·         Get rid of what you no longer want or need.  Do this one room at a time and one area at a time.  If you do a little bit every day, you will soon be able to quickly find those things you still love and use often.

·         Have a Toss Bucket available at all times for those “I don’t need it, I don’t want it” items.  One in each bedroom and one for each floor of your home.  You can use decorative baskets or a nice laundry basket.  Take time to donate, sell or simply toss the items when the Toss Buckets are full. 

·         A place for everything and everything in its place.  Always have a designated area for each item you own.  As soon as any new item comes into your home – designate a storage place for it immediately.

·         Prevent unwanted items from reaching your home.  Avoid shopping in places where you often purchase items you really do not need.  Unsubscribe to unwanted emails, junk mail, magazines you no longer read, etc.  Go paperless and have your statements emailed to you.

·         Go through all new emails immediately.  File the ones you want to save, delete the ones you no longer want to keep and unsubscribe to those you no longer want to receive.

·         Go through all incoming mail immediately.  Stand over a recycling bin and shredder while you go through your mail.  Toss, shred, file or deal with each piece of mail right away. 

·         Set up a family communication area.  Create a place to return or exchange items between family members, leave notes, incoming mail, etc.  Hang a poster board to leave notes and post your family calendar in this area as well.

·         Schedule in time for your family and yourself.  Prioritize your schedule with what you want to do and what absolutely needs to get done and learn to say “no” a little more often to those events that take too much of your time.

·         Introduce the one in, one out rule to your family.  Every time one new item comes into your home, try to get rid of at least one other item. 

·         Set up a bill paying area.  Place all bills and all needed supplies in this area. 

·         Pay bills ahead of time and pay off debt as soon as possible.  This will help reduce the number of accounts you have to keep track of.  You will also reduce the time spent paying each payment and possibly save on interest costs as well.

·         Reevaluate and prioritize all your commitments.  Schedule in some family time.  If you are overscheduled, reevaluate and eliminate some commitments from your schedule.

·         Share household duties.  Assign tasks to each family member. 

Simplify with a few small changes and your life will become a lot less complicated.