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.

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…

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.

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!

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.

Final Thoughts

So the bottom line is that maybe the way to think about maintenance is not as a chore but more of an investment in your life of simplicity. Consider it your extended warranty to guarantee a simpler life. Setting up routines and systems to edit and control the things in your life will go a long way to ensure your efforts to simplify your life will last a lifetime.

So, have you considered the maintenance side of your simple life? What systems, routines and tools do you use to keep your life simple? And if you haven’t thought about maintenance before, what areas of your life do you think could benefit from establishing a maintenance system? We’d love to know.

 Be sure to leave a comment below.

Pam commented that she’s “…quite sure I am not in your normal demographics. I am a retired schoolteacher, however, I wanted to let you know how much I’ve benefited by your knowledge and expertise.”

Kate left us a beautiful comment and closed with saying, “Some people might cut back on buying things for environmental reasons, for religious reasons, or for financial reasons. We can still all support each other while we ride the train together, even though we are going to different cities. Thanks so much.”

Lara Blair of TheExtraOrdinarySimpleLife.com authored our first-ever guest post, and followed up with a comment to Vanessa, “Thank you so much for the opportunity, Vanessa. I’m a big fan of all that you two do. Your podcasts are such a treat on my runs (as a runner, I know you know the value of something that can take your mind off aching muscles!).  Looking forward to the exciting things coming up on your blog and podcast. BTW, don’t stop saying “anyhows”…it’s sweet and part of your charm 🙂

Dan:  I found some amazing merino wool socks, made here in the US that are guaranteed for life. They’re actually cheaper than the SmartWool socks I used to buy, which I loved when new, but they wore out too quickly. These new ones are awesome…I swear they’re bulletproof, they feel great, fit right into our shift to mostly travel-style outfits for our Project 333 capsule outfits, and again, have a no questions asked guarantee. 

So here’s a shout out to:

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You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

 Photo Credit Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection