Francine Jay pioneered the minimalist living movement with her blog, MissMinimalist.com, and her book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life. In 2009, she and her husband sold their house, and all their possessions, and moved overseas with one suitcase each. After three years as a world-traveling digital nomad, she鈥檚 now applying her minimalist philosophy to her new life as a homeowner and mother.
This was a solid book on Minimalism, a lifestyle I am becoming more and more in line with. The premise of only owning and keeping things that I need, use, or bring me joy seriously appeals to me. I have always hated clutter.
That said, I am not striving to be a strict or pure minimalist by any means. Rather, I see myself as merely what has been dubbed as a rational minimalist, meaning my goal is not to be a one pair of shoes owning, figurine-less psychopath with only two glass mason jars and a capsule wardrobe. Nothing against those people - kudos to them - but that鈥檚 just not my goal.
My goal is to clear the blatantly superfluous and eradicate my needless spending. I mean, homie already 鈥減ared down鈥� her book collection to, like, a thousand. Meaning I got rid of 25 books! Sounds minimalist to me. Okay... so not gonna lie. I鈥檓 not minimalizing my books. They bring me mad fucking joy.
I did manage to cull the herd in other ways, though. Who knew I had 75 pairs of shoes, 50 pens and an embarrassing amount of purses and makeup. Going through things and minimalizing the unwanted, unused, and unneeded felt SO good.
Anyway, while I did find some of this book to be a bit...preachy - and borderline deceitful in regard to unwanted gifts - I also really appreciated the overlying message of simplicity, environmental awareness, and the idea of living more mindfully.
There's nothing groundbreaking here, just a good reminder. My husband and I are purging and decluttering as we prepare to downsize.
There are a lot of good tips but nothing I haven't read before. But reading these types of books increases my resolve and helps my mindset stay positive. My favorite tip: as you purge, put everything that is in the "maybe" pile (the things you aren't quite ready to give up) in a box, tape it closed and put it in storage. If in one year you haven't opened the box, donate it without opening it. Great idea.
Also, another great idea: completely empty out any closet, drawer, storage space before attempting to purge.
The author writes in a conversational tone and has fun with the idea of living with less to lighten our stress and increase our joy. It shouldn't be an onerous task, but a joyful one.
This was a great reminder of a lot of things I already knew, but it also helped me gain a new philosophy about owning things. It renewed my motivation to organize and reduce, but it also helped me take it to a new level, such as helping me feel less guilty about getting rid of things I might "need someday" or increasing the value of empty space. She mentioned several times the freedom one felt in college when possessions were few and focus was more on doing rather than on owning. Yet, she encourages us to value and enjoy our (limited) treasures by putting them on display; to take joy in our hobbies; to make more space for our friends and family both in our lives and in our homes--you can't play a board game on a cluttered table. I am resolved to think much more carefully about purchasing new things and to buy in smaller amounts; to travel with less luggage; to be more generous; to tread more lightly in life. I highly recommend this book, especially in our consumer-oriented world.
I really wanted to buy this book in physical form, despite the barbaric nature of not reading on a Kindle, because I figured it would be the kind of book that I would loan or give away to someone else. But after several months of trying to find it, even braving the dread Self Help section, I gave up and downloaded it.
This is a very good and practical book for anyone who wants to declutter or streamline their life. And who doesn't? Conveniently, the first letter of each step actually spells out the word STREAMLINE. What could be simpler?
Each step is explained in a plain and unrelentingly cheery way. Then the steps are painstakingly applied to each major room in a house. This gets a bit redundant, but it has the advantage of making it possible to flip to a particular room and get everything you need to do in one section without flipping around.
The part I like best is that you have to remove everything from a room to really declutter. I couldn't agree more. We recently moved everything from our basement to our garage to have some work done and it was amazing to see all the crap we had. We wound up making a bunch of donations and/or trips to the dump.
At times the book gets a little goofy, like when it suggests donating extra paper clips. If you are running across town to donate paper clips you may need to streamline your head a little bit or ask your doctor about OCD medication.
