Minimalista: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Better Home, Wardrobe, and Life

by Shira Gill

"The co-founders of Havenly help you find your own style in this fresh and accessible guidebook to the complicated world of interior design"--

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Design, Reference, Interior Design, Coffee Table Books, Lifestyle

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 2, 2021

About the author

Shira Gill is a globally recognized home organizing expert, bestselling author, and speaker. She has inspired thousands of people to clear clutter from their homes and lives, and developed a process and toolkit that applies to anyone, regardless of budget, space, or lifestyle.

Shira is the author of Minimalista and Organized Living, and has been featured in 100+ print and media outlets including Vogue, Dwell, Better Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful, Architectural Digest, Domino, Forbes, Goop, Harper's Bazaar, HGTV, Today, InStyle, Parents, Real Simple, and The New York Times.

Reviews

[Jenna ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 1 (the first 90 or so pages) was good, outlining her step by step process for decluttering and organising your home. This is her job so I think it’s safe to say she’s pretty practised at it. The pictures are so dreamy, I’d love my house to look that good, simple and clutter free.

I’m on my own journey of minimising my possessions (not becoming a minimalist), I have been for a while. But it’s a slow one, it’s hard to find the time or the motivation to do it and even harder to then get the stuff out of your house. So I do like to read a book like this every now and then to get me back in the mood for a declutter.

Part 2 (the last 200 or so pages) dragged a bit and is very repetitive. It goes in depth into the process for each room/area of the house. Granted I probably wasn’t supposed to just read the whole book in one go, it’s probably designed to be dipped in and out of, but I like to finish a book once I’ve started it.

This is also where it started to feel a bit preachy for me. I lost count of how many times she dropped in “I only own one of those” while scolding people for having more, like she’s the picture perfect minimalist.

She mocks people who have mismatched mugs and wants everyone to get rid of their microwaves (god forbid you cook food in a microwave you heathen).

She tells people to get rid of bedroom furniture to make it a nice uncluttered space, forgetting that not everyone in the world is American, so we don’t have these massive houses with built in closets.

She also constantly goes on about recycling things and not sending stuff to landfill EVERY SINGLE TIME getting rid of something is mentioned. Yes we know it’s important, we got the idea the first time you said it.

We are encouraged to buy lots of little glass jars to decant our food purchases into, rather than just leave it in its packaging, which she thinks is ugly. I do not see the point in this step apart from wasting money to make your cupboard look like a Pinterest image (and then not knowing best before dates because you got rid of all the packaging).

Ignoring my little rant there is some good stuff in here and it has definitely motivated me to get back to it, which is what I wanted. Although she lost me when she said to get rid of all your books…. Sorry what? Never.

[Maryann Lucero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped reading this early on when she suggested tearing off book jackets and organizing books by color. This makes all of her suggestions suspect. She's obviously not a reader and has no place in my life.

[Carri · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite hobby is reading. My second favorite is organizing and styling my home (I’m super fun!) I’ve read lots of books in this genre and this is the best one I’ve come across.

[Janssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuCgWztJXdh/

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many great concepts & practical advice. But the deeper you get into the book it’s clear that I lead a very different life from the author. There’s a specific reference about the horror of wearing a ratty old college sweatshirt as loungewear. And frankly, as I sat on the 10+ year old couches, that used to live in my parents basement, while wearing my husbands ratty old college sweatshirt (that is so damn comfortable you’ll have to pry it from my cold dead hands) I realized I’d need to take the rest of the book with a grain of salt. 😂 Minimalism as a concept, and specifically what is recommended by the author are not the same thing.

