best minimalist lifestyle books for beginners – 10 positive chapters forward
A Beginner’s Guide to the Best Minimalist Lifestyle Books
Discover an array of minimalist lifestyle books that will help kickstart your minimalistic journey! These reads will transform your beginning.
Living a minimalist lifestyle has become increasingly popular in recent years. The minimalist philosophy focuses on living with less by removing clutter and possessions that don’t add value to your life. This helps create more space, reduce stress, and allow you to focus on what’s most important.
If you’re new to minimalism, reading books on the topic can provide motivation, practical tips, and guidance to get started. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover the best minimalist lifestyle books for beginners and share key takeaways from each one.
Why Read Minimalist Books?
Here are some of the main benefits of reading minimalist books when you’re first adopting this lifestyle:
- Inspiration to begin decluttering – Reading about others who have succeeded living with less can inspire you to start minimizing your possessions.
- Learn the principles – Minimalist books teach the philosophy and principles behind this lifestyle like focusing on essentials, quality over quantity, and living intentionally.
- Tips to get organized – Many books provide practical organization tips, from decluttering strategies to storage solutions to help tidy up.
- Motivation to continue – The books keep you motivated during what can be an challenging transition process.
- Discover the benefits – You’ll learn first-hand how minimalism leads to more freedom, less stress, and increased joy.
- Find your own path – Each person’s minimalist journey is unique. Books expose you to various perspectives so you can determine what works best for you.
Whether you want to declutter your home, simplify your finances, or just gain more fulfillment in life, reading is a great way to start adopting a minimalist mindset.
10 Best Minimalist Books for Beginners
Here are 10 of the most popular, helpful, and highly-rated minimalist books for those just getting started:
1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- Key Takeaway: Only keep possessions that “spark joy” to tidy your home
Marie Kondo’s best-selling book focuses on decluttering and getting organized by only keeping belongings that bring you joy. She shares her renowned “KonMari” tidying method to help you thoroughly clean out your home.
2. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
- Key Takeaway: Focus on only the essentials in life and work to eliminate nonessentials
McKeown’s book shows how to identify what’s essential in your life and remove everything else that’s extraneous to achieve more success with less stress. It provides motivation to start paring down all aspects of life to what’s truly necessary.
3. Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus
- Key Takeaway: Minimalism allows you to strip away distractions to find meaning and fulfillment.
This book by The Minimalists duo shares their personal stories of how minimalism helped them rediscover meaning, focus on relationships, and find more joy in life after letting go of possessions. It shows how minimalism extends far beyond just decluttering.
4. Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki
- Key Takeaway: Radical minimalism frees you from overdependence on possessions
Sasaki shares how he embraced extreme minimalism in his small Tokyo apartment by only owning the bare essentials he needed to be happy. It inspires you to remove reliance on possessions and find fulfillment in experiences.
5. The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker
- Key Takeaway: A decluttered home creates space to build meaningful relationships
Becker offers tips and mindset shifts to remove clutter from your home in order to strengthen family relationships, appreciate spaces more, and find more peace at home.
6. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
- Key Takeaway: Minimalize digital distractions to improve focus and happiness
This book provides motivation and strategies for spending less time online and on devices to improve your ability to focus, be present, and find joy away from digital noise and clutter.
7. Soulful Simplicity: How Living with Less Can Lead to So Much More by Courtney Carver
- Key Takeaway: Minimalism allows you to focus outward and give to others
Carver shares her journey with minimalism stemming from a multiple sclerosis diagnosis, and how it led her to help others through volunteering and donating once she simplified her own life.
8. The Joy of Less by Francine Jay
- Key Takeaway: Owning less creates more space for joyful experiences
This book provides inspiration and tips on how to declutter belongings in every area of life. Jay shares how minimalism allows her to find joy in daily experiences.
9. Minimalism: The Japanese Art of Decluttering Your Life by Kiku Katano
- Key Takeaway: Apply Japanese principles like Ma (negative space) to remove clutter
Katano shares Japanese minimalist principles and practices such as embracing empty space and improving daily rituals to create a soothing, decluttered lifestyle.
