Simple Life Together

Finding a minimal or simple living podcast that I could relate to was no easy task. It’s kind of like trying to find a good man. I had to kiss a lot of frogs before my prince of podcasts came along. One of my frogs was a minimalist who provided a list of “essentials” that included the must have firearms everyone should own (you know, for self defense, think Revolution or Hunger Games, and of course, to hunt your own food). Another could not stop talking about cloth diapers. I usually love living vicariously through parents since I don’t have any cute munchkins of my own but I do confess my tolerance for diaper talk has a very short ceiling.

I was determined and pressed on until one fine sunny day, I stumbled upon a fairly new podcast by husband and wife dynamic duo, Vanessa and Dan Hayes, aptly named Simple Life Together. Woo hoo, pop the champagne! Let’s get this simple party started!

Vanessa is a professional organizer and Dan is her tech loving consultant hubby. Each episode is the perfect blend of making life simpler through organization, routines, editing and tech tools. Their tagline is “leading a simple life in the modern world”. Dan and Vanessa have an incredible rapport and listening to them share their life and tips together is like hanging out with one of your best couple friends. Dan is hilarious and Vanessa’s laughter at his jokes is genuine and engaging.

They’ve covered a wide range of topics from photo organization, meal planning, editing possessions, password management, corralling the paper monster, downsizing to a smaller home and much more. Each episode is chock full of application tips for using technology to simplify our personal and business lives including extensive discussions of Google Drive and Evernote.

I also love that Dan and Vanessa share their own personal experiences and deliver their message in an approachable and inclusive way. Although my life is very different from theirs, I have found each episode relatable, realistic and helpful. They also have detailed show notes on their website, which is a helpful resource post-podcast as I’m often heading down the highway in the bumblebee as I listen to Simple Life Together. The principles they’ve adopted can be applied to just about any arena in life from work to finances to family. They are also parents and share their experiences teaching their kids how to live simply and with purpose. I suspect their kids could teach me a thing or two about daily routines!

You can find Simple Life Together here or on iTunes. You can also join them in their Edit and Forget It challenge here (free yourself of 2,013 things in 2013!).

I wanted to thank Dan and Vanessa for sharing their content with us! I’m so happy I found ya!