
Simplify Your Life With a Journal

Are you ready to finally slow down, simplify your life, and reduce stress at the same 
time? If so, you might be happy to know that all you need to get started is a journal! 

Journaling is actually one of the best ways to simplify your life, and it is so easy to add 
journaling to your daily routine. It is simple to start, can be done just about anywhere, is 
affordable, and only asks for a few minutes a day. 

You are probably aware of the many benefits that journaling provides you, including:

*	Gaining clarity
*	Processing your emotions
*	“Brain dump” your thoughts
*	Improve health and wellness
*	Reduce stress
*	Boost your mood
*	Experience gratitude
*	… and many more! 

But what you might not realize is that your journal can also help with simplifying your life 
and improving your lifestyle in a way that helps to reduce stress and overwhelm, help 
you relax more, and make it to where everything in life feels more doable.

Simplifying your life is not about living a minimalist lifestyle, but just creating systems 
and routines that are not overwhelming, help you get everything done, but are also done 
in a more intentional way. 

Here are some things to know about using your journal to help simplify your life.


Create a Simple Daily Routine

The first way using a journal helps to simplify your life is by helping you to create a 
simple daily routine. You likely have many habits and routines in your day, including 
ones you haven’t put much thought into. But the idea of introducing new routines can 
feel a little overwhelming.

What journaling does is help you start a new habit and adjust your daily routine, but in a 
very simplistic way. You can turn your journaling into a routine if you don’t have many 
habits right now, and just want to start small.




Creating a Routine With Journaling

Here are some quick tips for using journaling to help create a simple and effective daily 
routine:

Choose When and Where – To start with, consider a time of day when you can have 
your journaling routine, and where in your home you can set up a journaling space. 
Choose a time with you have minimal distractions and can just focus on the journaling 
practice. 

While you don’t need an office or fancy area for journaling, it does help to have a desk 
or table in your home where you can focus on journaling, and not be distracted by other 
things around you. Sometimes the best location is your couch early in the morning 
before the rest of the house is up. The details are up to you!

Decide on Other Habits – To utilize this routine, think about some other habits or 
practices you can do around the same time, to stack habits together. This is a great way 
to simplify your routine! Maybe you want to do meditation or mindfulness, or you write in 
your journal after making yourself a healthy breakfast.

Think of habits that would naturally go along with either sitting in this area of your home, 
or the time of day of your journaling routine.


Prioritize What’s Important

Writing in your journal can also help you to start choosing what is most important to you 
and prioritizing them in your life. Through the act of journaling, you begin to notice 
patterns and what you want more of in your life, as well as some things you need to let 
go of. 

It can help to use prompts that help you discover what your priorities are on this journey 
to simplifying your life. Here are some to start with:

What are you most focused on right now?
What are the 2 most important areas of your life?
How are you feeling about your life?
What do you want to improve in your life?
What do you love in your life right now?
What is making you happy in this moment?






Declutter Your Mind

Decluttering is a big deal when it comes to simplifying your life, and that begins with 
your mind. With journaling, you can start organizing some of your thoughts, as well as 
processing the different emotions you experience. 

Much of your stress and feelings of overwhelm might just be because your thoughts 
don’t have a place to be sorted. When you are trying to think of and remember 
everything at once, it becomes extremely chaotic and hard to manage.


Declutter Your Space

You can also use a journal to help declutter your space, including your home and office. 
The journal can be used for brainstorming areas that need decluttering, for starting a 
schedule, writing down a habit tracker, and much more.

Sometimes, the journal works best when you brain dump everything on your mind, and 
discover that on the days when your home is organized and clean, you actually feel 
much better. 

Use your journal to start making a list of what needs decluttered in your home, including 
closets, countertops and other surface areas, drawers, garage or basement, even your 
office or car. Then you can start scheduling time to tackle these different areas of your 
home.


Track Goals and Tasks

While a journal works great when you want to find more clarity and process your 
thoughts and emotions, this is not the only way to use it. It can also be used for listing 
goals, tracking goal progress, and choosing various tasks.

This might be just what you need to simplify your life a little bit, especially if you struggle 
saying no, and are constantly running around like a chicken with its head cut off. If you 
feel like you have too much to do or can never remember what you are doing from one 
moment to the next, using a journal to organize your tasks and lists is a great place to 
start.








Practice Self-Care

You can also use your journal with your self-care routine. It can help you write down 
what self-care activities you would like to include, plan out what self-care you will do on 
which day, and incorporate these habits into your routine.

