A Minimalist Guide to Declutter - and Simplify

Similar principles to many other minimalist books. Great book for someone new to minimalism, but if you have already pursued minimalism this book adds little to the concepts you have already learned.

I feel like this book is extremely balanced. It provides detailed strategies for minimizing clutter to maximize your life. It offered practical and applicable information for streamlining my life and decluttering my schedule. I usually shy away from books that are environmental kind over hippiefied but she again is balanced and reasonable and reminded me why I started using cloth diapers, cloth handtowel, and reusable shopping bags. Simple. Applicable. Informative. Worth it.

Excellent book for considering integrating minimalism into your life. Was super helpful to me. Maybe not for anyone who is still at the point of having a lot of trouble with clutter etc but if you're already on the organizing, sustainable, and environemental imprint reducing train this book is for you!

A great read that I've recommended to so many other!

Purchased this for my kindle fire. It is an excellent book! Have already recommended it to several of my friends. Gives the reasoning why you should declutter at all and then very practical room by room examples. I devoured the first section of why and now am reading the rest a chapter at a time as I tackle the different rooms. Better than other decluttering books I read, it's really about a lifestyle not just rearranging all your junk. I have made significant improvement in my house and it has motivated me to do more. My household may single handedly support our local Goodwill donation store this year because of all the things we have donated. :)

I bought this a couple of weeks ago (kindle version!) and I'm already reading it for the second time. There is so much here -- inspiration AND practical tips. I love her blog and find this to be great supplemental reading. One thing I especially like about Francine is that I can relate to her. I'm in my 30's and married, and more than anything in this life I want to travel the world, rather than have a house full of stuff. In fact I really wish she had a travel blog, too, since reading about her approach to the world is so inspiring.
My only complaint is that I didn't have this to read 10 or 15 years ago.... !

Francine does a wonderful job at bringing a realistic, easy going, and humorous tone to the world of minimalism. It’s Minimalism 101 without any of the pretentiousness that sometimes accompanies it. She focuses on having enough rather than having nothing, and this book was overall a complete joy to read.

Anyone/everyone who needs an incentive to declutter should not put off reading this book. It has already affected me in a positive way and I cannot wait to complete the process of feeling better about my home and myself. I do not agree with all Ms. Jay's ideas as, in my opinion, she goes over the top in some areas, but her basic reasons to declutter and ways to do it are right on. If you feel as though your "things" have taken over, this is an absolute read for you.

I have a bad habit of reading about various "things" but never actually doing anything about those "things." This book is one of those rare books that had me putting down the book in between each chapter so I could partake in suggested activities. This book helped me take my minimalism to a whole new level.

Inspiring. This book is clear, engaging, and gives you very helpful methods to streamline your life--in whatever way makes sense to you. There are no hard-and-fast rules against specific items, but there are clear instructions to consider what items in your house are actually adding value to your life, and which are just taking up space and causing stress. A perfect guide for minimalism beginners. The excellent "STREAMLINE" steps are explained individually, then applied to specific rooms in the house--which gives you just enough repetition to internalize the mental process, so you won't have to consult the book every 5 minutes once you get down to the business of decluttering.

I love this book for so many reasons!! Mostly because it helped clear my head and help me get organized in life. I particularly love the section about cleaning out your closet and getting your wardrobe organized, but the book is so fantastic for so many more reasons than that. I got my Dad a copy too, because he has major clutter issues, bordering on being a hoarder and he loves the book too. This book will inspire you to embrace minimalism and start getting rid of the excess and you will feel lighter and happier. I am continuing on my journey to getting rid of the unnecessary and I feel that each day is getting better and better. Great book!!!

I received this book yesterday and have read only 60 pages. Those 60 pages have liberated me from the "stuff" that I have purchased, received , etc. I have been wanting to hire someone to clean my clutter of 70 years! I now will follow Francine's ideas and have already started this morning!

I have read many books over the years, regarding decluttering and I feel The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Living Guide is the best decluttering book. This book does not make you feel you need to rush and dispose of your items, but it's gradual and actually fun to take items out of your home. Not stressful as some books make you feel. I have decluttered for years, and Francine's book has more ideas yet!

This book is awesome, it really helps you to wrap your head around getting rid of old stuff, stop being a slave to processions and reclaim your space. It's a daunting task to get rid of years of accumulated "crap" that builds up everywhere in the house. When you can't find anything because there is too much stuff, then what is the point? Each closet, each room that I have cleaned has been an emotional experience, and I can say with all honesty that having the SPACE back is WAY BETTER than having all of that junk.

I found a great way to make cleaning faster and easier. I have my 13 year old daughter, and two or more of her friends. We create three piles: inside is the "keep" pile, and outside on the front patio on the left is give away, and on the right is throw away. As I pull each item out I say "keep, give away or throw away" and the girls rotate running back and forth o the piles. It makes the task fast and amusing. The next step is the take the throw away items to the dumpster immediately (no chance to change my mind). Second step is to load give items into car and drive to Good Will (get donation receipt for tax write-off) and finally, organize the very few items that are left. Done and onto the next project!.

