Honestly, I think mine is staying at home and limiting our outside activities. I hate saying that because I like to go and do things but I think it is the truth.

Honestly, the one thing that makes my life more simple is not caring what anyone thinks. This allows me to stick to my plan of frugality and live my life for me and my family. I used to be a people pleaser many years ago, and that definitely does not make life simple.

The first thing that came to mind was decluttering. We are only 3 people: me, hubby and DD living in a 3500 sq foot house. We don't need this much space and we certainly don't need this much stuff. We were expecting houseguests last week (they ended up not coming) so I did a massive clean-up. Our guest room still had Christmas wrapping paper in it! I decluttered DD's toys and FOUR gargage bags were filled - not with toys, just hunk! I have more decluttering to do but the house is so much nicer this way. It looks bigger, too. I can breath now. I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders.

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Ours would also be limiting activities. With four children, we decided early on that we would let them choose one or two activities each that they want to participate. That way, we wouldn't be going in separate directions. It is still challenging, but works for us.

Not being materialistic is definitely a blessing. I like having nice things, don't get me wrong, but not to the point where I "gotta have it" immediately. Keeping balanced in this way allows me to be content where I know others would go crazy.

For me it is following a schedule. It really keeps me on task and things just seem to run so much easier. The house stays cleaner and meals get made rather than bought.

Learning to say NO. No to activities/opportunities that don't fit our schedule/priorities, NO to things we don't need and don't enhance our lives, etc. I think too often we say "yes" because we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and end up hurting ourselves.

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Limiting activities is a huge one for us. I have refrained from signing my daughter up for Little Gym or swimming classes that everyone raves about. I was very tempted to sign her up for gymnastics but it would've been too much running around for our 2 year old. She gets tired of the ride to preschool. We stick to our one thing which is skiing.

Not taking on more than I can handle and not being involved in activities that I cannot follow through on.

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I think mine is attitude. My atttitude is that my life is simple. Many people look at my life, my kids and our activites and say they don't know how I do it. I simply don't think about it. It is just life and that is the way it is. Activities are important to us. Way more important than a clean house and scratch made meals. Our house is not filthy and we eat healthy enough. So I think the thing that makes our lives simple is attitude and prioritizing.

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~Happiness is a large family~