Becoming Minimalist

Own less. Live more. Finding minimalism in a world of consumerism.

All The Reasons You Keep Hearing About Minimalism

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The term, Baader-Meinhof, refers to the phenomenon when you are introduced to a new idea and suddenly start seeing it everywhere you look. Frequency Illusion is another phrase used to explain the cognitive bias.

For example, you have no idea so many people are playing Settlers of Catan until your friend introduces you to the game. Once he does, you start noticing people talking about it everywhere you look. Or you don’t notice the number of Jeeps being driven on the road until you start driving one yourself.

This is one of the reasons you keep hearing about minimalism. A phrase you knew little about… until you were introduced to it… and now you are pleasantly surprised to see the word being talked about everywhere… even among some of your friends.

Let’s talk about that for a minute. Other than the phenomenon of frequency illusion, why are we seeing minimalism used more and more?

—

Ten years ago, I was introduced to minimalism by my neighbor. It was a short conversation that took place after a long morning of cleaning out my garage. After listening to a few sentences of me complain, my neighbor responded, “Yeah, that’s why my daughter is a minimalist. She keeps telling me I don’t need to own all this stuff.”

Those two short sentences changed the course of my life forever.

When I first heard the word “minimalism,” I searched for the phrase online. To my relief, I found some folks taking about it: Leo, Tammy, Everett, Colin. These men and women became my source of motivation and accountability. I was also encouraged by authors who were writing about a more culturally accepted phrase: “decluttering.” While not synonymous, many of their thoughts and ideas about owning less helped me along the way.

But still, relatively speaking, there were very few people writing or talking about the topic. It was certainly not a phrase being used frequently. And to the best of my knowledge, there were no websites dedicated entirely to the lifestyle (until this one, I suppose).

But a lot has changed over the ten years since I first started this blog. And these factors have led to a new world where minimalism is far more common today than in recent history.

Let’s look at the reasons you keep hearing about minimalism:

1. We own too much stuff. This blog has grown from just a handful of readers to over 1 million readers each month. When explaining this growth, I respond with a simple rationale, “Most people own too much stuff. And when somebody offers a countercultural approach that focuses on owning less, people are drawn to it.” There are a few exceptions, but most people these days recognize their lives would probably benefit from owning a little bit less.

2. The evolution of the word. Not long ago, when people heard the word minimalism, only the most extreme examples came to mind. While I craved a life with less, extreme applications of minimalism did not align with my most significant values. Correctly applied, minimalism ought to be rational, intentional, and an approach to life focused on purpose, not material possessions. Over time, people have latched on to this application of the word and living a more minimalist lifestyle has begun to look different than even a decade ago.

3. The use of the word in design. Minimalism as a term for design has been growing in popularity since World War II. It is currently used to describe movements in art, architecture, music, interior design, website design, and more. For the most part, this website is dedicated to minimalism as a lifestyle in owning fewer possessions. But that doesn’t mean the word is not used elsewhere in other ways.

4. The use of the word in advertising. Of greater concern to me is the use of the word “minimalism” in marketing campaigns. As the lifestyle grows in popularity, more and more people and businesses will seek to capitalize on its momentum for financial gain. As a result, I know of ads featuring minimalist wallets, pants, belts, watches, shirts… and countless other products. It’s the natural life cycle of a movement. And I’m thankful that the movement has grown in popularity to a point where marketing campaigns can be built around it, it just makes me sad to see it happen. If you think you need to spend a lot of money to become minimalist, you’re doing it wrong: minimalism is about owning less, not more.

5. The documentary “Minimalism” appearance on Netflix. Late last year, Minimalism: A Documentary about The Important Things made its debut on Netflix. It’s a film I’m thankful to play a small part in. I am unaware of the actual number of viewers since its debut, but I know they are significant. Special thanks to Joshua and Ryan over at The Minimalists for using the medium to help spread the life-giving message of owning less.

6. Internet Data Mining. I include this reason not because I love it, but because it is true and belongs on the list. Social media giants (actually Internet companies of every stripe) have made gathering data about users as their platform for profit. As a result, they are able to tailor your experience based on your preferences as displayed online. Visit Amazon because you need a new pair of shoes? Don’t be surprised to see those same shoes being advertised to you the next time you visit Facebook, or Google, or any number of websites. Stumble upon a website dedicated to minimalism? Don’t be surprised if you start seeing the word any number of future places you visit online.

7. Increased global social awareness. Injustice, poverty, and malnutrition have always existed. But as new technology has made the world smaller by making global images more accessible, our awareness of the disparity has increased. Some are responding to the call and using their finances to make a difference on a global scale by feeding the hungry, providing clean drinking water, fighting back epidemics, and speaking up for the voiceless wherever it is needed. Generosity, in so many ways, fuels minimalism as a lifestyle.

