Hey Everybody!
So two weeks ago I was rifling through Pinterest and came across this Simple Living Challenge from Bright Peak Financial.
(I am in no way affiliated with this company, this was just something I happened to stumble upon through the wonderful world of the internet)
It's a 14 day challenge to help you live more simply.
I figured that, hey, if there was anything to help erase some of the clutter in my life, simple was the way to go.
What you do is visit their webpage and sign up to receive the challenge through email.
Super simple, right?
For 14 days, you do one little thing that focuses on one part of your life to make it a bit simpler.
Here's the challenge:
Day1: Designate a Donate box
-Basically find a box to put donate-able items at the end of the challenge
-Each day you are encouraged to find one item to put into the box
Day2: Practice a heart of gratitude
-Really take a step back from everything you have in your life and be thankful for what is there
-It's definitely something that I overlook and have a hard time doing on a daily basis.
Day3: Prioritize what's important
-Set aside a list of the most important things in your life that need the most focus right now.
-They provide a worksheet to fill out so it's easier for you to see exactly where you are spending most of your time, or where some areas need more time spent.
Day4: Track your spending
-They had suggested to write down everything that I spend money on, which isn't hard because y'know, receipts.
-They also suggest to try and utilize an app or service that helps with this such as Mint.
Day5: Sort and file paperwork
-This one wasn't such a challenge for me as I usually put all of our papers in our filing cabinet about once a week so it doesn't get too out of control.
-Everything is already sorted into things like Insurance (Health, Eye, Dental, Vehicle, Home), Taxes, Employment (pay stubs, benefits, other papers), Bills (Credit cards, cable, etc.), etc. so this wasn't much more than a daily rev up for myself.
Day6: Get rid of one commitment
-This one was hard for me to accomplish because I feel like all of my commitments are valid. I have school, work, friends, and Ryan.
-I couldn't get rid of any of them, because they're all important. And to take away my time from one of these areas to focus more on myself just seemed selfish.
Day7: Start a clutter-busting routine
-This task came much easier to me than the previous day since Ryan and I pretty much have this down pat. Daily mail, we sort through as soon as we get it and then put it into necessary piles that need to be put away or taken care of.
-We have a set place for everything else, so it seemed like it was done already!
Day8: Donate at least 5 items of clothing
-Since Younkers was having the GoodWill sale, this was already taken care of for me. I had a fairly large bag of clothing to take in. And it doesn't hurt that I get coupons to use out of the deal!
-Lately I've been looking through my closet and dresser and I see so many things that I just don't like anymore, don't fit well, or are stained or ripped. So every other weekend I usually try to make a few piles and put where they would benefit the most.
Day9: Contribute to an emergency savings fund
-By this day I was already starting to feel like this wasn't much of a challenge anymore as Ryan and I already have an emergency savings fund set up!
-We both set aside $20 each week into our "kitty" and once we get to $1,000 we set it aside for a different reason. $1k will go to a personal emergency (car problem, etc.) $1k will go towards something needed for the house (we already dug into this for a new dryer), $1k will go towards Christmas money, the rest is to spend however we like.
-It's been working really well for us.
Day10: Turn off the screens
-I don't want to say that this part was challenging but it was!
-I'm constantly on my phone (which I would love to stop) and if Ryan and I are home watching TV, he's on the computer and I'm on my phone or my laptop. So most nights we have 3 screens drawing our attention at once (it sounds really horrible when I put it that way).
-So I pulled out a book that I really wanted to finish and turned the TV off. Ryan, however, wouldn't give up his laptop.
Day11: Do a room sweep
-This was basically another way to put away anything that doesn't belong where it is.
-There was maybe or two things that were out of place and had to be put away, but other than that, not much damage.
Day12: Set your kitchen up for success
-I'm still working on this one to be honest. I have a very large drawer full of utensils that don't necessarily get used all the time and should be put somewhere else because the drawer is a friggen' mess.
-I have organized my spice cabinet better, and the refrigerator so there is more space for left overs or new items.
Day13: Know your insurance needs
-This one I needn't worry about since I am still a dependent on my parents' insurance (yay for only being 22!)
-I know that once I turn 26 or get married, I will have to look into the best insurance (if one has not been provided for me already).
Day14: Do a digital decluttering (last day!)
-This is something that definitely needed to be done especially on my phone.
- I went through all of my photos and deleted all the ones that I know I don't need, and the others were transferred to my iCloud.
-My e-mail got a good cleaning, and my hard drive got backed up :)
-My phone was telling me that I needed to make more space, so I got rid of a lot of music that I don't listen to and backed everything up to my iCloud. What a magical thing that is.
