Minimalist living is one of the best ways to live freely with less stress. It is an art of living with less. However, just like all things worthwhile in life, minimalist living also requires some work and effort. It’s because minimizing your life is not easy. If you decide to get started with minimalist living, whether you’re moving into a smaller house or simply decluttering your space and removing excess things, you do not have to do it alone. You can find lots of useful resources for minimalist living out there.
If you want to live in a minimalist way, we are here to help you. Today, we are going to give you a list of the best resources we found about minimalist living. You can use these resources as a guide and as well as inspirations in living a simple life.
Books About Minimalism
There are lots of books out there that talks about minimalism. Here are some of the best ones we found that you may like.
1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, is a book written by Marie Kondo, a Japanese cleaning consultant. It is published in 2014 and it became a #1 New York Times best-seller. This is a very popular book and it will teach you to discover which items in your home “spark joy” and which don’t that you should eliminate. It will give you lots of tips for decluttering and simplifying your home.
2. Simplify Your Life
This book was written by Elaine St. James who’s a former realtor turned “simple liver”. She has been promoting downsizing and conscious consumerism for decades. In fact, she has written more than 20 books about these topics. This book is also an international bestseller. It is filled with foolproof tips on how to declutter, get organized, and improve the quality of your life. It contains practical advice that truly works. It is definitely a must-read for anyone who is dreaming to live in a minimalist way.
3. The More of Less
The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own is a book written by Joshua Becker. He is the creator and editor of Becoming Minimalist, which is a website that inspires lots of people around the world to own fewer things and find greater satisfaction in life. This book will help you realize the benefits you can get from owning less. It will show you that the beauty of minimalism is not in what it takes away but in what it gives. Aside from encouraging you to declutter your life, this book will also give you a direct plan on how to do so.
4. Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
This book is written by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They are best friends who decided to leave their six-figure corporate careers, discarded most of their material possessions, and began focusing on what’s truly important. This is their debut book which explores their troubled pasts and descent into depression. If you’re going through the same thing, this book can be an inspiration for you. It will make you realize that by eliminating excess material things, you will be able to focus on life’s most important things such as health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.
5. Goodbye, Things
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism is a book written by Fumio Sasaki. It is a best-selling book from Japan which can show you that a minimalist life is a happy life. Well, Fumio is not an expert in organizing or in minimalism, unlike Marie Kondo. He’s just a regular guy who used to be stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others until he decided to change his lifestyle one day by removing all the things he did not absolutely need. He shares in this book his personal minimalist experience and as well as tips on the minimizing process which you can find really helpful.
Websites and Blogs About Minimalism
There are also many websites and blogs online that talks about minimalism and minimalist living. Here are some of the best ones we found that may help you.
1. Becoming Minimalist
The website, becomingminimalist.com is owned by Joshua Becker. This website is designed to inspire others to pursue their greatest passions by owning fewer possessions. Joshua is also the author of the book The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own which we mentioned above. His website is perfect for those looking to start this journey. This website will not tell you how you should become a minimalist. Instead, it will help you discover what that means to you as an individual.
2. The Minimalists
This website is owned by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus who are also the authors of the book, Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life we mentioned earlier. They are quite popular when it comes to topics about minimalism. Their website will teach you almost everything you need to know about minimalism and minimalist living.
3. No Sidebar
If you are looking for inspiration about the fashionable approach to minimalism, then NoSidebar.com can help you with that. It is an aesthetically-minded site where you can find in-depth blog posts and articles that will inspire you to live a minimalist life with purpose. It contains useful tools that will help you focus on what’s really important. Aside from being a fashion-forward website, it is also focused on deconstructing that myth that busy always equals happy.
4. Be More with Less
This website is best for those who are looking for inspiration to simplify their lives and infuse them with love. It’s because this website is about simplifying your life and really living. It is created by writer and photographer Courtney Carver to share her story and help people discover joy in less. Aside from living with less physical items, she also writes helpful advice on how to declutter the mind.
5. The Minimalist Mom
This website is perfect for moms who are looking into minimalist living. A lot of tips you can find here are specifically geared towards families with small children. You can browse here posts and get strategies and ideas for paring down. If you’re a mom and you’re stressed about your home, this website will be able to help you how to declutter, save money, and enjoy your life a whole lot more.
Documentaries and Podcasts About Minimalism
Aside from books, blogs, and websites, you can also learn about minimalism by watching some documentaries and listening to podcasts. Here are some useful ones we found:
1. Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things
This documentary stars Dan Harris, Ryan Nicodemus, and Joshua Fields Millburn. It examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking you inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life. It includes families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, and more who are striving to live a meaningful life with less. This documentary does not shame people for consumption. What it does is it addresses why we feel as a society, the need to compulsively consume.
2. The True Cost
This is another documentary that talks about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry has on our world. It opens the curtain on the untold story and asks us to ponder who really pays the price for our clothing. This documentary can also be helpful in your journey to minimalist living, especially if you tend to spend a lot on buying clothes.
3. Consumed
This is another documentary that will open people’s eyes about consumerism. It uses theories of evolutionary psychology to explain about consumerism. It shows how our insatiable appetite has driven us into “the jaws of the beast”. It is also a great documentary to watch, especially when you’re just beginning to fully understand how minimalist living truly works.
4. The Minimalist Lifestyle
This is a documentary that is perfect for those who are feeling overwhelmed and bogged down. It will help you discover the simple step-by-step plan to get more out of your life with fewer things. It will teach you how to declutter and organize your life to live a life of Zen and happiness. Even if you just simply want to declutter your home, this documentary is useful.
5. The Simple Sophisticated Podcast
This is a fabulous podcast that talks about quality over quantity and as well as sensible living over over-consumption. Shannon Ables shares awesome and inspiring tips for a simpler existence and living a refined life on an everyday income in her weekly podcasts. This is best for people who need some serious inspiration to kick-start their own minimalist journey.
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These are some of the useful resources for minimalist living that we can recommend. It’s natural to be curious about the different ways of life. That’s why we encourage you to educate yourself by following inspiring people, reading books, and more. We hope that the resources we’ve shared will be able to help you decide if you would give the minimalist life a go and will help you to start as well. If you are looking for more reasons to live a minimalist life, you can also check out our post about the Benefits of Minimalist Living for more information.