The cheeriness grated at times, but that's just a personal thing with me. I can't read phrases like "Now we're having a blast sorting our highlighters by color!" without feeling physical pain.
Estoy empezando a leer libros sobre minimalismo, y este es de los primeros as铆 que no tengo mucho para comparar. Solo s茅 que es un libro cuidado (se agradece) y que cuenta con consejos 煤tiles. L谩stima el olor a sexismo que quiz谩s hace a帽os pasaba por alto. Hoy ya no lo admito. Siempre hay alguna persona que se queja de este baremo pero es lo que hay. Si huele, lo digo.
This book on the minimalist life was recommended by my sister and I enjoyed it a lot. The author's method of getting rid of the excess baggage in your home is practical, well thought out and efficient. I started doing it even before I finished reading the book and I feel so much lighter already.
She also has some things to say about the spiritual side of letting things go which I found very engaging. Living simply with fewer objects is a philosophy I can get behind. I checked it out from the library, but I liked it so well I bought it so I could refer to it. Now I have to get rid of a book, because of her "one in one out" idea which is if you bring something into your home, you must get rid of a similar object. This works so that after cleansing your home of stuff, you don't start filling it back up again.
I am unable to distinguish anything in this book from Marie Kondo鈥檚 The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and yet my shelves remind me that I did, in fact, read them both.
It鈥檚 not that there is no utility in the advice contained within books like this if one is prone to hoarding and disorganization; it just seems to me that everything could be more concise. It is not necessary for this to be an entire self-help sub-genre unto itself. The pages are, dare I say, cluttered with words and chapters which say the same thing over and over. Perhaps if one is motivated by nagging, this would be helpful.
However, I enjoy the irony in the idea that someone is cluttering their home up with faddish books about decluttering.
Full disclosure: I'm not an aspiring minimalist. I read this to get inspired to reorganize some areas of our home.
The basic strategies for reducing the amount of stuff you have are solid, but overall, I found the philosophy too aggressive and the author's tone annoying and overly chirpy. (So many exclamation points!) It's very self-helpy, too. Minimalism = happiness. Less stuff = more joy. I know it feels great to rid yourself of clutter, but something about her presentation felt shallow to me, like the minimalist title you bestow upon yourself is the emphasis. Maintaining minimalism is your happiness over all else.
For example, she mentions that if you have a friend that gives you a lot of handmade items as gifts, you should "express your gratitude, but don't overdo the enthusiasm, or you'll likely end up with more "art" in the future!" Yes, putting your minimalist philosophy over friendship. That sounds like a sure way to happiness.
I don't know. I could pick nits all day, but this just wasn't for me, I suspect.
For being a book about minimalist living, this book seemed to have a lot of redundancy. The concept of simple living just lands a little flat when stripped of the connection to stewardship of God's world and resources. Jay had some good ideas, but most of what she shared was common sense. I also felt that many of her approaches were strictly selfish in nature. For example, she suggests only having enough dinnerware for the number of people living in the home, which leaves no room for valuing hospitality. She also suggests taking a photo of a gift in use to send to the giver in order to make them feel good, and tossing the gift in the donate box right away. I don't appreciate the deceitful approach at all. Why go through the trouble of being sneaky when a simple explanation to friends and family about living a simpler life could suffice? I would not recommend this book.
