Live Simple

John December has published an e-book entitled Live Simple, which describes a variety of ways to make your life simpler and less stressful. None of this is particularly new, but it's concise and well-organized, and worth a read. I already do most everything in there, except that (a) There is no way we are going to get rid of our TV, though I do strive to watch it as little as possible, and (b) The suburbs where we live require a lot more driving than I'd prefer; there is really no other practical way to travel from here. However, I love it here, so that's life.

A few I'll add to his suggestions:

If you can't live without TV, get TiVo (or some other digital video recorder solution). You can watch a '1-hour' TV show in about 45 minutes, and more importantly, you watch the stuff you care about and not whatever happens to be on when you feel like watching TV.

Organize your home so that it is easy for your children to clean up after themselves. For instance, we have a bench by our front door under which are three baskets, one for each of our children to store their shoes in. They know where they go, and do a remarkably good job of putting them there; most amazingly, they really seemed to quickly recognize the value of always knowing where their shoes are when it is time to wear them.

Of course, I'll second all he says about decluttering. If you're not sure, you don't need it! With a few exceptions, I only own things that I use almost every day, a handful of things that I don't use every day but love anyway, and a little seasonal stuff (e.g. Christmas decorations).