10. Everything That Remains by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus
- Key Takeaway: Focus on intangible qualities like growth and relationships rather than possessions
The Minimalists’ first book tells the story of how they embraced minimalism to rediscover meaning after achieving career success but still feeling unfulfilled. It shows the deeper benefits beyond just decluttering.
Key Tips from the Minimalist Books
While each minimalist book provides unique perspectives, here are some of the core tips found throughout them:
- Declutter ruthlessly – Get rid of any possessions that don’t add value, serve a purpose, or spark joy to own. This clears both physical and mental space.
- Focus on experiences over things – Spend time, money and energy on experiences like travel, hobbies, and time with loved ones rather than material items.
- Stop mindless consumption – Break free of the trap of mindless shopping and purchasing things you don’t need. Only buy essentials.
- Organize thoroughly – Arrange your remaining belongings so everything has a designated spot to eliminate clutter and wasting time searching.
- Cultivate gratitude – Appreciate what you have rather than focusing on what you don’t have or desire to consume next.
- Minimize digital distractions – Limit time on devices, social media, and streaming to be more focused and present.
- Simplify choices – Reduce decision fatigue by removing unnecessary choices in your home, wardrobe, schedule, and more.
- Focus on important goals – Eliminate clutter and busyness to have more time and energy directed at meaningful pursuits.
- De-stress your space – Have an organized, decluttered home and workspace to create a calming environment.
- Live intentionally – Evaluate what adds purpose and joy, and remove anything that distracts you from living intentionally.
Minimalist Principles Covered in the Books
While decluttering is an important first step, the minimalist books also dive deeper into the key principles behind the lifestyle:
- Focusing on essentials – Distinguish between essentials and non-essentials in all areas of life. Reduce life to the essential.
- Living intentionally – Assess what aligns with your purpose and intentionally live that way rather than by society’s defaults.
- Quality over quantity – Own fewer but higher quality possessions that serve you better.
- Freedom from excess – Escape the burdens, stress, and distractions that come from owning too much.
- Flexibility and mobility – Being able to easily change plans, move, or take new opportunities from owning less.
- Gratitude and contentment – Appreciating what you have rather than seeking more possessions or stimulation.
- Focusing outward – Giving time, money and skills to help others once your own life is simplified.
- Living in the moment – Removed clutter eliminates distractions so you can be fully present and find joy each day.
- Lasting happiness – Pursue meaningful experiences and growth rather than fleeting pleasure from shopping and consuming.
FAQ About Minimalist Books
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about reading minimalist books as a beginner:
Should I read minimalist books in any particular order?
There’s no required order – choose books based on your main area of interest e.g. decluttering home, finance, digital minimalism, etc. Many suggest starting with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to declutter first.
How many minimalist books should I read when getting started?
2-3 books focused on your current goals are enough when beginning. Reading too many at once can be overwhelming. Absorb and apply each book’s tips before moving to the next.
Where can I buy or borrow minimalist books?
Purchase printed books from bookstores, Amazon, eBay, etc. Check your local library to borrow print or ebooks for free. Sites like Gutenberg have free ebook titles. Some books are available digitally via Kindle, Apple Books, etc.
Should I declutter my home before reading minimalist Lifestyle books?
It can be helpful to declutter first so you have hands-on experience. But reading about decluttering tips can also motivate you to start. So either way works – just be sure to apply the book’s advice.
As a beginner, will I struggle to apply these books’ advanced minimalist principles right away?
The books provide guidance for all stages. Focus first on the initial steps like decluttering. As you progress, you can work toward the deeper principles at your own pace.
Final Thoughts
The best minimalist books provide inspiration, practical tips, and guiding philosophies to adopt this lifestyle, even for total beginners. Use the books recommended here to learn new perspectives and helpful advice as you get started.
While the books contain many useful pointers, remember that not all minimalist techniques will suit your personal needs. Try out different suggestions and determine the right approach based on your own values and goals.
Most importantly, let the books spark ideas for simplifying your life in ways that create more fulfillment, reduce stress, and focus on intentional living. Refer back to the key takeaways and minimalist principles whenever you need fresh motivation along your journey.
Through consistent effort to apply what you learn, minimalist books can
Read On!
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