by admin | Jun 23, 2022 | Declutter
Enjoying your Downsize Life is all about getting to the place where you are self-sufficient. I don't mean that you need to be living off the land, growing your own vegetables and distilling rain water for your shower and teaching your kids at home rather than using a state school system! Not at all. What I am keen on is the idea that you can live in a house that meets all your needs for space and utility, that your work or paid employment is fulfilling, and that you have satisfaction and happiness in the physical environment you occupy.
Having enough to satisfy and meet these needs truly is all that you require. Having enough means you having sufficient resources. You can be a creative indie providing skills and services or products to your various clients. You could be a portfolio worker holding two or three separate roles which, when taken together, provide the finance that is enough to cover your bills for accommodation and food, for clothing, leisure time and future savings plans.
You may work in a secure job that you love or one in which you are uncomfortable and looking for a new role that provides greater fulfilment to your own values and sense of what you consider important and nurturing.
Possibly you are out of work and between jobs or in long term unemployment with little expectation of finding work again. In any one of these situations you are able to give thought and attention to how you live right now and whether there are aspects of it that you seek to adjust or adapt.
Enough is about being self-sufficient in whatever way works for you and your household. It is about being happy with how your life looks and works. Accepting the Enough is Enough mindset requires you to separate from what the adverts and the celebrity gossip columns suggest are important and to be admired, and to instead just consider what you want. Having enough for your needs is all you need. Ever.
In a modern, developed economy you are doing well if you have a financial surplus being saved each month. Apparently, more than 70% of working households would struggle to deal with something as simple as finding $750 - $1,000 for a surprise domestic bill, like the failure of the central heating boiler. If you can pay your bills and still have enough set aside for the inevitable surprise bill or incident where an extra $500 or $2,000 is needed, then you are in a good place. If you can do this and still have an enjoyable holiday a couple of times each year, you are way ahead of many people.
To get into an even more positive position, think about taking away completely or significantly reducing any of the workplace stress or political troubles that come with employment in a larger work place where there is always someone above you, telling you what to do and by when, or giving you tasks to do which seem ever more difficult to achieve. To remove yourself from that requires an extra financial move requiring a radical reassessment of your own cost of living and survival each month. Where you can make significant downward adjustments to your regular outgoings, you are creating more flexibility in what work you choose to do to earn money.
This lifestyle requires you to listen to your heart and hear what your feelings are telling you. Where you feel anguish, worry, upset or simple unease, there is a message for you and an idea to explore. If you open your post and constantly see bills that are just beyond your ability to settle in full, this is a wake-up call to think about your monthly cost of living and start to look at cutting those costs so that you can live within your means to pay those same bills next month.
If you have possessions you never use and where you have low emotional attachment to them, then they should be up for sale and gone. If you have a three bedroom house and have no need for regularly hosting visitors can you be better off in a home with just one less bedroom, but which still accommodates your needs for personal space and storage? Would such a move either save you money in significantly reduced rent or allow you some greater flexibility over your choice of work? If you own your home and sold it to move into a different space that you buy for less, can the surplus you create by moving house then be used to boost your savings and reduce any debts for good? If you work in a place where conflict between employees is difficult, the quality of management is low, or where the rate of pay is poor, you can use these factors as motivation to find employment that better suits you.
Think about the areas of your life where you feel unhappy, stressed, worried or dissatisfied and consider how you could make things different. The easiest way to determine if there is a need for change, is to ask yourself: "How am I coping?"
Listen to your mind and hear the honest answers that come out of this. So, how are you coping? What can you change today?
by admin | Jun 16, 2022 | Simple Self Help
Life is not necessarily always going to run along smoothly and there will understandably be times when you want to shout out loud "Stop the world. I want to get off." We have all been there at some point in our lives. Personally, I am a big believer that we are here to learn the things, to understand the concepts and to appreciate the belief systems that surround us. And the more I think about this the simpler it is to get the point that change happens and for a reason!
