Hi guys. Welcome back to my channel and to a video all about hacks and habits to help
simplify your life. Life is so busy, especially if you are a mom. So today I wanted to share with you
just a few tips. And I would say they're all very manageable. You don't have to
be a minimalist or anything. Anyone could implement these tips into their life. So I hope,
you really enjoy them. And I'm also going to be giving away 500 pounds in today's video,
thanks to Curve. So five subscribers will be getting a hundred pounds each. So stay tuned
to find out more about Curve and more about how you can enter that competition. But yeah,
with all that said, let's get into today's tips. My first tip is to set alarms for daily reminders
on your phone. Life can be so busy, especially with kids, that you cannot be expected to remember
everything. So just set alarms on your phone. So it's like it's automated. So I have alarms
for literally things like take your vitamins, take any medication. I have an alarm that goes
off every day at 2:30, which is the don't forget your kids alarms. So whatever I'm doing, I'll
remember to do the school run. Just little alarms like that. Sometimes I'll set them as well. Maybe
pay this bill, call this person. If I have those alarms going off on my phone, I'm more likely to
stick to them and to actually get things done. And of course, a great way to simplify your life
is to have a good declutter. Just go through your things and get rid of stuff that you no longer
need. Whether you take it to the [tib 00:01:26], put it online to sell it, or take it to the
charity shop, you will feel so much better once you've decluttered. But if the task feels way too
big, you have so much stuff, then a really good thing that you can do is a declutter challenge.
There's so many of these on Pinterest, and I've actually also created one, which I'll link down
below. It's like a 30 day declutter challenge, so it just breaks it up. So maybe on the first day,
you'll just do the fridge. On the second day, you'll just do your desk. On the third day,
you'll just do the junk drawer. By breaking it up that way, it doesn't feel so massive,
but then by the end of the month, you would've actually decluttered so many things.
And something with decluttering is your purse. You may not do this that often, but whenever
I empty out my purse, get rid of all the rubbish and the snacks and the receipts that are in there.
I feel so much better for it. And I would actually really recommend getting a purse organizer
especially if you have a bucket bag. I got this felt one on Amazon and it has so many different
compartments on it. It makes me feel super organized. It has big ones for drinks. It has very
small ones for pens. A place for cards, and I just love that I can kind of look in my handbag, see
everything in its little place, and I feel really organized for all the stuff that I carry around.
And a really great way to simplify your purse or your wallet is to get a Curve card. Curve actually
combines your debit cards, your credit cards. And your loyalty cards all onto one so you actually
only have to carry this around and you only have to remember one pin number. Curve are not a bank
so they don't hold your money like a traditional bank card, but you can connect all of your bank
cards to Curve, and then you actually earn cash back as you spend at your favorite retailers like
Tesco, Amazon, Ikea, and so many more. It was also really easy to set up all of my cards on Curve and
the app means I can just go on, choose which card I want to pay with, and it's very simple to do.
You also don't lose any of your credit card rewards by using Curve and you can actually get
more cash back and more rewards from having it. So say if you have a card that gives you 1% cash
back on boots. If you actually put that card onto Curve, you'll get double the
cash back so you'll get another 1% on top of that. And it's a MasterCard so it's accepted
anywhere that MasterCard is accepted. And I just love how easy it is. I only need one card. It fits
into my little like pocket on my leggings. You know the one. And I can just bring that out with
me and that's it. You can also link this up to XPay if you want to be com completely hands free.
And there's other benefits of having Curve as well. Like there's really good exchange rates
if you are going on a 2022 holiday. They also have spending alerts to help you manage your
money. And there's really good protection on this card. I think you're protected up to a
hundred thousand pounds. I'm loving it. So I'll put some more information in the description down
below if you want to find out more. And Curve is also offering every new signup through the link
in my description, a 10 pound welcome bonus and 1% cash back. So all you have to do is
sign up to Curve. They'll send you out a card and then you can add your first funding card,
make a transaction, and you will get your bonus of 10 pounds. And as I mentioned, we're doing
a giveaway. So five of you are going to win a hundred pounds each, and we're going to choose
five people at random, but I'll put all the terms and conditions in the description down below.
