A simple life is all about being intentional—with the things you do, with the things you own, and with the people you spend time with. It’s about holding onto the things that matter, and letting go of the things that don’t.

50 Simple Things

Over the years, there have been many quotes which have made a difference in my life. I hope these words inspire you as much as they have inspired me:

Alysa Bajenaru — Inspired RD

1. For the longest time, I thought I needed to be more organized. Now I know I just needed less stuff.

Anne Lamott — Anne Lamott

2. Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.

Brian Gardner — No Sidebar

3. White space is where the magic happens.
4. The best way to get rid of things you don’t need, is to get rid of things you don’t need.
5. Make room for things that matter by removing everything that doesn’t.
6. The greatest thing about a simple life is having one.
7. Busy schedules make busy people.
8. Twenty pairs of jeans is fifteen too many.

Cait Flanders — Cait Flanders

9. You might get 85 years on this planet—don’t spend 65 paying off a lifestyle you can’t afford.

Courtney Carver — Be More with Less

10. Abundance is a full heart, not a full house.
11. If you don’t have time to do what matters, stop doing things that don’t.
12. I don’t say no because I’m so busy, I say no because I don’t want to be so busy.
13. If you have to buy stuff, to store your stuff, maybe you have too much stuff.
14. If organizing your stuff worked, you’d be organized by now.
15. Instead of working so hard to make ends meet, work on having fewer ends.
16. Just because everything is crazy around you, doesn’t mean it has to be crazy within you.

Erin Loechner — Design For Mankind

17. I learned that thinking about living is not the same as living.
18. Without grace, minimalism is another metric for perfection.
19. Here is the secret to subtraction. It doesn’t matter what you remove. What matters is that you stop adding it back.

Francine Jay — Miss Minimalist

20. My goal is no longer to get more done, but rather to have less to do.
21. Your home is living space, not storage space.
22. Decluttering is infinitely easier when you think of it as deciding what to keep, rather than deciding what to throw away.
23. At some point I realized that I wasn’t organizing my life; I was organizing my clutter.

Joshua Becker — Becoming Minimalist

24. Owning less is better than organizing more.
25. You can make more money, but you can’t make more time.
26. Owning less is great. Wanting less is better.
27. You don’t need more space, you need less stuff.
28. If you are not content today, there is nothing you can buy this weekend to change that.
29. Maybe everything you want is underneath everything you don’t.
30. If buying stuff hasn’t made you happy, maybe getting rid of it will.
31. The first step in crafting a life you want is to get rid of everything you don’t.
32. The best things in life aren’t things.

Joshua Fields Millburn — The Minimalists

33. Addition by subtraction.
34. Forget sale price. Everything is 100% off when you don’t buy it.
35. The things you own end up owning you.
36. Love people, use things. The opposite never works.

Leo Babauta — Zen Habits

37. Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.
38. Stop waiting for the right person to come into your life. Be the right person to come to someone’s life.
39. Slowly cut things out until you’re left only with what you love, with what’s necessary, with what makes you happy.

Melissa Camara Wilkins — Melissa Camara Wilkins

40. Spend less time worrying about what you might regret and more time doing what you won’t.
41. Simple living doesn’t solve all my problems, it just removes distractions.
42. You are not defined by your stuff—the stuff you keep or the stuff you give away.
43. Being busy isn’t the same as being productive.
44. Small matters, small gets you started, and small adds up.
45. If your stuff isn’t serving you, it won’t be serving you any better packed away in a box somewhere.

Sophia Amoruso — Girlboss

46. You’ve already taken the first step toward an awesome life by simply wanting one.
47. Spend money because it’s an investment in your own well-being, not because you’re bored and have nothing else to do.

Tsh Oxenreider — Art of Simple

48. A home that nourishes life embraces the little moments and appreciates the rhythmic seasons of life.
49. Do the choices I make line up with how I really want to live?
50. To realize that the real hidden cost of everything you buy—is how much life it cost you to get it.