.

Step one, what do I want?

Open up a notepad on your computer and answer the question, "What do I want out of life?" and see what you comes up. Just type away.

When I did this I was reminded that I wasn't living to my full potential so there were things I needed to start doing so that I could eventually get there.

For me -- I wanted to be able to write and make web pages full time when I was currently at a job.

Step two, what's holding me back?

Now that you've defined what it is that you want, let's get into the simplifying part.

"What's holding me back?"

For me several things came up... My job, car payment, rent, eating out a lot, credit card debt, too much stuff -- all of these things were keeping me at my current job, preventing me from saving, and to make it short holding me back from my dreams.

Step three, how?

"How can I turn this around?"

Getting anything you want in life is all about asking yourself the right questions. Instead of "Why is this happening to me?" type of questions you have to ask yourself the ones that will give you the answers.

Some of the things I listed here were... Move to a smaller (cheaper) place, sell one of our cars to get out of the payment, sell my expensive stuff to pay off credit cards, keep my job and save up for a year, and start a website.

The right question will bring up the right answers in your life.

Step four, do it

It's all about doing it.

By the way I ended up doing just about all of those things.

We sold a car (and started saving an extra $320/mo), we moved to a smaller apartment (another $200/mo savings), and I sold a bunch of furniture and other expensive items to drastically bring down my credit card debt.

I also started my website (this website!) and saved a lot of money that year at my job while beginning to build up an income online.

I was well on my way towards exactly what I wanted.

My "simple living guide" results

Today writing and running websites is what I do and I'm doing it all from my small apartment.

If I hadn't gotten rid of my car payment, moved to a smaller more affordable apartment, and sold a bunch of my expensive stuff -- I wouldn't be where I am today. So yes, removing the CLUTTER out of your life makes a huge difference.

For a more in depth simple living guide read Leo Babauta's ebook... a Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.