My next step is to plan simple meals and simple workouts. I think sometimes we try to do too much
and then it's actually not sustainable. So when I meal plan, I tend to leave one night pretty much
empty on the weekend for a takeaway, a ready meal, or leftovers. And then I'll also try and mix quick
10 minute meals with slightly longer meals. And if I ever make a meal,
like a big shepherd's pie that takes like 30 to 40 minutes, I'll always try and batch cook it so I'm
actually making multiple meals, but just like with one lot of the time, if that makes sense.
And then with workouts, I always think in my head, "Better than nothing." So rather than say,
"Okay, I'm going to do an hour workout in the gym every day of the week." Like that's probably not
actually going to happen, but I can do a 10 minute workout. There's so many great ones on YouTube
and everyone can find 10 minutes. Or like, if you could just get out with the dog or do like 20
sit ups and 20 pushups, it's better than nothing. And my next tip is to learn to say no, and that is
so much easier said than done, especially if you are naturally a yes person or a people pleaser.
But saying yes to everything can just all be too much. So to help you say no, you can set some
boundaries that you try and stick to. So say you decide, "Okay, I never want to work after 7:00 PM.
I never want to work on the weekend." Or even just saying to yourself it's okay to not go to every
single social gathering or event that you're invited to then that should help you say no.
Something else that could help to simplify your life is to limit the amount of screen time that
you have as an adult. Forget the kids for a second and think about yourself. On your phone you can
actually see how much screen time you are having and how much time you're spending on certain
apps as well. And you can set limits. So if you go onto your phone and you set a limit for Instagram,
say you set it for an hour, then once you've been on that app for an hour, a little notification or
alarm will pop up and just let you know that you've already spent an hour on it
today. And then you can think to yourself, "Okay, do I need to really be spending longer than an
hour on this app? Probably no." And it will just help you to get your screen time down.
And similar to screen time, another tip is to switch off and you can do that in various ways,
whether it's a full on digital detox or something like a blackout night. So a blackout night is
when no one in the family is allowed any like electronics, like not even the TV is allowed on.
You just literally enjoy each other's company and play board games and card games as well.
This is something our kids love, and we tend to do more when we're on holiday. Or another way
that you can switch off, which I try to do is not go on my phone in the morning. I just find when
I'm trying to get ready, get the kids ready, do the snacks, and just get everyone out the door,
going on my phone is the biggest time zapper. And lately, I also have not been listening to the
news at all. I was finding that I was just getting anxious. Because I used to come downstairs,
put the news on while I made breakfast and everything, but actually it's been quite heavy
lately. And I know some people just love to listen to the news, like to be connected. But actually
I was finding for my mental health, it's just been better for me not to be listening to the news.
And something that I find really helpful and have actually made quite a few videos about in
the past is to meal prep. But I do appreciate that not everyone has time to do a full
weekly meal prep every week. Like I actually haven't prepped for a few weeks. But one thing
that I do find really useful is when my groceries are delivered, I will just wash and cut up all
the fruit and veg pretty much. And that way we always have it to hand in the fridge or in the
morning when I'm quickly making like granola or yogurt or the kids want some strawberries. Like
everything's already washed and cut up and ready to go. I don't have to do it every single time.
And my next step is to group tasks together or consider time blocking. So time blocking is when
you say to yourself, "Okay, in that hour, I'm going to answer all of my emails. And then in
the next one I'm going to do all of my admin." It actually reminds me of when you're in high school
and you have like subject periods. So you might have five periods a day. One would be maths, one
would be English, one would be science, et cetera. So you would literally go into that lesson. You
would do maths for the hour. Then you would close up all of your books and then you would move on
to the next thing. It's actually such a good way to focus and it can work in adult life as well.
