The Minimalist Home A Room-By-Room Guide to a Decluttered, Refocused Life

I would say this is more a book for those who need inspiration rather than tips. It felt like there were a lot of extraneous stories. It motivated me to look at what things I was really using, but I didn’t find much that was new in this one.

قرأتُ أكثر من كتاب في فنّ "التخفف" وبالتالي هذا الكتاب لم يضف لي شيئاً كبيراً، لكن وللأمانة أحبّ الكتب المرتبة التي تمشي على سنن واحد. يبدأ المؤلف حديثه عن أهمية "التخفف" وكيف أنه وراءه فلسفة وحكمة، ومن ثم ينتقل في كل فصل من فصول الكتاب بشرح آلية التخفف والفلسفة منه وكيف تبدأ عملياً. يبدأ بغرفة الجلوس، ثم غرفة النوم، ثم الحمامات، ثم المطبخ، ثم المكتب، ثم الكراج (مافي حدي منا عنده كراج بس أوكي). ويخبرك بالتفصيل ماذا تفعل بالأشياء التي تفيض عن حاجتك: 1- تبيعها 2- تتبرع بها 3- تدورها (إعادة تدوير) والأمر ينسحب أيضاً على الأجهزة الإلكترونية ومحتوياتها. بعد قراءتي لكتاب (سحر الترتيب لكوندو 1-2) لم أعد بحاجة لقراءة أي شيء في هذا المجال.

This was super informative and really made me think about what I need and if it's affecting the stress in my life. I love how he went room by room and explained exactly what you need in the room and things you can get rid of. Some people may not struggle with this, but hearing someone else tell you that you don't need to keep something just because it was a loved ones, or because it has a memory attached to it is truly a great thing. I come from the mindset that I have to keep everything, I can tend to be over sentimental about items and I struggle with it a lot. But this book really helped see things differently and also how to not be scared by the word 'minimalism.' We tend to see that word and think of people who have a fork, a pillow, and one sock and are perfectly content with that. But Joshua Becker explains what minimalism is, and how it's not as scary as getting rid of literally all your possessions, but only keeping things that you really need while also making me feel like you can still keep some things that you want as long as it's not cluttering up your house and your mind. Definitely recommend if you struggle with this, and I listened to the audiobook which was great.

Most stuff you can read about minimalism is really… extreme. It’s either extreme in the sense of “get rid of everything and breathe at least 50% less than you did before!” (okay, slightly exaggerating) or it’s supposed to show really extreme and therefore unbelievable results. I don’t know if this book ends up showing both extremes because I had to dnf it when the author featured a response he got from a woman. Becase said woman had to deal with postnatal depression but during that depression and with (at least) one baby she went minimalistic and guess what? She was cured! If one could cure depression with decluttering stuff… why are we paying so much for therapists and medication? Why do some people have to live with depression their whole life? So now I know that some people are like “that totally cured me! DO yoga at sunrise and your healed!” but should that be written in a book? It’s not like one is forced to write every little testimonial one gets. But the chosen quotes you do use for your book show what you think. And therefore I stopped reading because I have better things to read than that. Last Words: I know it can help if you’ve got the energy for it to have a clean environment. But how about writing it that way? Disclaimer: I received a free copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

This is a good read, but nothing new in terms of decluttering and downsizing. I've read Mari Kondo's book when it was released a few years ago. You could read either or. Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

This book isn't just about style and furnishing a home its more to do with the attitudes of a family; its environment. It get the reader to think about what they value and what they want to be in their home. This book goes deeper than just throwing things away. It looks at challenging the materialistic culture and rethinking about what we really value in life. Please read this book, it’s excellent, especially if you have a family.