As a non-fiction read this book is great both cover to cover and as a handbook or guide to pick up and work on as you move through the home. The personal stories and reflection help you see how the approach can work for you no matter how minimal your home is currently.

I really enjoyed reading this one, but it did take me awhile to get through it. Initially, I liked the content but as a somewhat practicing minimalist it all felt like review. I know this book is for a variety of readers and I can definitely see how the introduction is structured to help those readers who aren't sure about minimalism see how this book and the approach can help them.

The main chapters each focus on one or two rooms in a traditional home. This is where I started to really love the book because it got me excited to jump into minimizing and organizing each room. The balance of facts, personal reflection, and practical advice had me interested in tackling the closets, cleaning up the living spaces, and wanting to overhaul my entire home.

I do suggest that readers pick up this book and read it from cover to cover first because there's great content in each chapter. I wanted to read a chapter then work in the corresponding room, but life got in the way and I ended up just working through the book first. I think this is the best approach because you get the overall idea of the approach and focus, you can work in rooms at your own schedule, and having the book on hand makes it easy to reference later when you're ready to fully minimize.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in living more minimally. This book is especially useful to those who haven't applied minimalism to their lives yet, but any form of minimalist can benefit. I was eager to highlight the pages, add bookmarks to reference later, and I'm definitely ready to minimize my home after finishing this book.

The Minimalist Home is a how-to for every person who feels overwhelmed by their clutter. Joshua Becker has, through easy to follow missions, given clutterbugs a place to start. While we won't all get our houses to the "minimalist" point that Becker espouses, nearly everyone can benefit from having fewer things sitting around.

Using hashtag quips throughout the book, Becker calls attention to the action steps he recommends in each chapter. Moving from room to room, he asks readers to look at specific items and decide, exactly how many of these do I need? Most chapters end with "Minimizing Checklists" to give concrete ideas of things to look at in your own home, and possibly get rid of.

I think, for me, this book's value lies in the way it is set up. If I want to tackle my family room, for instance, I can look up the chapter on decluttering "Us" rooms - family rooms, living rooms, etc. If my bedroom is a disaster, there is a chapter for decluttering bedrooms. I like that I can read, or re-read, any given chapter, and even if I've already done the checklist once, I can always remove more a second time, if I want to.

I would definitely recommend The Minimalist Home to anyone who looks at their house and says, Oh, my, where do I even start? Joshua Becker gives step-by-step instruction here, and you'll soon be decluttering like a pro.

After reading Joshua Becker's blog for a long time, I was so looking forward to this book. Thank you to the author, NetGalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for the ARC of The Minimalist Home in exchange for my honest review.

Although I had been looking forward to this book, I've found that it adds very little to what he has already said on his blog. There are so many good books out there on minimalizing and organizing that The Minimalist Home doesn't really add anything more. I was surprised to see how much of the information here was already on his blog, with no new information added. I guess there are only so many ways you can tell people to get rid of their excess junk to make their lives better. As I was reading this, I also read Marie Kondo's books...guess which ones I found more valuable and have already used in my home and life? Yep, I'm in the process of KonMari-ing my life at the moment. If you have the choice, give this book a pass and check out Kondo's!

I received a NetGalley copy of The Minimalist Home: A Room - By - Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life and this is my honest opinion.

I found this book be very informative. The author has included stories from different families and pulled in resources to help understand how decluttering your home leads to a less stressful, more relaxing environment at home. I like how the author lists goals and strategies to decreasing the amount of things you keep in your home in a room by room analysis. His approach is helpful and realistic. I have started to work on one room at a time and think about my things, cd's movies, clothes, kitchen supplies a little differently. Two sets of sheets per per bed is a good start for me. cut down on linens and towels. Practical steps to minimizing clutter! I found this book very helpful. Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book!

The minimalist approach is new to me. I look forward to incorporating the ideas presented in the book. The approach to having a higher quality of life by living with less clutter is appealing. Thank you net galley for the opportunity to review this book.

