Joshua Becker's Blog, page 53

Encouraging Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it. It requires a conscious decision because it is a countercultural lifestyle that stands against the culture of overconsumption that surrounds us.

The world we live in is not friendly to the pursuit of minimalism. Its tendencies and relentless advertising campaigns call us to acquire more, better, faster, and newer. The journey of finding simplicity requires consistent inspiration.

For that reason, I hope you will make an effort this weekend to find a quiet moment with a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy some of these hand-picked articles to encourage more simplicity in your life.

Which of These 6 Time Traps is Eating Up All Your Time? | TED by Ashley Whillans. In 2012, about 50 percent of working Americans reported they were “always rushed,” and 70 percent “never” had enough time. In 2015, more than 80 percent said they didn’t have the time they needed.

Swiss Minimalist Millionaire Owns Only 55 Things | The Florida Star by Lisa-Maria Goertz. “I use financial profits to bring more ideas to life.”

Falling in Love With Minimalism All Over Again | No Sidebar by Nikki Cox. Our home is no longer full of unnecessary stuff. It’s full of incredible people and it’s wonderful.

 Minimalist Tips to Maximize the Holidays | AP by Melissa Lambarena. You can use minimalist tips to keep your own financial goals on track, and still have a meaningful holiday season.  

Start Decluttering With The Easiest Step | Joshua Becker on YouTube

Why Do I Have This?

Ask yourself, with every thing you own, Why do I own this?

When you do, you will be surprised at the answers.

In my own life, it was the question of “Why?” that forced me to uncover and evaluate many of the unhealthy motivations that were contributing to my over-accumulation in the first place. Once I knew them, I was better equipped to overcome them.

For example, one of the first areas of my home that I chose to minimize was my closet. When I did, I noticed all sorts of different styles and colors and fits of clothing, many of which I no longer wore.

Of course, I am not alone in this—many of our closets are filled with items we no longer wear. Our over-filled closets have nothing to do with functionality.

Why do we own closets full of clothing and so much more than we need? Is it because we love them all or because we need that many shirts or shoes? No, of course not.

We buy them because we are trying to keep up with changing fashions—the same changing styles that the fashion industry tells us we need to remain in style.

Similarly, when we look in our living rooms, we notice all kinds of decorations and knick-knacks cluttering our shelves. Why do we have them? Because we love them and they tell the story of our lives? Doubtful.

Instead, we bought them because they were on sale, they matched the couch, or those built-in shelves needed something on them.

In each case, we buy things and keep them, not because they benefit our lives, but for some other intention.

This question (Why do I have this?) makes the process of decluttering easier and holds benefit for almost every item we own: Why do I own these CDs, that piece of furniture, these toys, these old electronics, those books? Once we determine the Why? we are better equipped to answer the What now?

Asking Why? forces us to stand face to face with questions of motivation and impulse. It requires us to confront the reason behind the actions.

In fact, the question offers opportunity wherever it is asked:

What is the first thing you do in the morning? Why?What are the unhealthy habits in your life? Why are they there? What worries do you carry? Why is that so?What fears do you have? Why do you have them?What struggle points do you have in your marriage? Why?Do you enjoy your work? Why or why not?Are you getting ahead financially? Why not?Are you content with your life? Why or why not?Are you happy? Why or why not?

With each question, you journey deeper and deeper into your heart.

That’s why the question “Why do I have this?” forms the basis for your best decluttering efforts going forward.

This question—along with Do I need it?—will open up new ideas about what items and habits to keep and what to remove.

And ultimately, isn’t that goal? To remove things entirely from your life that you no longer need… so you can begin living the life that you want.

Top 10 Most Popular Becoming Minimalist YouTube Videos

As many of you know, I’ve been recording videos about minimalism and living an intentional life for the last two years on YouTube. I’ve really enjoyed it.

The channel has grown significantly. We have 125,000 subscribers—and over 13,000 hours of Becoming Minimalist videos are watched every single week. Crazy.

I know that some of you enjoy watching our videos. But for the most part, it is an entirely new audience of people being introduced to the life-giving benefits of owning less.

