Life can feel busy, messy and complicated. There are some things we can’t change, but often we can take a few steps towards a life that feels easier. Embrace productivity hacks, find new ways to get organised and reflect on how you’d like your space in the world to look and feel. With a few small changes here and there you can make life easier – or at least feel easier.
If you’re not sure where to start, here are 19 different ways streamline your life and make life easier. You could choose a handful from this list to focus on, or try and introduce a new habit every 30 days. Have a look through and see which stand out to you the most.
1. Figure out your life goals
This might be a scary place to start, but knowing your life goals can make it easier to plan around them.
You don’t have to get too specific here. It’s hard to plan your life out in detail, but pick a few goals that you’d love to achieve over your lifetime. This might include becoming a parent or starting a business, or you might really want to travel the world or become a minimalist or try intentional living.
Get to know who you are, what you want and where you’d like life to take you. From there you can set goals and imagine a path towards them.
2. Find joy in the ordinary
Our daily life is filled with mundane, boring tasks like doing the dishes and taking the bins out. Try to find joy and happiness in the ordinary tasks so they feel like less of an interruption from your ideal life.
Doing the laundry is boring and takes forever, but the upside is that you have clean, fresh clothes waiting in your wardrobe. Commuting to work isn’t always fun, but maybe it could be if you listen to an inspiring podcast as you make your way to your desk.
Not every task is going to become fun or make life easier simply by reframing the way you think about it, but give it a try and see what happens when you look to embrace the simple pleasures in life.
3. Wake up earlier
It’s ever-so tempting to stay in bed until the last possible minute, but wake up earlier and you could find yourself experiencing less stress in that crucial morning routine. Giving yourself enough time to actually think and get ready is one of the best ways to make life easier.
Avoid the rushed chaos that comes with a morning of school runs or commutes and get up earlier to prepare. Make a start on getting the packed lunches ready, or use this time to dive into a new personal development book to make life easier in the long run.
Think of your earlier starts as giving you bonus time in your daily routine that you can use to get organised, prepared or to further your personal goals.
4. Create morning and evening routines
Once something becomes a habit you’re more likely to stick with it in the long run. Give yourself the best chance by creating morning and evening routines.
Reclaim your morning as a time to give your day the best possible start and make life easier every day. Try a slow morning routine, and see how it goes. Wake early, eat a good breakfast and plan your day. You might also add in some exercise or taking time to enjoy getting dressed and ready for the day.
Be intentional about your evening routine and use it as an opportunity to prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep. Embrace a simple skincare routine, make time for hobbies and head to bed at a time that suits your lifestyle.
You could get really detailed here and have a set schedule, or stay simple and focus on the outcomes over the specifics. Try both approaches and see which works best for you.
5. Have a daily to-do list
Knowing what your day is going to look like can really make life easier. With a simple to-do list you can plan your time to help you reach your goals, while taking care of everyday life.
Keep your to-do list as focused as possible. You might find it helpful to keep it short and based around ticking off large tasks, or prefer to list each smaller task out individually. Try a digital to-do list on your phone or opt for the good old pen and paper approach.
Try and tick off tasks across multiple categories in one day, so you’re always making progress on your home, work and other life goals.
6. Take action immediately, if you can
Sometimes a lot of our worries can come from when we keep things in our mind and avoid doing them. If you’re big on procrastination, you’ll know what I mean. Try and get into the habit of taking action straight away if it makes sense to do so.
A great area to start this habit off is with your incoming post or mail. Instead of taking it from your letterbox to a side table, open it and see if you can deal with it immediately. Some of it can go straight into the recycling or be filed away. If it’s a bill that needs paying or you need to call someone, action it for today if you can.
It’s not always practical to take immediate action. Sometimes you’ll need to pause and come to a decision, but by tackling small tasks quickly you have more space for those big decisions when they come.
7. Plan your meals
It’s so easy to hit 6pm and start wondering what you’ll make for dinner. Make life easier by planning your meals, or even prepping them, ahead of time.
