Get Inspired by 5 Books About Living with Less
If you’re looking for inspiration on how to declutter, live with less or simply stop spending your money on stuff you don’t really need, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve rounded up some books about living with less that have inspired myself or others I know to pare down our possessions and slow our consumption habits. Enjoy!
This post contains affiliate links so if you purchase one of these books I may recieve a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This is one of my favourite minimalism resources. As a chronic over-consumer, it has helped me so much! Cary Telander Fortin and Kyle Louise Quillici personalize decluttering by teaching readers to understand their unique relationship to possessions, allowing personality and history to determine what is “enough” for each of us. Fortin and Quillici share their expert knowledge about designing a decluttered space that will feel both tidy and personal, insisting that minimalism does not have to mean sparse and empty.
Jen Hatmaker experiments with simplicity by taking seven months to focus on seven self-identified areas of excess: food, clothes, possessions, media and technology, spending, waste, and stress. The spiritual repercussions for her Christian faith might not resonate with all readers, but her humor, honesty, and earnestness are relatable regardless of your religious beliefs.
And Jen didn’t stop there. She has several books about living with less stuff and more personal fullfillment. Check them out here:
7 Days of Christmas, about living a “reduced” life at Christmas that inspires generosity.
For the Love, about freeing outselves of the pressures that North American society often puts on us and embracing our lives, flaws and all.
Of Mess and Moxie, about owning your vibrancy and going your own way as a woman.
Personal finance journalist Michelle Mcgagh challenges herself to not spend any money for an entire year (except for bills), leading her to evenings spent in pubs with a pint of water and a growing appreciation for life outside the capitalistic hamster wheel. With the express purpose of making a significant dent in her London mortgage, this book is specifically for people who want more control over their spending habits.
Marie Kondo’s method has helped me out a lot in changing my mindset about what enters my home and what stays in my home, though I’ve only watched the Netflix documentary (a friend of mine says the book goes in to far greater detail than the Netflix documentary, so she suggests starting with the book… oops lol). And, while I do have some concerns about people getting into a fast purchase/fast discard cycle if they do this method incorrectly, I think it’s a great starting place for many people to get acquainted with minimalism.
Her “KonMari Method” is a super practical decluttering model that is perfect for people who like a big project. She advocates for tackling clutter by type (sorting through clothes, then books, papers, miscellany, and finally, mementos) rather than room, and her advice to say “thank you” to items before discarding them encourages a grateful mentality.
And if you like visual aids, she has a second book with illustrations of some of her most famous techniques (like her clothes folding method): Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up
If you’ve heard of the Marie Kondo method and find it too specific or overwhelming, you might like this alternative. Gretchen Rubin offers a broader range of decluttering options - there are over 100 ideas to choose from - and her manageable suggestions to begin the process of paring down possessions are full of humor and a realistic standard for ongoing change.
And, if her name sounds familiar, that’s because it is! Gretchen wrote The Happiness Project along with several other books including:
Happier at Home, about how she took on the task of making her home “a place of greater simplicity, comfort, and love.”
Better Than Before, about making and breaking habits.
