Today, on the decluttering series, I take a look at Joshua Becker's book The Minimalist Home with five takeaways that you can use for your own decluttering journey. More at www.bemovingforward.com.
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Evaluating Joshua Becker's minimalist method
Five takeaways from Joshua Becker's book
Joshua Becker approaches minimalism and decluttering through the lens of family and how you can improve your interpersonal relationships by involving them in the process. His book, The Minimalist Home (affiliate paid link) was the third I read on this topic. Below, I list five takeaways.
Go room by room: Becker suggests approaching the decluttering process by room rather than category of items.
Reinvent spaces to facilitate connection: Once you have decluttered and purged, redesign your living spaces with furniture that facilitate connections and deeper conversations, especially with kids.
Garages should be for cars only: Becker spends a lot of time detailing the history of the garage, and how they've evolved from housing cars into unintentional makeshift storage spaces. If you fall in the latter use, you have too much and it's time to evaluate and purge what you don't need or want.
Decluttering should be a family affair: Your spouse / sig other, and your kids should be part of the process. There needs to be buy-in from those in the home rather than making decluttering a mandate.
Assess your home and downsize if it makes sense (post-decluttering): As Becker details, once his family finished their major purging and decluttering, they realized they didn't need all of the space in their decluttered home. They moved into a smaller house with just the right amount of space, saving money while reinforcing their newly decluttered lifestyle.
What works about this method and what doesn't
This wasn't a perfect fit. However, I combined categories with a room-by-room approach. That said, you may find Becker's "room" strategy a great way to approach your own decluttering process. As discussed, no book was 100% perfect for my situation and most likely won't be for you. That's why I found it helpful to read several books and pick and choose elements from each.
I love this idea and it's certainly something I've considered. I'm not there yet but Becker's chapters on reinventing your spaces is great for looking at the post-decluttering stage of your life.
I 100% agree with this. My dad's garage has been a makeshift storage unit for over 20 years. I'm happy to report that we're almost completely done decluttering it, and it will soon hold a car for the first time in nearly two decades!
I also agree with this, 100%. While I don't have a family of my own yet, Becker's philosophy and approach of involving his wife and kids, getting buy-in from all family members makes sense. If I have kids one day, I hope to be able to pass on the values and skills I've adopted at this stage in my life.
Maybe? My circumstances are quite different than Becker's so I'm not considering downsizing at the moment. However, what he says makes sense and assessing how much space you really need in your home vis-a-vis your possessions makes sense.
Becker's book comes closest to being a perfect fit when it comes to why I'm on this decluttering journey. While the step-by-step approach and my life stage isn't an exact match, his book is a great one for anyone who has a family and wants to simplify their home while facilitating greater connection in the process.
Decluttering tip
Involve family members, especially ones you live with in your decluttering goals and process. This is especially important with spouses and children.
Decluttering resources
Books
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (*****) (affiliate paid link)
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki (****) (affiliate paid link)
The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker (****) (affiliate paid link)
The Swedish Art of Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson (****) (affiliate paid link)
Donations with pick up service
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) (clothing and other donations)
Purple Heart Foundation (PH) (clothing and other donations)
PCs for People (non-profit org that has locations across the country for donating old computers and laptops)
Tools
Digital postal scale (affiliate paid link)
Hard drive enclosures (affiliate paid link)
Hard drive (multidrive) bay enclosures (affiliate paid link)
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