I am thankful for our producer Gabriella who works so hard to make each video impactful. And I am grateful for my wife Kim who appears in most of them.

If you’re looking for some inspiration in your journey to own less, here are some great videos to check out.

The 10 Most Popular Becoming Minimalist YouTube Videos:



7 Daily Habits for a Clutter-Free Home: Declutter for Good

In addition to a significant declutter purge that cleared the space initially, our family has developed simple habits to keep our home clutterfree. They are not obtrusive or burdensome in any way. Just the opposite.

To Minimize Any Room, Ask These Two Questions

Finding better ways to organize our stuff holds some benefit, but that benefit is fleeting at best. However, when we take the step of fully removing the items we do not need, we find permanent, longer-lasting benefits.

7 Common Problems Solved By Owning Less

Years ago, we sold, donated, or discarded over 70% of our family’s possessions. We removed anything we could find in our home that was not immediately useful or beautiful. The result has been a completely transformed life and lifestyle. It is a decision we have never regretted.

6 Reasons I Wear The Same Thing Every Day

The capsule wardrobe movement is not widely practiced. But, elevated in the social consciousness by some high-profile personalities, more and more people are applying minimalist principles to their fashion.

Top 10 Things To Declutter Right Now

Decluttering is hard. Sometimes we have to make difficult choices, and sometimes it can be overwhelming. That said, some things are no-brainers, and here’s a list of the top ten things you can easily get rid of right now.

6 Steps to Declutter Your Kitchen

There is something entirely refreshing and life-giving about a clean, uncluttered kitchen counter. In fact, it is one of my favorite benefits of a minimalist lifestyle. It sets the tone and culture for the home. It communicates calm and order. Yet it is one of the most difficult places in the home to keep uncluttered.

7 Pieces of Financial Advice That Changed My Life Forever

Over the years, I’ve been blessed to have countless positive influences in my life. Their example and their wisdom have shaped me in every way—including my financial practices.

How to Stage Your Home For Living

Most of the time while staging our home for sale, I wondered why we had never put in the effort to stage our home for living. Consider setting aside a weekend to stage your house for living. It will take some intentional effort. But in the end, your home just may look better than the day you bought it. And maybe, just maybe, it could be a little bit of fun too.

Messy House? Maybe You Own Too Much

When we have more than we need, there is less incentive to clean up along the way. If your home feels messy all the time, you should try owning less.

Stick to Decluttering with The Becker Method

When I discovered my own path towards minimalism years ago, every step brought new challenges. Now, our family has a system in place to continually manage our possessions. The Becker Method is what we found works best for us and most people.

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The Becoming Minimalist YouTube channel is a combination of videos based on blog posts that first appeared here and brand-new original content. We put out new videos every Friday.

Take a moment to subscribe if you haven’t already.

And let me know below in the comment section if you have any video suggestions.

Minimalism is Maximalism

An interesting turn of phrase has recently emerged: Maximalism.

The first time I heard the word was many years ago in a conversation with someone I had just met. When I mentioned the word “minimalism,” he responded by saying, “Oh, I’d describe myself as more of a maximalist. I want as much stuff as I can get.”

I filed away the word. “Clever wordplay,” I thought to myself.

Since then, I’ve seen it used off and on. But there appears to be a growing increase in its usage. Recently, in a number of articles, it has become used to designate a particular design with a loud style composed of mixed patterns, excessive, but curated collections, and saturated colors.

*Minimalism was also first used as a reference to an art movement and a design style.

But I will never forget my introduction to the word, maximalism. It was used to describe a life chasing material possessions. As if, somehow, that was something to be proud of.

I’ll tell you now what I told that gentlemen. I responded to his statement by saying, “But minimalism is maximalism. By minimizing my possessions, I maximize my life.”

Minimalism is less about the things you remove and more about the things you add.

The payout of minimalism lies in what you choose to pursue with your life rather than material possessions. It is maximalism.

It’s about maximizing the right things!

For example, I choose to own fewer possessions because:

I want to maximize time with my family.

