A special thanks to each of you for making 2023 such an enjoyable year here at Becoming Minimalist. It was my fifteenth year of writing on this blog, and I have loved every moment of it!
Whether you have been reading all 15 years, the last 15 months, or just the last 15 seconds, I’m glad you’re here.
Becoming Minimalist continues to reach people beyond my wildest dreams as we grow every year in new ways. As before, this growth has occurred because of the support from readers like you—thank you for helping to spread the inspiration.
Thank you for sharing this website on social media and with your friends and family. This website exists only because of your support all these years.
Here are some numeric representations of our growth:
- Becoming Minimalist was read by nearly 4 million people last year.
- Our Facebook page has over 2,700,000 followers and reached over 80,000,000 people last year. Thank you for continuing to share our posts.
- 185,000 people currently receive Becoming Minimalist posts via email. Sign-up here to do the same.
- Over 200,000 people subscribe to our quarterly magazine, Simplify Magazine.
- Over 3,000 new people decluttered their home last year through the Uncluttered Course.
- 56 new videos were posted to YouTube last year and subscribers grew from 260,000 to 290,000.
- On any given day, over 1,000 people actively use the Clutterfree App to declutter their homes.
- And our Instagram following is now over 102k people.
All that to say, the influence of this website (and more importantly, what it represents) continues to reach people and change lives around the world.
But some of our most significant successes this past year are not found in the numbers above:
- The Hope Effect. Our non-profit continues to change how the world cares for orphans. Your continued support allowed us to expand into two new locations last year: Nuevo León and Colima, Mexico. More than 3,254 generous people have donated and become part of the solution. Giving Tuesday 2023 was our single-largest fundraising day ever.
- Becker Method Professional Training. In 2023, I took my 15 years of experience helping people own less and created a Training Course for Professional Declutterers. The goal is to: 1) Train as many people as possible passionate about helping others own less; 2) Create a list of personally-trained professionals for people who want (or need) to hire someone to work with them individually to declutter and minimize. Last year, 70 people went through the Certification Training and many of them can be found listed on the Becker Method Certified website.
- The Focus on Faith Newsletter. In April, I launched a new newsletter. Every week, I send one email that includes a passage of Scripture to meditate on and a 5 minute Jesus-focused devotional—intentionally written to keep our hearts inspired and our minds motivated to live for God. This project has become a meaningful pursuit for me. It is free for anyone who is interested in my faith-based writings and has grown to over 18,000 subscribers over the course of the year. You can sign up here: The Focus on Faith Newsletter.
It has been a fulfilling and meaningful year for Becoming Minimalist. Thank you for being part of it.
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In case you missed any, here are the top posts on Becoming Minimalist from 2023.
Most Popular Posts from 2023 (as determined by readers):
10 Signs You Own Too Much Stuff. In a world where consumerism seems to progress unchecked and is even promoted by many of our leaders and mentors, how can we know when we have given in? How can we know, on a personal level, when we own too much stuff?
100 Simple Ways to Immediately Improve Your Life. Sometimes drastic changes are helpful—quitting smoking, becoming minimalist, changing careers. But sometimes, just a simple change has the power to improve our lives and send us down a new path.
21 Things To Do In the Morning Before Checking Your Phone. If you want to break the habit of checking your phone first thing in the morning, here’s a list of 21 things you could do instead.
15 Years, 15 Lessons: My Journey of Becoming Minimalist. It’s almost unbelievable to me to think that this year marks 15 years since that Saturday morning in Vermont when I was first introduced to the word: minimalism.
10 Financial Decisions You’ll Regret 10 Years From Now. When it comes to the decisions we make with our money, our choices today create the reality of our tomorrow. They are the building blocks that shape our future.
My Personal Favorite Posts from the past year:
Is Having a Lot of Money Really Something to Be Proud Of? Why are we celebrating it? Why are we chasing it? Maybe it’s not something to proud of… maybe it’s something we should be embarrassed about instead?
