The Minimalist Home

A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life

By: Joshua Becker

Narrated by: Joshua Becker

Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

USA Today best seller

A popular minimalist blogger and author of The More of Less shows you how to methodically turn your home into a place of peace, contentment, and purposeful living.

One of today's most influential minimalist advocates takes us on a decluttering tour of our own houses and apartments, showing us how to decide what to get rid of and what to keep. He both offers practical guidelines for simplifying our lifestyle at home and addresses underlying issues that contribute to overaccumulation in the first place. 

The purpose is not just to create a more inviting living space. It's also to turn our life's HQ - our home - into a launching pad for a more fulfilling and productive life in the world.

©2018 Becoming Minimalist LLC (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

“If you are already tapped into the minimalist movement or want to get more in-depth knowledge and know-how, this is the book for you! Joshua Becker takes you through all the benefits and strategies for creating your minimalist home, and he includes practical step-by-step tactics and checklists to create and maintain your spaces. Most importantly, you will gain a complete understanding of the value that minimalism brings to you and your family.” (Ellen R. Delap, certified professional organizer and productivity consultant; president of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals)

“Joshua Becker’s idea of minimalism is to create a comfortable, warm, inviting home that reflects what is most important to your family. The Minimalist Home is a great guide to help you define your vision and set your goals for how you want to live in your space. Joshua goes further than most authors to address pets, hobby areas, and outdoor spaces around the home. Throughout this book, he provides practical advice on how to keep family members engaged in the minimizing process now and in the future.” (Jacki Hollywood Brown, editor of Unclutterer.com)

“Joshua Becker is the best coach I know of when it comes to teaching the skill of decluttering. Not only will his calm, clear voice guide you through the challenging task of getting rid of belongings, but he will also make you feel fabulous for doing so. He does not shy away from tough topics such as downsizing homes, renting versus buying, and adjusting one’s lifestyle to fit a space. His enthusiasm is addictive; it’s impossible to read this book without tackling your own home - and then you won’t want to stop, because as your rooms open up, so will your entire world.” (Katherine Martinko, senior writer and editor of TreeHugger.com)

Book is great, narration is not

Some authors should not narrate their own books. This book is the prime example. Joshua Becker reads VERY slowly and his voice is not varied much. It sounds as if he is reading a book he has never laid eyes on before and it is very boring. Because of this I am having an extremely difficult time following the book or even staying interested. The content seems interesting but I might just have to buy a print copy.

Set talking speed to 1.1

Set the talking speed to 1.1. it still sounds natural but at a normal pace.

Feels like a long advertisement

this feels like an introduction to the authors paid minimalism workshops. I would rather that the author let the book stand on its own and not try and use it as a funnel into something else.

A helpful guide, and inspirational challenge

I love Joshua Becker's first book The More of Less, as does my husband, who normally dislikes anything that seems like "self help." As a result of The More of Less, I was inspired to declutter my house, a process that took, working on and off, all of the past year. So, I didn't need a room by room guide, but I bought this anyway for further motivation to keep my home uncluttered, and also to support Becker. Nevertheless, I found this book useful, especially the section on decluttering the computer, and also the final sections, where Becker provides inspiration for focusing on something other than material acquisition. If The More of Less is a "why to," this book is a "how to," but Becker continues to hit his stride when articulating the deeper why to even the most mundane activity, like decluttering your mudroom.

A lot or repeated information

Narrator was good. The first chapter(s) were good. But for me, going room by room with item by item detail was very redundant. If you need that step by step coaching then you will like it.

Becker needs to minimize his writing!

Geez get to the point already. Wasted 30 minutes listening to his audio book, waiting to hear something new that he didn’t repeat over and over and over. Couldn’t take it any more and deleted the audio book. Thank goodness it was a free trial but I want my free trial choice back. Make Kondo so much better!

Great new way of thinking!

My husband and I I've been listening to some of this together and we're both on board with minimizing our stuff! I just finished it, and I will be going over the parts with him that I want to review. This is so good! I wish we had followed this advice years ago, and look forward to implementing what we're learning.