8. The continued growth of minimalist blogs, books, and stories. There are more blogs and books today focused on the topic of minimalism than at any point in human history. I love it! Becoming Minimalist has been featuring new and upcoming writers in the world of minimalism since 2010. And we will continue to do so in the future. A wide range of voices, cultures, and stories is healthy and needs to be championed. I have honestly never been more proud or excited about the movement.

The Baader-Meinhof effect may describe why you are more open to seeing minimalism today than ever before. But the fact remains that you had to be introduced to it at some point. If this blog played a small role in that happening, I am thankful. If not, I am glad you found us.

Minimalism may be more prevalent in our world today than ever before. But it is still counter-cultural… and there still a whole bunch of people who need to hear about the life-giving benefits of it. Let’s keep spreading the message together.

Joshua Becker

About Joshua Becker

Writer. Inspiring others to live more by owning less.
WSJ Bestselling author of The More of Less.

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Comments

  1. We’re hearing more and more about minimalism for all the reasons you listed, and because people today increasingly crave purpose, meaning and experiences over endless stuff.

  2. You weren’t the first minimalist blog I read but you are one of the few I’m still reading. Keep up the good work.

  3. I came to minimalism following my dad’s death in 2009. I woke up the next morning in my childhood bedroom and all I saw was stuff, and how none of it meant anything.

    Now, a dad myself of a 4- and 6-year-old, I find minimalism even more relevant. To put it mildly, we have to remind our relatives of our minimalist lifestyle simply to counter the out of control gift giving that takes place at birthdays and Christmas, even Easter, from our extended families. It’s just too much.

    I appreciate this blog’s message. I once considered starting a minimalist blog, but it seemed unnecessary. There are enough good ones out there with varied perspectives, such as this.

  4. I came to minimalism following a move from a 800 foot two bedroom apartment to a 500 foot one bedroom apartment with room to spare and don’t miss the stuff. Thank You Joshua for a great blog on minimalism.

  5. Hi Joshua,
    Not sure if you’re aware, but for most Europeans Baader-Meinhof isn’t a cognitive bias, it’s a terrorist group.
    BR,
    Camilla

    • Yes, indeed, that is correct. In fact, the term was first applied to the phenomenon when the author of a conversation at a major US newspaper referred to the fact that he had just heard of the Baader-Meinhof group and suddenly began noticing the group being mentioned in a number of other places (frequency illusion). From that reference and subsequent conversation, the phenomenon slowly became known as the Baader-Meinhof Effect.

  7. Indeed! It is connoted negatively and dont points to selective perception, you intended to describe. A more appropriate term would be a better choice, not to confuse your overseas readers.

  8. Hi Joshua, I live in Brazil, a very controversial country, where currently politicians are literally stealing people and corruption seems to be eveywhere.
    MInimalism, for me, is translated as how many working hours will someone spend for, example, change their 2-years-only-used car for a brand new one which will lose 30% value, or simmilar behaviors that marketing advertisement make us to do.

    • I was thinking of replacing my 2015 Subaru Impressa this year. It only has18000 miles on it! Am I crazy or foolish because my front bumper was cracked because of a design flaw. It was too low and I always hit it on every parking curb. So I finally took the grill off and it looks a little weird but it runs fine, so I changed my mind and now.Plan to drive it for a least 10 years or as long as it lasts. How foolish we become by listening to ads that tell us our car is our image. I plan to do a lot more minimalist activities from now on.

  10. Thank you for this post. Our senior move management company is always looking for information that we can refer to when speaking with clients. This will certainly be used!

  11. I became fascinated with minimalism when we were decluttering our 5 bedroom home so we could put it up for sale. 25 years of accumulated “junk” suddenly needed to be gone in order to show our house. All our storage spaces were crammed with kid stuff and things that “may be needed someday.”
    I stumbled upon Miss Minimalist and never looked back. Today in a 2 bedroom city apartment I could not be happier. I still find things to get rid of and donate, and i never tire of talking about my experience to others. Thanks Joshua and to all the other bloggers that I welcome into my life via email. Keep spreading the word and I truly feel that we will become the norm someday!

  12. Another catalyst was the economic downturn in 2008-2012. With a sudden reduction in income, many people began to question what they really needed. This began with an examination of purchases and buying habits. Do I really need/want this? It then extended to things already owned and a progressive divestiture of so much of it. I know this because it is what catapulted me forward down the path. I watched it happen with others as well. No doubt, economic circumstances before and after this have had the same effect, but I think that particular downturn was impactful enough to nudge a large number of people who never went back to their old ways.