I want to maximize adventure and freedom.

I want to maximize my deepest passions, not the passions hijacked by marketers and advertisers.

I want to maximize opportunity to make a difference in the world.

I want to maximize happiness, joy, meaning, and significance.

No doubt, you may complete any of those sentences differently. I don’t know what it is that you most want to maximize in your life—faith, or travel, or early retirement, or calm and peace in your home.

Whatever it is for you, be assured that minimalism provides that opportunity. Owning less frees up money and time and energy and focus.

Through minimalism, you can maximize all the things that matter most.

November: A Month for Gratitude

It’s been a rough year—for everyone.

Wherever you live in the world, you have likely encountered a global pandemic, social isolation, economic slowdown, and civil unrest. Whether or not you have been personally affected by any of these factors, you almost certainly know someone who has.

And our mental well-being has suffered as a result.

In my country, the USA, according to the CDC:

40% of people have experienced a mental or behavioral health condition related to the coronavirus epidemic.



1 in 4 have experienced symptoms of depression—4X higher than previous years.



1 in 10 had considered suicide at some point during the last 30 days—an increase of 100% from previous years.



13.3% of Americans have begun or increased substance use to cope with stress related to the epidemic.

Our mental well-being has suffered greatly during 2020.

For that reason, it is more important than ever to embrace the month of November as a month of gratitude. No matter where you live, no matter how the pandemic is affecting your locality, no matter how your political elections turn out, this is the month to begin righting the ship toward healthier mental well-being.

It is no longer possible to wait for better days. It is essential that we take back control.

Now, let’s be clear, if you are suffering with anxiety, depression, or suicidal thoughts, intentionally embracing gratitude this coming month may not be all you need. But it is something you can do right away and may just begin to turn the cycle around in your own life.

Gratitude is a topic I have repeatedly turned to on this blog.

Minimalism sparked a renewed passion for it in my life. Research that I was not previously aware of confirmed its importance to a new level. And the recent decline in mental well-being increased my desire to return to it today.

The Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude offers numerous mental and physical health benefits. Its importance cannot be overstated:

Gratitude reduces stress and makes us more resilient.

Gratitude helps us feel more positive emotions.

Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions.

Gratitude improves our self-esteem. 

Gratitude decreases the symptoms of depression.

Gratitude helps us sleep better.

Gratitude improves our interpersonal relationships.

Gratitude enhances optimism.

Gratitude can even help us lower blood pressure, stop smoking, or lose weight.

How to Practice Gratitude this November

Given all the mental and physical benefits of gratitude, how do we become intentional in practicing more of it?

There are many plans and ideas to spur gratitude this coming month. It is, after all, National Gratitude Month. And because of that, there may be no month more important to start a daily gratitude practice than right now.

To get you started, I’ll include a few popular approaches to finding gratitude this month:

You could:

Join the 30-Day Bring Gratitude Challenge.



Participate in #Gratitude30 on Social Media.



Start a 30-Day Gratitude Journal.



Use an app: Grateful.



Write 1 Gratitude Email each day in November.



Commit to increased thankfulness during prayer or meditation this month.



Start a new November tradition with your family.

Any of these ideas above would be helpful. I have committed myself to increased thankfulness during prayer/meditation this month. But maybe a different approach would work better for you.

One important key to remember is that the benefits of gratitude are most experienced when we intentionally choose to practice it regardless of our circumstances, rather than waiting for more positive circumstances.

No matter what trial you may be facing, there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. And the sooner we get started recognizing those good things, the sooner we’ll discover even more.

Encouraging Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

Never underestimate the importance of removing stuff you don’t need.

Encouragement provides us with motivation to persevere. It invites us
to dream dreams of significance for our lives. And it begs us to work
diligently with optimism and promise.

Overcoming the pull of consumerism is a difficult challenge
regardless of our stage in life. Simplicity requires encouragement. To
that end, I hope you will find motivation in these articles below.

Each post was intentionally chosen to inspire simplicity in your life. For maximum effect, find a quiet moment this weekend and enjoy them with a fresh cup of coffee or tea.

