As with anything else, having good tools makes simpler living easier as well.

• Calendar – I prefer Google calendar, but one you can take with you is ideal. But, that doesn’t mean you schedule something immediately. You still want to think before saying yes.
• The Declutter Calendar so you can take care of one small area at a time
• Quiet time space daily for silence and centering
• A labeler so everything is neatly labeled. Feels better than my messy scrawl.
• A money program that tracks your spending and updates at a click of a button. Mint.com is good.
• Automatic savings from your bank that moves money every paycheck
• A journal to uncover your needs and discover what is important to you
• Routines – so you don’t have to re-decide when to clean, pay bills, etc.

My husband and I were on a motorcycle ride when we stopped by fast food for some lunch. I asked for a small onion ring. "What size onion rings?" "Small." "We have small, medium, large onion rings." "Small is fine." "Or we have the value size onion ring." And we had a big conversation on the difference between small and value size. "Small is fine." I get my order and she gave me fries.

Our days are full of stressors like these. The internet goes down. The person driving in front of you is going 10 miles under the speed limit. Or the truck in back of you is on your bumper. The call you don’t want to make or take. The doctor is running late. You have to pick one of the kids up at school. The coupons aren’t accepted at the grocery store.

We learn two things in situations like these:

1) How patient you are.

Some people are naturally more patient than others. Some learn through having to be patient.

2) How stressed/rushed you feel.

If things are irritating you more than they are worth, you might be over-scheduled. Some people are so tightly scheduled that when one thing goes out of whack, the rest of the day falls apart. They may be constantly irritated because these stressors usually happen at least daily. You don’t want to be on the verge of crying when you get a bank overdraft notice or forget to get everything you needed at the store.

How have recent stressors affected you? Do you need to take some relaxation time? Do you need to take one thing off the schedule? Do you need to ask for help?

This week pay attention when you feel irritated and stressed.

If you are feeling dry and stale or thinking that your life is nothing but drudgery, a great question to ask is,

"Where is my heart?"

When you disconnect what you do with purpose, your senses or joy, you dry out.

Does your work feel like nothing but to dos that you don’t want to do? If you are working, you must be serving someone or no one would pay you. Who are you serving? Whose life are you making better?

If you don’t like working where you are right now, how can you bring more fun or beauty into your work? Can you organize your space? Can you put something beautiful in the space? Can you wear ear plugs to drown out annoying noise? Maybe you need an aromatherapy pillow. Can you notice how your character is improving in this situation or notice where you are growing?

If you are parenting, do you remember you are trying to bring up kids of character and responsibility? Or just remembering that they are being a real pain right now? Seeing how you want them to turn out pulls you from the daily taking care of kids. You can also try taking part of the parenting time to relax and play with them. So it’s not all work for you or them.

When you do housework are you focused only on, "I have to do dishes AGAIN?" or do you see the outcome of the clean kitchen. Do you think of how you are nurturing you and your family? Or enjoying creating beauty? You can allow yourself to gaze for a second or two in appreciate of the newly polished kitchen table. Using natural cleansers with pleasant scents makes cleaning more enjoyable. As does music.

As you go throughout your day, keep asking, "Where is my heart?" Bring joy, beauty or purpose to whatever you do.

Then see if your life is juicier.

***

Photo by Mauro Cateb

I’ve been using Workflowy for a few months now. It’s a to do list, project list and note list in one.

And it’s very simple.

You type. And if you want another level you tab over.

Here is what part of my workflowy looks like:

You can use this sign # to create tags. Most of my tags are days of the week. But, you can tag subject lines and other things for easy searching. So if I want to know what to do Monday I search #Mon and all those tags show up.

You don’t have to see everything at once. Clicking the plus sign next to the bullet let’s you see more of the tree. Clicking the minus next to a bullet, collapses the tree. As you can see with many of the bullets above, a grey circle surrounds the bullet. That means there is more to see if you click the plus sign. Hovering over the bullet lets you complete the task, add a note, share, export, duplicate or delete.

You can drag and drop bullets for easy re-organizing.

I love being able to break down a project into smaller steps. And then collapsing the project so I don’t have to see all the steps all the time. And it’s flexible. I can use it how my mind works.

Under Vision I have my goals and my planning checklists like weekly planning, monthly planning and seasonal planning.

I include someday lists under each category for projects I may want to do in the future. I only have a few projects going at once or none will get completed.