Apesar de j谩 ter lido uma s茅rie de livros sobre minimalismo e temas a ele normalmente associados (como organiza莽茫o), gostei muito de ler este Menos 茅 Mais. Peguei nele na altura certa, pois nos 煤ltimos anos, os meus 芒nimos minimalistas t锚m andado um pouco adormecidos, e isso tem-se reflectido de forma negativa a v谩rios n铆veis. Gostei da forma como o livro est谩 organizado, com uma introdu莽茫o ao tema, seguida de dicas pr谩ticas aplic谩veis aos v谩rios espa莽os da casa, depois lidando com os diferentes tipos de objectos, os restantes membros da fam铆lia, e, por fim, fazendo um enquadramento mais geral do minimalismo como movimento contra-corrente do consumismo generalizado a que se assiste hoje e das implica莽玫es mais vastas que pode ter. Gostei particularmente de algumas passagens, como aquela que usa as viagens para ilustrar a liberdade que se consegue ao transportar menos bagagem: 鈥淧ense em como seria chato carregar duas ou tr锚s malas pesad铆ssimas durante as f茅rias. Faz s茅culos que voc锚 est谩 ansioso para essa viagem e, quando desembarca do avi茫o, mal pode esperar para explorar as paisagens. N茫o t茫o r谩pido 鈥� antes voc锚 precisa esperar (e esperar e esperar) que as malas apare莽am na esteira de bagagem. Depois, precisa arrast谩-las pelo aeroporto. 脡 prov谩vel que voc锚 siga direto para o ponto de t谩xi, porque manobr谩-las no metr么 seria quase imposs铆vel. E nem pense em tentar pegar lugar no city tour que est谩 come莽ando 鈥� voc锚 tem de ir primeiro ao hotel e se livrar desse fardo gigantesco. Quando voc锚 finalmente chega l谩, desmaia de cansa莽o. O minimalismo, por outro lado, o deixa 谩gil. Imagine viajar apenas com uma mochila leve (...) Voc锚 chega ao destino, desce do avi茫o e passa pela mar茅 de gente esperando pela bagagem. Depois entra no metr么, pega um 么nibus ou anda em dire莽茫o ao hotel. No caminho, experimenta todas as vis玫es, sons e aromas de uma cidade estrangeira, com o tempo e a energia para saborear tudo. Voc锚 tem a liberdade e a flexibilidade de um p谩ssaro para se movimentar por a铆 鈥� pode levar a mochila a museus e a pontos tur铆sticos e guard谩-la num arm谩rio quando for preciso. Diferente do primeiro cen谩rio, voc锚 come莽a com tudo e passa a tarde vendo as paisagens em vez de arrastar suas coisas de um lado para o outro. Chega ao hotel energizado por sua experi锚ncia e pronto para outra. Quando n茫o estamos mais acorrentados 脿s nossas coisas, podemos saborear a vida, nos relacionar com outras pessoas e ser participativos em nossa comunidade. Ficamos abertos a experi锚ncias e mais capazes de reconhecer e aproveitar as oportunidades. Quanto menos bagagem carregamos (tanto f铆sica como mentalmente), mais podemos viver!鈥� E entre muitas outras passagens interessantes est谩 tamb茅m esta: 鈥淨uando nos identificamos com marcas e nos expressamos atrav茅s das coisas materiais, perdemos a no莽茫o de quem somos. Usamos bens de consumo para projetar determinada imagem de n贸s mesmos, comprando basicamente uma m谩scara para exibir para o mundo. Al茅m disso, estamos t茫o ocupados cuidando das nossas coisas 鈥� correndo de um lado para o outro, comprando isso e aquilo 鈥� que encontramos pouco tempo para parar e explorar o que realmente nos anima. Quando viramos minimalistas, nos despimos de todo o excesso para revelar nosso verdadeiro eu. Temos tempo para contemplar quem somos, o que achamos importante e o que nos faz realmente felizes. Sa铆mos do casulo e abrimos as asas como poetas, fil贸sofos, artistas, ativistas, m茫es, pais, companheiros, amigos. O mais importante 茅 que nos redefinimos pelo que fazemos, pelo modo como pensamos e por quem amamos, e n茫o pelo que compramos.鈥� Claro que agora que as lojas p玫em 脿 nossa disposi莽茫o frutas da Am茅rica ou 脕frica do Sul durante todo o ano, roupas da 脥ndia e ferramentas da China ao pre莽o da chuva, n茫o 茅 f谩cil resistir e optar por produtos locais, explicar aos mi煤dos porque 茅 que n茫o compramos aqueles morangos t茫o apetitosos que apareceram no supermercado em Dezembro, ou comprar as cadeiras ao artes茫o local pelo dobro do pre莽o das do Ikea鈥� Mas concordo com a autora, quando ela diz que vale a pena tentar.