If you are even slightly inclined to reducing your ever-growing stuff problem, this is an excellent book. It only took me about three days to read even with frequent interruptions of getting up to clean out a drawer, cabinet or shelf. The book is very inspiring and empowering. Read this if you want to reclaim your space, get rid of the burden of stuff and/or shed your guilt of keeping unwanted gifts.

Great book!
The author has written a very accessible book giving wonderful tips for stepping into a minimalist lifestyle. Her step by step instructions for reducing what you already own are very easy to follow, largely because she explains everything so clearly.
Ms Jay has taken a lifestyle many find too constricting & made it not only easy, but enjoyable, reasonable, and logical! This book is not only instruction, it is education and a great way to help anyone move toward a more responsible & sustainable lifestyle!

This book is useful even to the "advanced" declutterer in terms of challenging you to evaluate your possessions in terms of the lifestyle you want. Nuanced enough to accommodate different goals for people in different life circumstances. The authors provides personal examples without pushing her own choices as the gold standard. The best I've read since Don Aslett's, "Clutter's Last Stand."

Obviously, you are already searching for a life with less clutter if you land upon this book. However, the author does a great job of shining a light into all dark places of your mind, life and home, illuminating all the places where "stuff" has taken over. I have placed this book in my top 5 must read books. An easy read, with life shifting implications.

I would venture a guess that most people interested in this book know that they are minimalists inside, but don't really know how to be one. If this describes you, then I have no doubt you will enjoy this book. Francine Jay goes into how to cut down on the things you own (i.e. junk) while preserving the memories in digital or minimized form. The mentality throughout the book is to live on only the necessities, while cherishing the empty space that your clutter used to occupy. Ms. Jay then goes into decluttering your home room by room using the STREAMLINE method (STREAMLINE is an acronym that helps you remember a step-by-step process to help you declutter), and concludes with a short portion on helping the environment while being a minimalist.

The upsides to this book is that it gives sound advice to decluttering your house, from your home office to your bathrooms. It helps you get in the mindset that you may want to reconsider owning your possessions that only contain sentimental value. Ms. Jay introduces several techniques to decluttering, such as sorting your items into Trash, Treasure, and Transfer piles. Also what I found particularly useful is arranging your necessities into your Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and Deep Storage locations. I can honestly say this book turned me from a minimalist who didn't really know what he was doing, into a minimalist who now knows immediately what to do with his belongings.

On the downside, some of the advice Ms. Jay gives doesn't really fit everyone's lifestyle. She actually suggests getting rid of your high school yearbook at one point. I don't know about other people, but I believe high school yearbooks are simply irreplaceable. Unless you spend the time scanning every page of your yearbook into digitized form, there is no way I'm letting those things go. In another part of the book, she goes into the joy of flying on trips with just a backpack to experience the feeling of being "light." I'm sure it's great and all, but seeing that I regularly carry a firearm, that probably won't work out so well. Near the end of the book, she then changes her main focus from minimalism to environmentalism. I felt like that portion didn't really belong in the book, as I never really equated minimalism with environmentalism.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. I know firsthand what it's like to be a natural minimalist, but this book gives you the knowledge to become an expert at it.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone motivated to make changes. I have started on my entire house and it is taking a very long time, but oh will it be wotth it when I am done. This tells you ways to look at your accumulations but you still have to bite the bullet and do the work. I am reading this book one room at a time. My kitchen is done, everything has a place. Nothing is in my kitchen that I do not use. Ha ha now I have stacks of things on my dining table to remove from my house in one way or another. I feel sooooo good when I go into my kitchen someday my entire house will make me feel the same. get the book and get to work.

I found this book to be readable, practical, and very useful in helping me declutter and organize my home. She works through the entire house and goes step-by-step through each room, then tells you how to organize your time. Of all the books I looked at on decluttering, this was the most practical. I highly recommend it.

After getting some great ideas on organizing books and stuff with printable digital collages with embedded product page links from How to Make Collages for Your Collections of Books, Music, and More (handy, highly recommended), I decided to take the minimalist path beyond just organizing my collections of ebooks, etc.. This book is a great guide to being a minimalist in all aspects of life, covering useful how-to topics such as creating a minimalist mindset, organizing physical objects, resisting impulse purchases, and leading a minimalist lifestyle. I think the book makes a very helpful manual to becoming a minimalist!

The concrete advice in this book helped me part with so many bags and boxes of stuff that I wasn't enjoying anymore but hadn't been able to give up. If you're trying to declutter your home, read this book!

This is an informative and eye opening guide to paring down and pruning through the overage of stuff and basically clutter that can overwhelm and restrict individuals creativity. This is especially helpful for someone who is relocating to a new home or workplace, or anyone who resolves to put an end to disorganization and too much stuff. Francine Jay addresses room by room the simple and liberating process of culling through the excess and reclaiming order to our lives. She offers solutions for kitchen , garage and living room disorder. This book is useful, practical and enlightening.

