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Must-Read Minimalism & Decluttering Books for a Simpler Life
32
items Books that have guided me on my decluttering, downsizing, minimalism, and simplification journey as I have given up my house, packed up items, sold or given away most, and am deciding on what lifestyle I want moving forward. Remember: Less is more!
Sections
5
Minimalism
Death Cleaning
Decluttering
Hoarding
Organization
Minimalism
A small, easy-to-read book packed with lots of good information and thoughtful insights. Despite its compact size, it covers a surprising amount of useful material and offers an interesting perspective on minimalism, simplicity, and intentional livin...
Messy Minimalism: Strategies for Everyone
Thoughtful exploration of practical minimalism as more than simply owning fewer things. Rather than functioning as a traditional decluttering or organizing guide, the book examines minimalism as an artistic, philosophical, architectural, and cultural...
The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism
A follow-up to his previous book, Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism, this book continues exploring the principles and benefits of living with less. It builds on the ideas introduced in his earlier work, offering additional insight into min...
Hello, Habits: A Minimalist's Guide
Great tale about a young collector who discovers minimalism and begins transforming his relationship with possessions. The story follows his journey from accumulating and holding onto things to embracing a simpler, more intentional way of living. An ...
Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism
Easy, practical approach to simplifying and decluttering your home step-by-step, with the process conveniently organized by room. Breaking everything down into individual spaces makes the process feel much more manageable and less overwhelming, allow...
The Minimalist Home: A Room-by-Room Guide
Modern and practical approach to minimalism that focuses on creating lasting changes rather than simply decluttering once. It offers realistic ideas for simplifying your home, possessions, and everyday life while developing habits that make minimalis...
New Minimalism: Decluttering & Design
Easy-on-the-eyes, practical guide to downsizing, with large print that makes it especially comfortable and enjoyable to read. The straightforward format makes the information easy to follow without feeling overwhelming, offering helpful guidance for ...
The Minimalist Home (Large Print)
Thoughtful approach to finding the balance between preserving meaningful memories and letting go of the possessions that may be weighing you down or holding you back. It recognizes that sentimental items can carry important stories and connections wh...
Keep the Memories, Lose the Stuff
Insightful look at how Japanese minimalism can shift the way you think about your possessions, surroundings, and everyday life. Rather than promoting a one-size-fits-all approach, it encourages you to discover your own balance between having too much...
What You Can Learn From Japanese Minimalism
I really like the focus on living a better, more fulfilling life with less—not simply getting rid of things for the sake of having fewer possessions. It emphasizes how letting go of what you no longer need, use, or value can create more room for the ...
The More of Less: Finding Your Life Under Stuff
A great story about what can lead a person to embark upon a more minimalist lifestyle and the internal changes that spark external results. I love the emphasis on what is truly meaningful in life.
Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life
Minimalism can be a whole different way of life, so it can be best to take it step-by-step or rather, room-by-room. Cut the task down into bite-size chunks with this books that helps you to focus on one room at a time in order to avoid overwhelm.
Minimalism Room by Room: A Customized Plan to Declutter Your Home and Simplify Your Life|Paperback
I love the Japanese Zen style, so this is right up my alley. They live a naturally more minimalized lifestyle.
Japanese Minimalism: A Calm, Clutter¿Free Life Inspired by Simple Living, Wabi¿Sabi, and Intentional Home Design
Leaning into the Japanese way of life to learn how to stop holding onto possessions that weigh you down.
Let Go: 50 Lessons from Japanese Minimalism to Set You Free
Death Cleaning
One older woman's guide on how to not leave a mess for your family to clean up after you pass away.
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning
Inspired by The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, this book offers a more Americanized and relatable take on the concept of thoughtfully simplifying your belongings. It applies the same idea of intentionally deciding what is truly meaningful and ...
Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: Decluttering Art
Practical and approachable guide to Swedish Death Cleaning, presented in a way that makes the concept easy for American readers to grasp, understand, and apply to everyday life. It takes the traditional Swedish philosophy of thoughtfully sorting thro...
Swedish Death Cleaning Made Simple for US
Decluttering
Sometimes the best way to determine if something is right for you is to simply try it for a period of time. That's what this author did. I like that she discusses numerous ways of downsizing both possessions and lifestyle, including not only getting ...
The Year of Less: A Journey to Minimalism
One of the best ways to minimize is to simply throw away items. I always love when I find something that is simply trash or that I have no need for that can easily go. I like this author's motto: "If you want to grow, you gotta let go." They help you...
Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter
We can't have a list of minimalism and decluttering books without including the well-known Marie Kondo. This book inspired the series. She applies Japanese minimalism techniques in a way that Americans can understand. Her big motto is to determine wh...
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
I found this to be a great concept exploring how our personality might determine our tendencies towards a particular lifestyle. I think it's definitely something worth looking into. As someone into personality types, astrology, and human design, I do...
The Clutter Connection: Organizing by Type
This is a great book for those who feel simply overwhelmed with stuff, which is too easy to happen. We can feel overwhelmed with all we have, but too overwhelmed to undertake getting rid of it. This book will help you sort through all of that and dev...
It's All Too Much: Easy Plan for Less Stuff
“Conquer Your Clutter Without Losing Your Nostalgic Memories.” When you're a sentimental person who sees ongoing value in your items, it can be especially challenging to part with anything, as every item may serve as a memory. This book helps you to ...
The Sentimental Person's Guide to Decluttering
Isn't true that it seems like we're constantly confronted with more and more stuff to contend with? It seems like an ongoing battle. But this book helps you to know how to fight back in a way that will yield good results. I like that our internal emo...
Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Battle with Stuff
The book that inspired a young Marie Kondo to start tidying up and launched her career. If it worked for her, it should work for us.
The Art of Discarding: How to Get Rid of Clutter and Find Joy|eBook
Another installment of the original book to help you effectively deal with cluttering and disorganization. One huge part of this is understanding why it happens in the 1st place and that starts with us internally, particularly as a result of trauma. ...
Put That Stuff Down 2: Coping With Trauma Through a Holistic Decluttering Journey
Great for those who need a more active, tangible way to tackle the decluttering process rather than just reading about it.
The Home Organizing Workbook: Clearing Your Clutter, Step by Step
Hoarding
Dive deep into why we feel the need to hold onto possessions and how it can even lead to excessive hoarding. Anything hoarding-related is always a great motivator for me to get rid of things in a hurry, ha.
Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things
A combination of real-life stories and strategies, along with self-care as you're accomplishing what can prove to be a stressful journey. Written by a mental health professional, so that's an added plus.
Reclaim Your Life from Hoarding: Strategies
So much of why we hoard has to do with our mindset and beliefs around possessions-- we keep them because we feel they're valuable, whether that's accurate or not. Chronic hoarders even see the value in what others consider trash. This book covers the...
Buried in Treasures: Help for Hoarding
In order to combat hoarding, you must first learn to understand it-- why it happens, what is the mentality, and where it stems from. From there you can gain some control. This book is helpful if you want to gain an understanding of why hoarding may b...
Understanding Hoarding|Paperback
Organization
I picked this up from the local library and although it's more about inspirational mindset and concepts, I really resonated with the title, as it's true. I used to have it so much more together naturally, LOL. Now I really have to focus on it intenti...
I Used to Be So Organized: Help for Reclaiming Order and Peace