Simple living often gets a bad rap in today’s go-go-go, FOMO, crazy busy, modern world. Why is this? Is it because simplicity is mistaken for boring? Lazy? Dull? I would highly disagree. A simplified life creates the opposite of boredom: it makes room for adventure, creativity, and fun because you aren’t using your precious time and energy to care for so many things! Are you wondering if you need to simplify your life? In this article, I’m giving you five signs that you need to simplify your life now!

After many years of simplifying our life and home and watching some of my closest friends do the same, I can say this with 100% certainty:

A simple life is a transformed life. 

Whether you would benefit from simplifying your calendar, your car, your kids’ bedrooms, or your obligations, this article points out five signs that you really need to simplify your life NOW! (as in, ASAP…don’t wait).

Why Simplify?

A simple life is a life that lets go of the unnecessary to make room for what’s really important. 

In fact, as Christ-followers, living a simple life is one way that we can live out the Gospel in a tangible way. Simple living produces a life of freedom, contentment, joy, and gratitude. And it makes space for the most important part of our life: people. 

When our homes and lives are simple, we have less to take care of and more time to invest in those around us. We have more white space on our schedule, which leads to slower living and a contented life. 

Here are a few other reasons why living a simple life is so vital to being a rooted follower of Christ:

1. Prioritizing Your Faith: Simplifying your life can create more time and mental space for your spiritual growth, prayer, and devotion. It allows you to focus more on your relationship with God and deepen your roots in Christ.
2. Family and Community Focus: Simplifying life often makes more space for quality time with family and engaging in community activities. This can strengthen your family bonds, which will take your family’s roots deeper.
3. Stewardship and Generosity: Simplifying can free up resources, both time and money, that can be used for acts of kindness and pouring into the ministries and people you care about. It enables you to be more generous to help those in need. Simplifying finances can help you escape the burden of debt, allowing you to live more freely and avoid potential pitfalls of financial stress.
4. Reduces Stress and Anxiety: Simplification can lead to reduced stress and anxiety. This can in turn can improve your mental and emotional well-being. This makes you more at peace and better equipped to serve others. We can be the light of Christ to the world through the peaceful lives that we live.
5. Enhanced Well-Being: Simplification can improve physical, emotional, and spiritual health. When Christians prioritize their well-being, they are better equipped to fulfill their purpose and calling.

Editing Our Life

When I hear the word “simplify,” I instantly think of the ridiculously addictive and wonderful show The Home Edit. Have you seen it on Netflix? 

In case you haven’t- it’s these two best friends (Clea and Joanna) who (very amazingly) organize any and every kind of space. 

One of the first steps they always take all their clients through is called “editing.” This step requires their clients to edit out any items from their area that they no longer use or want. 

Editing the space requires the client to SIMPLIFY and make room for what’s most important.

Simplifying our home reaps instant gratification because we can actually see the results in a tangible way. This goes for our lives, too! 

When we take the time to edit the things and activities that we no longer benefit from, we make room for the people, activities, and things that matter most.

But simplifying is so much easier said than done.

Here is a very interesting survey that was taken about why consumers were unable to simplify and organize their homes:

In a nationwide poll (The Homeworld Forecast Consumer Survey) conducted by NPD group, consumers noted the following reasons for being unable to improve overall organization in their home. (source)

1. Lack of space – 32.9%
2. Finding the time – 27.3%
3. Too much stuff – 25.2%
4. Not sure what product to use – 6.7%
5. Products at local retailer don’t meet my need – 2.7%
6. Other – 5.1%

To sum up this survey, the majority of the people could not improve the organization of their home because they didn’t have the space or time, and they owned too much stuff.

Perhaps you are in the same situation. Maybe you lack white space in your calendar. Or maybe you just have too much stuff. Or your to-do list is never-ending.

Keep reading to see if you are in need of some simplification in your life! Here are the five signs that you need to simplify now!

Five Signs You Need To Simplify Now

You Need To Simplify Sign One: You have clutter everywhere (or at least in your drawers, cabinets, and closets). 

A cluttered and disorganized home can be a reflection of a cluttered and disorganized life and heart. 

Often, when our life becomes too full, crazy busy, or overwhelming, our home will reflect the chaotic condition of our hearts, minds, and schedules. 

When my mind is feeling overwhelmed by how much is on my plate, my office and desk are the first to become cluttered and chaotic.

It’s one thing to have a mess in the house. I get it. I have 6 young kids. To have zero clutter 100% of the time is literally impossible. However, it’s a whole other thing to have a constant messy house.

If you’re one to have never-ending clutter, messy countertops, jam-packed closets, or a garage/basement/shed bursting at the seams, it’s a sign you would benefit from simplifying ASAP!

Clutter can get in the way of the abundant life Jesus promises (John 10:10) because instead of experiencing peace in our homes, we are living in chaos.