I read this book in preparation for a downsizing move. The author is relentless in her pursuit of simple, orderly living. I really appreciated her attitude and suggestions. I have a lot to learn about the subject but the author is very convincing about the benefits of doing well with less stuff. I expect to benefit for years to come from reading this book. Now to find a book that can help me appreciate the joy of less thinking.

I loved everything about this book. Really makes you think and re think before you buy . Also it really help in every area of home and life to help declutter . Thank you foe such a great book and eye opener .

After reading some of author's blogs I was excited to read her book. The book was an easy read with lots of good ideas at the beginning. However, towards the middle of the book her ideas bacame repetitive. I ended up skimming the remaining of the book. Not convinced this book is worth the price. You're better off just reading her blog, it's pretty much the same material...only free!

I had already started a minimalist movement in my home and lifestyle, and this book seemed like a perfect guide to continue with it.
I got surprised by the amount of details provided by the author, and at the same time, got very delighted to see that I had gone through the same process and had taken the same conclusions that the author did, but had in this book many more suggestions to go forward.
So this book is a wonderful guide for beginners and also good for those who want to take the next step.
Thank you Francine for sharing your tips with us and the TTT rule: Trash, Treasure or Transfer :))

I ordered this book a few years ago after loosing everything and having to start over. After I lost everything and seeing the amount of stuff I had to literally throw away, it was a eye opener for me. I have read this book several times and I have also loaned this book to my sister on her kindle and now me and my daughter read a little bit of it each night because she is now wanting ways to declutter as well. I really think this book could change peoples lives. I know it has mine.

If I take nothing else from this book, "surfaces are not for storage" is the phrase that is resonating with me most at the moment. I found the book to be very helpful as I am going through a houseful of accumulated memories, junk, and possessions. Asking things to justify their use and place in the household, cutting through the "what if" and "just in case" chains, and severing emotional ties with inherited (but not really liked) objects -- "The Joy of Less" is a great tool for decluttering AND downsizing (no, buying those pretty storage bins is NOT the answer to minimizing). Highly recommended.

This book is very beneficial for the "beginning minimalist." I have always had a knack for questioning why I own so many things, and whether I really need them. I purchased this book to learn more about minimalism and I did learn quite a bit. It is slightly contradictory that the book is 286 pages long considering the subject area. The principles of the book should prove useful in my new endeavor of minimalist living. I am a die-hard steward of the Earth. I do like her emphasis on donation as opposed to "throwing it all out." The idea of "living lightly upon the Earth" and buying exhaustible gifts for others on holidays or birthdays is very enlightening for the minimalist who wishes to live by example.

The Joy of Less is an incredibly helpful book. I've read this a few times now and it's really helped me be able to let go of my excess clutter. The philosophy part of the book really help me get unstuck when I hit a decluttering wall. The room by room section helped once i got really into downsizing a room. Francine Jay's writing is warm and entertaining. Minimalists can sometimes come across as their way is the best. I was really surprised at how little she actually owns when I read her blog because she is very accepting and encouraging.

While I have always thought of myself as being "organized", I still find myself looking for items I have misplaced, which is one of the reasons I bought this book (Kindle version). It did not disappoint. "The Joy of Less" is organized into 4 parts: Part One is on Philosophy, Part Two covers the STREAMLINE method with practical steps for putting the minimalist mindset into practice, Part Three goes into Room by Room suggestions, and Part Four offers some Lifestyle comments and thoughts. Part One made me realize that my attempts at organization are being sabotaged by the "stuff" in our house, and that I will never get organized until I declutter. The author made me aware that all this stuff is an emotional drain, and that for me to truly enjoy my house and reduce my stress level, I must pare my possessions down to a manageable level. I like that she does not have rigid ideas, and recognizes that what is "enough" for one person may not be the same as for another person. In Part Two, the author gives specific tools, steps and ideas for getting started. The chapter on Modules, a valuable organizational technique that helps achieve minimalist goals, is extremely helpful. I've already begun the Trash, Treasure or Transfer process, and I am feeling better already. The book made me think about things that should have been obvious to me but weren't -- real slap-the-head moments! I will give an example. We keep our photograph albums in a cabinet in our Great Room, while hobby-related items are strewn all over the house. We rarely look at the albums, but I do use the hobby-related items, so I am transferring the photo albums to the basement (ultimately for digitalizing, another one of her suggestions), to make room for the hobby items so that they will be handy. Why didn't I think of that before? I don't know, but I'm glad she pointed it out to me! In Part Three, she goes room-by-room and makes suggestions. I particularly liked her thoughts about the bedroom area. Specifically, if it does not relate to sleeping or dressing, it does not belong in the bedroom. After reading that, I immediately moved a stack of magazines from the bedside table to another room, and I honestly think I am sleeping better now! It doesn't mean I don't still read in bed, but now I take only what I'm currently reading into the bedroom. She ends Part Three with a discussion of gifts, heirlooms and sentimental items, which taught me to look at these types of items in a different way. I especially like the suggestions on the Donation Box and "miniaturizing". To summarize, if you are looking for a book to help you declutter your house and your life, get better organized and live simpler, I don't think you could find a better book than this.The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life