In case anyone else needs the reminder, you can be a minimalist without buying all new containers to put your shit in. And you can still have a capsule wardrobe even if you’re using plastic Target hangers that once lived in your dorm room. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obsessed. Such great advice for decluttering and organizing your home. As a Marie Kondo devotee, I can say that this is actually the more practical version of her method, one that may even be more likely to spark permanent change in your home. It was just the thing I needed as we prepare to move back in.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended by a social media minimalist account that I follow. I borrowed it from the library and I was glad to see that they had it. Even though I have been minimizing my home for years and I absolutely love organization and beautiful things, I still enjoy reading books on minimizing and organizing to inspire me, keep me going, etc. This book was definitely more for first time home organizers/minimizing. I did not learn anything new here.

The good:
The pictures in the book are lovely - bright smaller spaces that are organized and aesthetically pleasing.

I also liked that she speaks from the point of view of a homeowner living in an older small home. This made me happy because most organizing type of books are coming from a perspective of huge amazing closets that I simply do no have!

Some of her points about what to keep and what to get rid of inspired me that I do not need to hold on to guilt of keeping things (like all of my kids schoolwork or artwork and gifts I no longer use) so that is always encouraging.

My favorite part was about kids and the example she gives about how preschools teach kids to stay organized and create zones that the kids can easily follow and implement during the school day. Kids can stay organized and they do not need a lot of stuff to stay busy. A lot of parents do not understand this and let their kids take over their entire house thinking that it is just a way of life that they have to live with instead of teaching their kids what the preschool / kindergarten class teaches them. If they can do it in school, they can do it at home! I was just having a conversation with a friend about how minimizing and she asked me, “well what do you do about all of your kids stuff?” I told her that kids get overwhelmed with too much stuff and it is actually better for them to have less toys and stuff to play with and clean up. I think most parents think they are being good parents by giving their kids more toys/entertainment type of things then they need or can take care of and it is overwhelming to the kids. Teach them young to organize and take care of their things and to put them away when they are finished with it before moving on to the next thing and don’t clean up after them and this will be a GIFT they will take with them into adulthood!

The bad:
It is very obvious that this author is an environmentalist. She hates plastic - DO NOT organize with plastic - she says over and over. Along with telling you to recycle that paper and to not throw it in the trash can. She lectures about it being our responsibility to not give to Goodwill exclusively unless you know for sure that they will accept it (how would we know unless we worked or work there?) because they may just throw it away. Over and over she lectures about these values of hers … we get it already! Stop lecturing on this! It gets quite annoying. And the no microwave thing?! I’m sorry, I hate the look of a microwave, but it is way too practical to give up!! I do not want to spend the time warming up everything on the stovetop or waiting for the oven to preheat.

Unless you are new to this game, this book is pretty obvious in its points of how to declutter. It’s all common sense.

She encourages you as a new minimalist to buy only quality items. This is true some of the time but now always. For example, I bought a wool pottery barn rug 18 years ago and it still looks lovely to this day under my dining room table. That rug, however, was on sale and I got a good deal on it and it was in my budget. Some of the things she recommends, however, is not only beyond my budget but seems silly to spend so much money on! I was looking through her closet recommendations and come on …. $150-200 for ONE shirt?! Maybe if it were a special material that keeps me extra warm but a dress shirt? What is wrong with a $20 dress shirt that I found at TJ Max? Will it last me less time? Maybe, or maybe not but I will probably be ready to move on to a new on anyway a few years in but if I spent over $100 on it, I would have extreme guilt about getting rid of it ever! And the sneakers she recommends are $600?!!! WHAT?!! Really? She is not living in the real world. I guarantee you those sneakers will still get dirty over time like any other (cheaper) sneaker and won’t last any longer! All of her items are from high end stores and some may be worth it but definitely not a lot of those things. Has she ever heard of a budget?!

