![]() ![]() ![]() We packed our lunch and an extra one to give away to someone living on the street. We made dinner and baked a few muffins for Nic’s music class. We added an additional visit with a grandma and took them out for coffee. When shopping we would pick a new cleaning product that was good for the environment. Sometimes we combined our gives with a chore. Grocery shopping, Nic’s music classes, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, visiting grandmas. Sure we had necessary chores that needed to be done. This exercise let us prioritize our time and how we wanted to spend it. We would set out going to the park to pick up garbage, dropping off our recycling, going to the local pet shelter to drop off blankets, shopping for clothes at the local thrift store, making a bird feeder to help the birds. Every Monday Nic and I would plan our giving for the week. And note, we never intended to live a simple life and be happy. Giving Every Day Helps Create A Simple Life Giving made us happier and life became easier. It all seemed like magic at the time, but after researching the benefits of giving every day it all became clear. Our daily gives gave us time to breathe, we set aside up to 30 minutes for our daily give (sometimes less) and the day became more manageable. Huh? Yup, by planning our daily gives for the week each Monday we felt we had more time. What I mean by a simple life is a life that is easier to handle, it is pared back, we did less but seemed to do more. I cleaned out the clutter in my mind and my day to make room for giving and the simple life appeared, just appeared. When Nic and I started our first week of giving, I did find life to slow to down. My idea was to give back to the world every day, and boy did I ever get a big surprise. I wanted to spend quality time with my son and take time to breathe when we did things together. We hear about the simple life but what does that mean? How can it make you happier and how do you get started? We started this journey in 2010 when my son was three. ![]()
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