A motivational burst on my journey to living better with less:
For me, transforming my home from an overwhelmingly cluttered space to a minimalist home is a journey. When my husband and I moved into our home, we had only one child and not much stuff. The space was light and airy and cleaning up took no time at all. Now, several kids and almost 20 years later our clutter collection has taken a toll on the serenity of our home and I can use any help I can get. I have been paring down my own belongings for a while now, This book helps keeps me on track and I am finally seeing results. Even our kids have pitched in. Joshua Becker's statistics about the cost of our consumerism that can be found throughout the book are very sobering. He shows the reader how a minimalist mindset can set free money and time to be used in more meaningful ways than in unnecessary purchases or frantic searches for the car keys. He inspires me to use up or get rid of surplus in my home, Today I looked at my cleaning supplies. It turns out that I have enough laundry detergent and all purpose cleaner to last for more than a year (got it on sale) and I hope my vacuum will hold up long enough to use my collection of 24 vacuum bags (yes, got them on sale)! I am not proud that it has come to this but now I will make it a game to use it all up, As I said, it is a journey. This book gets me closer to my goal. Surprisingly, I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, There are areas in my home where I find lasting progress. My kitchen is much more efficient. Looking at Joshua Becker's list of essential kitchen items made me purge my kitchen drawers and cabinets once more and now I have plenty counter space to prepare my meals. My closet is getting to a point that I love all my clothes, There are no cosmetics strewn around in the bathroom and my bedroom is looking much better. The only side effect I have from reading this book is that aimless shopping or "bargain hunting" has become very boring and cleaning my home is is actually fun again, Most importantly, I am forced to ponder about what I really want from life and how I can spend more quality time with family and friends.

This is a good read, but nothing new in terms of decluttering and downsizing. I've read Mari Kondo's book when it was released a few years ago. You could read either or.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Short version: don’t do this to yourself, folks. Just don’t. There are better books about minimalism (and/or decluttering) out there. It's not a good book. It's not a kind book. A lot of what Becker says has already been said more simply and elegantly in many Internet articles. And there are a good few books on decluttering that give better, more specific tips than “get rid of what is not necessary” and are not so hollier-than-thou while doing so.

(I'm not including the full review, which got quite snarky, here. It is posted to my goodreads.)

The Minimalist Home is my new favorite book on the subject. This book takes you to step by step (with lists!) through each room in your home, guiding and advising you on how and why to de-clutter that area.

Joshua has such an easy-going tone that you’ll find yourself nodding along in agreement with him, even if at first you think you NEED all that stuff. You can go slow and start with one closet or one drawer and soon you may find that by making literal space in your home, you make “space” in your life for stuff other than stuff.

Being minimal with seven people under one roof is hard. However we have made great strides in ridding ourselves of excess clutter, and I credit a lot of that to reading what Joshua has to say in this and his other books on the subject.

My only complaint is the anecdote about someone getting “cured” of depression after going minimal. I’m not sure if that’s a great example. I do agree that having clutter certainly won’t help any mental health issues, but not having it won’t cure them either.

The rest of this book is gold. Even if you’ve read a lot on the subject, go pick this up, you’ll find something new.

In a crowded field of books about minimalism, simplicity, and self-help in the home Joshua Becker's book does little to stand out. It has the checklists and good advice that are helpful for all newcomers who perhaps want a place to start after watching Marie Kondo's Tidying Up, but it lacks originality and new perspective. I used to tease Konmarie fans that it was too extreme, but Marie shares such gentle encouragement on the show that stands in contrast to some of Becker's tone. He seems passionate about the process and even the end results but maybe out of touch. I don't find the visual distraction of my coffee maker on the counter to be so outrageous as to hide it in a cupboard when not in use. I also cannot discern his humor very well when he writes things like: I hear some people even play games on their computer. I think he may be joking or trying to establish some levity to a perhaps dry topic, but it misses the mark in my opinion.

While The More of Less inspired me to think about what my life could look like if I owned less stuff, The Minimalist Home gave me practical ideas for how and what to clean out my spaces. This book goes room by room with suggestions for things to throw away or donate.

Some of the advice might seem kind of basic, but it's nice to have a solid plan for identifying things you need or want, and don't need or want. And this book goes beyond the basic bedroom and kitchen. It even includes steps for clearing out the mudroom, laundry room and coat closet.

The end of each chapter has a checklist for what your goal should be for a specific space or room. Are items convenient to find? Do you feel comfortable being there? Is it a place you can relax? I love this whole-house approach to a minimal lifestyle, even though I think some of it might be too dramatic for me.

I don't think one person can really identify what someone else should get rid of. Joshua talks about getting rid of fancy lotions and makeup. That might be great if you're not into makeup, but if you are, you should be allowed to keep the amount you love. Personally, I have a very simple makeup routine that requires only a few items. But I have a lot of accessories that I really love and wear often. I wouldn't want to get rid of those just because someone said I should in order to have a minimalist lifestyle.

I did particularly enjoy the chapter about clearing out closets and finding our own iconic style. It made me realize that I allow current fashions to dictate my clothing too often. I plan to clean out my closet and drawers and start buying and wearing the styles I like the most.

Great book. I have been following the minimalist movement for a while and Joshua Becker is always a great resource. I enjoyed the practical knowledge but I did feel like there was a lot of extra stories throughout the book.

