Becoming a Minimalist!

Last night I finished reading The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life.  It's an interesting book with a great premise.  Is is possible to declutter our homes so that we may be able to refocus on what our priorities should be?

As you look around your home, is it possible that there is too much clutter in our homes?  Isn't it true that we generally buy a larger home, then fill it up?  So, Becker writes about ways in which we can begin the process of removing the clutter from our lives, which then frees us to focus on what the real priorities should be.

Becker wants to help the reader better define what their vision is for their homes and their families.  To do this, he offers practical advice on how to encourage the family members to begin the process of minimizing. 

He takes us on a room by room journey through the house so that we can better discover what it is we are holding onto.  How many of each item do we really need?  How many old movies do we need to hold onto?  And more.  He includes a minimizing checklist at the end of each chapter.  I will admit, some ideas seemed really great, and others not so great or practical.  But maybe that is my reluctance to let go of some of my "stuff."

He discusses the advantages to being a minimalist before you hit retirement.  He also admits that it has been difficult for some of his children to buy into this as well.  I appreciate his honesty in talking about his family.  Not all family members are going to embrace this.  The key is discussing this in advance and having a plan, rather than going at it willy-nilly.

Overall, this is a great book, an interesting read, which hopefully will help families better focus on what's really important.

I received this book from WaterBrook and Multnomah Publishers in exchange for an honest review.