25 Hacks for a simplified family life in 2023

You will, very likely, be at least aware of the concept of minimalism. It is one that I have come to truly appreciate even if I have not yet been able to fully achieve it. I strive daily for a simplified family life because…who needs any more stress?

Living a simplified family life particularly when you have young kids can be very difficult. However, it is because doing anything with young kids is difficult that you might be trying to live a more simplified family life in the first place!

Real minimalism may be out of your reach at this point but there are several things you can do on a daily and weekly basis to try to live a more organised and streamlined family life.

In this article, we will be looking at 25 unique things that you can do for yourself and your family to start to make daily life easier.

Before we begin though, it might be helpful to think about the reasons why you are here. How did you find this article? What exactly are you searching for? How would you like your family life to change?

The following three questions will help you to define your goals for simplifying your home life and therefore also help you to decide the specific changes that you should be making.

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The 3 Most Important Questions to ask yourself about a simplified family life

It would be helpful for you to come together as a family to answer these questions. However, if you are an exhausted mom reading this and feeling like you have reached the end of your tether, please go through these questions on your own.

Once these questions give you some clarity, you can then consider sharing them with the family and hearing them out too.

Remember, you cannot take care of them if you do not feel taken care of yourself.

What 3 home and family luxuries in your life will you absolutely not compromise on? These could be directly related to your home or to your family. They could also be non-home related luxuries that make you feel like your best self.

What are your top 3 ways to spend your time? Think family activities but also think acts of self-care that help you to remember your worth and help you feel ultra-relaxed.

What are the 5 main things you wish you had more time for as a family? What are the things that you have done as a family that you have thoroughly enjoyed?

Now that you have put things into perspective, start to take action using the following suggestions.

25 Interesting ways to help you achieve your goal of living a simplified family life

Make family the top priority. It is all of you – individually and as a unit – that is the most important thing. The family should be the top consideration for each of you in your bid to have a simplified family life. To put it starkly, if you had no home or money, having each other should bring you all the joy you need.

Declutter room by room. Start to prune down your possessions. Go room by room and compartment by compartment. For example, begin in the kitchen and choose to focus on clearing out the clutter in your fridge shelf by shelf and drawer by drawer over the next three days. Decluttering is a process you can enjoy.

Create a charity spot. Make it easy to put away things you will never need by setting up an accessible spot in your home for charity or goodwill items. This could be a large bin bag in your storage room that you take out to the charity shop every time it gets full. Let everyone know where it is and make sure you can all get to it easily.

Sort through toys they never use. There are some that they may not be ready to use yet. You can put those in safekeeping for later. Others will never be used because you know they have outgrown them. Or they simply create too much of a mess for you to clean up everyday. Don’t be afraid to get rid of them.

Create up to 4 weekly meal plans with a few ingredients. Four plans purely for variety but if yourself and your family are not too fussy about having variety, you can even go with two weekly meal plans. The key here is to have very few ingredients in each menu as this ensures that you are dealing with recipes with lower cooking and prepping times.

Clean as you go along. It only takes a second to pick up after yourself but a lot longer to do a whole clean up after you finish cooking a meal, for example. Make your life simpler by washing each utensil or dish or stacking them in the dishwasher as you go along.

Deep clean room by room. This is something you need to dedicate some time to as you should be sure that you are cleaning efficiently but it will be worth it. You will also find that it makes you feel good.

Listen to the right kind of music. A lot of it too. Find tunes that motivate you to keep on when you are exhausted. Also find music that helps you to relax and reminds you why you are alive. I personally find that a specific one of my gospel playlists calms me down when I feel overwhelmed and tired. When I think there are just too many things to deal with, the songs on that playlist remind me of what is most important in life. It helps me to refocus.

Create quick and easy morning and evening routines. Living a simplified life is all about getting the day-to-day activities done in good enough time that you have some time left over for the most important things. Like watching a short movie together as a family. Shorten your morning and evening routines as much as possible.

Utilise all organisational tools you can find. From post-its to storage baskets to digital planners. Make use of everything that helps you to be more organized.

Create a to-do list nightly. The mommy struggle of laying down at night with a zillion lists running around in our brains is real. Do yourself a favour and pour those ideas, worries and plans onto paper or onto a notes app on your phone before you sleep. It helps you to let go of that weight so that you can rest better. It also means that you will not forget the things you need to do as you can refer to that list the following day.

Fight perfectionism. The key is to get things done. Not to get them done perfectly. If you do get them done perfectly, great. However, do not let striving for perfection stop you from starting anything, completing anything or from feeling happy with something you have achieved.

Get to bed early. Planning your day the night before will be key in reducing the amount of stress you are likely to encounter each day. Of course, you cannot plan for completely unforeseen events but if you do have a plan in place, it will be easier to adap that plan than to try to figure out something from scratch in the event of an emergency.

Pay for help if you can. You only have two hands and twenty four hours in a day. No matter how much you simplify your family life, you might still need help completing certain tasks. Whether it is cleaning, cooking or mowing the lawn, if you can afford to hire occasional or regular help, get it.

Only tackle your priorities. To start with. If you have any time and energy left in the day, then you can work on what’s left on your to-do list. Even then, I would always recommend you get in a nap or sleep instead.

Turn a deaf ear. Learn to block out the people or voices around you that make you feel like you are not enough or not doing enough.

Focus on being present. With everyone in the family and at all times, continuously remind yourself to try to be present. It might be easier said than done if you have a large family or if everyone loves to talk (to you) at the same time. You can try to hear each member of the family out and understand the intentions behind the things they say.

Do laundry every day. It is the easiest way to make sure you do not get snowed under by a mountain of dirty laundry or a mountain of unfolded clean clothes. Create a simple routine. Mine is to do two family members’ laundry per day and in two separate batches. I hang them up right after and put them in one batch in their respective rooms so that even if I do not get to fold them away immediately, they are all waiting in the rooms where they should be put away.

Minimize multitasking. Sure, it sounds nice to say that you are multi-tasking and doing a billion things at one time however it might mean that you are not doing any of those things very well at all. It might also mean that you are not fully presentfor your family.

Delegate. Share the load of house and home where possible. Assign tasks to your partner and kids. They will be happy to help especially if they know that it means they can have your full attention for longer chunks of time.

Why? The moment you feel like you are doing something that is too hard or you are not sure you have any strength left to achieve something, ask yourself “why?” This question helps you to recentre your thoughts and focus on your family goals. It also reminds you of what is most important. If you cannot come up with a good reason why you are doing any task, perhaps you should not bother to do it.

Focus on your mental wealth. Your sanity is the priority. Not the dishes. Not executing the perfect hairstyle for your kid. Not having a perfect home.

Count your blessings. Become and remain thankful. This also helps you to live a simplified family life because your focus remains on what is important.

Keep a personal journal. This not only helps you to track your progress with living a more simplified life, it also serves as your little personal space from an environment that might be more complicated than you would like it to be.

Create a family vision board. A family vision board helps you to put your goals into perspective as a family. It also strengthens your bond and reminds you all of what is really important to you. Once you know what you should focus on as a family, you can easily cut off all the other things that make your lives more important than they need to be.

What is the first step you intend to take towards a simplified family life?