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Don’t Settle for More Most of us know we own too much stuff. We feel the weight and burden of our clutter, and we tire of cleaning and managing and organizing. While excess consumption leads to bigger houses, faster cars, fancier technology, and cluttered homes, it never brings happiness. Rather, it results in a desire for more. It redirects our greatest passions to things that can never fulfill. And it distracts us from the very life we wish we were living. Live a better life with less. In The More of Less, Joshua Becker helps you...
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ISBN-10
1601427972
ISBN-13
978-1601427977
Print length
240 pages
Language
English
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WaterBrook
Publication date
November 19, 2018
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5.2 x 0.61 x 8 inches
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2.31 pounds
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B015BCX0X0
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1566 KB
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USA Today bestseller
“I’m so inspired by this wise, timely book! Like so many people right now, I’m drawn to the idea of minimalism, but, to be honest, I find myself pretty deeply entrenched in bad habits of clutter and accumulation. I’m so thankful for Joshua’s clear vision for what life can be when we choose to surround ourselves with less stuff, and how in doing so, we create more space for living and dreaming.” —Shauna Niequist, author of Bread & Wine and Savor
“Joshua Becker is a distinguished voice in the modern minimalism movement. Engaging and nonjudgmental, The More of Less masterfully articulates the benefits—and the joy—of living with less.” —Joshua Fields Millburn, creator of theminimalists.com and coauthor of Everything That Remains
“Those of us attracted to minimalism often face a challenge: how do we invite our friends and family into this liberating way of life? With amusing stories and on-the-ground practical advice, Joshua explains how to make your minimalist journey a group endeavor. There are going to be a lot of happy children, spouses, and friends because of this book.” —Dave Bruno, author of The 100 Thing Challenge
“I’ve enjoyed Joshua Becker’s message and writing for many years, and this is by far his best work. His very practical advice for living with less, together with moving stories from real people living with less, provides the tools and motivation for powerful change. I’m in awe of how Becker weaves the step-by-step how to with the moving why to of minimalism.” — Courtney Carver, author of Simple Ways to Be More With Less
“I opened The More of Less expecting to learn ways to minimize my excess. Instead, I learned freeing steps to maximize my life. Using relatable anecdotes and enlightening revelations, Joshua Becker reveals an innovative approach that adds more meaning to our schedules, personal well-being, relationships, finances, and passions. Don’t let the word minimalist intimidate you. The More of Less helps you craft your own style of minimalism that aligns with your purpose. There are no drastic measures required, and no set plans you must follow. Open this book to unburden your life and give oxygen to what matters most.” —Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of Hands Free Mama and Hands Free Life
“This is it—the book that will change your life with a surprisingly simple solution: Less can actually mean more. A whole lot more.” —Jeff Goins, bestselling author of The Art of Work
“In his latest book, The More of Less, Joshua Becker leads you through the steps of finding the life you want by getting to the heart of what you need. If you have been looking for a practical, actionable guide to help you find a simpler and more fulfilling way of living, this is the book you need.” —Patrick Rhone, author of Enough
“People are motivated to change when they grasp three important things: the clear reasons change is needed (the “why”), the clear path of next steps that can be taken (the “how”), and a clear sense that the one calling for change is credible (the “who”). This definitive book on minimalism offers all three pieces. And because Joshua is a longtime practitioner with sound credibility, the reader can rest assured that whatever steps they’ll be taking will lead to a richer life of joy, generosity, meaning, and wholeness. If you can read only one book on minimalism, this should be it.” —Richard Dahlstrom, senior pastor of Bethany Community Church, Seattle, WA
“Often our biggest fear about living with less is that we might miss out, but Joshua Becker explains with crystal clarity just how much we have to gain from the minimalist lifestyle. Packed with actionable ideas you can apply today, The More of Less is the perfect balance of instruction and motivation. A must read!” —Ruth Soukup, New York Times best-selling author of Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind, and Soul
“The More of Less is a great guide to starting and maintaining a life of simplicity.” —Ryan Nicodemus, creator of theminimalists.com and co-author of Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
“Joshua Becker is simply promoting a way to do life that is more than attractive—it’s a really big idea that will radically change lives. Read it.” —Jeff Shinabarger, founder of Plywood People and author of More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity
“Joshua Becker is one of my heroes. The More of Less shows all of us how to embrace the joy of less and in so doing how to live a richer, deeper, and more intentional life. If you’re struggling with too much stuff and too little happiness, here is your must-read.” —Peter Walsh, author of the New York Times bestseller It’s All Too Much
“Despite all the books and blogs I’ve read about minimalism, and in spite of all the minimalists I’ve talked to, I came to The More of Less a skeptic. Why say yes to an idea that says you’ve got to have less? By the end, though—thanks to Joshua Becker’s gentle, simple, persuasive way of explaining things—I’d thrown out a bunch of stuff, and I was a convert. He’s right; minimalism isn’t about less, it’s about more.” —James Wallman, author of Stuffocation
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Becoming Minimalist
In 2008, Memorial Day weekend promised to deliver beautiful weather—not always the case in Vermont at that time of year. So my wife, Kim, and I decided to spend that Saturday shopping, running errands, and catching up on chores. Spring cleaning was our big goal for the weekend, starting with the garage.
