Becoming Minimalist Top Posts of 2012

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” – Barbara Hoffman

A special thanks to each of you for making 2012 another incredible year at Becoming Minimalist. This website continues to grow well beyond my craziest expectations year after year.

In 2012…

• Monthly visitors to Becoming Minimalist grew from 95,000/month to over 150,000/month.
• Facebook fans grew from 4,000 to 18,000.
• Twitter followers increased from 4,400 to 8,600.
• For the second time, Simplify became the #1 Self-Help book on Amazon.
• Becoming Minimalist on Tumblr and Pinterest continue to grow as well.

It has indeed been an incredibly exciting year. The metrics listed above prove the point. It is very encouraging to see the life-giving message of minimalism and simplicity continue to gain momentum and reach new people every single day. May its influence continue to grow.

As determined by the readers, here are the Most Popular Posts from 2012.

Don’t Just Declutter, De-Own. Removing possessions begins to turn back our desire for more as we find freedom, happiness, and abundance in owning less. And removing ourselves from the all-consuming desire to own more creates opportunity for significant life change to take place.

7 Common Problems Solved by Owning Less. The intentional choice to live with fewer possessions has brought with it a great number of benefits. It has been the answer to much of the discontent we felt in our lives when we owned more.

The Simple Guide to a Clutter-Free Home. It is completely and entirely possible to live in a clutter-free home. With this simple guide, you’ll be well on your way.

The Man Who Quit Money: An Interview with Daniel Suelo. When I first heard the story of Daniel Suelo, I was immediately intrigued. After all, Daniel lives entirely without money and has done so for the past 12 years.

10 Creative Ways to Declutter Your Home. The decluttering journey doesn’t need to be as painful as some make it out to be. In fact, there are a variety of people who have come up with some pretty fun, creative ways to get started.

Here are some of the most Significant Celebrations during 2012.

In August, we launched our first book with a traditional publisher. Living with Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness soon ranked among the Top 20 Christian-Living books on Amazon. We are thankful for Group Publishing’s support allowing us to share our message with a whole new audience (Christian young adults and teenagers).

The Becoming Minimalist Newsletter was launched in July. The newsletter contains links to popular, shareable posts from around the Internet. Readers are encouraged to share these stories and posts via e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and heartfelt conversations over a cup of coffee. The goal? Take minimalism to the masses. And with over 3,000 subscribers, we are well on our way.

Public Speaking. I am grateful for the numerous opportunities I have had to bring minimalism to local communities through various speaking opportunities. You can find more information about bringing me to speak at your local event on our Speaking Page. We continue to offer this service for only the cost of travel.

Charity: Water. This past month, I donated my birthday to Charity:Water. In less than two weeks, the Becoming Minimalist community has raised over $4,000 to fund clean water projects in Ethopia. There are only a few days left on the campaign and I’d love your support to help us reach our goal.

Here are my personal favorite posts from the past year:

We’re All Trading Our Lives for Something. Trade Up. Our lives are, by definition, made up of finite resources. And every passing day presents an opportunity to trade our lives for something else.

Why Helping Others Succeed Can Be Your Greatest Success. Our lives are going to find lasting significance in how we choose to live them… and how we enable others to live theirs.

35 Things I Hope My Kids Will Say About Their Dad. Here are the 35 things I hope my kids will say about me. They represent the most important lessons I hope they will learn from my life.

Becoming Minimalist hosts a number of guest posts. Here are the Most Popular:

The Story of Enough: Giving Up (new) Clothes for One Year. Minimalism isn’t about winning. It’s about finding out what matters to you, and getting rid of the peripheral.

How to Negotiate Downsizing. No matter how small your accomplishments are, start celebrating them. Take a deep breath and admire the simplicity of your clutter free home.

Whether you have been reading Becoming Minimalist for one week, one month, one year or longer, thank you so much. This blog owes its success to the support of its readers. Thank you for reading. And thank you for sharing these posts with others.

As this blog goes forward into 2013, it will continue to evolve and be redefined. But, it will always stay true to its core message that there is more joy to be found in owning less than can be found in pursuing more. And we will continue to invite as many as possible to discover this truth in their own life as well.