It runs in a browser, so anywhere you get the web you can get your Workflowy. There is also an iPhone app.

Here’s a little video on it:

It’s free for up to 500 items a month and $49 a year for the pro version.

You can check it out here: Workflowy

Welcome to this week’s issue of Weekly Simplicity Tips.

This week we went blueberry picking. I froze most. My husband made blueberry pancakes (breakfast-in-bed) and I made a blueberry buckle.

I’ve also been planning the Habits and Rhythms Course. Starts August 5th!

1. Say hi to a neighbor. They can be an important part of a support system.
2. Do one thing you have been procrastinating on.
3. Catch up on phone calls and emails.
4. Do something that brings you joy.
5. What is your body asking of you?
6. Criticism is unavoidable, so don’t make your life about avoiding criticism.
7. Check up on your savings plan. Is it automatic? Can you save a little more each month?

Habits and Rhythms 4-week class

Starts Monday August 5

I asked my readers what class they would like and they said one that combines what they’ve learned in the time, finance, declutter and self-care classes to help create habits and rhythms.

It’s time to put it all together.

Even if you haven’t taken the other classes, this will be a great class to create those habits you have wanted to create.

Format: Weekly chat sessions at 8pm ET Mondays (transcript is sent if you can’t attend)

Then we can check in as much as you would like for accountability in the private facebook group. This will be where you really make the changes. If you have been wanting to make habits stick, but they don’t seem to stick on your own, the support may be what you need.

As this is a pilot program the class will only be $17. So if you have been wanting to try one of my classes this is a great one to start with.

Buy Now

"I’m not living the life I want because I have no time." "My family demands too much of me." "I have no energy because of health problems." "This recession has made being abundant impossible."

It’s easy to show obstacles as excuses for not having the life we want. But, if we are honest, most of the problem is our daily choices. Our habits.

We want financial success, but then don’t focus at work, pay bills on time or organize the financial paperwork.

We want energy, but don’t plan meals or exercise and choose to watch TV instead of more active pursuits.

We long for a more serene home, yet decide we are too lazy or disorganized to make changes in that area.

Perhaps a goal is to start a new business or learn a different language. But, we always put off doing the activities that would produce those outcomes.

For whatever you want in life, the keys are creating new habits and making better daily choices.

If you want support with that, my habits and daily rhythms class starts Monday, (see below).

Habits and Rhythms 4-week class

Starts Monday August 5

I asked my readers what class they would like and they said one that combines what they’ve learned in the time, finance, declutter and self-care classes to help create habits and rhythms.

It’s time to put it all together.

Even if you haven’t taken the other classes, this will be a great class to create those habits you have wanted to create.

Format: Weekly chat sessions at 8pm ET Mondays (transcript is sent if you can’t attend)

Then we can check in as much as you would like for accountability in the private facebook group. This will be where you really make the changes. If you have been wanting to make habits stick, but they don’t seem to stick on your own, the support may be what you need.

As this is a pilot program  the class will only be $17. So if you have been wanting to try one of my classes this is a great one to start with.

Buy Now

It’s that time of year for some of you. Here is my back to school checklist.

Also, a mentor of mine, Jan Lundy, has a timely book out: Mindful Mommy’s Back-to-School Survival Guide http://www.janlundy.com/new-book-release.html

Photos by Brea Dargis

It’s easy now to stay connected to work on your vacation. More and more people work when they are on vacation. It’s the anxiety, that if they don’t check in they will be overwhelmed by the time they get home. Or they will miss something.

What would it take for you to take a vacation and leave work at work?

It’s great to have a list of current projects and where you are at with them. Any documents or any other person that knows about the documents can be out so you don’t have to be called.

Let key people know you are going to be on vacation ahead of time so you can do imperative things before you leave. And keep reminding them you will be gone.

Ask your boss what is most important for you to get done before you leave for vacation.

In your email vacation autoresponder share who else they can email while you are gone. Set that person up before you leave.

Make sure work knows to call you only in an emergency. Don’t give your cell phone to everyone.

Have a list of what you need to do when you get back that you make before your vacation.

If you can, leave the laptop at home. If you aren’t there yet with your electronic addiction, set 15 minutes in the evening to check your email. Don’t play with it on and off during the day. That makes it difficult to relax. Same with your phone. Return calls only at a certain time in the day.

Then relax and have fun in your vacation!