Joy of Less: a Systematic Approach to Minimalist Living
The world is full of material things, but real life takes place in the space between all of our things. Book Francine Jay “Joy smaller”, “A minimalist lifestyle” will help you clean up the mess in the house , spend less money on unnecessary things and focus on the important things in your life.
This is part of a new series of Lifehacker book reviews . Not all life hacks can be described on a blog, so we decided to look at some of our favorite life changing books to dive deeper into the most important topics in life.
Francine Jay runs the Miss Minimalist website for her second book, The Joy of Less . Her first book, The Financial Millionaire , was about living well while saving a fortune. She has also been featured in a wide variety of other publications including CNN, BBC, NBC Today, The Guardian, and Forbes.
Who is this book for
This book is for people who are tired of belonging to their business. If you feel like your house is full of junk, your time is eaten up by endless searches for lost things, or that you spend too much money on things you really don’t need , this book is your medicine. It is also for those who are aware that certain material objects can bring happiness and that they deserve your time and energy. If you are interested in turning your home into a sanctuary that is organized, efficient, and easy to maintain, this book is for you. Plus, if you’re looking for great advice on prioritizing and streamlining your daily schedule, you’ll find it here too. This is the perfect book for all types of life hackers.
What do you get
The Joy of Less is divided into four parts: the philosophy of minimalism, the STREAMLINE cleaning system, the room by room cleaning approach, and tips for freeing up your schedule. The book starts you off by explaining what minimalism is and how to form the right mindset, then gives you many actionable, step-by-step advice on how to get rid of all the trash in your home and storage. The final section offers tips for incorporating minimalism into your busy life. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find:
- Part One – Philosophy: You will learn to look at your possessions differently and see that fewer things mean less stress and more freedom. You will also learn why space in your home is valuable and learn to enjoy things without having to own them.
- Part Two – STREAMLINE: Acronym for Jay’s Step-by-Step Cleanup Process that can be used anywhere. S tart over T rash / Treasure / transfer, R Eason for each element, E verything in its place, A LL surfaces are clear, M odules, L imits, I f one comes in one goes out, N is a down arrow, and E is daily maintenance …
- Part Three – Room by Room: You will learn how to best apply the STREAMLINE process to each area of your home. Specific tips for your living room or family room, bedroom, wardrobe, home office, kitchen and dining room, bathroom, storage space, and a section on how to say goodbye to sentimental items and relics .
- Part Four – Lifestyle: A collection of tips to optimize your schedule and performance. You’ll find tips on how to learn to say no, get rid of unnecessary actions, prioritize tasks, and standardize the tedious and predictable things life throws at us.
The book is quite lengthy – almost 300 pages, but it is configured in such a way that it makes it easy to jump to the right section at the right time. You can read everything in order or skip straight to the best tips for tidying up your living room – it’s up to you.
One trick you won’t succeed
Sometimes the best way to bring about positive change is to take extreme measures. Starting with a clean slate is definitely an effective way to learn what really matters. In the Start Over chapter of the STREAM LINE section, Jay invites you to take a quick look back in time:
… let’s go back to the first day we moved into our house or apartment … It was a beautiful blank canvas, empty and full of possibilities, ready to be personalized with our special approach. We enjoyed the thought of a blank slate – what a great opportunity to start over and get it right!
Of course, over the years, there is less and less time and desire for everything to look beautiful. You have accumulated more things, got rid of very little, and now your once methodically decorated room has become a mess of “things.” When things get so bad, Jay recommends that you go back to the house, one room at a time:
We’re just going to redo the move day, but now we’re going to take our time breaking the gigantic task into smaller pieces. We’re going to arrange a fresh start for each area of our homes … The key to getting started is to remove everything from the designated area. If it’s a drawer, turn it over and empty the contents. If it’s a closet, divide it down to bare hooks, twigs, and shelves. If it’s a box of hobby supplies, put them all out.
During this process, you will have time to ask yourself questions about each item you own. How did I get it? What does it give me? If I just moved, would I bother bringing this? This will take some work, but gradually and gradually, you will significantly reduce the clutter.
Our opinion
What’s great about this book is that it provides a lot of practical and actionable advice that only addresses the author’s personal stories to help provide examples. It aims to help you free up space in your home (and your life), while emphasizing the idea that life should not be limited to filling empty space with things.
The book also explains well that minimalism is not about emptiness or barren living spaces, but about fighting the junk that’s so easy to accumulate. The tips are simple, and the mindset you develop as you read the book is easy to understand and get started right away. Clearing an entire house of clutter is no easy task, and Jay understands it. Throughout the book, the tasks that are set before you are approached with humor and ease: “Don’t worry, you will completely cope.” Personally, I didn’t think I would have as much fun reading this as I do.
Most of the tips for productivity and scheduling are variations on what we’ve discussed a lot here, which might make these tips a little less effective for seasoned life hackers, but it’s still useful to keep everything in one place, especially if you’re putting in a concentrated effort to get rid of all the mess once and for all. However, this section is not required to get a lot of useful advice from this book.
It should be noted that the book touches on more general topics, such as consuming fewer people and how this can benefit the Earth as a whole. However, before you run away mumbling about hippies, the thoughts and advice in these small sections are pretty straightforward (like the benefits of reuse and reuse), and never venture into something too instructive. If it bothers you for any reason, it’s easy to overlook it.
You can get The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplified Your Life on Amazon Kindle for $ 10, or about $ 12 in paperback. You can find out more about the author Francine Jay at her Miss Minimalist website.