I also wanted to mention that becoming a minimalist should not cost you a cent! It is all about freeing up space to create peace and more time in our life. Getting rid of things we do not use gives us a sense of calm and more time that we are not spending looking for things or taking care of extra things we did not need. Not to mention freeing up stress that it took to clean up our homes for other people to come over. Minimizing for me has been so freeing and given me contentment. Once I got over “needing” things and “wanting” thing after thing and really thinking through every item that I thought I “needed” and instead shopping in my home, I have had so much contentment! I used to think I needed a bigger house for my husband and 4 kids but after becoming a minimalist, I realized I could CREATE more space by simply eliminating STUFF in the home I already lived in. It has been a huge blessing in my life. So my encouragement to you is that you do NOT need that nice stuff she recommends to be content, have a clean organized beautiful home that brings YOU peace!

[Eliza · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5*. Once you’ve subjected yourself to the hardcore, soul shattering, forever changing your DNA #konmari full house decluttering process, do you ever need another organizing book? Truth be told…no, but sometimes you need someone to remind you of the basics and give you some extra hack ideas for various issues you might have. Is Minimalista a #konmari variation? Not intentionally, and I’m sure organizing existed before Marie Kondo and it will exist after…but damn, that lady was such a phenomenon, and for many people (me, me, me) our very first organizing saint. It’s impossible not to compare. So no earth shattering revelations in this book; a much more “American” way of seeing the home, the self, the end goals. For instance, Shira is very skeptical that anyone in the US actually cooks or bakes, and seems to have only had clients who have fully stocked kitchens because “you have to”, but in reality only eat out. And hey, maybe it’s quite true over the pond (I’m writing from Paris), but she was slightly annoying at times on that front. In her world, people also don’t really exercice and should chuck all their sports wear they never use (you got me here Shira, i confess, guilty as charged), nor do they do any of the crafts they have stoked their drawers with (leave my 64 pans of watercolor out of this! :)) ). Also, her style “uniform advice” rubbed me the wrong way…I’m not Obama, I need some flexibility / spontaneity / diversity in my life, thank you very much, even if i have very limited closet space and have to fit it into a capsule collection (for better advice on this front, I recommend Nina Walder in Instagram). Overall, it is a good guide for those already onto the organizing path, written in an upbeat casual, perfectly edited style. But do I believe this can be a successful FIRST organizing book? I do not. There is a reason Marie Kondo makes you dump all your belongings in the middle of the house. There is a reason your space is unlivable for two to four weeks. There is a reason you weep while folding in threes item after item after item. There is a reason your husband looks at you in dread asking “what have we done? There’s no turning back now!”…Your brain needs a fundamental rewiring, new habits are incredibly hard to create, identity shifts from consumerist hoarder to minimalist rejector of new belongings is hard to achieve. A konmari approach, as hardcore as it is, is like a rite of passage. A daunting, challenging, almost spiritual path. Once completed, sure, Minimalista is the perfect refresher course, spin-off, reminder you need in your life. It was an enjoyable book. But for the newbie, although I think it asks all the right questions, I doubt it creates the same sense of deep seated urgency, life-or-death cleaning urge, that is needed for true behavioral change.

[Holly N · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually just ordered the physical version of this so I can have my own copy to write notes in! This book is a practical guide to wading through accumulated clutter and designing your spaces to support the life you want to be living. With its engaging writing style, humor, and abundance of practical checklists, this book transforms organizing your life from a daunting task into an inspiring one.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this book out from the library, and now that it's due, drive-by reading or reading quickly or cursorily before I return it led to this review. A lot of her advice is common sense. I already know that a minimal, functional, and inviting home is accomplished by organizing and that organizing one's abode needs to entail getting rid of stuff. Lots of stuff. And not acquiring more stuff. I know, I know,, but doing so is another matter. For example, it took me years to arrive at one of Gill's pro tip: one nice product costs far less than a dozen cheapo products. However, there are some good reminders like: stop hoarding scarves, jewelry is for wearing, deal with your paper, commit to a seasonal cleanse, practice the one-in, one-out rule, etc. AND the photography is gorgeous. Natural light-filled rooms and closets are in lovely white and neutral palettes and are not jarring, nor overdone. Aspirational, clutter-free décor is why you want to pore through this book.