The journaling practice itself also becomes its own self-care activity for many people. If 
you are new to self-care, and you understand the benefits, but are having trouble 
putting it into action, journaling is a great way to get started.


Benefits of Journaling for Self-Care

Why include journaling in your self-care routine? Because it provides you with so many 
benefits aside from helping to simplify your life. 

*	Journaling allows you to be more mindful.
*	Journaling is a solo activity that makes you the priority.
*	Journaling practices are often calming and stress-free.
*	You get this time to focus on your own needs.


Slow Down and Be Mindful

The practice of journaling in addition to being a good self-care activity, is also a great 
way to slow down for a few minutes and get into a mindful state. 

During a journaling practice, you are most likely alone, or at least the rest of the 
household is off doing other things or still asleep. This gives you some quiet time to 
breathe, focus on your thoughts, and pay more attention to your own feelings and 
emotions during this time.

Journaling is similar to mindfulness, in that you are not being judgmental of your 
thoughts or emotions, but rather just acknowledging them and allowing them to be 
present. You are processing your emotions, not trying to hide from them or shut them 
away. 

In this sense, journaling is one of the best ways to practice mindfulness, and when you 
are mindful, you tend to simplify your mindset a little better. 







Start a Budget

Another area of your life that might benefit from simplifying is with your budget and 
finances. Whether you use a budget planner or just wing it, journaling helps you find a 
singular focus on your budget, savings goals, and finances. 

Here are some ways to use your journal for starting or simplifying your budget:

Do a brain dump about your finances – To start with, you can do a brain dump or 
stream of consciousness where you spend some time just writing about your current 
finances and budget. This can be everything from goals you have, to where you want to 
cut back on expenses.

Decide on a side hustle or new business – If you want to bring in a little more money, 
you can either write about some ideas for side hustles, or start a new business from 
home. There are so many ways to make more money!

Make a list of bills and debt to pay off – Your journal is a great place to start listing 
out what you owe, from regular bills, to different types of debt. Make a list of all your bills 
and debt, and then use this list to start working on a plan to get it paid off.

Create a plan for paying off your debt – With your journal, you will begin to figure out 
a plan for paying off your debt. Maybe you decide to pay off your high interest debt first, 
or you use the snowball method. 

Choose savings goals – Decide what you want to save money for! Journaling can 
often give you insight into what your priorities are and how much they will cost. You can 
choose savings goals such as buying a house or a car, saving capital to start your 
business, saving for an upcoming vacation, or just having an emergency fund.

Track your savings – Lastly, you can track your debt payoff, savings, and anything else 
related to your budget and finances.


Plan Meals and Workouts

Lastly, why not plan your meals and workout routines with your journal? So many 
people worry about finding the perfect planner for this purpose, but all you really need is 
a good notebook or journal to get it done. 

Before fancy printables and leather-bound planners, this is exactly how people planned 
their workouts, meals, and other habits. 




Meal Planning

For meal planning, there are a few things you can do in your journal. The first idea is to 
simply plan your weekly meals, primarily your dinners since that is likely when the most 
cooking happens. If you struggle knowing what to cook, this not only helps you choose 
meals and get a good grocery list, but also becomes something you save and look back 
on later.

Speaking of, you can choose your journal to list meals your family loves or new recipes 
you try and enjoy. That way, you have something to reference when you run out of 
ideas. 

It can also help if you are on a diet and trying to change what and how you eat, as the 
journal helps you to figure out a plan for your groceries and meals while on a different 
type of eating plan.


Workout Routines

You can also use your journal to start working on your workout routines and choosing 
new exercises. Here are some different ways to utilize your journal to simplify your 
workouts:

Choose new exercises you want to do – Why not brainstorm new forms of exercise? 
You will discover just through daily journaling and stream of consciousness pages, you 
find new things you want to do that help you move your body. From Tai Chi to boxing, 
you may find that there are exercises you have always wanted to try, and now have the 
inspiration to do it.

Create a workout schedule – You will also be able to create weekly workout 
schedules, including a calendar of classes or days you go to the gym, days you go on 
walks or hikes, and your typical workout split during the week.

Track your fitness goals – Lastly, you can use your journal to track any fitness goals 
you have. You can track your weight and measurements if you are trying to lose weight 
or change your body composition, track the days you do certain workouts, and add in 
calories burned during those workouts.


At its core, journaling helps to simplify your life by helping you to see your priorities in 
life, track and schedule important tasks and habits in your life, and allow you the quiet 
and calm space to be more mindful and focus on what matters most to you.