Are We Trading Our Happiness for Modern Comforts? | The Atlantic by Arthur C. Brooks. One of the greatest paradoxes in American life is that while, on average, existence has gotten more comfortable over time, happiness has fallen.

11 Things You Should Get Rid of Right Now, According to Professional Organizers | The Kitchn by Ashley Abramson. Whether you’re extremely low on cabinet real estate or you just want to get things tidier than they have been, here are 11 things you should get rid of right now.

The Ultimate Guide To A No-Buy Year | Forbes by Joshua Becker. With a new year approaching, it’s the perfect time to think about adopting a no-buy year challenge.

Save Money This Christmas with Minimalist Principles | Meg Nordmann by Meg Nordmann. There are many principles in minimalism that hold true year-round and at any stage of the process. But there are several that I wanted to focus on in particular in regards to Christmas, which can be a tricky season with its societal emphasis on busyness and consumption.

We Don’t Buy Things with Money, We Buy Them with Hours from our Life | Joshua Becker on YouTube

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Also, it was fun to see our app, Clutterfree, included in this article: 9 Must-Have Apps That Act Like Your Mummy

Spend Your Money on These Three Things to Increase Happiness, According to Science

I would never assume everyone reading this article has their financial needs met. However, there are two assumptions I make when writing about money.

1. More people have their financial needs met than think they do. In our consumeristic society, the baseline of need is always revised upward. The items considered “needs” today would have been considered a luxury not that long ago. Most of us have our financial needs met.

2. Minimalism provides greater financial flexibility to those who choose it. When we remove ourselves from the constant pursuit and accumulation of material possessions, greater financial flexibility is one of the benefits experienced quickly and recognized easily.

Based on those two assumptions, I want to talk about how to increase our overall happiness and well-being with our money.

Or, more specifically, how can we spend our money in ways that improve our subjective well-being? Not based on conjecture, but science.

There is a fascinating study recently published in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology by researchers from Harvard, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University.

In the study, Prosocial Spending and Buying Time: Money as a Tool for Increasing Subjective Well-Being, the researchers discuss four possible uses of our money.

Three of the uses result in an increase of subjective well-being, one does not.

After our immediate needs are met, purchasing additional personal possessions does not contribute, in the long-run, to increased happiness. But there are choices we can make with our financial resources that do increase our overall life satisfaction.

When determining the best use of our money, this research is valuable. Their findings are summarized below.

Spend Your Money on These Three Things to Increase Happiness



1. Purchasing Experiences.

Whether going to the zoo, the ballgame, or Europe for two weeks, spending money on experiences shared with others brings more lasting happiness than physical possessions.

According to the study:

The earliest and most well-developed line of research treating money as a resource to be intentionally utilized shows that, on average, people experience greater happiness when using money to purchase experiences, as opposed to material goods.

Based on their findings, spending money on experiences rather than material goods results in more positive feelings before consumption, during consumption, and after consumption.

2. Prosocial Spending.

Spending money on others—whether supporting a charity, treating a friend to dinner, or buying a gift for another—brings more lasting happiness than physical possessions.

When we entered personal spending and prosocial spending into a regression predicting happiness, we found that people who spent more money on others reported greater happiness; in contrast, the amount of money they spent on themselves was unrelated to happiness.

By conducting tests of universality, we have been able to demonstrate that the joy of giving is not merely a quirky feature of North American college students, but rather a fundamental component of human nature, detectable from the first years of life across a wide range of contexts.

Based on their findings, spending money on others enhances social connection, provides opportunity to make a meaningful impact, promotes well-being and autonomy. And in each regard, delivers these results in more measurable and lasting ways than buying material possessions.

3. Buying Time.

Whether paying someone to rake your leaves, clean your house, deliver your groceries, or buying a smaller house to reduce your commute, research indicates there is happiness to be found in not just purchasing positive experiences (above), but also purchasing the removal of negative experiences.

People who regularly by time report greater life satisfaction.