  13. I discovered minimalism when I decided to clean the garage where my wife could actually get her car in! I love to get rid of STUFF!

  14. Amen, Joshua! It’s a life process, and as long as our culture is overwhelmingly consumption-driven, it will remain a constant process. Thank you for being at the forefront of the minimalist movement. We need your encouragement to continue bringing our lives into line with our intentions. Happiness will never come from just possessing THINGS.

  15. I think the more we talk about minimalism the more we normalize it. And then those who are feeling isolated (living or wanting to live as a minimalist among a circle of maximalists) will feel better about their lifestyle choices.

  16. I started living simply after reading Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James 20 years ago along with Your Money or Your Life. Both Excellent books, though somewhat dated now, but LIFE CHANGING!!!!

    • I would have to agree that the Voluntary Simplicity movement is something that existed and has been lived by many (myself included) for decades. Minimalism has become the new “word.” However, these ideas have existed for many years and we can look even beyond Walden to exam them. The hyper-consumption of our current culture puts the emphasis on removal of stuff. I enjoy this site very much, but some people have been in this arena for a long time and we should recognize their stepping stones and contributions to the current trend. Your Money or Your Life is an excellent examples, Simple Living Guide…there are too many to list and many have roots in the Pacific Northwest. I would suggest many on this site look back. They would be treasured books.

      • Thank you for the reminder of the gems you listed!!!! Read them many years ago and they helped form the person I am. I like the new bloggers but sometimes I feel there are too many. Less is more.

      • I first read Duane Elgin’s, “Voluntary Simplicity”, in the 80s and it so resonated with me that I announced to my family we would be simplifying our Christmas. We did and I have followed that path ever since with no regrets. I’ve read those “gems” too, Stacy, and you are right about info origination out of the Northwest Earth Institute. I facilitated Simplicity Circles when I worked for a nonprofit in the late 90s-early 2000. Experiences are so much richer than stuff!

  17. Both of my parents grew up in the depression era so they kept everything. After my father died and my mom went to an assisted facility, my brother & I donated 80% and the rest was trashed.
    I became a minimalist because of them and their stuff. I bought a house last year and have basic things. I don’t own a TV as I’d rather have money in the bank to travel. I talk to my friends about being a minimalist all the time but it does fall on deaf ears sometimes.

  18. The one thing I have learned is that minimalism is not just about having less, but in not needing more. It has taken me awhile to realize that even a great price isn’t worth it for something I don’t need.

  19. I started my minimalist journey 5 years ago after stumbling upon your blog which is the only blog I have consistently been reading since. Thank you for all the encouragement now and to come. God bless you.

  20. We are in the early stages of this refreshing journey. Recently I discovered your blog when preparing a message (I’m a pastor in Canada) on the problem of todays consumerism and its negative effects. I taught that we can battle the consumeristic giant by being content with less. Although I hadn’t heard the term “minimalism” I was somewhat aware of biblical “simplicity” which seems to share much in common. The outcome is that Ive been selling stuff as well as taking trips to the Mission thrift store plus some loads to the waste transfer station and now just this afternoon we parked our two vehicles in our garage for the first time in years (Yay!). We seldom were able to get one car in because of the clutter.
    We have also been focused on paying down our debt and mortgage over the past year or so and now with this “minimalism” motivation it puts that agenda on steroids. With the reduced spending we are getting out of debt far faster than I ever thought we would be able to – Wow, this is great!! Thanks Joshua for the blog (and I’m enjoying your book “The More of Less” as well) and thank you to everyone for your encouraging words you write about your experiences.

  21. Hurricane Katrina catapulted me into decluttering. So many people lost everything they had, their homes and possessions….some escaped with only the clothes on their backs. I went from looking around my home and seeing what I perceived as being lacking to looking around my home and seeing all of the many, many things that I had an over abundance of….stuff that I was hanging onto for “just in case”. “Just in case” arrived on the heels of Katrina. We donated truck loads of furniture, household linens, clothing, dishes and pots and pans. A year later, Hurricane Lily hit to the west of us. I discovered that I had even more things that other people needed more than we did and out went a couple of more truck loads.

    We’re not minimalists by any strict definition of the term. We still have things, we still buy things every so often. But we’ve gone from a place of feeling like we always needed more to a place were we recognize that, for the most part, we have enough. And enough is just right.

  22. Joshua,

    I really enjoy your articles.

