A special thanks to each of you for making 2016 such an enjoyable and incredible year at Becoming Minimalist. This website continues to grow each month beyond my wildest expectations—in fact, this year represents the 8th consecutive year of consistent growth! As before, this growth has occurred entirely from the support of readers like you—thank you for helping to spread the inspiration.
Thank you for sharing this website. But even more, thank you for sharing the life-giving message of owning less.
Here are some numeric representations of our growth:
- Becoming Minimalist has grown to 1.1M unique visitors/month.
- The Facebook group grew from 320,000 to 560,000 followers.
- Twitter followers increased from 35,000 to 44,000.
- 80,000 people currently receive Becoming Minimalist posts via email. Sign-up here to do the same.
- In November, our book Simplify was #1 in Self-Help on Amazon.
But some of our most significant successes this past year are not found in the numbers above:
- In late 2015, we created The Hope Effect, a non-profit designed to improve how the world cares for orphans. To date, we have raised over $300,000 for orphan care around the world including a home in Honduras and our next home to be built in San Luis, Mexico.
- I released a new book, The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own, to introduce the world to minimalism. It was a USA Today/iBooks/Amazon/Publisher’s Weekly bestseller and has sold over 35,000 copies.
- In January, we created a 12-week course called Uncluttered to help people own less, live more, and find the life they’ve always wanted. Over 10,000 people did the course in 2016. The next edition of Uncluttered begins on January 9 if you would like to join us.
In case you missed any, here are the top posts on Becoming Minimalist from 2016.
Most Popular Posts from 2016 (as determined by readers):
To Declutter Any Room, Ask These Two Questions. Almost all of decluttering comes down to asking ourselves only two questions.
9 Simple Tips to Thin Out Your Closet. A streamlined wardrobe offers more benefits than simple beauty. It saves time in the morning (and sometimes, the evening). It reduces stress and frustration. And it saves money.
Why Millennials are Trending Toward Minimalism. Millennials are refusing to partake in the retail game as the rules are currently constructed and why retail giants are worried about it.
One Simple Question to Ask Before Any Purchase. To counter the empty promises of consumerism, I want to offer a simple, life-transforming question—five simple words to ask before making any purchase.
Your Biggest Expense is Your Greatest Opportunity. We own too much stuff—but rather than getting rid of it, we too often just build bigger homes to store it all.
My Personal Favorite Posts from the past year:
Why Saying You Want Change is Not Enough. There is a big difference between saying you want something, and actually working to make it happen. A goal without action is not really a goal at all.
Don’t Find Joy In What You Do But How You Do It. If you are content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.
You Are Doing a Noble Thing. You are doing a noble thing with your life. Keep on keeping on.
Maybe Success Just Feels Like This. Maybe success doesn’t always feel like it looks from the outside.
Most Popular Guest Posts in 2016:
Unlock Freedom By Simplifying These 4 Key Areas by Steve Kamb. If you’ve decided this is the year you’re going to improve your life, here are the areas that had the biggest impact on my journey.
The Art of Being Easily Fascinated by Joel Zaslofsky. If you’re like most people, you’ve never even heard the term “easily-fascinated,” much less considered how the approach to life might benefit you.
3 Steps to End Closet Chaos by Courtney Carver. If you can relate to a stressful closet scenario, or you are overwhelmed with closet chaos for other reasons, consider this three step process to end the chaos.
Most Popular Outgoing Links from the past year:
30 Things I’ve Done To Simplify My Life | Mind Body Green by Tyson Popplestone. Now I’m experimenting with a simpler way of living—one that’s less stressful and more fulfilling, I’m improving every day. Here are 30 of the most helpful tips I’ve picked up.
4 Absurdly Easy Things I Do That Make Life Disproportionately Better | Raptitude by David Cain. Lots of the things we spend our energy on are worthwhile, but some are a better deal than others.
The Benefit of Simple Living That No One Talks About | No Sidebar by Erica Layne. A simple life allows the gift of being present.
My Year of No Spending is Over—Here’s How I Got Through It | The Guardian by Michelle McGagh. The first six months were hard, but I found a new way of living and the challenge has left me wealthier and wiser.
Whether you have been reading Becoming Minimalist for one week, one month, one year or longer, thank you. This blog owes its success to the support of its readers. Thank you for reading. And thank you for sharing these posts with others.
We look forward to an exciting 2017. I will be completing another book—this one on the subject of challenging the assumptions we make about money.
Also, as I mentioned, Uncluttered will be launched three times this year. The first edition of 2017 begins on January 9th. You can sign-up now to receive an email notification when we open registration on January 1st.