Maybe Your Family Doesn’t Care About Money As Much As You Do. Maybe, just maybe, the most meaningful thing to your family has nothing to do with the money you provide. Maybe you are the most meaningful thing to them.
Yes, Decluttering Has an Endpoint—And It’s Wonderful. It’s easy to believe that decluttering must be a never-ending cycle. And while it’s true that we need to stay vigilant against clutter returning, that doesn’t mean we never experience the moment of accomplishment.
You Matter to Me. Please know that I work hard to show up for you with messages that inspire, motivate, encourage, and challenge all of us—myself included—to live an intentional life focused on things that matter.
Most Popular Guest Posts in 2023:
I’m an American Nomad Traveling the World: Here’s What Other Countries Taught Me About Minimalism by Julie B. Rose. Instead of measuring net worth, dollars, square footage, and brand names, how about we count the years and measure ‘wealth’ in freedom.
How I Found True Happiness Living with Less by Winnie. Embracing a minimalist lifestyle certainly didn’t happen overnight, but it’s been a worthwhile and rewarding experience. It’s incredible how something as simple as living with less has shifted my mood and perspective so greatly.
Why Decluttering Isn’t Like Waving a Magic Wand by Karen Trefzger. As I worked through the process—sometimes with quick successes and sometimes more slowly and painstakingly—I began to feel lightness and freedom.
How to Systematically Declutter Your Life by Mike Donghia. What it boils down to is this: the more clear the path, the more confidence in the outcome, and the more enjoyable the journey… the more likely you are to succeed.
Most Popular Outgoing Links from the past year:
Five Types of Habits That Will Radically Change Your Life | The Simplicity Habit by Julianna Poplin. Habits effectively automate our lives in a positive way and take the effort out of performing a task; when something is a habit, it’s virtually automatic.
“Make Your Coffee at Home” And 50 Other Simple Habits to Save Money | Simple Money by Joshua Becker. In a world where we’re bombarded with options to spend, saving money can often feel like an uphill battle. But what if you could save without a significant overhaul of your lifestyle?
The 20 Greatest Decluttering Tips of All Time | No Sidebar. As you journey through these 20 decluttering tips, you may feel the urge to overhaul your entire space all at once.
10 Daily Habits that Often Waste 90 Percent of Our Time and Energy | Marc and Angel Hack Life by Angel Chernoff. Regardless of your unique life situation or how you personally define success, you can’t become an overnight success. You become successful over time from all the little things you do one day at a time.
Most Popular YouTube Videos of 2023:
15 Little Changes You Can Make in Your Home to Help It Serve You Better. Does managing and maintaining your home cause you stress? If so, here are 15 easy ways to make caring for your your home less stressful.
21 Life Changing Minimalist Experiments to Try in Your Home. Society is constantly calling us to expand and upgrade every area of life: our home, our car, our kitchen, our wardrobe, our technology…. A Living with Less experiment provides us the opportunity to see if there is a more intentional, more focused, better way to live.
15 Clutter Busting Routines For Any Family. For years, our family has worked hard to remove any clutter that begins to accumulate in our home. Along the way, we have picked up some helpful clutter busting routines to help those who are just getting started with minimalist living.
Whether you have been reading Becoming Minimalist for one week, one month, one year or longer, thank you. This blog owes its success to the support of its readers. Thank you for reading. And thank you for sharing these posts with others.
I look forward to an exciting 2024.
I am excited to offer the Uncluttered Course again next year (registration will open on January 3rd for the New Year’s Edition) as well as my Becker Method Certification course. If you’d like to know more about the Professional Training, you can sign up here to receive specifics updates about it.
I’ll also remain active creating videos for YouTube and Facebook and will continue publishing Simplify Magazine and Simple Money Magazine.
In addition to continuing to offer those valuable resources, I look forward to offering some new resources this coming year. More details about that on January 1st.
No doubt, Becoming Minimalist will continue to evolve and be redefined.
But this website will always stay true to its core message that there is more joy to be found in owning less than can ever be found in pursuing more. We will continue to invite as many as possible to discover this truth in their lives. And I hope you will join us.
