Hello and Happy Sunday!
Thanks to Blogging for Books and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I read two books by Joshua Becker already and am following his blog. I am into minimalism myself and those facts as well as the cover and title drew my attention to his latest book. This does not affect my opinion of the content or the book in my review.
“Security, acceptance, and contentment are not the only hidden motivations that might be driving you to buy too much. The more you remove, additional unhealthy motivations will begin to emerge. They may be difficult to uncover, but it is important that you do so. Some people buy more than they should because they have a sense of inadequacy and try to compensate for it with accumulation.”
Have you ever thought that you might have too much stuff? That your house or garage is so stuffed that you cannot even enter it? I read many books on minimalism already and when Joshua Becker’s had been released I was excited to receive a copy to read. Becker explains in one of the chapters: “First, let’s review what minimalism is. It is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them“. What led me to minimalism in the first place was that I was tired of constantly cleaning, managing and organizing all the stuff that was piling in my apartment. When I moved I did not want to take everything with me and started to simply throw things away, donating them to just have less work without even thinking of a minimalistic lifestyle.
If you are new to minimalism, this book is a great way to start your journey to declutter and give your life an overall cleanse. You will learn that excessive consumption leads to more piled up stuff in your house and eventually to a bigger house to store it all. Many love faster cars and to have the latest technology but does all this really bring happiness is the question. Are people happier just because they live in a mansion? Becker gives a lot of food for thought that made me realize that when I was younger I had a constant desire for more. To buy the latest fashion, the latest gadgets but I constantly wondered why it makes me happy for just a little while. Then I needed something else. Something fancier, faster, better.
When I read the book I knew that I am much happier owning less. You will learn through practical tips and approaches how to declutter your life and home. Becker said, “You don’t need to start with the hard stuff. Start easy. Start small. Just start somewhere.” The author asks challenging questions that make you consider the minimalistic life. He also shows how we get manipulated constantly through advertisements, commercials, TV and so much more. I liked how Becker uses many examples from his own life on how his minimalism journey started. He also mentioned The Minimalists who I have been following for a long time as well as many other minimalists and their stories which is very inspiriting. Joshua Becker and his wife are the founders of the non-profit organization The Hope Effect with the goal to provide homes to orphans. All this became possible due to there minimalistic lifestyle and I think this story is fantastic.
I loved the chapter on clothing. I don’t own many. This is my choice and I am fine with it. Quality over quantity. Becker offers many tips on how to clean your closets. Organizing my closet and clothes was easy for me. Books on the other hand was a different story.
Becker talks about books and how he used to cram his shelves with books “to signal to anyone who visited his office that he was well read, intelligent, and worthy of esteem. When he understood this about himself, he felt embarrassed. He then removed two-thirds of his books, that he didn’t really need and realized that he no longer needs to impress others by the number of books in his shelves.” I love this. I am a huge book lover myself and I have a lot of books. Always had. To go through my shelves with a minimalistic approach I realized that books do not define me. They do add value of course in a way contribute to who I am, but they don’t need to sit around in my shelves forever. At least not all of them. So I keep the ones I cannot live without.
I think The More of Less is an extraordinary, inspiring and amazing book that I highly recommend even though if minimalism is not your thing but you would like to make some small changes in your lifestyle, declutter or discover some areas where you could apply some of the minimalist principles.
Listen to this great interview with Joshua Becker or visit his website. Good stuff.
