Simple Life Together

So now that you’ve been working on building some margin in your life, maybe it’s a good time to start thinking about how you can make the most of your margin to make your life fuller. Not fuller with with stuff, but fuller with satisfaction. We named our teardrop "The Guidon". Maybe we should have named her "Margin"? Once in a while when the topic of our simpler lifestyle comes up, someone will ask, “Well what are you going to do to fill all your extra time?” It’s a valid question, I guess, but one we can easily answer.  Read more... Topic: What "Make the Most of Your Margin" Means for Us So how would you answer how you planned to fill your "extra" time"? Actually, anyone could make an endless list of things to fill their “spare time”. But I think what separates us from our former selves (our pre-simplification selves), and what makes those of us on this simplicity journey a bit different, is that we would likely answer it very similarly. We’d say, “Well, first of all, I don’t feel the need to fill my ma

Maintaining simplicity is an important step in making sure your simplicity efforts don't go by the wayside. We’ve said all along that simplifying your life isn’t a one time deal...it’s a lifestyle. And as with any lifestyle or major focus area in your life, you have to nurture it and care for it, otherwise your efforts will be in vain. So why is maintaining simplicity so important?  Well, just like a car or the air conditioning unit in your home, if you do regular maintenance and tune ups on them, the less likely you are to be in a situation where you’re facing catastrophic failure...or a colossal bill to repair it!  Read more... Topic: The Maintenance Side of Simplicity The same goes for simplifying your life. Paying attention to and doing regular simplicity checkups will go a long way in ensuring your efforts to simplify your life will last a lifetime. Background: Interestingly enough, the background for this episode was Vanessa's early dandelion pulling session at 7:30 AM on a cold (41 degree) mornin

We've been sharing our story about simple living here since the tail end of 2012. But when it comes to simple living, we know we're not alone! So, in this episode of the show we have our very first Simplicity Profile! We've mentioned a few times that there would be a few changes coming in 2014 for the show and here on the website, too. So, last week we introduced the Qs & Comments segment where we answer questions you send in. And today we have our first guest on talking about how she's simplified her life, too! But before we tell you any more about our special guest, we want to give you a little background on this new segment. Read more... Background for Simplicity Profiles: We're looking at doing Simplicity Profiles about once a month. We’ll start the show with our featured guest and talk with them about simple living, how they embraced simplicity, what they've learned along the way, etc. We think the talks will last anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. Sometimes longer, sometimes not. Then we'll do the a

Whether we’re hard-wired for it, or it’s learned behavior, we all fall victim to the comparison trap from time to time. Whether it’s houses, cars, paychecks, toys (I’m not just talking about kids’ toys here, I’m talking grown up toys like boats, motorcycles, gourmet kitchens, tech gadgets, you name it)...from time to time we find ourselves comparing what we have against what others have. And it’s not just when you have less, but we tend to compare just as much when we have more than others too. Read more... Topic: Beware of the Comparison Trap How does comparison typically make us feel? Does it make us jealous, like we’ve been slighted? Are we envious, like we deserve something too? Or maybe we feel proud and superior because we have more or better quality things? Often we fall into a comparison trap that leaves us feeling anything but good. Maybe what we should strive for (when it comes to “stuff,” any way) is to try and stop comparing altogether. That’s not to say that there’s no place for comparison.

If you've ever ready Steve Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (one of our all time favorite books), then you know that by doing just seven things, you can be well on your way to becoming more effective at what you do. Now, if you're ready to simplify your life a bit and really need a jumpstart, there are 7 habits you can develop to bring some serious simplicity into your life. Now, there are tons of things you can do to simplify, but we wanted to hit what we think are the top 7 things that have worked for us, and we want share them with you! So let’s get started! Read more... Topic: 7 Habits You Can Develop to Simplify Your Life We want you to be able to take just these 7 habits...seven things you can start doing today, to have a better tomorrow, a better year, and a much better chance of achieving the lifestyle that you want for yourself and your family. So here goes... Habit 1: Begin with the End in Mind This one comes straight from our military planning background and also Stephen C

