Month: November 2026

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series on spending less and saving more. Part 1 was released last Monday. You can read it here. Often, the most helpful advice is the simplest: Eat healthy, exercise more, don’t smoke, spend less than you make. The problem with simple advice, of course, isn’t always that […]

I am often asked, “Why do people keep reading Becoming Minimalist? Isn’t minimalism a simple concept?” And to be fair, there is truth behind the question. Minimalism is a simple idea: own less, live more. But this summer, while on tour, I met countless people who told me they have been faithfully reading Becoming Minimalist […]

“No man is free who is not master of himself.” —Epictetus Of all the things we seek to control in life, none is more important than the self. And none may be more difficult. If you control the self, you control your life and your future. Fail to control it, and something else will. Because […]

Sometimes the hardest things to minimize are the ones we’ve attached expectations to. “Nobody gets rid of these,” we tell ourselves. Or, “Obviously I’m going to keep that.” Sometimes we place those expectations on ourselves. Other times, someone has told us, directly or indirectly, never to let something go. But those expectations are rarely true. […]

“I make myself rich by making my wants few.” —Henry David Thoreau “Words are important,” they say. Indeed, there is power in them. That is why you find political campaigns and brands working hard to fine-tune and repeat specific ones every chance they get. Words have the power to change our thinking, our attitude, and […]

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” —William Morris Recently, a study was published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. When you see the title, you’ll know exactly why I was drawn to it. The study, conducted by Francis Quinn, a researcher at Robert Gordon […]

“The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” —John C. Maxwell There are many positive changes that have happened in my habits and life since discovering minimalism. It is possible, of course, that some of those changes would have happened even without minimalism. I might have just matured into them. But the intentionality […]

Ask most people to describe their dream home, and you’ll probably hear a lot of the same things: a large kitchen, high ceilings, granite countertops, a fireplace, walk-in closets, a three-car garage, maybe a view of the water or the countryside. It’s the type of dream home we’ve been sold by movies, magazines, HGTV, home […]