I’m a big fan of decluttering—it’s a word I use often. In fact, the online course I developed to help people own less and live more is called Uncluttered (clearly based on the word: declutter).
“Declutter” is a perfectly-good word in the English language that communicates an important principle. Everybody should remove the clutter from their homes and lives. It will transform your life and you’ll never regret it. No time spent removing clutter is ever wasted.
But I think there is a deeper conversation to be had about the words: decluttering and minimalism. I sometimes use them interchangeably as there is overlap between the two ideas. But they mean different things.
And while decluttering is great, minimalism is even better.
Decluttering is the act of removing clutter from a room, an area, etc. Removing items from our home that we know are no longer needed and are creating crowded messes or confusion.
Minimalism, on the other hand, accomplishes that and takes an additional step. Minimalism removes clutter (however broad you define the term) and it challenges our assumptions of how much we actually need.
Minimalism is about searching for the minimum amount. Or, more accurately stated, it is about finding the optimal amount of any possession in our home and life. It rejects society’s assumptions and prescriptions about the size of our home, the number of clothes in our closet, or the number of toys in our child’s bedroom. It challenges each person to discover the minimum amount needed to accomplish their purpose and goals.
Decluttering focuses on removing surface level possessions. Minimalism helps us discover how little we actually need.
Because of this difference, there are advantages to minimalism:
Minimalism frees up more resources. Because people who pursue minimalism rather than simple decluttering end up owning less, more of our finite resources (time, money, energy) are freed up.
Minimalism helps us reject consumerism. There are WAY too many people who declutter their closets and shelves, only to fill up those spaces again with more purchased clutter. Minimalism helps break the trend of consumerism in our lives more effectively than simple decluttering.
Minimalism teaches us more about ourselves. The act of challenging assumptions in life—regardless of the assumption—always results in self-evaluation. When we begin to search for more items that we can live without (and wrestle with the difficulty of removing more and more), we are forced to journey inward and learn more about ourselves, our motivations, and where our habits came from.
Minimalism benefits more people. Minimalism will always result in removing more things than decluttering. This means more opportunity to meet the needs of others in our community through generosity. Our excess can be a blessing.
Minimalism carves the way for lasting life change. Minimalism forces intentionality. It removes distractions and causes us to align our actions with our values by stripping away the excess in all areas of life. This short-term action results in long-term change for our lives and potential.
Minimalism offers longer-term benefits for our kids and the environment. In greater ways than decluttering, minimalism serves as a powerful example for our kids and offers greater benefit to the world around us.
Let me encourage you. If you need to declutter your life, do it. But don’t stop there. Take an additional step: Become Minimalist. It’s even better.
Well, been there. It’s an austere way to live. For example, your photo at the top here. You don’t need a clock on the wall, you have the time on your cellphone. You don’t need a plant in the house, take a walk outside or open a window. Most houses have ceiling lights, you don’t need a lamp for indoor lighting. Moderation is my mantra and declutter is where I’ve found it. When it starts bugging me, that’s when I get rid of it, not before.
I love that you defined it as “the optimal amount”. There’s no right or wrong amount of things to own, only the amount right for you. For a long time my husband and I owned one butter knife, by choice, and shared it. We have few kitchen things, but ample paintings decorate our walls, the plain white wall look does not appeal to me.
What surprises me every time is that decluttering is a constant journey!
Insightful
I’m not sure all of this meshes. You can be an environmentalist and have a lot of stuff. For example, canning your own food from growing your own garden means that you need gardening tools, canning supplies… but just buying cans of tomatoes or applesauce or jelly means not needing as much stuff.
Likewise, you can buy secondhand clothes, jewelry, purses, linens, etc and be environmentalist because you’re not requiring the use of new resources for those items. But you could still end up with a lot of clutter.
Thanks for the comment, but this wasn’t a post about environmentalism. It was a post about the difference between decluttering and minimalism.
This came at a perfect time for me. Disability and circumstances have meant that my decluttering journey has been going on for years, but last week I finally reached a point were my home has been mostly decluttered. I say mostly because it is a daily battle with kids and more stuff coming in! I honestly feel completely lost without my decluttering mission. I have looked into family minimalism, but am unsure of where to start, our home already feels minimal to us because we were so accustomed to living with masses of stuff. But, you are right, now the excess has gone we can truly start to question what we really need. Thanks for the thought provoking words.
