Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Book Review ~ A Simplified Life



When I bought this book I had no idea, no idea whatsoever, how such simple, obvious suggestions (that had never crossed my mind) could so drastically change and improve my life.

Emily Ley's book, A Simplified Life: tactical tools for intentional living, revolutionized the way I saw my day. The amount of time I would spend trying to make decisions about basic things, things that really shouldn't take up as much mental space and energy as they did, was unbelievable. And with just a couple of small tweaks to my thought process, my headspace was freed to handle other things with significantly more peace and grace.

The book is broken down into 10 areas with suggestions on how to pare them down to their most basic forms and then create a system that lets you decided how best to maintain what you and your family actually need. The way I saw what was this.....what is the bare bottom minimum that is both practical and functional.......what do I want it to look like........what am I currently doing that's extra that just needs to go? I mean seriously.

Because I think it's important for you to read the book yourself and let it inspire you as it did me, I will tell you one thing, one tiny little thing that has made such an enormous impact it's almost ridiculous. 

Every week I write my grocery list on Tuesday because I get groceries on Wednesday. That said, I would always take my husband's schedule and see how many days he would be home for dinner, what nights would be 'off' because of practice or other commitments, and go from there. But trying to figure out what I would make, deciding what to cook, always took forever. She suggested writing some 'go to' meals. I took it one step further and created categories of all the things I make. The pastas, soups, Mexican dishes, chicken dishes, etc all on one paper. Now, I look at the paper, pick however many I need, and build my list around that. Seriously. Plus, seeing them all and having a rough estimate of the time it will take to make them lets me know what's realistic for each night. So simple, but never once thought to do it.

Like her book Grace, Not Perfection, this book is filled with wisdom. Wisdom from a wife, mom, and entrepreneur who figured out some things that she now wants all of us to benefit from. This book isn't rocket science, it's real life, easy to follow suggestions, given with love and logic. And I can tell you that I have benefitted from it tremendously. I know you will, too.

You can find out more about Emily Ley here.

You can find A Simplified Life wherever books are sold, including Target


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