Declutter Your Heart and Your Home: How a Minimalist Life Yields Maximum Joy

Julia Ubbenga is a consumerist/maximalist turned minimalist, and her story (which has led to a popular blog, which has led to this book) is inspiring. In ‘Declutter Your Heart and Your Home’, she shares honestly and openly, whilst giving ideas, principles and practical tips on decluttering.

What makes ‘Declutter Your Heart and Your Home’ distinctive is its focus on decluttering the heart as well as the home: getting to the root cause of the unhealthy, unbiblical thought patterns which lead to us hoarding our resources or buying more than we need. The book is refreshingly Jesus-focused – I thought he might be an afterthought, but no, this book is bursting with Scriptural insight.

If I have any criticisms they would be that the author tends to overquote the work of others (perhaps a natural by-product of her own journey, where she has obviously learnt much from other authors/bloggers/influencers), and I did find a lot of the practical tips fairly predictable. But then again, I have read a fair bit about decluttering over the years so perhaps this is not surprising. What is surprising is perhaps how much of ‘Declutter Your Heart and Your Home’ has stayed with me and come to mind in the weeks since I finished it. A really helpful read.