No doubt, in the coming year, Becoming Minimalist 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.
We will continue to invite as many as possible to discover this truth in their lives. And I hope you will join us.
I just enjoy the heck out of this blog. Looking forward to a brand new year of terrific posts. Once in awhile, they are so inspiring that I just have to curate your posts for my own blog — with proper credit and backlinks, of course.
Here’s to our inner Thoreau :-)
Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks Catie!
I think that your success came from the fact that you are not just here to create a website but to share a meaningful message with the world. And people can see that. More power to your blog Joshua and many more successful years to come.
Hiii,
Thanks for sharing the best posts. It will take some time to read the all posts but, I’ll surely read all these posts.
I hope you guys will keep up the good work in 2017.
I enjoyed this in early 2016 with some success and want to take it again. Ready for a deeper purge. How do I register as a repeat participant?
Email us at support@www.becomingminimalist.com.
I get so much inspiration for your site and all the articles you link to, thank you so much for all that you do! Happy New Year!
Congratulations. Good Achievements..!
Congrats on a great year!
It’s really cool to look at how the various aspects of the blog have grown. The facebook growth is incredible!
Looking forward to watching your work make an impact on a ridiculous amount of people in 2017.
I liked ‘Why Saying You Want Change is Not Enough’. “We prove what we desire most by our actions, not by our words.” Thanks for the inspiration :)
Does anyone else feel the “after Christmas” clutter?! ;)
I can’t wait to dig in and clear out!
I love your blog! I must say that I read the written stuff and don’t listen to the video stuff, so I’m sure I miss good content, but your wisdom is profound and you inspire me every day. I look at things very differently now, though I am hardly complete with my minimization yet. Thank you!
I’m subscribing and hoping to implement your ideas in 2017. Thanks for sharing them. I’m getting a little chuckle though at the fact that Becoming Minimalist is Maximizing ????
Thank you, Joshua. Happy New Year to you!!!
Honored that my post on No Sidebar (benefit of simple living) made this list! Best wishes in the new year, Joshua! You run a beautiful thing here at Becoming Minimalist.
Thank you for all that you have given us this year. I am so glad that Maybe Success Just Feels Like This was one of your favourite posts of the year. It is this authenticity that I enjoy in everything that you do. For me personal, it was so validating to read about how someone that I look up to struggles with similar doubts. Looks forward to reading a lot more in 2017.
Congratulations for a productive year of helping others to live more fully with less stuff, and for helping the less fortunate!
I often read the information, but never put it into practice. This year I hope to make a commitment to change and actually do it!! Thank u all for all of your encouragement.
Congratulations on a great year of spreading the joy of minimalism! I’m discovering it as well for me and my family. It’s a slow process but we’re making steady progress! Thanks for the continued inspiration!
Congratulations on another successful year at becoming minimalist, Joshua.
After just one friend’s share of an article last year, your page’s got a preferential star in my newsfeed updates! Your advocacy is both an epiphany and a catalyst for an idea the time of which has come.
By osmosis I reckon, I imbibed my parents’ “organized hoarding” and “waste not, want not” outlook. Transferring to a house equal merely to a fourth of my parents’, I knew downloading was the only way to go with downsizing. It was somewhat handwringing and teeth grinding at first. These days, it’s either, “when it doubt, leave it out” or “don’t sweat the small stuff.”
You’ve got an empathic follower!
Just wanted to thank you, Joshua, for your friendship and for being a lighthouse in our world. We are blessed beyond belief to have you.
Thank you for your blog Joshua. You’ve really challenged some of my thinking about stuff and our lives. I just read your post about taking action on the things we say we want. More inspiration for 2017 to put my desires into action. Thank you again – keep up the good work.
Thank you Joshua for spreading the message. This has open my eyes in a very simply way of how important is to keep it simply. Thank you, thank you, thank youuuu!! looking forward for your next book!
Thank you Joshua! I’ve only discovered you and minimalist last month after feeling overwhelmed by my “stuff”. This is going to be a long process… but I know that I will be able to turn to you for continued support and inspiration! I even started donating to the Salvation Army, although a small amount now, I am hoping to increase it every year. Thank you for the inspiration! Wishing you a Blessed new year and continued success!
Thanks for the inspiration and your continued great work. All best wishes for an even better 2017!
Thanks for your commitment to sharing this message in such a gracious way. I listened online to a talk you did about minimalism and spirituality and it spoke to me so profoundly. Keep spreading the message!
The most important thing I did in 2016 was to delete my Facebook account. After years of trying to figure out this “social experiment” since its inception, I have realized that Facebook is clutter for the mind.