Introduce a new meal planning and meal prep habit to your life. This is where you decide what you’ll eat for the week ahead, so there’s none of those last-minute decisions. Meal planning makes it easier to buy what you need, so it’s also a great way to save money.
If you live with other people, get them involved in meal planning too. That way you’re all sharing the responsibility and everyone can contribute recipe ideas.
8. Create a budget
Money can be a big source of worry and it’s easy for things to get complicated and messy. Simplify your finances by creating a budget and make life easier and less worrying.
A budget can be as simple as spreadsheet that looks at what you have coming in and what’s going out. You then have a clearer picture of how much you have left each month. From there, you can create budgets for areas like food, travel and treats.
Setting a budget might seem daunting, but do it once and you have a starting point for the future. Your budget can change, so don’t be afraid to experiment and look for ways to reduce expenses or find new ways to make money.
9. Declutter your home
Even with the best intentions, our homes can become overfilled with stuff we simply don’t want or need any longer. Declutter your home and make it easier to find the things you do need.
Decluttering can often feel like a big task, but you can start small with one area of your home. Pick a space that gets filled with clutter easily — like a side table or wherever you all pop your bags and keys. Tidy it, remove anything you no longer need and find a home for everything. Let go of and donate or resell anything you no longer need.
If you’re looking for an accessible and sustainable way to declutter your home, try this 12-day decluttering plan to help you along the way.
10. Follow a weekly cleaning routine
Much like having a clear space can be good for our minds, the same is true for a clean space too. Simplify your cleaning habits with a weekly routine that suits your lifestyle and make it easier to stay on top of cleanin and tidying.
Having a cleaning routine is a simple way to help you stay on top of the cleaning, so it becomes less of an issue when you’re busy or overwhelmed. By cleaning one area of your home each day, there’s never much chance for dirt to build up before the next clean. I’d recommend adding a morning cleaning routine and a simple nightly cleaning routine, then a Spring clean when you need one.
Remember to schedule cleaning tasks for family members or people you live with too, so they can help keep the space clean and tidy.
11. Try a capsule wardrobe
Having a wardrobe full of clothes we love is great, but too much choice can make those busy mornings more challenging. Simplify your morning routine by adopting a capsule wardrobe to make life easier and streamline the getting ready experience.
A capsule wardrobe is where you simplify your clothing choices down. It’s a popular choice for those that love minimalism or want to save time and feel more organized. You can often pair different items together to create new looks quickly, so there’s less time needed to put a look together. While you might invest more in basic staples that last, over time you may end up saving money on clothes shopping.
If you’d love to create a capsule wardrobe but aren’t sure where to start, try Jessica Rose Williams’ capsule wardrobe ebook and planner. It features simple steps to help you find your style and build a capsule wardrober you can wear every day.
12. Be realistic about your daily life
Sometimes all we need is to accept that our lives are complicated and that every day presents a new challenge. Shifting your mindset and being realistic about what you can achieve can help make life feel easier.
Tie this thinking into your goal setting and how you reward yourself. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you miss a day of exercise or you don’t get around to launching your new side hustle on time.
We can’t be productive all the time, so give yourself space to rest and don’t overschedule your time.
13. Make time for self care
A lot of our time is taken up by other people, other places and other things. Work, parenting and daily life can leave us with little time for ourselves. Take back some of that time for self care and see the benefits across other areas of your life.
Self care doesn’t have to be expensive, luxurious or a big thing. It can be as simple as taking more time to prepare a meal and enjoying the act of cooking. It might be going for a walk by the beach on a cool day, enjoying a regular exercise class, or picking up a new relaxing hobby in your free time. The little things can make a big difference.
If you’re looking for inspiration, I’ve put together a guide featuring affordable ideas for self care. There’s also a guide on how to plan a self care day, which is perfect if you need some time to rest and reset.