Saturday morning dawned, and as Kim and our infant daughter slept on, I got our son, Salem, out of bed early for some eggs and bacon. I thought that after a nice breakfast he might be in a state of mind to help his dad. Looking back now, I’m not sure why I thought a five-year-old would feel eager about cleaning a garage, but nevertheless this was my hope. After breakfast we made our way to it.
Our two-car garage, as always, was full of stuff. Boxes stacked one on top of another threatened to fall off shelves. Bikes were tangled together, leaned against a wall. A garden hose slumped in loops in a corner. Rakes and shovels and brooms leaned every which way. Some days we’d have to turn sideways when getting in and out of our cars to squeeze through the mess that filled the garage.
“Salem,” I said, “here’s what we need to do. This garage has gotten dirty and messy over the winter, so we’re going to pull everything out onto the driveway. Then we’re going to hose down the entire garage, and after it’s dry, we’ll put everything back more organized. Okay?”
The little guy nodded, pretending to understand everything I had just told him.
I motioned to a plastic bin in the corner and asked Salem to drag it out.
Unfortunately, this particular bin happened to be full of Salem’s summer toys. As you can imagine, as soon as my son was reunited with toys he hadn’t seen in months, the last thing he wanted to do was help me clean the garage. He grabbed his Wiffle ball and bat and began heading for the backyard.
On his way out, he stopped. “Will you play with me, Dad?” he asked, a hopeful expression on his face.
“Sorry, buddy. I can’t,” I told him. “But we can play as soon as I finish. I promise.”
With a pang, I watched Salem’s brown head disappear around the corner of the garage.
As the morning crept along, one thing led to another, and the possibility that I would be able to join Salem in the backyard began to look less and less likely. I was still working in the garage hours later when Kim called Salem and me in for lunch.
When I headed back outside to finish the job, I noticed our next-door neighbor June working in her own yard, planting flowers and watering her garden. June was an elderly woman with gray hair and a kindly smile who had always taken an interest in my family. I waved to her and got on with my work.
By this point, I was trying to clean and organize all the stuff I had dragged out of the garage in the morning. It was hard work and taking much longer than I had expected. As I worked, I thought about all the times lately that I had been feeling discontented while taking care of our stuff. Here was yet another time! What made it worse was that Salem kept appearing from the backyard to ask questions or try to convince me to play with him. Each time I’d tell him, “Almost done, Salem.”
June could recognize the frustration in my body language and tone of voice. At one point, as we happened to pass each other, she said to me sarcastically, “Ah, the joys of home ownership.” She had spent most of the day caring for her own home.
I responded, “Well, you know what they say—the more stuff you own, the more your stuff owns you.”
Her next words changed the course of my life. “Yeah,” she said, “that’s why my daughter is a minimalist. She keeps telling me I don’t need to own all this stuff.”
I don’t need to own all this stuff.
The sentence reverberated in my mind as I turned to look at the fruits of my morning labor: a large pile of dirty, dusty possessions stacked in my driveway. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my son, alone in the backyard, still playing by himself. The juxtaposition of the two scenes dug deep into my heart, and I began to recognize the source of my discontent for the first time.
It was piled up in my driveway.
I already knew that possessions don’t equal happiness. Doesn’t everybody? At least we all profess to know that our things won’t bring us true satisfaction. But in that moment, as I surveyed the pile of stuff in my driveway, another realization came to me: Not only are my possessions not bringing happiness into my life; even worse, they are actually distracting me from the things that do!