I read Becker's first book on minimalism and was very inspired! This was the perfect book to help recharge my batteries and begin the decluttering process again. I am using Becker's suggestions from start to finish. The first step is the living room, and I tackled both of those in one day, feeling a large sense of accomplishment. As suggested, I took before and after photos, which helped me see the true difference I'd made. I'm not done yet, as this will be a long process, but I appreciate Becker's method and writing.

Very well written and clearly organized book about how to get the "stuff" that clutters your life out. I really liked how it clearly explained step by step on what to do to make this happen in your own homes. Would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to simplify their lives.

Do you have too much crap?
Feeling overwhelmed with it?

Backpacking teaches you how to be a minimalist because you have to carry everything on your back.

Another way to learn minimalism is to read "The Minimalist Home."

It's a bit too wordy. Joshua Becker has a tendency to ramble. You'd think that a book on minimalism would be succinct.

Still, in the Age of Abundance, it's helpful for our spirit and mind to declutter our physical world.

Most stuff you can read about minimalism is really… extreme.

It’s either extreme in the sense of “get rid of everything and breathe at least 50% less than you did before!” (okay, slightly exaggerating) or it’s supposed to show really extreme and therefore unbelievable results.
I don’t know if this book ends up showing both extremes because I had to dnf it when the author featured a response he got from a woman. Because said woman had to deal with postnatal depression but during that depression and with (at least) one baby she went minimalistic and guess what? She was cured!
If one could cure depression with decluttering stuff… why are we paying so much for therapists and medication? Why do some people have to live with depression their whole life?

So now I know that some people are like “that totally cured me! Do yoga at sunrise and you*re healed!” but should that be written in a book? It’s not like one is forced to write every little testimonial one gets. But the chosen quotes you do use for your book show what you think. And therefore I stopped reading because I have better things to read than that.

Last Words: I know it can help if you’ve got the energy for it to have a clean environment. But how about writing it that way?

“Think less about who you were. Focus more on who you are becoming”.


I am so glad that I am reviewing THE MINIMALIST HOME in January because it is the perfect book for the New Year and a fresh start!

It is written by the very popular minimalist blogger and author of “The More of Less” and it is a thorough room-by-room, step-by-step guide on how to declutter your home. The philosophy of the author is that minimalism is “the intentional promotion of things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them” which means that uncluttered homes makes you more INTENTIONAL in living your life and make you FOCUS to what matters most to you.

Some of the points in the book that I particularly enjoyed were:

The easy-to-follow, room by room format of the book for removing clutter from the home a.k.a “The Becker Method”. It is structured in eight chapters: living room and family room, bedrooms, clothes closets, bathrooms and laundry room, kitchen and dining areas, home office, storage areas (toy room etc.), garage and yard. At the end of each chapter, there is a minimising list, a series of questions that will help you know if your decluttering process has been totally completed.

At the end of your decluttering process, you can use the Minimalism Maintenance Guide to make sure you stay a minimalist. There are daily/weekly/yearly and life season Maintenance Guidelines.

The whole book makes you really think how you want to live your life by questioning what is really important to you.

The useful and clever questions that you can use in order for your children to declutter their toy room.
I wholeheartedly believe that: “There may be few better things you can do for your kids than teach them minimalism”. Minimalism will really and truly teach them to always look for the essentials in their life, how to live their lives with intentionality, follow a budget and not follow the mainstream of consumerism. Think about it: “Can you imagine going back and living life over NOT BUYING all the stuff you’re getting rid of today? You may not be able to go back and start again, but your kids can start out right!”

The point that the process of confronting our stuff is a process that, ultimately, forces us to confront ourselves.

All in all, a thorough and well-written book perfect for a fresh start!

The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker is a guide to getting rid of the clutter. The author attempts to take on your house, one room at a time, and help you sort out what is important and what is not. This book seems very much like other books out there. There really is not anything that makes it stand out from the others. I think it may be helpful to some but not to others. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Great book to pick up if you want a new year, fresh start on minimizing the possessions in your home. Joshua Becker breaks the book up into sections of the home to minimize and how to start. This made it easy to follow.

What I didn’t like as well- it’s really repetitive. He tends to repeat a lot of what he says or to tell you what’s “coming later” in the book. I find this a lot in any self-improvement book I’ve read. Also, my husband had been saying the same things Joshua Becker does in the book for years so I probably could’ve just listened to him, but I’ll never admit that.

Overall, pretty good if you’re curious about living a more minimalist lifestyle. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

I love minimalism and have been very into decluttering my possessions for the past year. I have read a lot of books on this topic but there is something really great about this one. I love the facts and statistics that Becker includes and the step by step guide to each room. This book doesn't seem too extreme but also not too easy.