Setting limits isn't as popular in our advertising culture as buzz phrases like "No Limits". When we think of “limits”, it’s typically in a negative sense. So, when setting limits on ourselves, like when we go on a bad diet, or a too tight budget, or worse, when someone or something puts limits on us, we think of it as a bad thing. But setting limits is actually a really good thing! Limits are a fantastic tool to help simplify your life and actually help you appreciate the things that are most important to you. Learning to accept, use, and embrace limits can help make a whole lot of sense of the hyper-consumer society we all live in. No limits? No way! So let’s get started! Read more... Topic: Setting Limits So I first thought about the framework of setting limits being a truly positive thing while I was watching a Tony Robbins training video. In it, he mentioned that sometimes limits were good, and the example he used was a glass. If you’re thirsty, you pour yourself a glass of water. The glass limit

On our journey toward a more simple life in the modern world, one point that keeps hitting home is that less is more. We like to say, fewer things, fuller life. Last year, we started the Edit & Forget It Challenge to eliminate 2013 things from our lives and hundreds of you joined us. Well, we're going to keep it going this year, too! Now, we know 2014 fewer things is a lofty goal and certainly won’t be for everyone. But remember, it’s never about the numbers, it’s about your relationship with stuff. The real focus is to eliminate anything that you really don’t need any longer and to reach a point where you have truly what you need...what you love...and what you use. You’re trying to build some margin in your life and the Edit & Forget It Challenge will help you do that! So, if you’re considering doing the Challenge...if you're ready for fewer things cluttering up the margin in your life...we thought we’d share some of the experiences we had as we eliminated over 3000 things from our lives last year. Plus,

If you’re like most people you probably have intentions to make some serious changes and make this your best year ever, right? Well, we want to help make 2014 YOUR year to simplify! And even if you’re not listening to this at the beginning of the year, or heck, it might not even be 2014 anymore when some of you listen to this, the fundamentals are timeless and perpetual. So, if you’ve fallen short of your goals in the past, like probably all of us have at some point, we have 5 steps to help you build a more solid plan, and hopefully set you on the road to success. So let’s get started! Read more... 5 Simple Steps to Make It Your Best Year Ever Step 1: Take some time to do a review of the past year. Figure out what’s working for you and what’s not. As you list out what's not working, are there any “repeat offenders”? You know, things you swore you'd stop doing but somehow find yourself still doing them? Yeah? Us too!  Keep track of these bad habits that keep working their way back in. You can find

We always call what we’re on a “journey” because we always seem to be learning new things, paring down to less and less, and finding ourselves in new circumstances along the way. But in the beginning, it sure helps to have a little bit of a roadmap. We’ve never been the types to tell you “this is what you need to do” or claimed to be “The Expert” in any particular area. Your journey is up to you. But, it sure is nice to have a general idea in mind, isn’t it? So, we wanted this show to serve as a sort of a Simplicity Quick Start Guide for your journey. You know how when you're working on a puzzle you check the cover of the box from time to time to see if you're on track? Well, that's what we hope you do with the episodes listed here. Check them and gauge your progress once in a while. Read more... Simplicity Quick Start Guide So we broke our Simplicity Quick Start Guide down into 5 categories and listed some of our most popular topics in each. This way, you can go back and listen to those shows you may

It's our 50th episode and we wanted to pass on our Top 20 simplicity websites, and also  our favorites for minimalism, lifestyle and more! You know, we have so many resources available to us these days that sometimes it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff, as the saying goes. It’s nice to have one source that you can go to in whatever interest category you have. So, we wanted to put together an episode and talk about some of our favorite websites and blogs that helped us on our journey, and still do...our Top 20 websites! Main Topic: We’ve talked about many of these before and even had some of the authors on the show, but we want this show to be a tribute to them and a resource for you. We decided to break them down into 4 different categories to simplify things (go figure...that's what we do here): Minimalism, Simplicity, Lifestyle, and  Lifehacking/Productivity/Tech...and we threw in a couple of bonus blogs too! So here they are, our Top 20 simplicity websites: Minimalism: Becoming Minimalist

