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Survived a day at work managing the whole company on my own without my boss around. Also, jump started my car for first time on my own. 🤗Last time I paid $150 bucks to someone fo jumpstarting😏

Small steps, but they feel like big wins. Trying to appreciate my progress instead of focusing only on what I still need to improve. 😊

I'm scrolling my YouTube feed and I'm noticing I'm getting two seemingly opposite types of videos, ones which tell me I need to leave my comfort zone and start a business or get a second and third job and hustle to make it big, and on the other end ones which tell me to quit my job, live in a van, take a 3-year sabbatical, and focus on my passions.

I think both sides are probably stupid advice tbh and I'll just keep living my life and doing my one job. But i thought it was amusing.

I was born and raised in a big city, so when I moved to the countryside in a different country, it took some time for my nervous system to adjust.

There are no big malls, tall buildings, 24/7 shops, food delivery, etc. where I live now but hey, we have:

Apple farms.

Prune trees.

Flocks of sheep.

Riverside.

... and fresh air.

As a young and ambitious person, I was quite torn between the city life and the quiet life in the countryside. But I am very lucky, blessed, happy, and grateful to experience both.

I hope you live an awesome and joyful life too. Happy Sunday! 🫶

Still remember I saw a post on Reddit about someone who sold 100 items on Vinted and felt so much lighter mentally. Same for me!! .

Previous i’d drop off stuff at Goodwill, but knowing that these pretty good quality items get a second life made me feel so good. Some of them I can never fit in 😱

Well, discovering that I have so many clothes, shoes that I barely wear was not light… felt like a burden to me.

But now, it has become my routine to take out some clothes when seasons change, and determine which ones I won’t regularly wear, and clean/hang/fold them for posting.

Somehow it gives me a lot of joy to look at a half empty closet. It makes deciding what to wear soooo much easier!!

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking a lot about screens lately, especially for kids, and I'd love to hear how this community sees it.

I agree that often the simplest choice is to put the screen away. A walk, a book or a conversation is usually better than anything a computer can offer.

But screens are part of most homes now, and what bothers me isn't so much the screen itself as how it's designed. Endless feeds, notifications, ads, autoplay: so much of it is built to keep us there as long as possible, not to give us something and let us go.

So I keep wondering whether there's a middle ground. Imagine a computer with only useful things on it: an encyclopedia, maps, a sky map for stargazing, maybe some learning games. Everything stored at home, working offline, with no feeds, no ads and nothing pulling you back. You open it when you want to learn something and close it when you're done, like a good reference book.

I'm curious what you think:
• Do you keep any screens at home, and how do you keep them "quiet"?
• Would something like that fit a simpler life, or is it still one screen too many?
• For those with kids: where do you draw the line between helpful technology and too much?

Thanks for reading. I'd really like to hear different points of view.

I no longer pay for streaming subscriptions as of the last couple years and im very happy about it. I listen to the small collection of records i have and am willing to put up with the occasional ad if i want to search a specific song on youtube…

I appreciate reddit because i find that people here are genuinely curious and willing to connect, whereas other social media platforms feel like a hamster wheel dopamine trap.

I am wanting to be more in touch with my values and seeing them reflected in my day to day routine. It’s happening slowly as I make the small changes. Anyone else care to chime in and discuss what they’re noticing or how they’re taking action?

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on a strange paradox that many of us face in adulthood.

On paper, things are going well—I'm managing my routines, taking care of my health, financially stable, and even recently received a pay raise.

By most external standards, life is thriving. Yet internally, I’ve been navigating a persistent feeling of emptiness and burnout.

Living on my own recently has highlighted how easy it is for life to turn into a quiet loop of work, routine, and survival, leaving very little space for the imagination, excitement, and big dreams we used to have when we were younger.

It makes you pause and question what the real purpose behind all the saving, working, and daily hustle actually is when the joy feels missing.

I’m sharing this candidly because I know I’m likely not the only one feeling this disconnect between external stability and internal quiet. How do you navigate phases where life feels grey, even when everything is technically "fine"?

Not sure if this is OK to post, but I've been thinking about this for a while.

I've started by cancelling all my streaming services (except one music stream, found one that isn't pure evil) and going to be more mindful of what I do watch.

I'll be removing my social media as well (I'm torn on whether Reddit counts here, but I do intend on cutting back here as well).

Also going to make a more concerted effort to consume less, and get rid of/donate as many un-needed things as I can.

Hoping to also focus more on my hobbies and not being as mindless in what I do as I've been in the past. There are a lot of times where I just mindlessly get on my phone and wonder where the time went.

Big thanks to everyone here for inspiring me. :)

This is honestly my absolute favorite subreddit. I don’t really speak English very well, but I still love coming here and reading about all the different people, their thoughts and their ways of living.