[Nazli · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was good for the most part, I just disagree with any minimalist book that advises you to buy things. She started to lose me when she advised the reader to get one really good item versus many cheaper items. I don't know, wouldn't it have been better to choose from the many items you already have and then donate the rest?

[Emma]

I didn’t think I would read this cover to cover but I found it so interesting. I like how the author broke her organising steps down into sections for each room so you could see how to approach each type of room in your home. It definitely inspired me to reorganise multiple times as I was reading.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:
Being a minimalist shouldn't be so hard, this book is huge! And it ends with a buying guide which is just too ironic.
The pictures are pretty though

[Taylor Streander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I intended to read just portions of this book but ended up reading the entire thing and LOVED it. Great organization tips/tools provided with actionable takeaways. Also put a LOT of new concepts into perspective for me regarding wasteful habits, sustainability, investing in quality over quantity, mindful purchasing and owning of stuff, etc. This was the perfect read for a start of a new year. Recommend to anyone looking to make some simple (but sometimes difficult) home and lifestyle habits.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening & life changing.
The basics are repeated often but that helps them sink in.
Luckily the cover has that "coffee table" look so you can keep it stored in sight, because I'll be picking it back up often to reference during my editing exercises ;)

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

For about three years I've been trying to declutter and eventually become a minimalist. Believe me, it's not as easy as it sounds. I've lost count of how many minimizing and decluttering books I've read since then, but this one is at the top of my list.
I really liked Ms. Gill's approach to minimalism and organizing and I loved the way she didn't "talk down" to the reader like some minimizing books do; making the reader feel like it's their fault for owning too much stuff. She has realistic solutions that are very detailed and I love that the book includes writing prompts. I've never seen that in a organizing book but it's a great idea.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to do the prompts because there were others waiting for this book at the library (I can see why!), but I did take notes- lots of them-and I intend to put them into practice. There's even a section on how to handle the possessions when someone has passed away which was very helpful to me, as I am still downsizing and decluttering after the loss of my husband.
I loved the pictures that she included and her writing style is wonderful. I even laughed a few times while reading.
This book is very nicely organized and easy to read and find things. The only chapters I didn't read thoroughly were the ones on kids and the garage/attic since those don't really apply to me.

I will definitely re-read this in the future and any other books that Ms. Gill writes. Not all of the suggestions really applied to me but I got more out of this book than of all the others on the same subject.

[Hayley-Ann Vasco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am that weird person who loves organization. Before borrowing this book I had already “Konmaried” my house in the past two years.

I really loved parts of this book. I liked the hands on actionable steps for each room of the house laid out in Part 2. I can see myself coming back to some of these sections if they become more relevant for me (ie kids toys, entry/mud room, pantry, laundry room etc). The philosophy behind some of the reasons she “edits” the way she does makes a lot of sense and is useful.

But, overall I found the book repetitive. And most importantly for someone who seems to care so much about the environment, there was still a lot of emphasis on buying a lot of extra stuff. I wanted minimalism to be about happily living with what you love most not buying more storage solutions and even RANDOM DECOR to fit into a cookie cutter Pinterest aesthetic.

[Jane Henningsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read ahead of a move. Definitely helpful for planning, and going through this with a notebook helped me make a thorough to-do list for decluttering and planning spaces that will make our move easier.

All in all I thought this was mostly common sense advice but it was a quick read and we’ll benefit from it. Highlights include the index of stores for sustainable home supplies and her advice on reducing paper clutter. (You can opt out of junk mail and pre-approved credit card offers! Omg) Otherwise I don’t feel that I learned too many new tricks. The remodelista organizing book is probably a higher value counterpart to this one.

Also some of the recommendations were a little too minimalist for me. She almost lost me when she suggested that dog beds are unnecessary because dogs are happy sleeping on the floor. We don’t have a dog but if we did, it would for sure have somewhere cozy to sleep.

