I never really thought of it as “low-demand” but that’s a surpisingly practical way to phrase it, framing your decisions, lifestyle, and personal living spaces to be less mentally taxing and “economic” in that sense.

Broadly, it’s resembles minimalism but a significant balance with practicality rather than aesthetics (it’s a bonus). As other’s have said “less decisions and a readily achieved default state”. Some examples:

• Limited number of clothes that mix and match with one another. If I get new clothes, I’ll alway donate an equal amount to keep it limited.
• Schedule in general to reduced decisions but most helpful was meals and meal prepping.
• Bedroom and office have minimal furnishing/clutter so it’s easy to clean up and incredibly easy to return to that default state and peace of mind.

Laundry, cleaning, and errands become less demanding (less clothes, easy to clean) in that sense which leaves mental room to explore new ideas one at a time.

For me personally, I find that every time I have to make a decision, that’s a demand. Low-demand, therefore, involves limiting the amount of decisions I need to make - pre-planned meals, a pre-curated selection of apps on your phone and/or PC, etc.

I’m not fully familiar with the phrase, but I generally try to set things up in my life so that things fall into place with or without further input from me. I’ve had (and have) a lot of problems with executive disorder in my life, so it’s always a gamble for me. One day I’ll be perfectly fine putting in ten hours of work furthering a single project, the next I can barely stand 30 minutes.

My way of managing this has been to look for “default states” as I call them. To try and find a way that if this is the last moment of attention and work I can put in to what I’m doing, things will still carry along to a positive or at least a neutral outcome.

It doesn’t always work, obviously there are some things out there that just defy that kind of approach. But when I can get it working for me it’s really nice because it allows me to take the brakes I need to avoid burnout without feeling guilty or gambling too much with the outcome of whatever it is I’m trying to do.

I don’t go for low demand, but I reduce friction. Have to hurry to wash sheets and put them back on? Buy an extra set. Swap them, wash the previous ones at your own pace, no hurry.

I dunno if I have a ‘low demand lifestyle’ but some things I do or think about that makes things easier:

• I have alarm for when it’s time to make lunch and dinner, which helps me relax or focus.
• I have an alarm for when it’s time to go to bed. Not necessarily sleep, but I use that time to wind down.
• I plan my days roughly in a calendar; sleep, lunch, dinner, gym time. How detailed I am depends on how integrated it is into my routine. When going to the gym, I don’t plan the time to walk there and home. But if I’m going on a family trip, I like to plan out in more detail.
• Routines and habits are more about doing things in the same order rather than the exact time every day.
• I order groceries every other week to the door. I still go to the grocery store 1-2 times a week tho but that’s mostly for veggies or stuff I forgot to order.
• If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing halfway.*
• Actually use things that help me, like nose-canceling headphones and stimming toys.
• We live in an apartment complex with shared laundry room, so I try my best to book laundry same day every week, that way I don’t need to remember as hard as I have a laundry-day.
• I go to the gym on the same days every week as well. Those are my gym-days.
• We eat roughly the same things every day/week, I don’t like to plan my meals too much and prefer to just wing it. I build meals by deciding on: a protein, some veggies, a starch (aka. pasta, rice or potatoes). I make we eat veggies at least once a day and preferably more than just some chopped onion.
• Only wear comfy clothes. I absolutely refuse to wear anything that is uncomfortable in any way. It takes way to much energy.
• Make cleaning easier. You don’t need a special cleaning bottle for every area, with a special tool and everything color-coded etc. **
• I try to do some kitchen-cleaning every evening before bed. It has become a part of my going-to-bed routine. I also prep the coffee maker. If I’m going somewhere I prepare clothes for the next day, prepare breakfast and just as much as I can to make the morning easier.

–

• Example: Say you need to do the dishes, but you only have energy for half of the dishes. If you only want to do everything or nothing. You’ll have to wait… while more dishes pile up. Needing more and more energy to do them all. In the end you are forced to use a lot more energy than you have to clean them all.

If you instead think it’s worth doing halfway, sure your kitchen might rarely be ✨Sparkling Clean✨ but your mental health and energy levels will be SO much better.

–

** All you really need for cleaning your home:

• Bottle of all-cleaner, for most areas. Floors, dusting etc.
• I like to use dish-washing soap to clean the kitchen area, it’s good at removing fats and safe if you accidentally don’t rinse properly.
• A bad-ass oven cleaner, so you don’t have to scrub for eternity!
• Toilet cleaner, for the bowl. You can use all-cleaner for the rest of the toilet.
• Window / glass cleaner. Although, if you have good micro cloths you don’t even need that.
• A chalk-remover that you use when you get buildup from the water.

Tools:

• Micro-fiber cloths. There are different types and qualities.

  • Smooth ones are good for glass and other shiny surfaces.
  • Fluffy ones are good for all other areas, especially dusty or if it’s many germs as they “catch” the germs.

• I like to use dish-washing tools to clean the kitchen. ( I kinda have a lot woops )

  • Sponge-cloth, a thin square “cloth” made from sponge, super absorbent and washable.
  • Dish brush and/or sponge (non-scraching) and/or sponge with handle
  • Fine soapy steel wool for those impossible spots

• Vacuum-cleaner (get one of those quiet ones, I can watch tv while using it, they are amazing.

• mop and bucket (not those flat ones)

• Nice to have

  • “spot eraser” sponge, a white, dense sponge, great for removing spots on handles, light switches etc.
  • “Edge brush”, like this: https://www.stadbutiken.se/sv/artiklar/smartbrush-komplett.html but you can also repurpose an old toothbrush.
  • A broom-set, especially if you have pets or often get dirt on the floor so you don’t have to pull out your vacuum cleaner all the time.
  • A rubber-broom to clean carpets with, especially if you have pets.
  • If you want to be fancy you can skip the vacuum-cleaner and mop if you replace them with proper cleaning mop that cleaning-companies use, like this: https://www.stadbutiken.se/sv/artiklar/swep-extramopp-50cm-rod.html but they are expensive.

–

Well that turned into a wall of text. Woops.