On August 13, 2009, Becoming Minimalist caught a break. Unannounced to me, a blog with over 200,000 subscribers linked to this site. It brought countless new readers to this site and continues to drive traffic here even now. In many ways, it put Becoming Minimalist “on the minimalist living map.” And when people ask me how this blog has grown so quickly, I always reference that date and that link as a milestone in this blog’s growth.
Since that time, I have tried to use this platform to help other blogs increase their readership.
I am really quite excited about the current state and future of simplicity-focused blogs on the Internet.
Every couple years or so, it seems like a fresh wave of minimalist bloggers begins to appear on the scene. If you haven’t noticed, we’re in one right now.
Each writer offers a unique stage of life with unique circumstances and experiences. As a result, each one is able to connect with a different reader or segment of the population. And I think that’s great.
If you are looking for new inspiration, there is no doubt you will find someone on this list below whose voice resonates deeply with yours. I am confident each author would welcome the opportunity to connect with like-minded readers.
Break the Twitch | Anthony Ongaro. Anthony is the Marketing Director for the bike share program in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nice Ride. He writes about observing the way we live, experimenting with our habits, and then changing to better suit our needs. He is creative and genuine. And his video posts are a welcome change of pace.
Smallish Blog | Evelyn Rennich. Evelyn and her family of six live happily in a small-ish house. She writes about their attempts to live modestly, frugally, and green. Evelyn shares beautiful details about her experience and how others can find inspiration through them.
No Sidebar | Brian Gardner. I met Brian several years ago through the introduction of a mutual friend and quickly found we have countless things in common. Since then, we’ve become good friends and he has helped me in immeasurable ways. Brian has assembled a talented team of writers for his No Sidebar Project, a collection of articles on minimalism, productivity and simple living.
Melissa Camara Wilkins | Melissa Camara Wilkins. I needed to read about 2-3 paragraphs of Melissa’s writing to fall in love. Her writing is encouraging and gentle and uplifting—but filled with powerful truth. She and her husband are raising their six kids in a beach town in Southern California. She writes about defining your unique life and living it with purpose.
Minimal Millennial | Emily Torres. Emily recognizes that many people in her generation (and outside her generation) are dealing with debt, cluttered homes, unhealthy relationships, stressful jobs, or even just trying to figure out how to “grow up” in this ever-changing world. She writes for seekers of happiness, simplicity, health, and well-being.
Jacob Jolibois | Jacob Jolibois. As a side-note, it was Jacob’s blog that inspired this post. I already knew many of the other blogs on this list when I ran into Jacob’s. His well-designed site and helpful approach to blog posts caused me to reflect further on the current state of simplicity-focused writing. Go check it out and make room for more meaning in your life.
Frugaling | Sam Lustgarten. Sam has been blogging for just over two years on the act and art of maximizing your budget and minimizing costs. I’m a big fan of Sam. I appreciate the voice he is bringing to the personal finance world—that financial success is not just about finding more income, sometimes it is found in redefining the life we live.
Blonde on a Budget | Cait Flanders. After paying off $30,000 of debt, Cait adopted a more minimalist lifestyle, tossed 70% of her stuff and is currently in the middle of a two-year shopping ban. Her blog is actually a bit older than two years, but I still thought it deserved mention. She’s funny, sharp, thoughtful, and lives in Canada (how could it get any better?).
Simple… Not Plain | Janie Baran. What I appreciate about Janie is that her posts contain detailed thoughts on implementing minimalism. She has written about her own personal routine in wardrobe, beauty, laundry, and decluttering. Her writing is not merely inspiration, but also instruction. Whether a reader implements everything she writes or not, just hearing how somebody else incorporates these principles is helpful.
These lists are hard. And even though I spend a considerable amount of time finding simple living-focused writing online, I admit my scope is limited. Almost without a doubt I have missed blogs that should be included in the list above.
Use the comment section to spread the word about even more new blogs focused on simplicity or minimalism. It can be yours or someone else’s. Include the blog name, one link, and a 2-3 sentence description. Thanks.
Omer Gungor says
Is there anyone who can read in Turkish? :)
http://minimalistyasam.com
“Yasam” means “life” in our language… For several years, I have been enjoying and feeling inspired reading the blogs of Joshua, Leo and the Minimalists. Then I thought, why nobody writes or talks about these simple yet wonderful things in Turkey?! And I decided to start a blog myself, to spread the word!! (when do we establish our Church of Minimalism?)
…Since I started “minimalist yasam” a few months ago, the interest is quite encouraging! I am writing stories from my life most of the time, and let the readers draw their own conclusions.
I kind of feel, we minimalists are like one big family! I might be living on the other side of the globe, speaking another language; but I feel as if you are an extended family of mine although I have never met any of you (yet!).
Greetings from sunny and humid Istanbul,
Lisa says
Sorry, maybe this link will work :)
http://www.trysimplelife.com/
Lisa says
This is a great list – thank you everyone for sharing! I have been searching for these types of blogs since starting my own five months ago, and can say that I enjoy all that I have found so far. I am really excited to read more!
After years of working and raising children, we are really trying to find ways to slow down and simplify our lives. I am sharing our stories here at Try a Simple Life @
Angie Stegall says
My husband and I are just getting started blogging about our adventures in simplifying! We went from 1100 sq. ft. to 900 sq.ft. and are now living in 280 sq. ft. Our goal in 2 years is to travel the USA in our sprinter van. Check our adventures in simplifying at our blog at http://YukonandBean.com. (And thanks for letting us plug ourselves here.)
Elilley says
‘Her’ and her husband ??
Do you think that’s correct?
Kaye says
Great list. Thanks for continuing to provide such helpful resources. A friend of mine recently began writing for Tiny Living.
http://tinyliving.com/
Meg says
This Big Happy is the story of how we went from having everything to having nothing, being homeless, and having a ton of debt. Mostly, it’s the story of our emotional and financial recovery through what we call “mindful living” and how we manage to do it while raising 6 awesome kids.
Meg says
I thought the URL would be injected into the comment :) It’s http://www.ThisBigHappy.com
Thanks for the new reading suggestions!!
Sarah-Ann says
What a great list of blogs, most of which I’ve already been following. But there are a few new ones to check out. Thanks for putting together this list for us all. I also love the minimalism/simple living community which I’m happy to be a part of.
My blog is about simple living and having fun with it. I break my days down into different categories that makes up what simple living means to me. Feel free to check it out @ https://livingintentionallysimple.wordpress.com/
Sophia Living Simply says
I’m a new blogger to the simple living scene. I really loved this post. Definitely will be following quite a few of these. Thanks for sharing! If anyone is interested my new blog can be found here: http://www.sophialivingsimply.com
Cheers!
Simple Is The New Green says
Thanks for the opportunity for self promotion!
SimpleIsTheNewGreen.com is about optimizing health, wealth and happiness while reducing our environmental footprint. Collectively, I call this “WELL-th”.
Katy Bowman at KatySays.com is one of my new favorite writers. She is a biomechanist and her approach to healthy living is similar to the minimalist movement. She doesn’t have a couch, she promotes minimalist footwear and she forages with her kids to get exercise, sun and food.