I ran inside the house and found my wife upstairs scrubbing a bathtub. Still trying to catch my breath, I said, “Kim, you’ll never guess what just happened. June said we don’t need to own all this stuff !”
And in that moment a minimalist family was born.
A New Calling
That weekend, Kim and I started talking about what we could get rid of to simplify our lives and return our focus to what really mattered to us. We began selling, giving away, and throwing away things we didn’t need. Within six months, we had gotten rid of 50 percent of our belongings. We quickly began seeing the benefits of minimalism and developing a philosophy for how simpler, more purposeful living is something everyone can benefit from.
I was so excited about it that by the end of Memorial Day weekend, I had created a blog—called Becoming Minimalist—to keep our extended family up to date with our journey. It began as nothing more than an online journal for me. But then something amazing happened: people I didn’t know began reading the blog and telling their friends about it. My readers grew into the hundreds, then the thousands, then the tens of thousands . . . and the numbers just kept growing.
I kept thinking, What is going on here? What does this mean?
For years, I had been a student-ministry pastor at various churches. In Vermont, our student ministry was the largest of any church in New England. I loved helping middle-school and high-school students find greater spiritual meaning for their lives. Nevertheless, I began to sense that this minimalism blog played some role in my life’s destiny.
I began receiving e-mails with specific questions about owning less, inquiries from media outlets, and speaking requests. Promoting minimalism became a deep and enduring passion for me. I realized this was an important message—one that could help people of all backgrounds and all spiritual persuasions, living all over the world, to better their lives. Perhaps I needed to promote minimalism full time, I thought.
As an experimental transition, in 2012 I agreed to move to Arizona and spend two years helping a friend start a church, while at the same time laying the foundation for a new career. At the end of those two years, I made the transition to full-time promoter of the benefits of owning less.
Today, the blog is going stronger than ever, with readership now in excess of one million readers every month. I have also published a subscription newsletter and some books. More and more these days, I am asked to speak at sustainability conferences, professional-organizing chapter meetings, entrepreneurial events, Christian conferences, and other gatherings. The opportunities to share about minimalism continue to increase.
I have learned a lot about minimalism in the years since my garage-cleaning experience. The best of my discoveries appear here in The More of Less. Yet the point I will keep coming back to is the same insight I had on that first day: Our excessive possessions are not making us happy.
Even worse, they are taking us away from the things that do. Once we let go of the things that don’t matter, we are free to pursue all the things that really do matter. This is a message desperately needed in a society heavily motivated by the possibility of owning large amounts of stuff. And I believe it is a message that will bring you new life and greater joy.
What Your Closets Are Telling You Will Rogers once said, “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.”1 His analysis is truer today than when he first uttered it. It’s true, I suspect, in all the wealthier nations of the world. But let me take my own country—the United States of America—as an example.
In America, we consume twice as many material goods as we did fifty years ago. Over the same period, the size of the average American home has nearly tripled, and today that average home contains about three hundred thousand items. On average, our homes contain more televisions than people. And the US Department of Energy reports that, due to clutter, 25 percent of people with two-car garages don’t have room to park cars inside and another 32 percent have room for only one vehicle.
Home organization, the service that’s trying to find places for all our clutter, is now an $8 billion industry, growing at a rate of 10 percent each year. And still one out of every ten American households rents off-site storage—the fastest-growing segment of the commercial real-estate industry over the past four decades.
No wonder we have a personal-debt problem. The average household’s credit-card debt stands at over $15,000, while the average mortgage debt is over $150,000.
I’ll stop there with the statistics dump, because I don’t want to depress you. Besides, you don’t need statistics and surveys to help you recognize that you very likely own too much stuff. You see it as you walk through your house every day. Your living space has become filled with possessions of every kind. Your floor space is crowded. Your closets are stuffed. Your drawers are overflowing. Even your freezer can’t hold all the food you want to put in it. And there never seems to be enough cabinet space.
Am I right?
Although you probably sort of like most of the stuff you own, I suspect that, nevertheless, you have a sense that it’s just too much and you want to do something about it. But how do you know what to keep and what to get rid of ? How do you go about removing unneeded stuff from your life? When will you know that you’ve reached the right level of accumulation?
You may have picked up this book hoping for ideas about decluttering your house. You’ll get them, I promise. And so much more as well! I’m going to show you how to find the life you want hidden under all the stuff you own. It’s a “less is more” message with an emphasis on the more.