14. Know your boundaries
There are so many opportunities out there that it can be tricky to say no to them. Make life easier by knowing your boundaries and sticking to them as best as you can.
You don’t have to say yes to every opportunity, obligation or request. Get into the habit of saying no and gatekeeping your time. Sometimes we just need downtime to ourselves, or we might have other priorities that mean saying yes doesn’t make sense now right now.
Figure out your boundaries and what makes something worth it for you, then try and live by them. Don’t be afraid to change them though if your life changes or if you notice they no longer serve you.
15. Simplify your connections and commitments
With work, family, friends and social connections you can quickly end up with lots of contacts and things to do. Make life easier by simplifying your connections and commitments, so you’re left with people and activities you engage with more fully.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all your social commitments or trying to arrange multiple play dates, see if you can step back a bit and simplify your life. Don’t put yourself under pressure to show up to every meeting, get-together or after-school club, or to stay in touch with people you don’t need to.
Once you’ve pared back your friends list and social life, you’ll have more space for the things you care about and feel less weight on your shoulders.
16. Create systems for paperwork and admin
Even with a simplified or digital approach to life, we all end up with a lot of paperwork and general admin that needs dealing with. Tick off your must-do’s quickly and make life easier by having systems for paperwork and life admin.
Take a step back and look at the life admin and paperwork you have to deal with on a regular basis. This might include paying bills, returning paperwork to school or arranging appointments. See if there’s a way you can simplify the process or create a habit that means things get handled quickly and easily.
Stay on top of things by grouping tasks together and having a set time each week or month to go through your ‘life admin’ tasks. If you can automate any of this – like paying by direct debit – then even better.
17. Outsource aspects of your life you don’t enjoy
Sometimes there are parts of our lives that we just don’t enjoy or can’t do ourselves. If you can, outsource these jobs to someone who thrives on doing them so you can make life easier and focus on making progress in other areas.
Lots of people don’t enjoy or can’t manage gardening or cleaning and prefer to hire a regular cleaner or gardener to help them stay on top of their home. You might also outsource a one-off task, like planning a special event or decluttering your home before you move. If you don’t enjoy a task, and you can financially manage it, outsourcing is a great way to make life easier.
This of course comes with a downside – outsourcing costs money and time in finding the right person. Weigh up whether it’s practical and worth it for you, or try it for a short time to give it a test run before investing further.
18. Declutter your digital spaces
I’m a big believer in simplifying your environment to help make life easier and streamline the decision making process. By decluttering your phone, computer and even email account, you’re giving yourself more ‘space’ to be creative, think or take action.
The less time you spend being distracted or looking for something, the more time you can invest in something that matters to you. With a clear desktop, organised inbox, and cut-down “following” list on social media, it’s much easier to stay focused on what you’re doing.
If you have lots of files, apps or photos this can take a while, but break it down into smaller, achievable steps. For a practical guide, take a look at my article on how to plan a digital declutter. Enhance this with some digital self care habits to make the most of your time online.
19. Find a supportive community
There are times in our life where we just need to rant, talk something through or get an outside view on something we’re going through. That’s why finding a supportive community can help make life easier and more enjoyable.
Do a search on Facebook for groups or ask for community recommendations on Twitter. This is a great way to find out about groups that already exist and get a positive review from current members. In the past I’ve found supportive communities in areas I’m passionate about or industries I’m involved in – like blogging, freelancing or content marketing.
Online communities can be a hugely rewarding place to spend your time. Once you’ve found the right group for you, stay active and offer your support in the same way you’d like to find help from others. I’ve found that my favorite communities make life easier and enhance my quality of life in amazing ways.
Take small steps to make life easier
Our lives won’t change dramatically overnight. Often it takes lots of small changes and habits built up over weeks, months and years. Start small – with a handful of ideas from this list – and you’ll have the building blocks to make life easier in the future.
Let me know which of these tips you’ve found most useful and how they’ve helped you make life easier.
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