Motivation

I was so happy to find this audio book because I just don’t have the time to read while we pack our home to move. I’ve been minimizing for a little while now, but this is the motivation I needed for those belongings that I really couldn’t decide about. It gave me a whole new outlook on minimizing and I feel reenergized!! I’ll definitely have this on repeat over the next week and a half while we move to a new location.

The only criticism I have, I suppose, is that the narration voice changed every so often. Even though it’s the same narrator throughout, some chapters his voice was a little higher than other chapters. Nothing to deter me from listening to it again!

Decluttered as I Listened.

Decluttered and organized as I listened. In removing, donating, recycling and discarding items, I felt simplicity surround me and make me less stressed

Marie Kondo Goes to Church

I have to admit, it takes a lot of guts to completely plagiarize someone else’s book idea. So Becker gets points for bravery. Unfortunately I found nothing new or interesting about this book, so if you are interested in de-cluttering, do yourself a favor and just go to the expert, Marie Kondo. She is much more comprehensive, inspiring, and thorough. This guy is just a watered down, churchy version of Kondo. All the self promoting hash tagging suggestions are just embarrassing. And don’t even get me started on his mansplaining about women and their apparently selfish and wasteful use of clothing and cosmetics. On the upside, you could make a great drinking game out of every time he mentions “family”. In conclusion, read the book if you need some extra motivation to minimize, and just be very thankful you’re not married to this person.

Brilliant, and very easy to understand, amazing

I find this book very good, practical, and with so many ideas for inspiration and his voice is so good, nice and very easy to understand. It is the first time i listen to an audiobook and even spanish, English is not my first language, his accent and pronunciation is so good that is so easy even relaxing to listen. I totally recommend this book if you are looking for a change and become minimalist.

Best declutter book

This is the best decluttering book I’ve read or listen to. It outlines the philosophy of decluttering and why it’s so important for your life. Benefits and states regarding over consumption. It goes into practically what to do room by room. How to continue with a decluttered house after your house is clear. Uniquely it outlines how great your life will be after a decluttered house and how to enhance your life afterwards.

Life changer

I would recommend this book to everybody! A good one to read/listen to after having read "The More of Less" by Joshua Becker, which I read a few years ago and it has helped to change my life and attitude for the better.

Exactly what I need

Enjoyed listening to this book. Already started putting some of the process in motion.

Well worth a listen

Great and will listen again while tackling each room. Only wish chapters had room titles. Recommended. Gratitude and generosity also discussed, good anecdotes.

wonderfully clear, emphatic, and encouraging

Great tips and reminders, communicated authentically. Highly recommend even for seasoned minimalists. Good mix of practical ideas and deeper reasons behind them.

Inspirational!

I heard about your book on the Minimalist Moms podcast after binge listening the podcast.
I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so anxious and stressed and have come to the conclusion I have too much stuff and too much clutter!
This book has provided me with a clearer mindset on where I want to be with my spaces and my life.
I’m now 3 spaces deep into my minimalist journey and loving it.
Thank you!

Finally I understand TRUE minimalism!

Practical and thought provoking. Life changing book that has changed my perspective on so much than I even expected .

Good for understanding the “why” of minimalism

I enjoyed this book. It reinforced for me values I already believed in - using your life for the good of others rather than the pursuit of material things. I always preferred a smaller home, and this book helped me articulate why.

However, this is one fine example of when an author should *not* narrate their own book!! I sped up the narration to 1.2 x and it was still slower than most! There is a reason why professional actors are hired to read audiobooks. Also, it got a little preachy towards the end which I didn’t particularly care for.

For me, like I said, I already owned most of the values brought across in this book, and it has indeed helped me solidify my journey towards minimalism.

Inspiring and practical

This is an excellent book! It’s inspiring yet offers very practical advice about pursuing a minimalist life. I look forward to reading it again and declutter my life step by step.