The payoff isn’t just a clean house—it’s a more satisfying, more meaningful life. Minimalism is an indispensable key to the better life you’ve been searching for all along.
I’ll be honest with you. Deep down, I have a big dream for this book: I want to introduce the world to minimalism. On average, at least in my own country, we see five thousand ads every day telling us to buy more.9 I want to be a voice urging us to buy less, because the potential benefits for our world are incalculable when hundreds, thousands, millions of lives are transformed by minimalism.
The Universal Benefits of Minimalism
There is more joy to be found in owning less than can ever be found in pursuing more. In a world that constantly tells us to buy more and more, we often lose sight of that. But consider the life-giving benefits. You can expect a payoff in every one of the following areas if you practice the principles of minimalism taught in The More of Less.
More time, more money, less stress, less distraction, more freedom. It all sounds appealing, doesn’t it? You’ll be hearing more about these themes in the rest of the book, where I’ll show you how to make these universal benefits your own.
Even if these universal benefits were the only reasons for practicing minimalism, they would be enough. But there’s more. There’s also the personalized benefit each of us can get from minimalism. Getting rid of what you don’t need is the first step toward crafting the life you want.
Fulfilling Your Greatest Passions
When we embrace minimalism, we are immediately freed to pursue our greatest passions. And for some of us, it’s been a long time since we’ve had access to the resources required to chase our hearts’ greatest delights—however we define those delights. Living with less offers more time to spend on meaningful activities, more freedom to travel, more clarity in our spiritual pursuits, increased mental capacity to solve our most heartfelt problems, healthier finances to support causes we believe in, and greater flexibility to pursue the careers we most desire.
For me, one passion I have been freed up to pursue is inviting others to discover the benefits of the minimalist lifestyle. In many ways, I feel like I get to play the neighbor role in others’ lives. I am thankful that June introduced me to minimalism, and I am thankful that I have opportunities to pass it on to others.
Another big part of what I have personally gained from minimal-ism is better relationships. I love having more leisure time to spend with my immediate family, my extended family, and my friends. I also still participate regularly in my church, volunteering to do many of the things I used to do as a church employee. At the same time, I am free to pursue my relationship with God with less distraction and more freedom, and that means everything to me.
Recently, I have been very excited that, through the profits from this book, my wife and I have been able to create a nonprofit organization called The Hope Effect. Its mission is to change how the world cares for orphans by establishing a reproducible model of orphan care that mimics the family unit. When we had the idea for this nonprofit, Kim and I said to each other, “Why not?
Let’s do something meaningful with our resources.” Because our financial obligations are modest, we were able to go for it. I’ll be telling you more about this project later in the book.
My life is proof: subtracting unneeded stuff multiplies opportunities to pursue things you care about. The result is exponential growth in personal satisfaction. Maybe the life you’ve always wanted is buried under everything you own!
So let me ask you, what are your greatest unfulfilled passions? What might you have the potential to enjoy, pursue, or complete if you minimize your possessions? Do you want to connect more deeply with loved ones? See the world? Create art? Improve your physical fitness? Achieve financial security? Give yourself to a big cause?
Keep those dreams in mind while you’re reading, because that is really what this book is about. It’s not just about owning less stuff. It’s about living a bigger life!
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Joshua Becker
Joshua Becker and his young family were introduced to minimalism 12 years ago during a short conversation with their neighbor and he immediately became a pioneer of the Modern Minimalist Movement with his blog, Becoming Minimalist. Through his blog, Joshua’s story and writing have inspired millions around the world to find more life by owning fewer possessions. Today, based on his thoughtful and intentional approach to minimalism, he is one of the leading voices in the modern simplicity movement reaching over 2 million readers every month.
Joshua is the founder and editor of Becoming Minimalist, a website dedicated to intentional living that was named by SUCCESS Magazine as one of the top ten personal development websites.
He is also the USA Today and WSJ best-selling author of 5 books: The Minimalist Home, The More of Less, Simplify, and Clutterfree with Kids. His new book, Things That Matter, will be released in April 2022.
He is a contributor to Forbes Magazine and has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, Boston Globe, Washington Post, Reader's Digest, the Drew Barrymore Show and countless other media outlets—speaking live on 6 different continents and for Fortune 100 countries around the US including Google, Airbnb, and SalesForce.
He is also the Founder of The Hope Effect, a nonprofit organization changing how the world cares for orphans. Currently, he lives in Peoria, AZ with his wife and two teenage children.