The researchers admit this finding requires some deeper analysis and study, “Although experimental manipulations are necessary to enable clear causal conclusions, this longitudinal study provides the strongest evidence to date that the broad proclivity to prioritize time over money predicts subsequent well-being.”

But based on their findings already, buying time provides more opportunity for people to choose relationships, reduce daily stress, and help navigate major life decisions. Even across socioeconomic variables, those results were discovered.

Your specific financial circumstance varies from the person next to you because nobody is exactly alike in this regard. However, the studies above do indicate some consistencies among us as human beings.

If you want to direct your financial resources toward pursuits that pay off in the long-run, choose to purchase experiences, prosocial giving, or buying time. Based on the studies, spending your money on those three things is the best way to increase happiness.

The Greatest Blessings in Life Are Often the Most Forgotten

This past summer, I celebrated 21 years of marriage. My wife is loving and kind and selfless. She is faithful and patient, a strong Christian, a loving mother, and a tireless volunteer who serves others in our community.

Too often, I take her for granted. Last night, in fact, I forgot to say, “I love you.”

My son is 18, a senior in high school, and just received his first acceptance letter from a university yesterday. Since he was a baby, he has brought joy into my life. I have watched him grow into a hard-working young man who is considerate and kind and intelligent. We have shared countless moments together from driving to school in the morning to flying across the country for trips. We’ve made countless lasting memories.

18 years together, and now it seems, he might be moving on to a new chapter in life apart from us for the first time.

My daughter is 14 and just started high school this year. She is funny and quick and brings joy into every room she enters. Somehow, she can simultaneously laugh at my dry jokes and tear up next to my wife watching an emotional movie. As high school continues, with each passing day, she seems to spend a little more time with friends and a little less time at home.

14 years of being my little girl, and now entering a new stage in life.

Why does it seem that our greatest blessings in life are the ones we too quickly forget, or take the most for granted?

It’s not that I don’t appreciate them. It’s just that too often, my mind dwells on other things: commitments at work, social media feeds, national news, sporting events, or that one specific personal accomplishment I’ve yet to reach.

The good I have been given is too easily replaced in my mind by the urgent or the things I wish I had.

My home is warm and safe—a blessing that not everybody enjoys. But you know what I think about most while at home? The flooring that needs to be repaired, the bathroom ceiling fan that doesn’t work, or that my bedroom gets too warm during the day and takes too long to cool off at night.

My home provides safe shelter for me and my family. But rather than focusing on the positives, it’s easy to dwell on the problems.

My freezer has food, so does our pantry. But what do I often say while staring into the fridge? “There’s nothing in here to eat.”

Some have closets full of clothes, packed to the brim on every hanger and shelf—enough supply to last the next ten years if necessary. And yet, the refrain is the same, “I have nothing to wear.”

Gratitude or discontent, the choice is ours.

I grew up in a loving family and both of my parents are still alive. Despite leaving home almost 30 years ago, I talk to them every week, if not more. I was given a stable and loving home upon which to build the foundation of my life—a blessing as great as any other. And yet, too often, I forget about all the sacrifices they made along the way to provide that for me.

I’m not sure why the greatest blessings are the easiest to forget.

Maybe it’s because they’ve become so commonplace to us that we don’t even notice their existence (until they are gone).

Maybe it’s the nature of the human mind to constantly explore new thoughts and adventures and ideas, rather than dwelling on the stable.

Maybe it’s because we live in a world that constantly stirs up discontent in our hearts and lives to distract us from the good.

Or maybe it’s because we just get so rushed and busy, we don’t slow down long enough, or often enough, to appreciate what we already have.

I’m not entirely sure of the exact reason—and maybe it’s different for each person.

But I do know this: We’d appreciate the goodness and stability in our lives a little bit more if we made more effort to notice the good in our world—starting with the most obvious, because the most obvious is often the greatest.

I mean, consider this, the very fact that I woke up this morning and got to see the sun rise is just another amazing blessing that I took for granted again today.