So, if you’re anything like us you want to live the life of your dreams, right? Well the life of your dreams is different for everyone, but the one common thing is that we all need to set up some mileposts to guide us along the way. Maybe you’ve heard the saying that 'A goal without a plan is a dream'. So, maybe live the life of your dreams should really be 'Planning your life to meet your life goals!' Naw...that doesn’t sound nearly as good. But sometimes it’s better to face reality and not sugar coat things. Whatever terms you want to use...life plan, desired end state, retirement plan...they are all planning terms to living they way we want to live. Continue reading... Main Topic: We totally buy into the thinking that you can live the life of your dreams. It's really not a dream at all, but an attainable goal that needs to be planned for, and the plan needs to be flexible and well executed. The foundation of our plan is what we call our 5 Pillars. When we first started the show, and on a few episode

Let’s face reality...we all have To Do lists.  And while they seem to be never ending at times, To Do Lists can be a good thing. It kinda means we’re still alive! If you don't have any in your life, then you’re probably dead! So, knowing that we’ll always have To Dos, maybe we should have a plan for how to keep track of them and get them done!  So what's the best To Do list? Well, the best To Do lists are the ones that works for you! Whether you prefer an analog or digital solution...anywhere on the spectrum of tying a string around your finger, pencil and paper, or the latest To Do app...figure out the tool or tools that work best for you and stick with it/them. Continue reading... If you’re not sure which tools work best for you, don't worry. Just take some time to think about, research and maybe even test a few tools for yourself before committing to one...or a TON of To Do list management tools. But before you get started, there are some things you should know or consider. Main Topic: To Do Lists in

Is it time to simplify your wardrobe? Think about it, what is it that dictates how big your wardrobe is or how many clothes you have? Is it fashion and changing trends? Is it utility? Is it the weather or the climate? Is it an expectation of society or your social circle? Is it the activities that you do that necessitate what you wear? Or is it simply the size of your container...be it an overnight bag or walk-in closet? The answer to all of these is probably YES! That’s the thing about clothes, we all wear different things for different reasons. But, sometimes it’s like cable TV...500 channels and nothing on, right? You go into your huge walk-in closet and you can’t find a thing to wear! So what’s the real problem? Is it analysis paralysis...just too many decisions? Well, let’s dive into that. Read more... Main Topic: We all have different reasons for what we wear and how big our wardrobe is. It’s a pretty personal thing and each of us is unique, but maybe it is time to simplify your wardrobe a bit? Our

Today… we’re going completely random on you! We have a bunch of short, unrelated topics that have been simmering for a while or just been on our minds and we figured it was time to put them out there. So we figured that maybe a few short bursts of ideas or tips might be helpful. A lot of these things we’ve been wanting to discuss but they aren’t something that would fill our usual topic segment length. But, we still wanted to get them out there. So, Vanessa suggested “Let’s do a completely random show and call it The Random Show!” Uh, OK...why not! Well, the cool thing for you is you get a bunch of random tips...all solid in their own right, but boiled down into a few simple points! It’s like a pot luck dinner! Read more... Main Topic: Dan:  It’s not the tools, it’s the work: Every once in a while I have to remind myself of a lesson I first learned long ago from my older brother, Kevin. Our big job in the Winter time growing up in the Southtowns of Buffalo NY was shoveling snow. Kevin always seemed to

What are your most important things? We talk a lot about getting rid of “stuff” on the show, and in our lives that’s what we’ve tried to do. We’ve gotten rid of just about 3000 things this year alone and have a couple hundred people who’ve joined in on it by accepting the Edit & Forget It Challenge.  While we have opted out of following the mass consumerism that most in our society hold dear, there are still some things we ourselves hold dear. We created a scenario: "What 5 things would you grab if your house was on fire?" and then put ourselves to the test to figure out what possessions, out of our entire home, are the most important to us. As we went through this exercise it really challenged us and realized that by spending some time thinking about your most important things...those top 5 things that you would grab out of your burning home, it greases your mental gears to: Identify the your most important things. Things that mean the most to you and why. Contemplate whether you’re giving those thin

