A special thanks to each of you for making 2018 such an enjoyable year at Becoming Minimalist. It was my tenth.
This website continues to reach people beyond my wildest dreams as we grow every year in new and unbelievable ways. As before, this growth has occurred because of the support from 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 reaches 1.2M unique visitors/month.
- Our Facebook group grew from 855,000 to 1,300,000 followers.
- Twitter followers increased from 56,000 to 65,000.
- 190,000 people currently receive Becoming Minimalist posts via email. Sign-up here to do the same.
- Simplify Magazine, our digital, quarterly magazine grew from 27,000 to 113,000 subscribers.
- 10,100 new people went through our Uncluttered Course last year.
But some of our most significant successes this past year are not found in the numbers above:
- The Minimalist Home was released on December 18. It is the most practical and comprehensive room-by-room guide to a decluttered, refocused life. And it sold out in hours—almost everybody misjudged how large this movement towards minimalism had become.
- I launched a magazine called Simple Money Magazine. It is a quarterly, digital publication designed to help families become more intentional with their finances—a subject I am passionate about. Each issue gathers experts to tackle complex money issues in a simple way. The magazine is ad-free and entirely reader-supported.
- The Hope Effect, our non-profit continued to change how the world cares for orphans by focusing on new initiatives in Honduras and fully funding our project in San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico. To date, we have raised almost $600,000 for family-based orphan care around the world.
- Launched a YouTube Channel.
In case you missed any, here are the top posts on Becoming Minimalist from 2018.
Most Popular Posts from 2018 (as determined by readers):
7 Life-Changing Perspectives To Overcome Your Family’s Obsession with Stuff. If your family struggles with owning too much, consider these seven life-changing perspectives to help overcome your family’s obsession with stuff.
How to Craft A Life You Don’t Need to Escape From. Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.
12 Reasons I Like Owning Less. There are many reasons people live a minimalist life. Sometimes it is forced upon them. But that is not my story. I live a minimalist life because I like owning fewer things.
How to Handle Sentimental Clutter. What to do with the sentimental things you’ve collected over the years.
20 Places to Donate Used Books. Books are an important part of our lives. When we decide it’s time to part with them, we want to know they are going to a nice home where they can continue to enrich and improve other people’s lives.
My Personal Favorite Posts from the past year:
Jump While You Can. Jump while you can. Because life changes quickly. And there may come a day soon when you are not able to jump.
Focus on the Reasons You Can. It is vitally important to discipline ourselves to focus our thoughts on the reasons we can, rather than the reasons we can’t.
THAT Person is More Important Than Your Phone. There’s nothing wrong with phones. I appreciate all the positive changes they have brought into my life. But too often, they distract us from the people around us—both friends and strangers.
Still the Most Important Piece of Financial Advice You’ll Ever Receive. There’s a reason ten out of ten financial advisors recommend it.
Most Popular Guest Posts in 2018:
How to Live a Happy Life? Science Says to Focus on These 10 Things by Jay Harrington. It’s clear from the science that the acquisition of bigger and better things won’t make us
The Endowment Effect: Why You Can’t Let Go Of Your Possessions by Louis Chew. The Endowment Effect is the tendency for us to overvalue things we own. It explains why we are so unwilling to give something up once we have ownership of it.
I Joyfully Decluttered These 5 Things to Boost Happiness by Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui. It is neither the pursuit of simplicity nor absence of stuff alone that determines my happiness.
What I’ve Learned From Not Buying Anything For the Past 6 Months by Britt. After six months on the no-buy train, I’ve learned a thing or two about myself, my consumption habits, and the process of shopping bans themselves.
Most Popular Outgoing Links from the past year:
Extreme Frugality Allowed Me to Retire at 32 – and Regain Control of My Life by Elizabeth Willard Thames. Elizabeth abandoned a successful career in the city and embraced frugality to create a more meaningful life. It enabled her to retire at 32 with her family to a homestead in the Vermont woods.
4 Things We Think We Need Today that Won’t Matter at All in the Long Run by Marc and Angel Chernoff. Most of us suffer from a severe misalignment of our priorities, even though, deep down, we know our lives are quickly passing us by.
9 Hard Truths About Clutter You Need to Hear by Erica Layne. Once we’ve decided we’re done owning belongings, they don’t magically cease to exist.
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 2019.
I am excited about the early popularity of The Minimalist Home and the opportunities that might arise from it. Uncluttered will be launched three times this year. The first edition of 2019 begins on January 15th. 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.
It’s so funny you talk about minimalism and have a boy thirty sites to view!!! One or the other?????
Hi Joshua!
My husband, Tim, and I recently listened to the audiobook version of your book The More of Less while road tripping over the holidays. We are “aspiring” minimalists and have been upgrading our life through downsizing for 8 months now!
We run a Christian Minimalist blog (www.theminfam.com) and have boatloads of content that we want to turn into a book. The only problem is that we have no idea where to even start in writing a book. Do you have any tips on where to begin with this process?
You’ve helped inspire us so much and we really appreciate what you have to say in your writing!
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Blessing,
Celia Horst
I just started reading your book, The More of Less. It’s such a refreshing approach to life. I’ve been slowly adopting the minimalist lifestyle over the last year or so, and I’m realizing that it’s what I needed in my life for a very long time. Thank you for your insights and keep sharing your ideas and stories. They are a source of great inspiration for so many.
Thanks for putting minimalism in perspective with your spiritual life. It seems many minimalists have made it their religion. But no lack of stuff is going to fill a void in your spirit. Any chance you’re planning to do an audio book of The More of Less? My husband won’t sit down and read the book, but he would likely listen to it in the car.
Maria, I can answer your question. There already is an audio book of The More of Less! That’s what I’ve got. I really enjoyed it. Took my time listening to it on the way to/from work.
I love the extras I received by pre-ordering The Minimalist Home, but was wondering if you could provide the documents without the background. When I print the checklist, it would save ink to not have a background. Thanks!
Send us an email (joshua@becomingminimalist.com). We might have something for you.
I think it’s great that you want to share your experience on how to declutter your home, and I enjoy reading your works; however, one question keeps coming to mind. Why are you pushing the sale of your book so widely?
Continuously posting that your books are being sold out and where to find them on your Twitter only perpetuates the common system having to purchase something *right now* or else people are missing out.
I by no means mean to argue or anything; I know that minimalists don’t have to shun money or anything like that. I’m curious to hear your perspective on the matter. Also, I looked around but wasn’t able to find anything–are the sales of these books going towards anything in specific?
Thank you for reading!
Thanks for the comment Maribel. The proceeds from The Minimalist Home founded our nonprofit organization, The Hope Effect. In this case, for people who want to receive the book for January (which many do), knowing where the book can actually be found and where it is sold out is quite helpful. Hope that helps.
I am beyond ready to begin my minimalist journey…however, my husband is borderline hoarder and refuses to part with anything. Advice???
Your cheerful attitude as you declutter all of your own stuff will, possibly, over time cause him to take notice and want to join you freely. If he asks questions, be positive, and tell him your why. It might make as much sense to him and make him realize he has a good reason to declutter too.
Joshua, thank you for the thoughtfulness and intentionality with which you approach your blog. It adds value to my life and is a resource I turn to when I need inspiration for my intentional living journey. You are putting goodness into the world and I and many others are very grateful for it!
For sure! :)
My son wanted to buy me this book for Christmas-it was sold out at Barnes and noble, waiting patiently for them to restock!
It has sold out most places. Books-A-Million is probably the only online retailer left with books in-stock.