Minimalism: A Shortcut to Significance

A number of years ago, while Kim and I were grocery shopping, somebody left a large scratch along the side of our maroon minivan. Clearly, another car had scraped it and drove off.

Pushing the cart of groceries, I noticed the scratch while we were still a bit away and immediately felt a pit in my stomach. Such an ugly mark, and so obvious to anyone who glanced at the passenger side of our van.

Worse than the scratch itself was the fact that the driver who had left it there had departed the scene without leaving his or her contact information so that we could access this person’s insurance for the repair.

This meant that if we were going to get the scratch fixed, we would have to pay for it ourselves. More likely, though, given the advanced age of the car, the scratch would remain there, spoiling its appearance.

My wife and I drove away in silence, both pretty upset.

In the quiet, I began to reflect on how the incident had impacted me.

I began noticing the anger and started to wonder why I so upset about a scratch on our minivan. Righteous anger that we had been wronged? Maybe a little I suppose. But more than that, I was upset that something of ours had become damaged.

The reality is that our vehicle was a large investment for us. It had cost us a lot of hard-earned money to buy this car, and we had spent a lot of time and energy caring for it.

If I’d gotten a similar scratch on my bicycle (for example), I wouldn’t have been nearly so concerned. It wasn’t nearly as expensive. But because the car represented a major financial investment for us (our second largest, after our house), I had a lot of emotions invested in it too.

There is a very true reality in life that we become emotionally invested into those items that cost us the most. Almost naturally, without warning, where we spend our money is where our attention and affection is drawn.

Unfortunately, too many of us are tying our hearts to the wrong things. We are devoting our lives to material possessions that will never bring lasting joy.

We shop for bigger houses, faster cars, trendier clothing, and cooler technology, and we shove more and more stuff into our already packed closets. Subsequently, our physical possessions require us to invest more and more time and energy into caring for them.

But lasting fulfillment can never be found in things that are temporal by nature. And our discontent is evidenced in our excess.

Instead, it is important for each of us to look outside ourselves—to find investments that tie our hearts to things that bring real joy, lasting purpose, and meaningful fulfillment. I’m talking about our family, our friends, our spirituality, and the causes we believe in.

That is where we should be devoting more of our time, energy, and financial resources. Because when we do, we are drawn to them even more.

Living with less enables us to be more generous and giving.

I’ve seen over and over again that minimalism can be the quickest shortcut to a life of greater and more lasting significance.

A lot of people might want to be more generous, but until they free themselves from the burden of spending too much money and accumulating too many possessions, they will not be able to do it.

There’s a richness in turning our excess into someone else’s supply. And the sooner we give to others, the sooner we discover the great potential each of our lives can hold.

Generosity, then, is not just an outcome of minimalism. It can also be a motivation for it.

Wouldn’t you like to be making a difference for the better in the lives of others both near and around the world?

Of course you would. Minimalism can get you there quicker. It is a shortcut to significance.

Inspiring Simplicity. Weekend Reads.

F ill your life with stories to tell, not stuff to show.

The simplicity/minimalism movement is a beautiful community. And I enjoy any opportunity to promote writing that encourages people to live more by owning less.

So fix yourself a nice warm cup of coffee or tea. Find a quiet moment this weekend. And enjoy some encouraging words to inspire more simplicity in your life today.

Is Being Generous the Next Beauty Trend? | Science Daily by Indiana University. Study confirms generous people are perceived as more attractive.

This Minimalist Mom Saved Thousands of Dollars by Turning a School Bus Into Her Family’s Home | Yahoo by Maressa Brown. Living on the bus empowered the Mayes family to do more than they thought they could. 

When Your Task List is Overwhelmingly Long | Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. I’ve talked with several people lately who have tasks lists from the floor to the ceiling, and it just overwhelms them. So what can we do? It turns out, several key things.

The Eight Secrets to a (Fairly) Fulfilled Life | The Guardian by Oliver Burkeman. “After more than a decade of writing life-changing advice, I know when to move on. Here’s what else I learned.”

9 Distractions Keeping You From Living Your Best Life | Becoming Minimalist on YouTube.