Thinking about reading Simplify your Life: Waste Less, Value More, Go Minimalist by Mary Conway?

Maybe someone recommended the book to you or maybe you want to embrace a more minimalist lifestyle and whilst researching minimalism you discover Simplify Your Life? Well, keep on reading as I’ll be telling you a bit about what you can expect to find inside of Simplify Your Life, as well as sharing my own thoughts on the book.

This page includes affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Thank you to HayHouse UK who kindly sent me a free copy of the book to review.

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK, SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Help Out Your Home
Chapter 2: Work Smarter, Not Harder
Chapter 3: Wake Up Your Wallet
Chapter 4: Clean Up Your Connections
Chapter 5: Regulate Your (Virtual) Reality
Chapter 6: The Inside Job

In the Introduction Mary sets the scene for what minimalism is and isn’t. She also talks about some common myths and explains why they are myths rather than fact.

Mary believes that minimalism has a bad name and that most people view minimalism as very joyless. Mary’s on a mission to change that perception. Instead, she believes we should be concentrating on the essence of minimalism which is “the pursuit of our true passions by jettisoning things – both material and intangible – that are simply not serving us”. She also adds that “minimalism is about re-establishing what is of value in your life and letting go of everything that’s not”.

 

Chapter 1: Help Out Your Home focuses on applying minimalism to your home. Mary states that “your home is your refuge, a place of safety that you return to after a day spent in the world at large”. This chapter explores the idea of keeping up with the Joneses, discusses living in a cluttered space and gives you a framework to start decluttering.

In Chapter 2: Work Smarter, Not Harder focuses on your work. For most people work will account for the majority of their life outside of the home and therefore it is important to make the right decisions.  Marie asks

“If one of the main aims of the minimalist lifestyle is to bring intentionality into one’s life, doesn’t it make sense that we’d seek greater purpose and meaning in a part of life that consumes so much of our time?”

The book then gives you advice to support you finding a new job or making sure your current one is aligned with minimalist principles.

Chapter 3: Wake Up Your Wallet concentrates on ensuring that you are using your money as wisely as possible. It talks about the impact of buying cheap and the relationship between money and happiness. It also gives you a framework to help ensure you make sensible decisions about future purchases.

In Chapter 4: Clean Up Your Connections it is time to look at your relationships from a minimalist perspective. With the increase in technology, especially social media, we are keeping in contact with more people than ever. However, with people playing a big role in your well-being it is key that you have the right people around you. This chapter looks at platonic friendships, as well as delving into the world of romantic relationships too.

Whilst technology is mentioned in Chapter 4, Chapter 5: Regulate Your (Virtual) Reality really focuses on apply minimalist principles to our digital lives. It talks about how social media is designed to be sticky and we as humans need to fight against this. Mary is fully aware that this isn’t an easy habit to break and provides techniques to break the scrolling / social media addiction.

The final Chapter, Chapter 6: The Inside Job focuses on you. By this point, all of your external world should have been viewed from a minimalist perspective and changed where necessary. However, throughout Mary has tried to show that minimalism isn’t just about having an empty home. It is about focusing on having only having a life that is aligned with your values. This chapter helps to really reinforce the minimalist principle and show you how to ensure you are embracing it is as a positive change in your life.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS FROM CHARELLE

Overall, I really enjoyed Simplify Your Life. I decided to read this book because I’m a hoarder (shh don’t tell anyone else) and I definitely need to declutter. I have previously read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by Marie Kondo and whilst it was life-changing for many it didn’t work for me.

Early on in the book, Mary writes “minimalism is a way of life that allows us to strip away the clutter that gets in the way of us achieving our goals”. This line really spoke to me. Whether we want to acknowledge it or not, clutter is a weight and a drain on our life. When your life is simpler you have more time and energy to focus on what matters rather than constantly tidying or sorting things out.

What I loved about this book is Mary straight away dismissed the myths and made it clear that her mission isn’t for you to live in a bare house. Instead, she wants you to focus on being intentional about all aspects of your life. Each chapter was about 30 pages long, which felt good to me. It allowed you to be able to focus on an aspect of your life and not be overwhelmed by how many aspects you needed to address. Also, whilst there were action points throughout the book it felt very manageable.

 

WHO WOULD I RECOMMEND READS SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE BY MARY CONROY

I would recommend Simply Your Life to anyone who wants to embrace a minimalist lifestyle or even someone who just wants to find out more about minimalism. I have admitted that I came to the book specifically focused on decluttering my physical space, but maybe you are someone who knows you need to make changes in your work, relationships or technology. Given the specific chapters in the book, you could use the book just to address one specific area of your life that you feel you want to improve.

 

If you like the sound of you Simplify Your Life by Mary Conroy you can buy a copy for yourself by clicking here.

OTHER BOOKS RELATED TO DECLUTTERING AND MINIMALISM

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by Marie Kondo (Find out more here).
• Digital Minimalism: On Living Better with Less Technology by Cal Newport (Find out more here)

 

YOU CAN SEE ALL OF THE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT BOOKS I HAVE REVIEWED HERE