[Megan Healy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very inspiring and impactful. I like how she organized it, breaking down her philosophy and then going room my room to bring up roadblocks that typically happen in each space, as well as tips related to each space. At first I just wanted to read the chapters that related to my “problem areas”, like the bathroom and linen closet, but then I broke down and just read the whole thing cover to cover… but I like that you could read it either way and get something out of it. She does a decent job breaking down the protests we inevitably have for keeping the things we don’t actually need. I hear her words in my head when I want to keep something “just in case…” but it really does feel so good to let your stuff go and live more simply. It helps me shop less too!

[Jade Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

picked up this book after shira was interviewed on leslie steph’s newsletter. pretty easy to breeze through and a little redundant, but some points are worth making over and over. i like her approach to creating as little waste as possible when you’re editing your home. i think it’s overkill to get little jars and baskets and things. i’m trying to accumulate LESS, and i’d like to use what i have already (for instance i started with my junk drawer today, and i’m finally using all those slider bags i’ve saved). i don’t care about anything looking streamlined, especially if it’s out of sight. i took what i needed and left the rest.

[Rosalie DePaola Saline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Crown Publishing via Goodreads Giveaways for my copy!

I received this book right as I was moving but didn't read it until after I was completely unpacked. I had already "edited" and "organized" per her Tool Kit, and I STILL went around my house after finishing the book and added more items to my donation pile. I found her Room-by-Room Guide helpful and, although repetitive if read all at once, will be great to reference for anyone moving or deep cleaning their home and who need a concrete map for each space. I was definitely inspired to be more intentional about the items I keep and not feel guilty about donating or gifting what is no longer serving my new identity.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay there was nothing groundbreaking here (and clearing out and consolidating my life is a BIG problem of mine so I've read A LOT of books like this!) but I loved the overall simplicity and positive you-got-this energy. The simple breakdowns were just what I needed to get out of my head and get to work, and Shira is a great cheerleader and coach without being condescending or patronizing (or too mean haha).

[Patty Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

So very helpful to shift my mindset as we prepare to move to our forever home!
I initially took this title out of the library, but quickly realized that I would need a copy of my own to reference through every step of the way!
I think this book is for everyone - I plan to reread often to help de-clutter and be intentional about my purchases and organization!

[MariWabiSabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially, I thought this would just be a nice picture book to inspire more functional and beautiful spaces in my home. But there is a lot of good content amid the photos, including step-by-step ideas for how to edit, organize, and maintain a lower-stress life by reducing consumption and waste. I’m a big fan of buying fewer items of lasting quality and reusing/repurposing/responsibly discarding of as much of those things as I can, so this was very aligned with my values and how I strive to keep a home.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decluttering, organization and a little bit of style advice, all in a light-hearted style. This book delivers exactly what it was supposed to.
Nothing new under the sun, but every once in a while it's a good idea being reminded of not adding any more clutter to one's home.

[Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this books approach. It broke down organizing and decluttering into more manageable steps, opposed to doing a big purge. It also made you think about the things you keep and if you actually need them.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book. Made me want to get things out of my house and clean and decide. I appreciated how it was broken down by area (while got repetitive it makes sense so you can use this as a reference).

[Chey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like my richest, whitest self reading this. Does it expand or improve on the organization self-help literature? Not really — I’d still recommended Marie Kondo more, but it did get me thinking about how I want to organize my space when I move, so I enjoyed that.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great room-by-room organizational tips-but it really needs to include a chapter on organizing for the family that perhaps has hobbies like sewing, hockey gear, a home library. Not everyone wants or can get rid of everything -so she really pushes minimalism but some people want organization without getting rid of everything 🙂

[Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did a wonderful job explaining how you can find harmony between minimalism and an aesthetically pleasing home. Like any book on decorating, there are recommendations for purchases, although they were sustainable and I felt could be implemented as you were able to