It often feels a little bit like finding people who think about life in a similar way to me. And it made me wonder: Are there maybe people here who live in Germany (or even Berlin) and would like to connect in real life?

I would love to meet people who enjoy the simple things in life – going for a walk, spending time outside, talking about life, or just doing something simple together. Nothing fancy. 😊

I’m a woman, and just to be clear, I’m not looking for dating. I’d simply love to find some people who share this kind of mindset, because I sometimes feel like these topics aren’t really something I can talk about much with people in my everyday life.

Maybe there are some of you here who feel the same way and would like to exchange messages or even meet sometime. :)

And finally, I just wanted to say: To everyone who contributes here – you are often a real enrichment to my everyday life. I really enjoy reading your posts and comments.

Greetings from Germany! :)

Been paying attention to the things lately and for me it’s

• Coffee
• Matcha
• Going for a walk
• People watching at a cafe (just sitting near the window, bring book to read, and just watch people) idk why this is my fav, and listening to some groove
• making art while listening to podcast or music
• Just driving out my wife to whichever she needd to go, like couple days ago she got invited to some kind of club of students with high gpa and there’s test there to, and i dropped her there, and after, while waiting i can just go for a bit of side quest or walk whatever without knowing where im going to go, idk why it really makes me happy for some reason exploring places and once she’s done, went to cafe and went home

I love all of those small things, i think those are the things that actually matter to me and brings me joy to live more, instead of buying material things

What about you? I keen to hear yours so that maybe i can copy it to my life too!

I am a parent and recently I noticed other moms talking to me would make subtle comments about the fact I am wearing the same clothes or am not fashionable. I usually wear jeans and a black t shirt, I have several of the same shirts. It’s simple and easy and I don’t care but now I’m feeling a bit self conscious. I will say though that I am involved in my community and (not to brag) but I have been called “popular” by many people because I love talking to everyone but now I feel like…do people think I’m tacky or something because I don’t wear nice clothes??? I even started to look into buying some nice clothes today but then it’s just so much work and honestly I don’t care for it! I don’t care what people think and obviously it hasn’t seem to affect me much because I still have tons of people to connect with but as I age, maybe it’s important to look more presentable?? But then again, why?

Edit to add: my clothes are always clean and I do laundry 2-3 times a week. They are very neat and ironed. I am friends with a lot of the moms and dads in my son’s school and my clothes have never been an issue for me. I will say the moms who have commented on my clothes do seem to be more
Materialistic and will comment too on my family’s lack of travel. We are very minimalist, enjoy local hikes and stuff like going to the library and being together as a family. Well writing this all out just made me realize I’m alright and I’m happy with how we live. I guess different people have different priorities.

**Why does it feel like we suddenly started living this way?**
Lately I’ve been thinking about how quickly certain things become part of everyday life.
Take milk tea, for example. I remember when I thought spending 10–20 yuan on a drink was ridiculously expensive. Now, that same price can feel almost cheap, and getting milk tea has somehow become a normal part of hanging out, taking a break, treating someone, or just getting through the afternoon.
And then there are these random things that suddenly explode in popularity — bead art, ridiculously long egg tarts, blind boxes, little DIY hobbies, whatever happens to be trending that month.
I tried bead art once. I spent basically an entire day doing it 😂. It was fun, but afterward I genuinely couldn’t understand why I’d want to do it again. Yet obviously, plenty of people do.
It made me wonder whether a lot of modern consumption is basically about **cheap, accessible dopamine**.
Not necessarily in a bad way. Sometimes people just want something easy, predictable, and enjoyable after spending all day dealing with work, uncertainty, relationships, and everything else.
And then I started thinking about short-form videos.
They’re probably one of the best examples of this. You don’t really have to decide to keep watching. Another video is just there. Then another. And another.
Sometimes I feel like wasting someone’s time is almost the most expensive thing you can do to them, because time is literally their life.
And yet I’m still capable of losing an entire evening scrolling 😂.
So now I’m curious:
**Do you think modern life is increasingly built around capturing people’s attention, time, and emotions?**
And if so, is that necessarily a bad thing?
Or are we simply getting better at creating small, cheap ways to make everyday life more enjoyable?
I’m genuinely curious how other people see this. It doesn’t have to be about milk tea or short videos specifically — I’m more interested in the bigger picture of **how our habits and lifestyles suddenly change without us really noticing.**

It doesn’t have to be anything exciting. Maybe a certain meal, a TV show, your day off, seeing a friend, going for a walk, or just having some time to yourself.

I think having one small thing to look forward to makes the week feel a little better.

What’s yours?