If you are in denial about change, if you regret that it ever happens, then you are simply saving more times of disappointment, more periods of frustration and anger, and yet also more moments of lost opportunity. Instead you could choose to realise that change is actually one of the few constants around us. Yes, this might sound bizarre - that "change is one of the few constants" but it is very much this way.
By acknowledging this change conversation you open yourself up to the possibility of greater opportunity, stronger experiences, less upheaval by not denying the whole subject and you will very likely also receive more of what you expect that is good and positive.
When a career stops short of the time that you had expected to be protected by it; when a business folds or requires you to stretch beyond your normal habits; when a relationship arrives seemingly from out of nowhere, how will you be prepared for it? Will you have thought through the potential outcomes and communicated this quickly to the place marked 'Beneficial Change' or will you instead be looking to the place marked 'Change for Changes Sake' or perhaps 'Change without obvious Benefit?'
Embrace change. Allow it to happen and then respond with what you need to do. It might be to ignore the change until the timing is better for you to understand it, but you have to see that it is happening to you and let that recognition carry you through to new and better circumstances that will follow just as day follows night.
by admin | Jun 15, 2022 | Simple Self Help
You only have twenty-four hours in a day. So you won't be able to fit in all the things you could do, and likewise you will struggle to spend time with everyone equally. Think hard about the value of some of the relationships you have relative to the amount of benefit you get from them and how you feel as a result of being around those people. Some will be friends, others relatives or work contacts.
Try to be a little more selective about how you give out the time in your calendar if you are only going to be more worn down as a result of having done so. As with the phrase "less is more" when it is applied to meaning that a bit of quality is better than a lot of mediocre items, I think often that the same phrase can be applied to your own appointment diary.
Let your mobile go to voicemail now and again. After all the reason you have that facility is so you don't have to answer the phone yourself every time! Let people know that you have time out for yourself now and again, or that you are with your family and will not be taking calls, or that you are visiting some friends and will get back to them when it suits you to do so.
Put your family first and ensure that there is some regular time each week when you get together, and create something special.
I recall how as a child, my parents always took me to the cinema on a Saturday morning or how we would often go out early on a Sunday morning to walk in the country park or along the riverbank. The memories of those film shows and my familiarity with the footpaths and lanes that I still visit regularly in my adult life have their roots in those familiar traditions which were deliberately created by our parents.
What was important to you as a child, as a teenager and as a young adult?
The chances are that your own feelings and memories of belonging or of having an adult be interested in your well-being is just as important to your own children. Take time to do the same for yours.
We all appreciate the way that someone clears their schedule to give us their time and attention, so if this is true from our own perspective, what must it be like to be able to give that time and energy to someone who will enjoy having you and holding your attention.
by admin | Jun 9, 2022 | Declutter
Adverts tell you to buy new, to acquire more, to 'go large' and so often we fall for the message that is pushed upon us. We should own a larger house with more space, a greater distance from the neighbouring property and a kitchen that is more like a chef's showroom than a place for enjoyable family dining.
Of course, we are told that we need an extensive wardrobe that provides clothes for every season, but also for every month of the year, together with the absolute best of bags, watches and additional accessories. Each of these items comes with a well known and heavily branded label which we are encouraged to discreetly mention or simply show off to our friends.
Gathering more possessions and more debt is no way to feel relaxed and happy. The emotional burden of greater debt for the shiny new possessions soon comes through and starts to hurt and cause you pain. You can stand against the consumerism of the adverts, designed to separate you and your money. There is a simpler approach and we refer to it in our home as the Downsize Life.
I am in a place where I am happy, satisfied with my circumstances, living the indie lifestyle that my partner and I have created together. We chose to downsize recently and go through the declutter journey. We made a decision to look at what we need to be happy and solvent and at peace with our life. We took the steps necessary to make the income streams that are allowing us to pay off our debt and have around us those things which either bring joy or support our conscious move into what we refer to together as the Downsize Life.
This opportunity is real for you, for us all. It takes thought, effort and some determination to step away from those things which might well allow you to pay your bills, but perhaps come with an element of stress and worry. I am speaking here about the politics of a work organisation and the shenanigans that can take place there. But pettiness and upset are a part of life in any place where you have a lot of interaction with people, so don't think it's just about where you work! Let's get real about all of this.
