#128: Finding More Life In Less Stuff: a house log

Minimalism can still feel like an “out there” lifestyle, so this week we are bringing in expert Joshua Becker to share how dipping your toes into the minimalist waters can lead to big gains at home and in life. He shares how to stop the slow creep of household clutter, what minimizing can teach our kids, and how it might even assist you achieve some of your biggest life goals that have nothing to do with organizing or paring down. Plus, we take you inside a part of our house that many of you have never seen before, and we share what we are both doing in the pursuit of a better night’s sleep.
You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What is new
- Below is the photo of our attic from Episode #123’s shownotes that piqued a lot of interest in this “secret” space (which also featured a small fraction of Sherry’s “Baskets In The Attic).

- And, as promised, Sherry shot a video tour of it last week so you can see how it is looking lately. NOTE: If you are viewing his in a feed reader you may need to click through to see the video. You can also watch it here on YouTube.
- It is a space we have not truly photographed quite much because it is simply been full of junk, leftovers, and decor “in purgatory.” But to give you a sense of its size, here is a photo we took of it when we picked up the house:

- It is not as clean as it was then, but it is certainly a lot less chaotic than it had been before we began finalizing what was going to the duplex and donating everything else we had been holding onto for far too long.
- And I know Sherry’s video promised a view from the outside to assist orient yourself. The attic exists in short as our unfinished third story, which runs under the whole roof in this picture below:

Joshua Becker, The Minimalist Home

- You can learn more from Joshua or follow along with him at his website, Becoming Minimalist.
- His new book is called The Minimalist Home and provides room-by-room advice for paring down & minimizing. It has been selling out a lot, so if you are interested try to snag it before it goes out of stock again.
- Sherry’s also a big fan of his earlier book, The More of Less.
- And if you want to tune into more episodes where we discuss minimizing or decluttering, it is clearly one of our go-to topics, so here ya go:
- Episode #30: How Minimalism Nearly “Grinched” Our Christmas
- Episode #33: In Pursuit Of Buying Less & Doing More
- Episode #45: Why We Got Rid Of Half The Toys In Our House
- Episode #78: How We (Mostly) Pulled Off A Merry Yet Minimal Christmas?
- Episode #82: What is It Truly Like To Live In A Compact House?
- Episode #87: Lessons From The Messiest Homes In America
- Episode #89: A Year Without Shopping
- Episode #96: Our Complicated Relationship With Stuff
- Episode #106: What is It Truly Like To Downsize?
- Episode #111: Can Minimalism Be Cozy?
- Episode #116: How To Get More Style With Less Stuff
We are Digging
- Here are some screenshots of the Autosleep app that I have been enjoying to assist me stay accountable with my sleep habits That is not my data below (I wish I got to sleep until 9:13am!) but you can see how it mimics the rings in Apple Watch’s Activity app, and how it tracks your “sleep bank” and tells you whether you are working off of a surplus or a deficit of sleep (so you can catch up, or celebrate your victory).

- And in addition to her weighted blanket, Sherry mentioned this Sleepy lotion from LUSH that is been a pleasant addition to her evening routine. And here is her go-to organic caffeine free camomile tea.
If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.
And lastly, a big thank you to Agility Bed for sponsoring this episode. This week one of our listeners can week a free Agility mattress and a pair of Therapedic pillows by entering at AgilityBed.com/YHL. Giveaway ends February 8th.

Thanks for listening, folks!
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