Welcome to Becoming Minimalist. If you are new, welcome! With over 1M readers every month, we’re honored to have new readers every day. If that’s you, welcome. I’d love to make your experience as comfortable as possible.
Most importantly, Becoming Minimalist is designed to inspire people to pursue their greatest passions by owning fewer possessions.
To find out more about my new book, Things That Matter, click here.
About Joshua Becker
My story begins in suburban Vermont while I was cleaning the garage, my wife was cleaning the bathrooms and my 5-year old son was playing alone in the backyard. I struck up a regular conversation with my neighbor who commented, “Maybe you don’t need to own all this stuff.”
The juxtaposition was striking. My possessions piled up in the driveway… my son in the backyard… my day slipping away… I immediately recognized something needed to change. My belongings were not adding value to my life. Instead, they were subtracting from it.
My family and I began donating, recycling, and removing our unnecessary personal possessions. We embarked on an intentional journey to own less stuff.
As a result, we discovered more money, more time, more energy, more freedom, less stress, and more opportunity to pursue our greatest passions: faith, family, friends. And we decided to write about it.
Becoming Minimalist quickly became a place to encourage others to embrace minimalism. It does not boldly require anyone to become minimalist overnight—nor does it specifically define the word for you. Instead, it encourages each reader to discover their own journey and the far-reaching benefits that come from owning less.
We are dedicated to rational minimalism and discovering what that uniquely means for us. And the more who are introduced to this life-changing message, the better! Because we’re all just trying to make the most of this journey called life.
Over the course of the last eight years, I’ve become a best-selling author and have written four books:
- Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life*
- Clutterfree with Kids: Change your thinking. Discover new habits. Free your home.*
- The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own.*
- The Minimalist Home.*
- Things That Matter*
Past media coverage includes:
CBS Evening News, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio (NPR,) The Guardian, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Forbes, TIME, Fox News, The Huffington Post, Minimalism Documentary (Netflix), Reader’s Digest, LA Times, Sirius XM, CNBC, TODAY Show, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Good Housekeeping, and countless others you can find all over the Internet.
Our Articles
Get introduced to our simple message by reading some of our most popular posts:
- How to Declutter Your Home: 10 Creative Decluttering Tips
- What Is Minimalism? The 8 Essential Aspects of Minimalism
- The 10 Most Important Things to Simplify in Your Life
- 10 Reasons to Escape Excessive Consumerism
- 15 Clutter Busting Routines For Any Family
Or, to discover the importance of owning less, try one of these posts:
- Don’t Just Declutter. De-own.
- Minimalism Benefits: 21 Benefits of Owning Less
- Living With Less: 7 Ways to Sample Minimalist Living
We learned quickly that our journey to live with less on the outside would force our attention inward:
- How to Be Happy: 8 Ways to Be Happier Today
- How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
- 20 New Ways to Measure Success
- Learning to Consider Gratitude a Discipline
And would be entirely unique because of our life’s values:
If you really can’t get enough, browse our most popular articles. But be warned, there’s a bunch of information there.
Our Community
If you would like to receive new posts via e-mail, sign up here. We are also connected to our community through social media. Find us here:
- Facebook: Inspirational quotes and links.
- Twitter: Quotes, thoughts, links.
- YouTube: Promoting simplicity in home and life.
For interviews, media requests, or general questions, contact us at becomingminimalist@gmail.com
For more information on Joshua, visit his Wikipedia entry here.
will says
How do you become a minimalist, when you have nothing?
Like, no social life, no social skills, no money and live with people who barely scrape by. Top it off, everyone except 4 people dislike you for a stereotype (like, white but not good enough to be an anglo and even white people dislike you for being so weird type). Everywhere you go, you get rejected unless it’s like, buying something.
If your generally disliked and have maybe 4 assets (2 cars, tv, ps3) to your name.
Like, how do you cut out things properly to live (Whatever that is).
Joel says
Discovered on facebook. Been so looking for something like this for a long time.
Dogwod says
Didn’t know about this site. I could have written everything I read. Nice to know others see the benefits of CHOOSING a different life than chasing the status quo.
It so aptly demonstrates to me how indoctrinated and habituated people are not being aware of the potential negatives of the typical American lifestyle when, despite me carefully sharing with people, the simpler less materialistic less of a consumer based less selfish less human centric rather minimalistic less wasteful lifestyle I live, I describe it to them. They can not even grasp, much less accept, the concept that others live happy, safe, and productively differently than them. It’s a if I’m speaking Chinese to them and all they know is the English language when I describe a lifestyle without or with less TV, automobile usage, 401 k plan, cell ph/Ipod, living in a box style home, etc.
Dogwod says
So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key
But me, I’m already gone
And I’m feelin’ strong
I will sing this victory song
‘Cause I’m already gone
Yes, I’m already gone
Brent says
I’m sure it’s probably covered somewhere, but didn’t see it by browsing. I stopped buying things, for the most part, about four years ago and have gotten rid of quite a bit. I’m sure I’m not alone when it comes to having a difficult time getting rid of collectibles. I have several boxes full of things that I’ve collected over the years. I work in the film industry and there are collectibles that come along with each production. I’m a photographer and my collection of cameras, lenses and related gear is substantial.
Also, my garage is a bit of a creative workshop so there are tools of all kinds and boxes of nails, nuts, bolts, hooks etc. There are art supplies, paints, screen printing equipment and on and on.
So, two questions… How to deal with collectibles and how to deal with tools & supplies that you MIGHT need for whatever creative project that comes along?
Thank you.
Hoosier Mom says
I don’t really remember how I got to your site, but I thank you for helping me come to an ephiphany I needed. The paragraph about your 3 day weekend and your son sounds like my life, the important things in life have been consumed by the not so important things. I’ve been reading for a couple months, and will continue to read and change things one day or item at a time. Thanks for your site, great reading!
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Jose Baizan says
Living a minimalist life is living a balance life, thus living a a life worth living as Socrates would say…I live that life!
di says
The tiny house forums have great advice as well..
Alan McGhee says
Tried to subscribe. I don’t have a newsfeed reader. Don’t want clutter of getting one. What’s wrong with e-mail or Facebook? Bye-bye.