Baileys, The Original Irish Cream, one of the only liqueurs I indulge in other than Port, revealed the results of a recent survey regarding British working women. Their findings revealed that "information overload" is a major cause of stress in women's lives.

In 2005, "Life Simplification" will be the key to inspiring a healthy, more adventuresome, soulful, "sane" life.

More than 1,000 women aged 18 and above were questioned by Bailey's about their work and leisure habits.

Two thirds - 67 per cent - claim they find it hard to "switch off " and relax.

And 69 per cent have made a resolution to remedy the situation in 2005 - marking a trend toward what experts are calling "life ".

Consumer planning manager Mimi Fakhri said: "Life simplification will become increasingly important in the years ahead."

Tips given for a simpler life included turning off your mobile phone at specific times and prioritizing your friends with fewer but firmer plans.

Women are advised not to struggle into work when ill but to stay at home and rest.

Other ideas included an all-in-one managed bank account, taking all holiday entitlement every year (Rosemary Do, I hope you are reading this), and using organizational short-cuts at home - such as boxes for mail, keys and bills.

In our home, each person has a cubby. We have an Oriental chest with enough drawers for the six of us, our dog included.

In my cubby, I keep my wallet, keys, hairbands, sunglasses and a Zone Energy Bar or two.

The kids keep their soccer schedule, a hairbrush, hairbands, and a second toothbrush and toothpaste, in case they are running late, and don't have time to go back upstairs to brush their teeth before leaving for school. Our Golden Retriever even has her own brush and collar drawer.

All of our cell phones are kept next to the stand-up desk in the kitchen. They are plugged in next to a box of stamps, a box of quarters, the Bose stereo and the PowerBook. We call the area "Mission Control".

New Technologies

Alexa Baracala from the Evening Standard wrote today in ThisisLondon.com:

Emails and text messages were supposed to make life simpler and less stressful.

But new technologies are the blight of modern women's daily lives.

Research today reveals that for most British working women, "information overload" is a major cause of stress.

More than half - 59 per cent - say being swamped by unnecessary information, including text messages, voicemail and emails, hampers their ability to run their lives as they wish.

We can relate!

During the week between Christmas and New Year's I erased a build up of over 9,000 email messages.

We get so much spam coming through Rugged Elegant Living (people who want to take advantage of our high traffic site by adding a comment which links to their own self-promotional site) that we have been tempted to turn our "Comments" off.

We don't get as much spam as Bill Gates, but at least Gates has an assistant to deal with it. I am my own gatekeeper.

Staying In

The results of Baileys' survey also revealed that stressed out women should have a night in with friends rather than go out with their partner if they want to relax.

More than half of 1200 women - 54% - quizzed in the survey said catching up on news and getting issues off their chest made them feel better than getting dressed up and going out for a meal.

The "informal" element of an evening with close friends, rather than spending hours preparing to go out was important in the decision, the study found.

Thank you to the Bailey family for inspiring us to "have a life".

Working women around the world, send this post to all your friends who own a cell phone and a computer, or a husband who relies too much on communication via text messaging and voice mail.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, "turning off your phone and having a Bailey's with the one you love" living in 2005!

~ Jennifer Carolyn King

P.S. A little plug for Baileys.

Around 80% of the ingredients and packaging used for Baileys is sourced in Ireland.

50 million gallons of milk per year go into the making of Baileys Original Irish Cream.

Baileys guarantees a totally natural product which delivers the same smooth taste for 24 months from the day it was made. That said, Baileys contains no preservatives or additives and so should be consumed within 6 months of opening the bottle.