I actually recently read the book The 4-Hour Work Week and he suggests only answering emails
in the morning, first thing in the morning, and then again in the afternoon. And actually telling
your colleagues that's what you do, and that way you're not constantly checking your phone. You're
not always looking at every email that comes in. Next up is to get everything ready the night
before. I feel like I've said this so many times on my channel, but honestly it makes my life so
much easier when I do it for the kids. But also for myself, if I lay out the clothes
that I'm going to wear the next day, it just is so much easier to plan it all the night before,
because the morning is always going to be a rush. My friend Ash actually says that
10 minutes in the evening is worth like way more in the morning or she's got like a little saying
for it because it's actually so much quicker to just do it all in the evening. Whether
it be like preparing your kids' bags, snacks, things they need for clubs, just do it all in
the evening and it makes life so much easier. And another tip is to actually concentrate on
sleep. I feel like sleep is something I've never been very good at,
but it massively affects your mood and how you function. So it is really important. So I've
actually recently started taking a supplement it's called Heights, I think, and it's actually
for your brain. And it has really been helping me sleep. Other things that help me sleep as well is
winding down an hour before I actually go to bed. Another way to simplify your life is to have
really good, simple routines. I personally love a routine for myself. I just like to know what's
going on and be in control. And then I also find that the kids respond to a routine so well, but
the simpler the better. Like for the kids' bedtime routine, it's just literally bath, dance party,
books and then bed. That is it. And in my morning cleaning routine and evening cleaning routine, I
literally have like five or six things that I try to get done. It's literally like surfaces, table,
dishes in the dishwasher. Like it's very simple so it's manageable. So anything on top of that
is obviously a bonus, but I personally love having a routine. So like when I leave the house in the
morning, all the beds are made, everything's in the dishwasher. Like I kind of know where I'm at
and it just makes my life really simple. And once you start it, it really does become a
habit and you kind of just do it on autopilot. The next tape is a huge one and it could probably
be it's very own video. Let me know if you guys want to see that, but it is to vision board. So
for a very long time, like years and years and years ago, I read The Secret and ever since then
I have had a vision board. I must admit it is electronic at the moment. And I also have a
list of things on my phone that I want to try and achieve this year. I think there's like 70 things
on my phone. But by having a vision board, it kind of gives you an overall goal so that when
things do come into your life, if it doesn't align with your goals, it's easier to say no
and it's easier to forget those things. You can also write down your values as well,
whatever they are. If you write down your values, then again, if an opportunity comes into your life
and you think, "Actually that is not in line with one of my values," it's easier to turn it
down and to not focus on it so much. So I would totally recommend do doing a vision board. It
doesn't have to be some fancy thing like that you art and craft. You can literally just put
pictures as your desktop screen on your laptop or on your phone so it's always front of mind.
Something else that I do to help me stay focused is to write a to-do list every morning. And I
know I've talked about this before on my channel that if I literally write down just six things,
normally three things that I really want to get done for work and then three things that I want
to get done in my personal life, chances are I'll probably get more than six things done,
but it just helps to focus me. So my personal things could literally be like book a doctor's
appointment or something to do with self care, like paint your toenails or something like that.
I just find that by putting it down, it just focuses me for the day and it really helps.
And another tip is to actually schedule in self care and that might sound silly. But if you
literally book in the morning that you're going for a run or book in when you're going to have
your nails done, or even say on a Tuesday night, that's when I do a face mask. On a Wednesday
night, I'm going to fake tan. If you book in the self-care, it's more likely to happen.
Kiki has actually joined me for the next tip. Actually getting a dog helps your mental health.
Doesn't it? But my next tip was actually to say that speed cleaning is amazing. I've made so
many videos about it in the past. And I think sometimes people think that I clean all the
time because of the videos, but it's actually the opposite. I let everything just pile up around me
and then I'll clean in like a burst of time. So I'll set a timer for 10 minutes, 15 minutes,
half an hour, and then I'll just clean and see how much I can get done in that time. Kiki.
And it's definitely worth having an overhaul of all of your outgoings and
your subscriptions as well. I bet if you go on your phone and you go to the subscriptions,
there's probably apps and things on there that you completely forgot about, things that the kids
downloaded and that you no longer need or want. So just unsubscribe before it renews. And the same,
if you look at your outgoings on your bank accounts. Like often I'll do that and think,
"Oh my god. I didn't realize that direct debit was going. I completely forgot that I signed up to
that and it's now renewed." So you can then have the opportunity to cancel all of those things.
And the last tip that I wanted to share with you guys is actually not to multitask
if it is something that you really need to focus on. So I feel like this one's
controversial because often on my channel I'll be cleaning, but also listening to a book at
the same time. And while that's fine for very mundane tasks or things that you don't even have
to think about that you've done a million times before, it doesn't work when you're trying to
multitask but you actually need to really focus on each thing. So in that case, it's actually
quicker to just focus on one thing at a time. But yeah, I think those are all the tips that I
wanted to share with you guys today. I really hope you enjoyed these hacks and habits. Don't forget
to comment down below to be in with a chance to win a hundred pounds from Curve. And thank you so
much for watching. I'll see you in my next one. Bye guys. Sorry about Kiki barking. My god.