Overall, this challenge didn't seem like much of a challenge to me since most of the days, I had already done these things or constantly do them on a regular basis.
I think that this would be more of a challenge to someone who isn't a college student and has children or more commitments than I do.
Do I feel like I live a bit more simply, I guess I would have to say yes.
Once I finished the challenge, I took a step back and realized that I already live pretty simply which made me pretty happy. I definitely do not need more things filling up my life, especially when I'm trying to finish college.
Now, I challenge you to sign up with the SimpleLivingChallenge and take it!
See how simple you have been living and if you could live without a few things here and there, then go for it!
Let me know how it works out for you!
Have a great rest of your weekend and for those of you who celebrate,
Happy Easter!
Hope it's a good one!
xoxo
-They provide a worksheet to fill out so it's easier for you to see exactly where you are spending most of your time, or where some areas need more time spent.
-They had suggested to write down everything that I spend money on, which isn't hard because y'know, receipts.
-They also suggest to try and utilize an app or service that helps with this such as Mint.
-This one wasn't such a challenge for me as I usually put all of our papers in our filing cabinet about once a week so it doesn't get too out of control.
-Everything is already sorted into things like Insurance (Health, Eye, Dental, Vehicle, Home), Taxes, Employment (pay stubs, benefits, other papers), Bills (Credit cards, cable, etc.), etc. so this wasn't much more than a daily rev up for myself.
-This one was hard for me to accomplish because I feel like all of my commitments are valid. I have school, work, friends, and Ryan.
-I couldn't get rid of any of them, because they're all important. And to take away my time from one of these areas to focus more on myself just seemed selfish.
-This task came much easier to me than the previous day since Ryan and I pretty much have this down pat. Daily mail, we sort through as soon as we get it and then put it into necessary piles that need to be put away or taken care of.
-We have a set place for everything else, so it seemed like it was done already!
-Since Younkers was having the GoodWill sale, this was already taken care of for me. I had a fairly large bag of clothing to take in. And it doesn't hurt that I get coupons to use out of the deal!
-Lately I've been looking through my closet and dresser and I see so many things that I just don't like anymore, don't fit well, or are stained or ripped. So every other weekend I usually try to make a few piles and put where they would benefit the most.
-By this day I was already starting to feel like this wasn't much of a challenge anymore as Ryan and I already have an emergency savings fund set up!
-We both set aside $20 each week into our "kitty" and once we get to $1,000 we set it aside for a different reason. $1k will go to a personal emergency (car problem, etc.) $1k will go towards something needed for the house (we already dug into this for a new dryer), $1k will go towards Christmas money, the rest is to spend however we like.
-It's been working really well for us.
-I don't want to say that this part was challenging but it was!
-I'm constantly on my phone (which I would love to stop) and if Ryan and I are home watching TV, he's on the computer and I'm on my phone or my laptop. So most nights we have 3 screens drawing our attention at once (it sounds really horrible when I put it that way).
-So I pulled out a book that I really wanted to finish and turned the TV off. Ryan, however, wouldn't give up his laptop.
-This was basically another way to put away anything that doesn't belong where it is.
-There was maybe or two things that were out of place and had to be put away, but other than that, not much damage.
-I'm still working on this one to be honest. I have a very large drawer full of utensils that don't necessarily get used all the time and should be put somewhere else because the drawer is a friggen' mess.
-I have organized my spice cabinet better, and the refrigerator so there is more space for left overs or new items.
-This one I needn't worry about since I am still a dependent on my parents' insurance (yay for only being 22!)
-I know that once I turn 26 or get married, I will have to look into the best insurance (if one has not been provided for me already).
-This is something that definitely needed to be done especially on my phone.
- I went through all of my photos and deleted all the ones that I know I don't need, and the others were transferred to my iCloud.
-My e-mail got a good cleaning, and my hard drive got backed up :)
-My phone was telling me that I needed to make more space, so I got rid of a lot of music that I don't listen to and backed everything up to my iCloud. What a magical thing that is.
Overall, this challenge didn't seem like much of a challenge to me since most of the days, I had already done these things or constantly do them on a regular basis.
I think that this would be more of a challenge to someone who isn't a college student and has children or more commitments than I do.
Do I feel like I live a bit more simply, I guess I would have to say yes.
Once I finished the challenge, I took a step back and realized that I already live pretty simply which made me pretty happy. I definitely do not need more things filling up my life, especially when I'm trying to finish college.
Now, I challenge you to sign up with the SimpleLivingChallenge and take it!
See how simple you have been living and if you could live without a few things here and there, then go for it!
Let me know how it works out for you!
Happy Easter!
Hope it's a good one!
xoxo
