There are a lot of wonderful people out there who write about living with intentionality. One of my favorite ways to get inspiration to live intentionally in my own life is to read articles about simple living that I come across online. What follows are the articles that really stood out to me this week – articles about zero-waste, frugality, phone addiction and the Joneses. So grab yourself a nice, warm cup of coffee or tea and enjoy!

8 Ways to Adopt a Zero-waste Lifestyle I No Sidebar

I read “Zero Waste Home” by Bea Johnson at the end of 2016. Feeling inspired, my New Year’s resolution for 2017 was to live a zero-waste lifestyle. And I was fairly successful for a few months. However, I must admit that I slipped back into old habits once the difficulty of trying to accomplish zero-waste grocery shopping in a small town had exhausted me. I did adopt quite a few zero-waste habits that have stuck around for the past few years, so I don’t consider it a total fail. Lately, I have been intrigued to give it another go, mostly because of the Plastic Free July movement. If you are interested in adopting some zero-waste practices, check out this article for ideas to start.

15 (or So) Simple and Extremely Practical Strategies for Saving Money and Improving Your Life I The Simple Dollar

I’ve been a big fan of Trent’s writing for over a decade. I discovered his blog around the time that I got interested in personal finance and he’s one writer that I have stuck with over the years. His articles are well thought out and informative and this article is no different. In this article, he has collected his most tried and true strategies for saving money. A lot of them I have tried over the years and some have stuck. There are still a few that I have yet to implement but this article is a reminder to look into old and new ways of saving money.

Rethink your smartphone addiction by imagining it as a book I Rosie Leizrowice

“Never look at your phone in a situation where it wouldn’t be appropriate to read a book.”

Wow! Such simple, but sage, advice. I have never thought of my phone this way. I do try to be present and to not be attached to my phone but I admit that I am not as good about not checking it as I would like to be when I’m with other people or in one of the situations that Rosie specifically lists. This little nugget of advice will stick with me to help me be more present.

How To Tell ‘The Joneses’ to Fuck Off I Simple Living Daily

“We are going to be more content in life if we are able to stop comparing ourselves to them. We’ll make better decisions, and we’ll be happier with the life WE live.”

Catchy title aside, this is a great article to remind us that trying to keep up with the Joneses, or striving to be the Joneses, will not make us happy. Sure, a new purchase may make us momentarily happy, but eventually we’ll be right back to where we usually sit on the happiness scale, albeit a little more broke. Once I realized that stuff wasn’t making me happy, which I outlined in this post, I was able to relieve a lot of my daily life stress!

I hope you enjoyed these simple selections and that you have a lovely weekend!