Book Review - The Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker

YouTube Transcript

This book is on our list of favorite books. You can find a link to buy the book there.

hello I'm Kelly and I'm Nathan and today
we are gonna be having our own little
mini book club Kelly and I have recently
read a book together titled the
minimalist home by Joshua Becker and so
we decided we were each guys just going
to read some of the quotes that we
really enjoyed from this book and tell
you our thoughts on these this quote
says my definition of them is minimalism
is the intentional promotion of things
we most value and the removal of
anything that distracts us from them so
to me this says that as we look around
our home and remove things like extra
towels that we have to wash or extra
clothes and our kids drawers that they
throw on the floor and end up in the
dirty clothes because they're not really
dirty and so we're doing less laundry as
we remove those things we have more time
to spend other things that really matter
to us being able to do the things which
we've always wanted to do but not found
the time so in this book it says you
might get 85 years on this planet don't
spend 65 paint off a lifestyle you can't
afford that was by Kate Flynn and so as
I listen to that quote I just think of
how important it is for me to reduce the
amount of money I spend on all the extra
things I don't really care about in life
and instead make sure that I am spending
money on the things that I really care
about so that I I don't have to work as
hard so that I don't have to spend as
much time commuting or doing those sorts
of things and instead I can use that
time and energy that I would have spent
working earning a living all the things
that really matter to me in my life in
this he's talking about the different
rooms in your house and the things that
are in them and he says to ask this
question to yourself do we need this
item does it help the room accomplish
one of its purposes by providing service
beauty or meaning and so to me this
talks about looking around our rooms and
seeing what's inside them and making
sure that the items serve that rooms
purpose so for instance our bedroom is a
place where we can be together and we
can talk and just spend time together
but if we have things certain things in
there that will distract us and pull us
away from doing that and so some of the
things we
have looked at doing is putting away our
devices earlier so that we can spend
time together and not be distracted and
just making sure that things are done so
that we have that time together in our
bedroom another thought from this book
that I really liked it says never
organize what you can discard and so as
I read this quote it just makes me
really think about how important it is
our house isn't taken up by a whole
bunch of things that don't matter all
those things require more organization
more time spent putting them away all of
those sorts of things and instead if we
just have the things that really matter
to us and they all have a very specific
place that they go it makes it very easy
to take care of our home as a result of
that we were able to spend our time on
those things that really matter that
also makes me think about keeping a lot
of us keep things that we we might need
someday or we may be will use this
someday and so it's looking around your
house and finding those things that you
have to store and maybe shuffle from
closet to closet because it doesn't have
really have a purpose but you keep
thinking one day you'll use it and so
those are good things to look at and
remove from your home so this isn't a
quote so much is it it's an idea that
was discussed in this book it's called
the Diderot effect and this is talking
about how sometimes we go when we buy
something say a shirt and then we and we
really like it but then we bring it home
and realize we don't have a skirt or
pants to wear with and so now we go out
and buy a pair of pants and you bring
those Pat's home and now we don't have a
belt or shoes and it just keeps
snowballing from there the idea is that
we need to look and be more conscious of
what we bring into our home and does it
cause a cascading effect that causes us
to buy more another quote ask yourself
what is really important and then have
the courage to build your home and life
around that answer I really enjoy this
quote because I think one of the most
difficult parts about changing our life
is that we worry about what other people
will think we worry whether our parents
will think we worry about our friends
will think and so it really takes a lot
of courage to make those changes in your
life you might be worried about well if
I remove all these things from my living
room people are going to
come in and think well these people have
sort of an empty room and that really
should be very important what should be
important is that our lifes are what we
want them to be that we were able to
spend the time with those that we care
about that we were able to do those
things that we that are most important
to us so my next quote says think less
about who you were and focus more on who
you are becoming and so to me this talks
about when we look around our home and
sometimes we'll feel guilt or angst over
the money we've spent on things and we
need to just let that go it's spent it's
done and think more about when you go
into a store and you know what you're
gonna do in the future and how you're
going to keep the things out of your
home that you don't need and you don't a
lot of times you don't actually want
them so one of the other things I think
is really important about that is that
it's very easy for us to think oh well I
bought that it was kind of expensive and
so I don't want to you know give it away
I don't want to sell it because I'm
gonna lose money on that and that
shouldn't be that important what should
be important is are you still gonna use
that today if you had to do it again
would you buy it again if the answer so
those things are no you're not going to
use it you wouldn't buy it again then
you should probably just get rid of it
and move on with your life
so just to wrap up I think both of us
really enjoyed this book we really
enjoyed what he had to say we already
lived some of these principles but it's
really good to get that another
viewpoint on this idea of of minimizing
your home making sure that it really is
focused on the purpose that you want
your home to have and and the purpose
you want your life to have I did really
enjoy this book and I think it's a
really good way to cause you to start to
look at your home and to see what is
inside that you just don't need and
what's taking up your time and so it
also is about finding the purpose of
your home and what do you want your home
to do for you and as you look at this
purpose you can see what in your house
isn't fulfilling it and what's taking
you away from it whether that purpose
like me is my kids and my family and my
husband and us being together and
spending time together and not having to
spend
cleaning organizing putting away laundry
so as we continue to remove things from
our house we find that we have more time
to spend with each other and to be with
one another so we hope you enjoyed
hearing us talk about this book and if
any of you have read the book we'd love
to hear your thoughts and your ideas
that you have implemented and if you
have any other ideas for books you would
like us to read and review you can leave
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