When we have too much stuff, it requires more maintenance, cleaning and organizing. It ends up creating more chaos instead of creating an atmosphere of peace.

I totally get that there are “minimalists” and “maximalists” out there for the sake of design..and either is great! However, I’m not talking about design style here. 

What I am talking about is disorder in the home. When we have so many things that our countertops, cabinets, closets, and rooms are in complete disarray, the atmosphere of our home becomes chaotic.

I don’t know about you, but when I simplify a drawer, I literally do a happy dance because of how much lighter I feel. 

Here’s why.

We used to live in piles.

Early on in our marriage, we set up an extra table in our dining room just to hold all of our junk, mail, paperwork that we never got around to filing, random tools and devices, and miscellaneous items. Yes, we had two tables in our dining room just so we could keep our piles.

We also had a giant pile (this is not an exaggeration) of stuff in the corner of our living room and bedroom…for YEARS! 

So whether you are like us- living amongst piles or your chaos is more hidden- like overfilled closets and drawers- let’s embrace the opportunity to simplify our physical surroundings.

I promise you, when you simplify your home environment, you will reap a Home M.O. of peace, contentment and joy.

Journaling Prompt: What is one closet, countertop, drawer or cabinet that you could simplify?

You Need to Simplify Sign Two: You aren’t clear on your family values (and your kids aren’t aware of them either)

When you’re so busy with commitments and activities that you don’t have time for the things that truly matter to you, it’s a sign that you need to simplify and prioritize. 

Many families live incredibly busy lives and there is very little energy or time to take a pause and think about what their priorities would be. 

We know because we’ve been there. 

About eight years ago, we were living like chickens with our heads cut off (you can read more about our story HERE). We were involved in way too many things and just trying to keep our heads above water. Christian and I didn’t have time to think about things such as family values, mission, and vision.

We were directionless as a family and burned out. When we found ourselves in intense weekly marital counseling trying to fix some significant issues in our marriage, we began to seriously evaluate our priorities.

Discovering Our Family’s Roots

One Saturday afternoon, we randomly had the idea to sit down and identify the “roots” of our family (similar to the concept of family values). 

We didn’t realize it at the time, but we were taking ourselves through a process of discovering our own family roots that we now teach today to help other Christ-followers and families discover their own! 

Discovering our roots has become a guide for our family. They help us to make decisions in our daily life as well as the big picture of where we are going.

Getting clear on our family roots has helped us simplify our life because now we only say yes to the opportunities that are aligned with our family roots. 

Don’t know what your family roots are, but want a simple process to discover them? Would you like a simple and easy process to discover them? We offer a virtual Discover Your Roots Workshop where we teach you our unique step-by-step process to discover your own roots! Join our email list HERE to be the first to know when this virtual workshop is available next.

To get started on the journey of discovering your family roots, ask yourself this question:

What are some qualities that are unique to your family?

You Need to Simplify Sign Three: You skip your Sabbath and church regularly

A big red flag that your life needs simplification is if you are skipping your Sabbath or church on a regular basis.

It’s no secret that we are passionate about honoring the Sabbath here at Legacy Roots Co. It’s because we know firsthand how chaotic our life was like before the Sabbath, and how this ancient practice has simplified our life. 

When our lives and homes are too chaotic, rest rhythms tend to be the first thing to go. 

For some reason, everything else always seems more important than honoring the Sabbath and rest. And so although we have good intentions, we will forgo the Sabbath if work needs us, our to-do list is long or and other activities come up.

The same goes for church. Church attendance seems to be “optional” these days for many modern-day Christians. Its one of those things that “if it fits in the schedule”, we’ll try to make it happen.

Let me share some loving truth.  When we skip church because our life is too full, you’re too busy. Something’s gotta go.

Because here’s the deal. You and I were made to connect with the Body of Christ. God has placed specific gifts inside of you that the Church would benefit from, and there are others who have gifts that would benefit your life.

When we miss out on going to church, we also are missing out on deep connections. We were made for community. And when we prioritze community with other Believers, our hearts are encouraged, edified and refreshed. 

If attending church and honoring the Sabbath are not top priorities for you because your life is too full, I would encourage you to determine where you could simplify your calendar to make these things nonnegotiables for you. 

Simplifying to make way for what’s most important will always reap more blessings that you can imagine. 

Journaling Prompt: What might you need to say no to to make space for a weekl rest and worship rhythms?

Don’t know how to start practicing the Sabbath?

Check out our blog “3 Steps to Getting Started with Sabbath.” We also created The Ultimate Sabbath Guide! This is a robust, easy-to-follow, step-by-step resource that will teach you everything you need to know to get started with the practice of Sabbath. Check it out HERE!