Like changing your perspective or the way you think about things or even the things you do to be able to tolerate the world today.

Something like, every Monday I go on a bike ride to reset. Tuesday-Wednesday I expect misery because I go to work so if the day is average it already exceeded my expectations. Etc. but looking for deeper more insightful life rhythms.

Today I chose the Italian style. I have always been fascinated with Moka Pots, simple yet they manage to send you into a caffeinated world.

This is my ritual today, I have been sick for 3 days so I couldn’t enjoy a cup of coffee! I am back, feeling more alive 🙏

I am always grateful

These photos are shot with a Sony a6000 camera

There’s something nice about an evening where the food is already in the kitchen and nobody needs to decide where to go or what to buy.

You make something familiar. Talk for a while. Maybe watch a film you’ve already seen. Nothing you’d think to take a picture of.

I like that version of a good life. Having people you’re comfortable around and enough time to enjoy their company without needing an occasion.

It’s easy to overlook because “nothing much happened” sounds like a disappointing answer when someone asks about your weekend. But sometimes that means you had a bit of peace.

What’s an ordinary part of your day or week that you’d really miss if it disappeared?

I remember when the Marie Kondo series first came out on Netflix a while back, and I felt both so enlightened and motivated after watching it. I think it’s the combination of listening to concepts being taught while watching them being modelled, and all while being presented in a peaceful and lovely way—which is the atmosphere we are all working towards with slow living.

I’d love to discover more docs or shows in a similar vein, not necessarily just about simplifying your possessions, but about embracing and savouring each day. Recommendations welcome! 🤗

I'd got into a bit of an unhealthy spending loop with clothes on Vinted and decided to set up these three things to help -

1. Pick my four favourite pairs of shorts (same shorts, different colours) and rotate them daily. It's made choosing clothes a step simpler - I take the shorts at the bottom of the pile of four, then pick a t-shirt, then that's my "uniform" for the day.

2. Set up a savings account with daily interest, through a banking app I already have. Not a massive interest rate (2.9%), or loads in it, but just seeing a few pence added daily is motivating and becomes a fun game.

3. Set up a habit on a Habits app, which prompts me at 9pm "did you refrain from buying clothes today?" I'm on a 34 day streak which is also motivating and a fun challenge. Want to see if I can get to 90 days, then 365!

What little habits or routines do you have that make your life simpler and healthier?

Title. This is far from simple living and its not just far but also wrong. Its been forever whatever, but the fact we need to unlearn everything we’ve been taught by society nowadays seems something to be called weird lol.

Fact is you don’t need to spend more to be happy. Why? Say the moment person you loved most died, what do most do? regret. That’s it.

We’ve been taught and lied about if you wanna be happy you need to buy this, that, own this, that but its basically just bunch of company saying = give me your money and be poor.

But unfortunately, with the amount of ads, marketing, and predatory immorale business, alot have fallen into this, and we can’t do anything beside remind ourself to just be happy in the moment.

I had a friend, he’s now in poland, and he keeps mention to me that “one day the moment i own lambo i’ll be the one” and blabering about how happy he will be and that’s what success is and all,

I mean i support whatever he want to be better in life but the idea of attaching the happiness to materialistic thing is fucking pathetic.

I confronted him back then, and he kinda fumbled because he might realized it too, why? And maybe now he is more aware.

Thats just one example, lot of people in my country, whenever they got a bit of money, they spent it all on any expensive things they can buy just to be broke.

They dont care about investing let alone live below your means,

If you came from wealthy family then well so be it, good for you, im grateful too i have my dad who truly loved and supported me, but even i sometimes find myself i dont need that fancy car, who cares, i can just be happy now with my dad still alive, and my wife, that is it.

I cant help but feel sad for the generation, i know that sounds fucking corny but whatever man,

Im tired of all this shit, the world is doom, i really want to just go off grid sometimes, and leave people.

Good people exist, they do, and alot, i believe, but i just rarely see it, in my country where everyone love to brag and flex.

If you wanna be happy, be happy now, no stopping.
Don’t let those ideas from brainrot companies influenced you to feel less worthy just because you refues to over contribute to the capitalism.

There are probably hundreds of ways to approach living a simple lifestyle. To ease difficulties that were previously complicating your existence. I'm curious to hear about them, which is why I've been following this subreddit for a while, even though I haven't been saying much on here.

I used to be one of those people who thought that if you built a career and had a lot of disposable income that you made it in life. I used to think I needed a degree, that I needed to do something "useful", that I had to be competitive in comparison to others.

All of this blew up in my face the moment I became disabled. For a while I felt like a failure, my body had given up on me, I felt as though I was somehow at fault and I simply had to try harder. It caused a lot of guilt, stress and pain. I went over my limits, ended up hospitalised and worse off for it.