Way back in Episode 10, we’ve talked  a little about communication and how it can make your life simpler….that is if it’s effective communication. Ineffective communication on the other hand can can make your life a lot more complicated and often leads to confusion, stress, resentment, anger and even some dangerous situations. That's why simple communication is essential at work, at home and apparently in the prison/corrections field (see clip below). But, you don't have to be in a high-stress, dangerous job to tap into all the benefits of simple communication. Matter of fact, you might be causing some stressful situations yourself. Have you ever tried to replay a conversation in your head or share it with someone else only to fumble through it because you couldn’t remember the details or what was said?  Or have you said “yes dear” or “sure”, or uh-uh” after your significant other asked you to do something but you didn’t hear a word they said because you were thumbing through your Facebook feed?  Read more

It can be way too easy to just go along in life and keep your head and eyes straight forward, just plowing ahead. But when we do that we often miss out on the importance of the experience’s life offers us along the way. Wouldn’t it be great if these experiences could make our journey simpler, more enjoyable, easier...and best of all, more fulfilling? Well, that’s exactly what we want to touch on today. We want to go over some of our recent travel experiences from our summer trip to highlight 3 specific takeaways for us, and hopefully, you too! Specifically, we’d like to share some perspective in 3 areas. How: Sharing your story is important to help you & others grow The simple things in life are the most satisfying Capturing “lessons learned” sparks continuous improvement Read more... Main Topic: Hayes Family Adventures and Tapping Into Lessons Learned When we picked up our  rental camper and before we headed out, we were given specific instructions to share our stories in a journal (a journal

Downsizing is a word we hear a lot about these days, and I’m surprised at how often it’s talked about in the negative sense versus the positive. If you’re not familiar with the term, typically, we hear “downsizing” being used in one of two contexts: the first is as a business term, used when business are scaling down & people are getting fired or laid off. The second context is the one we're focusing on today. It's often when people are facing retirement or decide it’s time to make some lifestyle changes and "scale back" their personal econoomies. Heck, sometimes the business downsizing leads to personal downsizing! In the end we think you'll agree that downsizing can be a very positive thing. Armed with some information, downsizing tools, and a plan, you too can benefit from the "upside" of "downsizing." Read more... Main Topic: Are you missing out on the benefits of downsizing now? Why wait for retirement? How downsizing is perceived Reasons to downsize Some benefits of downsizing Planning

Are you losing focus? We’re in what could easily be called the Age of Distraction. Between all the media sources we’re exposed to, all the forms of Social Media, instant communication and technology at our fingertips...we’ve just become inundated with ready-made distractions to keep us from meeting our goals and threaten the very simplicity we’re trying to build in our lives. So today, we’d like to talk about some simple ways to get your focus back, and beat the distractions that keep us from focusing on what’s important to us. We’ll go over a few personal examples of distractions we face and share a couple of tools we use to help keep us on track. Read more... Main Topic Types of distractions: Internal distractions are your subconscious thoughts that get in the way.  And it may not be negative self talk (like fear and self-doubt) that gets in the way….euphoric thoughts can be just as distracting! External distractions can be a phone call, a loud noise, a FedEx delivery at your front door, or all the

Be honest. If you're like us you probably have thousands of photos, digital or print photos that are totally disorganized! You have the best intentions, but you probably have no idea how to organize your photos. Welcome to our world! We were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Cathi Nelson, Founder and President of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) to help answer one of the most asked questions here on Simple Life Together: "How do I organize my photos?" The interview was fantastic! Cathi offered up a wealth of information on how to organize your photos, both your physical and digital photos. We highly, highly recommend listening to the interview!  Before you do, here is little more information about Cathi and some of the questions we asked her on the show: Continue reading... How To Organize Your Photos: An Interview With Cathi Nelson: About Cathi Nelson: Cathi Nelson is the founder and president of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers™ (APPO), and her own photo organi