Despite the number of books I own, I have been working toward a minimalist lifestyle for almost 5 years. It started when I moved from southeastern Virginia to Washington, DC. This was a move from a large suburban home I had filled with "stuff" to first a studio, then one bedroom apartment. Now, since I have moved into a bigger place with two bedrooms and more living space I need to revisit my most inspiring minimalist reads to keep me on track to continuing to remove possessions without adding more. More living space does not mean I need to bring anything in to "fill" it. Instead, I want to enjoy the mental rest an uncluttered space offers. I look forward to doing yoga in the living room without having to move furniture or other clutter. I anticipate the satisfaction of passing possessions along to someone who will find them more useful, beautiful, or needed than I did.
I first discovered minimalist through the Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus and their book Everything That Remains: A Memoir by the Minimalists (2013). The book is a series of essays they published on line, then collected into a book. I continue to read their blog and saw their documentary Minimalism when it was released on Netflix. Their work is inspiring because they are open about how each came to minimalism: one through personal loss and the other because he saw how much happier his friend was with fewer possessions. I will continue to follow their work.
The next book I read was about minimizing the stresses of work life and personal life rather than possessions. Greg McKeown's Essentialism (2014) is a philosophy and guide to wading through the things we THINK we must do and getting to what is essential. He presents a simple concept with straightforward advice couched in the science and psychology behind why our work and personal lives can be streamlined for productivity and contentment. I go back to this one regularly.
Once you find the world of minimalism, you discover there are as many approaches as there are proponents. But that is one of the strengths of the pursuit - there is no one RIGHT way to declutter. If you stick around in the minimalist world for a bit you will run across a quote attributed to William Morris that asserts you should "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." (If you are interested, wikipedia will tell you all about designer and activist William Morris who was a multi-talented person.) Many of the approaches will use this quotation which is as much as they have in common in their advice for how to begin removing excess from your home.
Some minimalists I like - mainly in the order in which I discovered them.
1. Joshua Becker: the founder of Becoming Minimalist who changed his life after too much time cleaning out the garage instead of spending it with his family. I have read The More of Less (2016) and The Minimalist Home (2018) both of which are predominantly practical, while also exploring the benefits of owning less. His approach is especially good if you are traveling the path with a partner and children. He is also co-founder of two online magazines Simplify Magazine and Simple Money, both of which are regular reminders of why and how to minimize.
2. Cait Flanders: Cait is younger than others I have read, which makes her voice unique for me. Her first book is, The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store. The sub-title isn't subtle. What you see is what the book is about. Her personal motivations and reflections differ from mine, but I appreciated her take and found much inspiration in her journey. Her second book, Adventures in Opting Out was released on Tuesday (September 15, 2020) and while I pre-ordered it to take advantage of some extras she offered, I have not done more than flip through it yet.
3. Courtney Carver: Carver is the creator of the minimalist fashion challenge Project 333. The challenge has existed online for years, but the book Project 333: The Minimalist Fashion Challenge That Proves Less Really is So Much More was released in 2020. Her previous book Soulful Simplicity (2017) wasn't for me. I am much more drawn to the fashion specific part of her approach.
4. Others I have read and enjoyed include:
- Gretchen Rubin - Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter and Organize to Make More Room for Happiness (2019). Rubin's focus in much of her work is on happiness and a variety of ways to increase it in your life. She also includes organization which other minimalists avoid, instead arguing that really it is better to get rid of things than to organize them. But I like all of her work and this added another layer.
- Erin Boyle - her book, Simple Matters: Living with Less and Ending Up with More (2016) is special because it is a companion to her blog which chronicles her life with a partner and 3 small children in a tiny Brooklyn apartment. While practical, the book is also beautiful because Boyle is a photographer. Her blog is ongoing and also features lovely photography as well as insights in to daily small living.
- Cal Newport - he writes on a variety of topics only one of which pertains to minimalism, Digital Minimalism (2019). This work is a guide to simplifying our digital lives in order to be more productive at work and less distracted in our personal lives.
- Elizabeth Willard Thames - Thames, is best know as Mrs. Frugalwoods from her blog, hence the title of her book, Meet the Frugalwoods (2019). She and her husband gave up hectic lives in big cities to buy a homestead in rural Vermont where they are frugally raising their two daughters. While not strictly minimalists as she says both on her blog and in the book, they did simplify their lives in order to save to make the lifestyle change.
- Manoush Zomorodi - Her work, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self (2018) is a departure from the others, but one I think pairs well with Digital Minimalism. The book is about the ways in which we try to occupy every moment of our time and that of our partners and children, rather than allowing for boredom which in turn allows the mind to wander, often onto unexplored paths. I find that my mind really gets going when I am lying in bed and have let the concerns of the day go. For this reason I keep a pen and notepad on the bedside table to record these ideas so I can drift off knowing they will not be lost.
Have you discovered minimalism? Is it a lifestyle you embrace or reject?
