Summary: Maintaining simplicity is an important step in making sure your simplicity efforts don't go by the wayside. We’ve said all along that simplifying your life isn’t a one time deal...it’s a lifestyle. And as with any lifestyle or major focus area in your life, you have to nurture it and care for it, otherwise your efforts will be in vain.<br> <br> <br> <br> So why is maintaining simplicity so important? Well, just like a car or the air conditioning unit in your home, if you do regular maintenance and tune ups on them, the less likely you are to be in a situation where you’re facing catastrophic failure...or a colossal bill to repair it! Read more...<br> <br> <br> Topic: The Maintenance Side of Simplicity<br> The same goes for simplifying your life. Paying attention to and doing regular simplicity checkups will go a long way in ensuring your efforts to simplify your life will last a lifetime.<br> Background: Interestingly enough, the background for this episode was Vanessa's early dandelion pulling session at 7:30 AM on a cold (41 degree) morning last week. You'll just have to listen to get the full story!<br> <br> Maintaining Simplicity <br> So, we all know what maintenance is...actions, routines or systems you put in place in order to keep things functioning smoothly in your life. Maintenance is like getting a tune up. You might even consider maintenance like getting and an extended warranty, only instead paying a fee up front to cover when systems fall apart, you are paying in terms of your time and effort to hopefully keep the systems running smoothly. And the reality is, if you’re consistent with your maintenance efforts, it really won’t cost you that much time or effort. So let's cover a few major life areas where maintaining simplicity are important.<br> <br> <br> Maintaining Simplicity in Organization. As a Certified Professional Organizer®, Vanessa deals with maintenance all the time. It's the final step in the organizing cycle. Well, it’s not really a final step because the organizing process is cyclical. After editing and organizing a space, she uses several tools and systems to help keep the space organized. Now, for some of her clients, maintenance means having an organizer (her) come back and reorganize a space…and that can work too. Outsourcing your maintenance can be a great tool too!<br> <br> <br> Maintaining Simplicity with Systems: Maintenance can be tools or habits. For example:<br> <br> Setting up a desktop action file to manage your daily mail is a tool to help maintain the influx of papers. Checking the Action File on a daily basis and clearing it out on a weekly basis is a habit and routine.<br> Practicing the one-in-one out rule for your clothes, toys or any other item you bring into your life is another tool or habit to help maintain the balance in your home.<br> There’s a great ( and free) book and audiobook you should check out that fits right in here. It’s called “Work the System” by Sam Carpenter and you can find it at WorkTheSystem.com. Sam’s systems mindset fits right in with what we’re saying here and every time we talk about systematizing things when you simplify your life. <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Maintaining Simplicity with Routines: Your routines are a key part in maintaining your simple lifestyle...they kind of go hand in hand. These immediately come to mind:<br> <br> Your morning routine...this helps you maintain a smooth start to every day<br> School routines...they ensure your family stays in a rhythm and consistent with completing and turning in homework assignments, projects,etc...with little stress.<br> Workout and fitness routines are another example…obviously maintaining a routine will help keep your fitness and health in check.<br> And on the job, office routines are important...setting up routines to make sure you stay on task can help counter procrastination and stress as ...