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Customer reviews
4.5 out of 5
3,579 global ratings
reba
5
Great book
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
I started reading it in ebook form from my library but was enjoying the ideas so much that I bought the hard copy. Minimal mom uses many of his ideas from the book. I plan to read it again.
Happy Sea Slug
5
a kindness approach
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
I loved the tone of this book. It was so comforting and encouraging, and as Becker leads you through the basics of understanding minimalism, he does it in a way that reflects his own journey without imposing it on the reader. I really appreciated his ability to recognize that the journey is different for everyone. And I especially appreciated the emphasis on generosity and service. I read a book by another popular minimalist and it seemed so prescriptive I was turned off. Becker's approach is more expansive, more gentle, and kind.
My experience so far seems to be going in phases or levels. Level 1 is getting rid of the obvious junk. With his recommendation, I started with the easy stuff. Clothes are easy for me, I'm no clotheshorse and am happy to wear the same thing every day. Same with jewelry and makeup - I really don't feel the need for much. So I started there and found it so refreshing to get the clutter off my surfaces, that I have continued with a basic household purge. Once that's all done, I will start really doing the work of minimalism as I work through some of the things I am attached to but don't need.
This really is a process and I'm just at the beginning. I finished this book and immediately read two more of this others. His "voice" really resonates with me personally. Easy-going and practical, and he's living a life a lot of people can relate to, in the suburbs with a couple of kids. This is in contrast to the other popular minimalist who went on and on about how he made tons of money and was obsessed with status. For a lot of us, the issue isn't that we buy things for status. Becker goes into the reasons why people buy stuff, and the thing that resonated the most with me is "security." He wisely points out that security is also found in strong social connections. And unlike others, he doesn't advocate throwing out people who don't "serve you," recognizing that give and take in relationships varies from person to person. Of course he does recognize that some relationships are just plain harmful and need to go. But if we only consider relationships on the basis of how much any given individual makes us feel self-actualized, well, that's kind of selfish.
So I've read three books by Becker now and I have enjoyed them all. I find them motivating and practical and comprehensive. The religious overtones didn't really bother me. When he used examples from the Bible it was to illustrate a point and he talked about these values in other religions as well. It didn't feel like proselytizing.
Well done, sir.
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18 people found this helpful
Jeff B.
5
Minimalism for the Rest of Us, aka "Reasonable Minimalism"
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
For many, the terms minimalism or minimalists may conjure images of vegan yoga fanatics living in sparse apartments, people traveling the world with all of their earthly belongings in a backpack, or the guy choosing to live in a van down by the river. Yet, there are forms of minimalism, including the type promoted by Joshua Becker in his book The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want Under Everything You Own. I consider his form “rational minimalism for the rest of us.” Becker’s blog Becoming Minimalist has been instrumental in my minimalist/essentialist/simple living journey over the last year and I was excited to read his new book.
I can relate to Joshua. Like me, he is a husband, dad, homeowner, has a career, passionately involved in church ministry, and around the same age. These factors helped make the teachings from his book accessible and reasonable for me. Becker defines minimalism as “the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from them” (Page 18) and clearly unpacks it in about 220 pages.
After sharing the story of his launch into minimalism and the benefits of it, Joshua provides well-researched background about consumerism and advertising. This was both eye-opening and convicting. It is also important to note that the author stresses that minimalism and the minimalist lifestyle will look differently for each individual or family. There is no “cookie cutter” approach, but many clear strategies and techniques are presented throughout the book.
In his clear and enjoyable writing style, Joshua provides strategies on getting started in reducing the number of possessions cluttering our lives, addressing difficult areas (e.g. mementos and papers), and sustaining a minimalist lifestyle over time. Finally, in the last three chapters, Becker details the abundant/purposeful life that minimalism can create. These chapters were outstanding and probably my favorites.
Having started exploring minimalism about a year ago and reading many different blogs, not many of the strategies presented in the book were truly new to me. However, they were great reminders and encouragements to persevere in the journey. I picked up several great tips in the chapters. The testimonies included throughout the book were also very helpful. Finally, while it is not a “Christian book” per se, it is written from a biblical worldview, something that I deeply respect and appreciate.
Whether you are on the minimalism journey already or just exploring the concepts, I whole-heartedly commend Joshua Becker’s The More of Less.
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced copy of The More of Less from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased book review.
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17 people found this helpful
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