After reading and enjoying Marie Kondo's 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' and Tolstoy's writings on living simply and consciously, I was inspired to get rid of most of my possessions and only keep things I truly need. This book has inspired me to continue on a minimalist path and I have seen an incredible change in my life - particularly in having so much more time to spend seeing family, working on my painting and getting out in nature. I was particularly blown away by Francine Jay's final thoughts on how the simple decluttering of one's possessions can free ourselves but also our fellow humans and the Earth's resources.
Decluttering is great, and I like listening to these things while I'm decluttering or cleaning; but this lady is just a little too pie-in-the-sky and woo-woo for me.
This book would have been better if I had not done other reading on minimalism and decluttering prior to reading it. It contained a lot of common sense reminders and was very repetitive with the description of the "streamline" approach in every chapter. I found that the farther I got into the book the more I was just skimming it for any new ideas it might have contained. The best part was the beginning of the book and the introduction to the minimalist mindset...After that the rest was something I felt burdened to get through.
I read this book at the suggestion of a friend whose opinion I value. We are both interested in adopting more of a minimalist life style as part of our general commitment to environmental values. Like him, I seek to live more lightly on the earth these days.
Unfortunately, this book has its ups and downs. It certainly is a guide to decluttering and organizing, I'll give it that. What it isn't is a guide to truly reducing one's footprint and learning how to minimize one's impact through truly environmentally sound principles.
Ms. Jay introduces her scheme for reducing the possessions each of us already has. The rules are pretty basic--I already knew enough to get rid of something when I bring a new one home, for example. I'm the first to admit that stuff has cloned itself in the basement and attic, and every room in my house should be gone through in search of items I no longer want, need or use. And I'll give Ms. Jay credit--she has motivated me to do just that. I'm starting with the "fat" clothes and the books I know I'll never read.
And then she takes a turn into rigidity. OK, what's wrong with having a stack of books on the coffee table that are in the process of being read? What's wrong with leaving the mail on the counter to be sorted through and disposed of after the cats are fed? Ms. Jay is more than a tad obsessive about clutter, and not in a good way. I imagine her house is so picked up and neat that it doesn't even resemble a place where real people live.
I debated about 2 or 3 stars. In the end, I opted for 3, simply because she has motivated me to cancel magazine subscriptions, get rid of old appliances, and clean out drawers where all manner of junk was hiding.
I found this book far too prescriptive, with the author assuming that her own path toward minimalism is the only way to do it - and assuming that her readers would share her priorities for deciding what to keep and what to let go of. For instance, telling you to only buy or keep simple classic clothes, assuming that you have no particular interest in fashion and disregarding the joy people may find in those impractical items that just make you smile when you wear them. And advising you to have as many multipurpose items as possible, ignoring the fact that often things that do many jobs do all of them poorly compared with dedicated tools.
The moment where this went way to far is when she actually suggests that you select your hobbies based on which ones require the least equipment - as though going for a run vs. playing hockey is just a matter of burning calories and it makes no difference which one you do. This outraged me since the whole purpose of her book is to help you live a more joyful life, which means you should select hobbies that you enjoy the most. I found so much of the advice in here to be misguided and overly rule-focused. If I followed all her advice I think I would spend the rest of my life obsessing over how to keep minimizing the house instead of getting it over with and enjoying the results.
I suspect that I would not have been nearly so critical of this book if I had not recently finished The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which is a treasure of a book that miraculously (for me) is so far living up to its title. Do yourself a huge favor and read the Life Changing Magic instead of this book.
i needed a bit of a motivation to start cleaning again so in a way this book served its purpose but other than that... why was it so obviously directed at straight women in relationships? why was it so filled with gender stereotypes? why was it written as if the readers needed every little thing explained? honestly, we've all cleaned before, we're not that ignorant.
I am already a minimalist. But the tone of this book was a bit much. Furthermore, I hate waste and the idea of just getting rid of things that could be used first seems so terrible for the environment and financially. When I became a minimalist I got rid of everything slowly by using things. I think this is a good approach.