You Need to Simplify Sign Four: Your health and well-being are suffering

Stress, a busy schedule, a disorganized home, and an overwhelming lifestyle can take a toll on your physical and mental health. If you’re experiencing health issues, insomnia, or burnout, it may be a sign that simplifying your life and prioritizing self-care is necessary.

Our health is our wealth. 

Without our health, it makes it difficult to contribute to this world. It is vital that we have the appropriate amount of space in our daily lives to make health and well-being a priority. 

Focusing on our health is not a selfish act! 

By simplifying our life and making space for healthy choices, we are able to show up as our best selves.

As I shared above in sign #2, Christian and I are no strangers to burnout. We experienced this early on in our marriage because we had taken on too much (and we weren’t prioritizing our physical and mental health). 

Sleep, rest, and working out frequently took the backburner, while our jobs and ministry were the top priority. We would sleep for only 5 hours a night, skip workouts for weeks at a time, and rarely honored the Sabbath or had a night “off.”  My husband suffered from depression in this season, and I do believe that it was exacerbated because of how hectic our lives were and how very little time we made for our health. 

When we continuously bend over backward for our work while sacrificing our health and well-being, we are inevitably going to burn out. 

Even Jesus took time to rest his body, and mind.

If you are frequently putting your job, ministry, business or any other activity above your health, I challenge you to ask this question:

What can I prune from my schedule to make room for healthy activities that will help me thrive?

Sign Five: You are constantly stressed with your home routines like laundry, meal planning, and getting out the door in the morning.

Ever feel a little chaotic in your day-to-day home life? 

If you find yourself constantly stressed and struggling to keep up with the demands of daily home life (like meal planning, getting ready for church, or getting kids out the door in the morning), it may be a sign that your home life has become too complicated. 

Simplifying your home life can help reduce stress and create a sense of calm.

Let me tell you about a time (about 8ish years ago) when we were feeling pretty frustrated with ours. 

It was our crazy busy era. We were married only a few years with 2 toddlers, leading a church plant, running a business, working corporate jobs, oh and ya know, trying to grow our marriage…raise kids…have a life, etc. 

And we were absolutely at our wits’ end with our constantly empty fridge and household items. We were not prioritizing meal planning or had a consistent day of the week for grocery shopping…it just sort of happened when we felt like it or could fit it in.

So, we were constantly running to the store at the last minute because we were “suddenly” out of something…diapers…toilet paper…coffee…milk…you name it. 

We made a hundred (ok, probably 5) weekly trips to the grocery store. 

Did we survive? Yes. 

Was this efficient? Absolutely not. 

Were we wasting our time and energy that we could have put into more meaningful things like our family relationships and rest? Heck yes.

If only we had known back then to intentionally plan our home routines and rhythms in order to SIMPLIFY, we would have had less stress and chaos. 

This chaos forced our family into creating intentional home rhythms that still bless us today (6 kids and 8 years later). 

We knew that we needed to simplify if we were going to continue running multiple organizations, raising a family, and thriving in our marriage.

Rhythms Bring Simplicity

So what did we do?

We created rhythms! We picked a day that we could stay consistent with every week to meal plan (you can sign up to receive our family’s free weekly meal plan HERE), create a shopping list, and grocery shop.

With these new rhythms in place, we simplified our grocery store trips and had a plan to always have in stock what we needed. 

Doing this created more PEACE in our home…and in turn, we ditched the unnecessary chaos.

So what about you? Do you desire more flow and ease in your home life?

Journaling prompt: What is one area of your home life that you could simplify to create more peace? 

Wrap-Up

Simplifying helps us to recognize that true joy doesn’t come from our possessions or the activities and work we fill our time with. As rooted Christ followers, we do not find our identity, success, or achievements in the stuff that we own.

A simpler life reminds us that our joy comes from a relationship with God and meaningful connections with others. When we simplify our life and home, we make room for what is most important!

This doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy the good gifts that God gives to us or find joy in our work here on earth. We don’t need to sell all of our possessions and live amongst the monks to live a deeply rooted life. 

We can, however, be mindful of what is consuming us and what we are consuming.

If our life is feeling “bogged down” by all of the items in our home, or everything that is on our plate and schedule, we would be wise to consider how we can simplify to have more margin in our life. 

I want you to be encouraged that you aren’t going to be able to simplify every area of our life and home all at once. It may take many months or even years to simplify as much as you desire. But we can all start somewhere.

Start by picking one area of your life or home that you could simplify quickly for an instant win.

Is there one drawer, cabinet, closet, or area that you could downsize and simplify?

Or is there one event, meeting, obligation, or responsibility that you could say “no” to on your calendar to create more white space for you and your family?

We want to support you! If you feel like you need an extra boost to simplify your life and home, we invite you to learn more about our 7-Day Simplify Challenge HERE! During this challenge, you will receive a quick and easy task each day that will help you simplify your life and home to make room for what matters most to you.