What might you do to improve your life?
First, give thought to all aspects of your life as they are now. Consider your existing accommodation, money and financial resources, lifestyle and health, you support network, and your future plans and goals. In identifying these different elements take the time to note how you feel emotionally about each one.
Do you love where you live? Not just the building or type of accommodation, but the surrounding environment and geography, landscape and neighbourhood. Are you happy with the physical space you occupy, with the structure and design of your home?
Retirement Years
Re your money, are you earning what you need to live without worry or fear of debt? Is there a side hustle you can start to cover any shortfall for your cost of living or to begin the process of clearing your debts to other people or to credit organisations? What money have you set aside in a savings pot, both cash money for emergencies or unexpected bills, mid term money to give you a breathing space for three months or more in the event of illness, and real long term money that would allow you the freedom of stepping down from one job to take another where you will be happier and more fulfilled. What about the long game and being financially ready for retirement, fully prepared for the years of no job income?
Health and well-being
Lifestyle and health matters are broad in theme and topic. Here I am asking you to look at the way you live and your physical wellbeing and fitness. So many external factors affect this, but you choose what you eat and the exercise you need and take daily. Food choices and the quality of this is important. Perhaps this ties in with the neighbourhood and local shops or access to the countryside, parks and gyms. Interaction with community groups and activities can be hugely valuable for your positive mental health and well-being.
Like minded friends and support networks
Who you have around you as a support is critical. Friendships and networks of like minded people allow you to be your best you. They encourage you to follow your favourite activities and plans. They want you to win at the things which are important and special to you. Contact with friends in a real way, and not just online via social media, is good for your emotions and your mental health. Some of these people might be your neighbours. Others may be in your immediate family circle. I enjoy contact with friends in a weekly writing group that I attend and who I love chatting with over a coffee. Each year I meet up with some volunteers and we clean, paint and decorate a youth hostel in preparation for the next season of heavy use by cyclists, climbers and young people on expedition groups. Other friends are those I see each month in a social enterprise where they provide a pay-as-you-feel cafe above a food distribution warehouse that provides meal ingredients to community cooking groups.
Look at the people who are important to you and whose company you enjoy. If you want to expand your social life, you only have to search local noticeboards, both physically in local coffee shops and community venues, and of course in online forums and postings.
by admin | Jun 2, 2022 | Simple Self Help
Moment by moment and one day at a time, your life is happening and at the same speed your life is passing you by. You can end up looking back over your shoulder at the life you might have had, should have had, or could have had if you had only just got on with it. And how would you have done this differently? I'll tell you how. Moment by moment and one day at a time is how!
This is all you have, the now, this moment.
There is nothing else outside of this moment in which I am sitting here writing, late at night in a quiet room while the world sleeps around me. And you out there somewhere, reading these words on a screen or on a printed page in the very moment that is your own NOW moment.
So we must make some decisions, you and I. Another word for decisions is Choices. Choices to move forward with our lives in this moment. Do we turn left or right at this junction of the roads, at this crossing of paths? It is a bit like the way that you take your first footsteps as an infant - you do not know that you will be walking in the future, but you do sense that the next thing to do is put the other foot forward, and then the other, until it happens and you are walking! But you started with the next foot. Choice always begins with a simple action. Not with a complicated, philosophical, much thought about action. Instead you just did something. From this you get first one result and then another.
Most of the choices you have made have not been monumental in their significance. They have been ordinary, mundane and habitual. Yet in this very normal state your choices take you to some quite extraordinary places. They put you with amazing and wonderful people, allow you to experience the highs and lows that life will deliver.
Without action and then the movement and the flow of energy that comes from choices there is what? Nothing. Inactivity, lack of movement, zero forward motion, only stagnation. From such a place nothing much can come. But even the decision to stay down there is a choice.
So you see you always come back to the point that in order to Live Your Best Life, to attract the people, the opportunities and the feelings that you desire you have to wholeheartedly engage in making choices. Moment by moment and day by day.
