SLT072: How Do You Define Work Life Balance?

Vanessa was getting ready to throw away a magazine (because of course, she practices the “one in one out rule“) and the headline on the cover was: The Balanced Life! She told me that she paused for a moment and thought, “Do I have balance?” We hear so much about it, but how do we define work life balance?

What does it really mean? Can we really achieve a balanced life? And so we got to talking about balance for a while, and thought we’d explore that a little more…. (Read more…)

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SLT071: The Power of Habit

Never underestimate the power of habit. In mid-April of 2014, I decided that I needed to make some positive changes to my morning ritual. I’ve talked about my morning ritual a few times on the Simple Life Together podcast, and we discussed the power of habit, routines and rituals back in Episode 30 and also in one of our most popular episodes, The 7 Habits for Highly Effective Simplicity in Episode 55. But recently I read a book on habits (well, actually I listened to the audio version) by Charles Duhigg, titled The Power of Habit.

But let me back up just a bit and talk about my positive changes to how I spend my early morning. Following a visit to the doctor and the results of some medical testing, I decided that I need to get more active. Of course, my wife Vanessa had been encouraging me to do this for years…but you know how sometimes when the “advice” comes from a spouse or other close family member you occasionally ignore it? Well, yeah…that. Moving on…

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SLT070: Voluntary Simplicity with Miriam Ortiz y Pino

We’ve mentioned in previous shows…sometimes simple isn’t easy. Consistent, voluntary simplicity can be even harder. Matter of fact, it can be an awful lot of work to make simple easy, but in the end we’re opting to live simply intentionally…in as many areas of our life as we can. And that’s going to take a little exploration and effort.

After our presentation at the NAPO 2014 Conference in Phoenix, we met a certified professional organizer, Miriam Ortiz y Pino, who turned out to have a little more in common with us than being an organizer like Vanessa.  She’s been practicing voluntary simplicity for a long time now and after talking with her we thought it would  be great to have her on the show to share her thoughts on what voluntary simplicity means to her, and also tap into some of her tips and advice to those who want to simplify their lives too.

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7 Steps To Organize Your Garage

It’s summertime! The kids are home and families are planning their summer activities and vacations, which means…folks need access to their garages. That’s where all the tools, toys, bikes, sporting and camping equipment are right?  Too bad all that stuff you need is spread out all over the garage with no rhyme or reason.  No wonder I’ve been getting a lot of questions on how to organize your garage!

Well, don’t fear. I’ve got 7 steps to help guide you through the mess to organize your garage and create a space that’s orderly and easy to access. Before you start any garage project make sure you take into consideration the weather (too hot or too cold) and prepare accordingly.  As a Certified Professional Organizer in San Antonio, Texas, you can be sure this is one of the first things I check!  Be sure to have enough water on hand and wear clothing that will allow you to move around easily and that you’re not afraid to get dirty in.  I also highly recommend wearing closed-toe shoes.  Plan a weekend or two to get through it all and put it on your calendar.  This is an important event!  Let’s get started….

SLT067: Simplify Your Wardrobe Redux

Way back in Episode 47, Simplify Your Wardrobe, we explored our relationship with the clothes that we wear and asked ourselves some questions such as: So what things shape your current wardrobe? What does your wardrobe look like now? What would your ideal wardrobe look like? and What are some of your favorite pieces and why? We also introduced that we were going to give a microcourse called Dress With Less a try, cutting our wardrobes down to 33 pieces each for 3 months.

Well, it’s been over 6 months and 20  Simple Life Together episodes since then and while we’ve mentioned quite a bit about our progress along the way, we thought we owed you a good, solid wrap up. So this is it!  Read more…

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