    I am 58 years of age and have always been organized since childhood but did not know much about the concept of minimalism until a few years ago. We had a 2300 square foot home and when my son moved out after graduating college we made the decision to downsize. We moved to a 1200 square foot home in the country. To make room for our new home we had to sell, donate and give away a lot of our stuff. I remember having our son come to our home to sort through 12 storage boxes of items (Items that we thought he would want to keep). He kept a half box and I asked him what he wanted us to do with the rest and he said “sell it or give it away”. The millennial generation simply do not want their parent’s stuff!

    After 2 years we decided that country life did not fit our minimalist life style and we sold our home and bought a condo (950 square feet of space) in the city. Condo living requires no yard maintenance so we were able to sell a lot of yard tools (including a riding lawnmower). We had had to sell and donate more items to accommodate our smaller living space. We love living in the city. Everything is close by and I am able to walk to work (I now have a 5 minute commute). This makes my work life less stressful. My wife is able to stay at home and she takes care of all the home chores (laundry, grocery shopping, finances, cleaning, meals etc.) This frees up our evenings and weekends. My wife loves the fact that the maintenance of our home is a lot less stressful with no yard work and less to clean. Having a minimalist home allows us to have a minimalist lifestyle. We have more free time to be able to pursue things we like to do. We are also able to save money, stay healthy by eating home cooked meals and more time to exercise. We are able to walk a lot for exercise, I am able to run in a downtown environment and I have a compact set of weights and a fold up bench that takes up little space.

    Some of the specific way we minimalized our home to save money and live simply: we shed duplicate kitchen utensils, we donated a ton of Christmas decorations (only have one box now), removed photos from several albums and organized them in 3 store bought shoe boxes (we plan to digitize our photos and important documents), we sold excess furniture that was not practical, we are down to one computer, one TV, we donated a lot of clothing items (including shoes, coats we never wear and we buy the same groceries each week (rotate vegetables and go meatless for at least 3 days a week).

    For me, living a minimalist life has helped me to declutter my mind in order to focus on the important things of life. This includes my spiritual, physical and mental well-being. We have made decisions to sever relationships that have been negative in nature, made new relationships with folks who have some of the same spiritual beliefs, have consistency in diet and exercise and read books that are beneficial in nature. In the near future we plan to go from 2 automobiles to 1.

    Being a minimalist has been a great experience. Most Baby Boomers do not aspire to this type of lifestyle but it has allowed me to share my experience and most see the positive benefits. My son who is 30 aspires to minimalist living and is mostly interested in experiences and not material possessions. My son knows that when we are no longer on this earth, that he will have little possessions to dispose of. Since I have been living the minimalist life I make better decisions on what I do purchase. Finally, I have found that less stuff makes me happier than having more stuff!

  23. Uhmm, I lived in Germany in the 1970’s; you might want to google the Baader-Meinhof gang and the origin of that name from that era

    • Hello Janet, thanks for the comment. I mentioned earlier (on Camilla’s comment), the origin of the term and it’s connection to the terrorist group.

  24. Hi I also found this connection with murderers and terrorist and minimalism deeply disturbing.
    I usually enjoy the blog very much, this time not at all.

  25. I understand wanting to share the benefits of minimalism but as Christians shouldn’t we be spreading the message of the Kingdom of God? After all having stuff or nothing having stuff won’t save our soul.

  26. Nice post. As someone that has been interested in simple living and minimalism since Elaine St. James’ book in 1994, I can agree with your assessment of how this whole trend has come to be where it is. Your blog is now a mainstay in the “movement,” and I couldn’t be happier for you.

  27. This is the best definition of minimalism I have read, thank you! It is so easy to forget this truth, it is not about possessions, but about a life lived on purpose.

    “Correctly applied, minimalism ought to be rational, intentional, and an approach to life focused on purpose, not material possessions.”

  28. I’ve been seeing the word “minimalism” more and more alongside advertising, too, and it’s both hilarious in how ridiculous it is and a little frightening. Luckily, since I’ve also applied minimalism to my phone and internet use I can tune it out. Also, blogs like yours and Cait Flanders’s have been so helpful in curbing any urge to spend on what I don’t need. I think a year ago I would have clamored to the “minimalist” home decor items, but now I can get a chuckle and move on.

  29. I really enjoy your work, especially since you include kids and family in your approach to minimalism.

    I think another appeal of minimalism, when done rationally and intentionally as you describe, is that it honors individual values. So much if the time people seek meaning not only through purchases, but also through higher education, civic organizations, religion, etc., which all offer a prescribed way of doing or believing. Those prescriptions work beautifully when they fit your true values, but the genius of minimalism is that it helps you find those values for yourself first.

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