Puiki knyga. Manau, kiekvienas tur臈t懦 j膮 perskaityti. Atradau 拧i膮 knyg膮 d臈l to, kad prad臈jau dom臈tis minimalizmu nuo tada, kai atsitiktinai pa啪i奴r臈jau dokumentin寞 film膮 拧ia tema, po to prad臈jau klausyti internetin臋 radijo laid膮. A拧 neb奴膷iau a拧, jei neie拧ko膷iau prieinamos knygos apie tai, kuo susidomiu. O prad臈jus ie拧koti literat奴ros lietuvi懦 kalba aptikau ir 拧i膮 knyg膮. I拧 ties懦 ie拧kojau kitos, bet 拧i膮 pavyko gauti grei膷iau i拧 bibliotekos. Ir d啪iaugiuosi, kad radau ir perskai膷iau. Autor臈 teisingai 寞vardina knygos prad啪ioje, kad da啪nai 啪mon臈s nutraukia skaitym膮 ir imasi tvarkytis. Ir man taip buvo. Paskaitai ir 啪i奴ri, kad jau nebe skaitai, o planuoji kaip k膮 sutvarkyti. Ai拧ku, iki tokio minimalizmo, kad ir kaip 啪av臈膷iausi 啪mon臈mis, kurie sugeba pasilikti tik tikrai naudingus ar tikrai jiems gra啪ius daiktus, man dar toli toli toli. Bet mintys, id臈jos ir patarimai rasti 拧ioje knygoje paskatino pa啪velgti kiek kitaip 寞 turimus ir norimus 寞sigyti daiktus. O tai jau prad啪ia kelion臈s i拧 toki懦 nam懦, kuriuose begal臈s nenaudojam懦 daikt懦, apie kuri懦 tvarkym膮 baisu net pagalvoti, o atrinkti ir i拧mesti atrodo kankinantis, varginantis ir begalinis darbas, 寞 tokius, kuriuose lengva, jauku ir kuriuose kiekvienas daiktas (ar bent did啪ioji dalis daikt懦) yra naudingi ar gra啪奴s. O kai tai sako 啪mogus, at臈j臋s i拧 kaupik懦 gimin臈s ir paveld臈j臋s kaupik懦 bruo啪us (prisipa啪寞stu, tai a拧), tai jau 拧寞 t膮 rei拧kia apie knygos svarb膮 ir poveik寞.
One could be blind and still unlikely to completely avoid all the marketing geared to make us think that it is wrong to not want more, probably the influence of a culture with a long history of people always having less than they need.
For those already of a pragmatic bent, this can be one of the pillars of their philosophy. For those strongly attached to their stuff, it has the required arguments, but lacks persuasive power. If you get this book, consider the fit. Few will ever concede anything against their will. This "how to" book was written to concur and organize, rather than convince.
Its STREAMLINE structure:
S - Start over T - Trash, Treasure, or Transfer R - Reason for each item E - Everything in its place A - All surfaces clear M - Modules L - Limits I - If one comes in, one goes out N - Narrow it down E - Everyday maintenance
One idea I especially appreciated was the way to figure out what was really necessary, by putting every 'maybe' in a box in the attic, with a date on it, six months or one year in the future. If by that date, one didn't need to retrieve anything from the box, then those were clutter.
Note: said advice should not include screwdrivers and first-aid kits, in said order.
The book is full of practical advice. However, while the anecdotes are interesting, she repeats herself somewhat once she starts addressing each room in the house separately. There are still many specialized tips and no condescending 'willpower' advice.
Another point, I discriminate on writing style - especially in nonfiction. If you can make my life easier, that's up to two stars out of five - here, 1.2 - Kudos! It鈥檚 decently organised, if somewhat fluffy prose.
Quick review for a somewhat quick read. I'd probably give this read 2.5 stars overall. I read this over the course of a few days in audiobook form, and I'll admit that I didn't care for it despite having some practically useful ideas. I decided to read this for exploring methods of minimalist living and retention, since that seems to be a pervading topic when it comes to productivity and organization. The text itself has useful ideas if you haven't read very many delcuttering/minimalism guides, but the narrative itself is cumbersome in its narration. Simple and key to remember ideas often get lost in explanations that go on much longer than necessary. I found it too superfluous in its communications. As the narrative went on, I honestly didn't like many of the suggestions the book gives to approach a minimalist lifestyle (a.k.a. "Participate in sports that require less stuff." Yes, this was an actual suggestion in this book among other methodologies.) It's interesting that a key idea of this narrative communicated learning to control your stuff, not allowing your stuff to control you and what you want to do, but yet ideas like that give the opposite impression.
