New Years is always about making resolutions that we hope will improve our lives. The problem is, we are all quite terrible at keeping our resolutions. Why? Simply because they are easy to abandon and we don’t fully commit to them.

This year, why not do some simple things that help your overall life become easier? Our modern lives are so busy with long hours, parenting, career demands and hectic social lives. In 2020, we should aim to achieve things that can help simplify our lives.

Decluttering your life, making it easier and simplifying it can have huge benefits to you. Reduce stress, remove anxieties, save time and money. Spend more of your time and energy focusing on what really matters and enjoy life!

Here are 8 ways to make your life easier in 2020.

#1: Plan Your Year

Forget your woolly New Year’s resolutions to ‘lose weight’ and ‘make more money’. Let’s get real and put down some real and attainable goals that we want to achieve by the end of the year. More importantly, get specific about exactly what you want to achieve, why and how you will do it.

Spend an afternoon thinking about all the different aspects of your life such as love, relationship, career, finance, health, family, parenting and social life. Now, create a goals for each one that you would like to achieve in 2020. You should end up with a list of specific goals and ideas on how to achieve them.

Planning your year like this will help you move towards the life you want, rather than it just happening to you. How do you know you will like where you end up if you don’t know where you are heading?

#2: Take Control of Your Finances

You don’t realise how much energy and stress is caused by money until you clear your debts. If you have the weight of debt leaning on you and following you around like a shadow, why not seriously make an effort to get rid of it this year?

Clearing debt will help you remove a lot of negative emotions and open the door to start thinking about wealth creation which is far more positive and exciting. If you have various debts why not consolidate them with secured loans from Evolution Money, this way you can take your various high-interest debts and move them into one low-interest debt to be repaid over a set period of time.

If you are saving money whilst simultaneously building debt, start using your savings to pay the debt off.

#3: Go Minimal

When people think of minimalism they immediately think about the interior design of their home. In fact, minimalism can be applied to all aspects of your life from your spending habits to your unwanted items cluttering the house. Having less and doing less is surprisingly therapeutic and can help relieve a lot of stress and save you time.

Your spending habit is a great start. Think about each purchase this year and decide whether you really need it. Most times you will find yourself leaving the store without and not clicking that amazon order button. This not only saves you time but it also saves you money.

Try clear your house of any unwanted or unused items too. Sell them online or give them to charity to help clear your space and make your home more functional. The more we have, the more we have to clean and the more it clutters up our space. Space that should be used to unwind in and relax.

#4: Say “No” More

Our modern-day lives with the added pressure of social media mean we are constantly trying to keep up appearances. Life doesn’t have to be this way, it can be simpler, less hectic and less demanding. A lot of the stress and pressure we have is self-induced simply by feeling the need to try and do everything.

Put a pause on unnecessary nights out, social events or long work hours. You don’t have to get drunk every weekend with your friends, you don’t have to work extra-long hours that are underappreciated and you don’t have to attend every social event on the calendar. Take a break, focus more time on yourself, your hobbies and your family.

#5: Look Away From Screen

You are not a media zombie! Step away from the TV, the computer and most importantly your phone. All this wasted time watching Netflix, staring at Facebook and scrolling through Instagram aren’t actually adding any value to our lives. In fact, it’s more likely making you feel sad, negative, lonely and jealous.

Instead of the screen, why not use your time to be more creative with drawing, painting, writing or any other hobby you enjoy. Flex your creative skills and do more things that add value to you and your life. Switch off the news, quit the Netflix binges and stop the endless scrolling.

You will find that you can create so much extra time in your life that can be used productively. That doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking hour working hard. If you find time to relax then why not choose to read a book quietly? Serious and dedicated downtime is essential to a simpler life.

#6: Move Your Body…Consistently

You don’t have to search for long to discover all the incredible reasons you should be active. Even just 15-20 minutes a day of exercise can have tremendous effects on your mind, body and soul. The issue most of us have is being active on a consistent basis.

The main reason for this lack of commitment is because we are either too busy, have no fitness plan or just lack self-drive. This year, instead of trying to hit the gym for one hour a day simplify your workouts. Join a fitness program that only demands 15-20 minutes of intense exercise a day such as HIIT training.

You will be amazed at the results you can achieve doing small workouts consistently over a long period of time.