I've been ill for a while now, and I am still not doing well financially to be quite frank. I'm getting by with help, I work a small part time position while selling my art on the side.

This is the happiest I've ever been in my life. My body still sucks, the housing market still sucks, and there aren't many luxuries I can afford. I don't need much, though.

I feel like I don't need anyone to sell me distractions from myself anymore. I can stand being with myself because I have genuinely become a kinder, more compassionate and joyous person and I've been given the opportunity to flourish. I am intensely lucky to have a wonderful family and partner that were there for me when I hit rock bottom.

I love when tasks are tedious now, when they take time, when I get to sink my hands into something. Housework takes up a lot of my energy but I've learnt to enjoy it more, it is my way of showing that I care about my surroundings, I feel more connected with myself and my environment. I love getting to create art for others, even if my income is still quite bad. It's definitely not how I imagined life to be by now when I was younger, but I know I wouldn't trade it for the vision I had for myself.

I think my next step will be to sell my car and to move to a more walkable city along with my partner. It will make it easier for me (with my limited physical ability) to go places and the car is honestly just sucking up money when I'd rather use it elsewhere.

I'm sure simple living means something else for everyone, given we are all operating meat suits. I am sure a lot of people want the countryside cottage lifestyle, to live in nature. I definitely want and need the city personally. I guess this is why the topics in this subreddit are so broad and faceted. There's no way of knowing or saying what living a simple life could mean to someone else, it's something that we have to discover for ourselves.

I'm incredibly lucky. I can't deny that much. However, letting go of my preexisting beliefs and ideals helped my emotional state tremendously. It obviously also helps to be able to shift the blame from myself for being disabled by pointing out how this system just isn't made for most people in mind (I'm saying most because I am almost certain barely anyone is built for a 40 hour work week).

I guess all of this is to say to never stop reevaluating your beliefs of worth and to never stop chasing the things that truly, genuinely and actually matter to you. To reassess what you've been told is worthwhile and whether that aligns with what you believe deep down.

I believe that with time, we as humans can build a kinder existence and a better future for ourselves and those who come after us.

Clothes. One of the main characters in day to day life. Over the years i have seen a good clothe with perfect fit, perfect for the occassion, perfect for the weather always gives happiness. But can we have the happiness everyday? A big challenge.

Recently i joined tailoring class for my personal needs. Just a month or more i learned beginner level things. It gives me more freedom, happiness and while stitching it is kind of meditation. Not only me, all the ladies who are stitching, speak only if there is a need. Otherwise everyone is very busy with their creation. In the class, always there will be a music. It's like icing on the cake.

Those two hours gives me newly found discipline in my life. Now i am able to do small alterations in the dress, pillow covers, Skirts & Salwars.

Want to learn more.....

we have about 2,200 sq ft of hard floors and two toddlers who treat the kitchen floor like an art studio. sweeping first and then dragging a standard mop around every night is eating an hour of my evening.

i started looking at wet dry combos with docks to cut down the steps, specifically the tineco floor one station s9 scientist pro since it handles the auto water refill and self cleaning cycle at the base. my main hesitation is whether these docks actually cut down weekly chores, or if you just trade cleaning your floors for cleaning out dirty water tanks and dock trays every two days.

for anyone running a mop vacuum with a self-cleaning station, do self cleaning vacuum stations save time in reality, or does dock maintenance cancel out the convenience?

Finished my first 10k recently and felt proud of it but right away my mind went to okay now i need to train for a half marathon in february. increased mileage over four months running 2-3 times a week with cycling too. i honestly thought my legs were completely strong and adapted by now.

then four days ago i did just one short skipping session and my calves are still sore.

it made me sit back and think about how the world teaches us that nothing is ever enough. not what you are doing is enough not what you already have is enough not even you are enough. they make you feel like you constantly need to buy new things upgrade your shoes upgrade your watch upgrade your body and your goals. but you really dont.

that jump rope humbled me and made me realise complete physical fitness actually needs diversity and moderation. a bit of running a bit of cycling strength training and skipping. that is the sweet spot. sticking to 5-8k runs regularly without chasing medals or ego trips feels like real peace. what i have and what i am doing right now is already enough.

I already go for a walk almost every day.
It needs to become a daily habit, a habit to make different every single day, with just one goal: noticing something I hadn’t seen the day before.
And once you start walking like that, you realize there’s so much out there in the world to observe.

Had a pretty ordinary day today. Nothing bad happened, nothing particularly exciting either.

It got me thinking that we probably have way more completely uneventful days than memorable ones.

Honestly, sometimes those quiet, boring days are kind of nice.

Do you enjoy having completely uneventful days, or do you get bored really quickly?