I agree decluttering allows us to focus on our core values. I discovered a big one of mine was promoting a healthier planet and better communities. I now have the time and spare change to refocus my investments in socially responsible ones. Why would I want to invest in a tobacco or oil company, or the banks that support them. I also value paying more for local and healthier foods. Thanks for giving me the time and spare cash to vote with my dollars.
Minimalism is a mindset. Decluttering is an action. When the two are connected to each other, you have a life of peace, space, freedom.
Thank you Joshua for all you do to promote a higher quality of living.
So many great comments! Love the distinction! Between declutter/ minimalism. Perfect timing. Thank You!
Joshua, I am a huge fan! This is truly a ministry and pray I too can be used to help others free their lives from things that so easily entangle us! This trickles down to every aspect in our lives and I’ve been positively influenced by this new way of living. In fact I go over friends and families houses and itch to start the decluttering process in their lives! My question is why do I now feel almost addicted to decluttering, almost to the point of being OCD now. Everyday I feel the need to keep getting rid of even more stuff so I start going through my house – but when does it stop or is this what is feel like to be a true minimalist? Anyway, I’m praying for you and thankful for this new lease on life and looking at things! Jesse was a minimalist and there is so much in God’s word that supports it! Hoping to start a blog or you tube posts myself to share the joy and tricks of the trade to my new found freedom in life! Blessings to you! – Tara
I agree with the title Joshua gave to this post. I am sold on the idea of minimalism. It aligns perfectly with my environmental and conservation beliefs and just makes plain sense. I guess I’ve always been a minimalist at heart, but as an adult, I realized that I was, as Joshua says, organizing more than actually decluttering. Therefore, I wasn’t making any progress and I was frustrated. I know that I need to declutter to improve my mental wellbeing, but I am struggling with it. I get distracted too easily! I’m good at not bringing in new stuff (for the most part); it’s the stuff I already have that I need to sort through.
I hear you! My minimizing efforts have taken a lot of time and energy, and it’s sometimes very tiring work. Just make a list of decluttering tasks and prioritize them. Do a little each day–make it a manageable amount (some days are busier than others). Momentum will build as you go. You can do it!
Thanks Josh! I know the primary purpose of this post is related to material things (99.99997% of time when we talk about minimalism and decluttering it’s about stuff). But the timing of this post could not have been more serendipitous for me. With a culture of “do more with less” in professional settings people are being asked to wear multiple hats. Sounds good; efficiency; lower cost basis. We are actually so far down this path, its almost expected that you have more than one job.
But in this environment we overload people causing them stress, burnout, and ultimately a lower level of performance (so much for efficiency gains). I was recently in this situation and got to a point where I needed to push back for my own health and sanity (no joke, borderline at a breakdown). If the result was “we’ll find someone else”, i was ok with it….something had to give.
Thankfully, today, the final piece of the puzzle came into place. My previous job has been split between 3 different people and I’m now able to focus on my core strengths…key word “FOCUS”.
Minimalism is certainly about stuff. But as you state, its about removing cluttering and forcing us to focus on what’s truly meaningful and shedding the rest.
Thank you.
Agreed, and it is hard to be a minimalist in USA culture. We always only got our kids 4 gifts at Christmas and one at their birthday when they were younger, but we still have SO much. When I think about international friends who don’t even recall having a doll growing up (one from Africa) or who only had a couple toy cars (from China), I realize we are not really minimalists. Now that most of our kiddos are older they just request one gift for birthday (but still has to fit the budget). I try only to get necessities, but we still have a lot to give. We don’t know how good we have it in the USA. Listening to your book encouraged me to give away some nice handmade quilts I had been given, but don’t fit our needs, and a whole other couple bags of clothes. If we have daily food to eat and clothes to wear we are more blessed than much of the world! I guess that’s my main point. So I declutter, but I don’t get rid of all the spare sheet sets, for example, as they wear out fast. That can be valid also: saving and being thrifty, but most of all, not buying more stuff. :) Contentment and gratitude are treasures.
:-) beautifully said
It’s amazing how stuff “ creeps “ in.. intentional living helps keep it at Bay. Def tough in the USA. Less will always be more!