I would take this guide with a grain of salt, and it may be better just to use this for what is useful to the person reading it and to supplement other guides on organization and minimalist living. The figuring out what to keep sections were good, but its overarching useful mantras are taken over by redundancy and counter-intuitive suggestions.
While I have a soft spot for Brooks Palmer's approach to clutterbusting and a preference for the confident, easy good humor of Peter Walsh's writing, I was bowled over by the sheer quantity of useful information in this book. The author has come up with a 10-step method for handling the knotty problem of reducing stressful clutter, with the clever acronym "STREAMLINE". After a quick setup section on why clutter is (probably) a problem for you, she spends one full section breaking down the steps, then another applying them, room by room. The final section on the minimalist "lifestyle", as another reviewer has noted, overreaches; for me, it also gets a bit preachy, which is probably my main fault with the book in general. The stiff, righteous tone that creeps in was a bit wearying. Were I facing my first major decluttering, it would likely turn me off of the idea. There are also some redundancies, which I initially found kind of ironic in a book about decluttering, but I'll wager that plenty of people will skip around to read the chapters they're most interested in, so I'll give it a pass. Overall, I'd say this is a great tactical book鈥攈eavy on the how-to, lighter on the hand-holding鈥攁nd will appeal to the go-getter out there.
just from the opening, I'm getting a whole lot of inspiration to start moving out "stuff"...starting with (gasp, dare I say it) passels of books. More & more is available in electronic form. Why do I hold on to so many? Answers will vary.
~ OK, I'm about half way through & I rather feel like I'm stuck in the corner of a party listening to a chatter box rattle off everything she knows about minimizing without taking a breath! Obviously, minimizing word usage is not on her list of to-dos. Perhaps as Mrs. Jay has been tossing books, she's been saving up words.
~ Great ideas are scattered like wildflowers amongst an overabundance of knee-high weeds. I shall persevere (and skim, skim, skim...; at least, Jay inspired me to unload an entire shopping basket full of books (largely modern fiction, and including my 3 hardback Twilight books)at half-Price Books today!
~ I'm all done and nothing in my assessment has changed. Bits of wisdom are to be found, but the preponderance of verbiage had me skimming more than reading. Jay's chapters, which target every room in the house, began to read like a shampoo bottle label: Later, rinse, repeat (again, and again, and again).
Read it, I would say, despite her inability to stop chattering. The ideas, once you get to them, are truly good; the thoughts on minimizing, despite the Earth-love-eco-babble I have come to sigh & eye-roll at these days, are worth considering, if only from a Stewardship model. But, when you're done with Mrs. Jay, move on to Joshua Becker. Her ebooks are cheaper; his are simpler, more streamlined, and work the extra couple of bucks.
Not only I learn how to live a minimalist lifestyle, but I also learned about the impact of our purchase on other people and the environment. Apparently, minimalist living is more than just living with fewer stuff; it has many deeper meanings.
After reading this book, I realized how attached we are to things and how difficult it is to let them go. Even though, these items are useless, never used, and we can live without them.
I hope that many people read this book. I realize that minimalist lifestyle has a positive impact not only on individuals but also on the earth. The writing style is simple and clear. I don't need to read it twice to understand. I tried to use the STREAMLINE method in my room and I was surprised to see all of the trash and useless items that I had.
I enjoyed the sections on the benefits and general WHY of minimalism the most, less so the sections with practical tips, going through each area of the house and how to declutter/organize them. I found those a bit repetitive. I really like that the author makes clear that minimalism means something different for everybody: it's less about owning only a certain amount of items, and more about just owning what you need. Overall a nice and short motivational kick in the butt to start clearing out your stuff and create more space.