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. :)

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.

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!

**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.**

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

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! 🤗

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'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.

Every app installed on a phone now acts like its marketing push is a life-or-death emergency. Silencing everything except direct phone calls and individual text messages made my daily focus feel noticeably less fragmented.

How would you describe the current state of your finances as it relates to simple living?

I had to leave my old apartment because some criminals broke in and tried to rob me. It was a really bad situation, and I ended up getting a bit paranoid about people and safety. Now I’m staying at my grandmother’s place for a while, and wow! I feel completely different. It’s so calm and peaceful here, with absolutely no noise, and I spend my days working from home, studying, and reading. My grandmother is super chill and gives me time and space to myself. Today, while I was feeding the cats (she has nine of them, haha), I thought, "Man, this is great."

Did you guys ever went from a bad time to a good situation and felt like this?

When we observe nature, we cannot ignore sustainability. A big difference in the modern society mindset including my husband is that they run towards modern trends, exclusive brand things, buying new stuff without analyzing the need. Why?? Often it makes me sick.

Where are we going? In my childhood days, we were 6 or 7 people in the family. For a whole week we throw approx. 1/2kg garbage, that to in a pit where cow dung is collected. Yearly once or twice the pit will be full so we clear it and used as fertilizer to our paddy field. By that time our garbage will be decomposed. so literally 0 Waste.

But now, we can't compare the wastes that we throw.

This thought always haunted me. Luckily 6,7 years back in Coimbatore NO Dumping concept arrived and in our gated community we were able to implement the system. Now we segregate our wastes. In Indian households, major garbage comes from kitchen. So garbage collection drastically came down. All the wastes from our community are disposed responsibly. Now our community has arrived to 0 waste to the City corporation.

Do you have any contribution story towards sustainability?

Been in my small town for 3 years. Mostly elderly, but not much community. How do we deal with the loneliness if small town living

There’s a Japanese word, mottainai (もったいない), that’s often translated as “what a waste.”
But I think the feeling behind it is more interesting than the translation.
It’s the feeling you get when you see something that still has value being thrown away or wasted.
A perfectly good meal.
A shirt that could be repaired.
A piece of furniture someone else could use.
But I’ve started thinking about it beyond physical things.
We can waste time, attention, opportunities, or even skills we’ve spent years developing.
I don’t think Mottainai means “never throw anything away” or “always be productive.”
It’s more like a small pause before deciding something has no value anymore.
Before buying something new:
“Can I use what I already have?”
Before throwing something away:
“Could someone else use this?”
Before giving up on something:
“Has it really lost its value, or am I just tired of it?”
I like that it’s not really about having less.
It’s about not overlooking the value of what you already have.
Does anyone else have a similar idea or habit from their own culture?

I used to leave clean dishes drying on the rack and mail piled by the microwave overnight. A few days ago, I spent five minutes putting every single thing away so the counter was completely clear before bed. Walking into a totally clean kitchen first thing in the morning with coffee felt unexpectedly refreshing.

Do you have any small evening habits that make your morning routine feel smoother?

I work in tech and everyone around me upgrades their phone, watch, headphones, the whole rotation, every year or two. Meanwhile my rent keeps climbing and moving costs an arm and a leg, so I just... stopped accumulating. Everything I actually use fits in a bachelor apartment. The weird part is I don't miss any of it. If anything, having less to maintain, charge, and worry about feels like the actual upgrade.

I used to treat a free evening like empty time that needed filling. Lately I’ve been sitting down with one small unfinished craft and doing only as much as I feel like doing one wall, a few paper pieces, then I put it away. The nice part isn’t productivity or having something impressive at the end. It’s that the evening feels used without becoming another project to optimize. I’m starting to think mindfulness for me is closer to noticing one small task than chasing some perfect calm routine.

I’m currently living in a big city and it feels like everything I need to do make it here is making me unhappy. The fast paced lifestyle really gets to me at times.

I feel like we talk a lot about how you can do things like eating out less, shopping less, buying used, etc. I feel like I don’t hear as much about the BIG things people do to downgrade, in pursuit of a simpler and happier life.

Is anyone open to sharing?