Contents

1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Welcome
4. Dedication
5. Acknowledgments
6. Introduction
7. One: Your Household
   1. 1. Reduce the clutter in your life
   2. 2. Use Dave’s uncluttering system
   3. 3. Use “Speed Cleaning” to clean your house
   4. 4. Cut your grocery shopping time in half
   5. 5. Buy in bulk
   6. 6. Plant a garden
   7. 7. Run all your errands in one place
   8. 8. Cut your laundering chore in half
   9. 9. Stop buying clothes that need to be dry-cleaned
   10. 10. Leave your shoes at the front door
   11. 11. Go for patterned carpets
   12. 12. Use food trays
   13. 13. Keep your plants outdoors
   14. 14. Replace your lawn with ground cover
   15. 15. At the very least, simplify your lawn maintenance
   16. 16. Pets simplified
   17. 17. Moving simplified
   18. 18. Recycling simplified
8. Two: Your Life-Style
   1. 19. Move to a smaller house
   2. 20. Drive a simple car
   3. 21. Sell the damn boat
   4. 22. Build a simple wardrobe
   5. 23. Reduce your go-go entertainment
   6. 24. Rethink your meals with friends
   7. 25. Turn off the TV
   8. 26. Stop the junk mail
   9. 27. Cancel your magazine subscriptions
   10. 28. Stop the newspaper delivery
   11. 29. Drop call waiting
   12. 30. Don’t answer the phone just because it’s ringing
   13. 31. Don’t answer the doorbell, either
   14. 32. Get rid of your car phone
   15. 33. If you don’t like the holidays, bow out
   16. 34. Stop sending Christmas cards
   17. 35. Gift-giving simplified
   18. 36. Traveling simplified
   19. 37. Take a vacation at home
9. Three: Your Finances
   1. 38. Get out of debt
   2. 39. Live on half of what you earn, and save the other half
   3. 40. Rethink your buying habits
   4. 41. Change the way you shop
   5. 42. Reduce your needs for goods and services
   6. 43. Get rid of all but one or two of your credit cards
   7. 44. Consolidate your checking accounts
   8. 45. Use this simple check register system
   9. 46. Consolidate your investments
   10. 47. Pay off your mortgage
   11. 48. Next time you buy a car, get it secondhand
   12. 49. Teach your kids fiscal responsibility
10. Four: Your Job
    1. 50. Stop being a slave to your Day Runner
    2. 51. Work where you live or live where you work
    3. 52. Do what you really want to do
    4. 53. Turn your hobby into your job
    5. 54. Work less and enjoy it more
    6. 55. Stop the busy work
    7. 56. Include your family in your work life
11. Five: Your Health
    1. 57. Simplify your eating habits
    2. 58. Always split a restaurant meal
    3. 59. Have a fruit or juice fast one day a week
    4. 60. Make water your drink of choice
    5. 61. Eat a muffin
    6. 62. Pack your own lunch
    7. 63. Beware exercise equipment, fire your personal trainer, and go take a walk
    8. 64. Get up an hour earlier
    9. 65. Be in bed by nine one night a week
    10. 66. Throw out everything but the aspirin
    11. 67. Create your own rituals
    12. 68. Learn to laugh
    13. 69. Learn yoga
    14. 70. Learn to meditate
    15. 71. Slow down to the posted speed limit
12. Six: Your Personal Life
    1. 72. Clean up your relationships
    2. 73. Just be yourself
    3. 74. Trust your intuition
    4. 75. If it’s not working, stop doing it
    5. 76. Stop trying to change people
    6. 77. Spend one day a month in solitude
    7. 78. Teach your kids the joy of solitude
    8. 79. Do a retreat once a year
    9. 80. Keep a journal
    10. 81. Do one thing at a time
    11. 82. Do nothing
    12. 83. Take time to watch the sunset
    13. 84. Just say no
    14. 85. If you can’t say no, prevaricate
    15. 86. Resign from any organizations whose meetings you dread
    16. 87. Learn to reinterpret the past
    17. 88. Change your expectations
    18. 89. Review your life regularly to keep it simple
13. Seven: Special Issues for Women
    1. 90. Ten minutes to drop-dead gorgeous
    2. 91. Kick off your high heels—and keep them off
    3. 92. Take off your plastic nails and throw out the nail polish
    4. 93. Stop carrying a purse the size of the QE2
    5. 94. Minimize your accessories
14. Eight: Hard-Core Simplicity
    1. 95. Rent rather than own
    2. 96. Get rid of your cars
    3. 97. Get rid of your phone
    4. 98. Stop making the bed
    5. 99. Get rid of all the extras
    6. 100. Build a very simple wardrobe
15. Discover More Elaine St. James
16. Also by Elaine St. James
17. Copyright