Lifestyle & HomeBeginnerPreview
Minimalism & Intentional Living
A practical course that uses proven minimalist methods and behavior-change science to help you own less, spend less, and reclaim time and attention for what genuinely matters to you.
For anyone who feels weighed down by too much stuff, spending, and busyness and wants a deliberate life rather than a default one.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into action in your own life. Each section maps to one module and mixes values exercises, decision worksheets, and checklists for your stuff, money, time, and screens. Work through it alongside the editable templates at the end, and by the last page you will have decluttered your space, aligned your spending and schedule with your values, and tamed your digital life around what actually matters.
What Minimalism Really Is
Name your core values and turn them into a decision filter you will use across every area of life.
Exercise: Find Your Core Values
Work through these prompts honestly; this is the foundation for every decision in the course. Aim to end with three to five values written in plain words you would actually use. Spend at least 20 minutes here.
- Describe three to five days in the last year that felt genuinely good. What were you doing, who was there, and what was notably absent?
- What themes repeat across those days (connection, health, creativity, learning, freedom, contribution, calm)?
- Which inherited beliefs do you default to without choosing them (more is safer, busy means important, new is better)?
- Write your three to five core values, then write your decision filter as a single question, for example: does this support my health, my close relationships, or my creative work?
Worksheet: Define Your Enough
For each area below, name the point at which more stops adding value to your life. This is your enough line. Fill one row per area; you will defend these lines throughout the course.
- Life area (possessions / wardrobe / spending / savings / commitments / screen time)
- Where I am now (rough estimate)
- My enough point (specific and measurable)
- What I gain by stopping there (in life-hours, money, or attention)
- One signal that tells me I have drifted past enough
Checklist: Foundations Set
- Wrote a one-sentence true north for what I want more time, money, and attention for
- Identified three to five core values in plain language
- Wrote my decision filter as a single repeatable question
- Posted my values somewhere I will see them daily (planner or phone home screen)
- Picked one principle to test this week (such as a 72-hour pause before purchases)
Decluttering Your Physical World
Apply fast decision rules category by category and clear excess without emotional stalling.
Exercise: Run Your First One-Pile Declutter
Choose one narrow category (t-shirts, mugs, cables, or books) and gather every item of it into a single pile before deciding anything. Then answer these prompts about the experience and your rules.
- Which category did you choose, and how many items did the full pile actually contain versus what you expected?
- Write the exact 90/90 question you will ask each item (used in the last 90 days, needed in the next 90?).
- Which items triggered just-in-case fear, and do they pass the 20/20 rule (replaceable for under 20 dollars in under 20 minutes)?
- How many items left, and where are they going (donate, sell, recycle, trash)?
Worksheet: Category Declutter Tracker
Work through your highest-friction categories one at a time. Gather the entire category into one pile first, then log the results. Fill one row per category as you finish it.
- Category
- Rule used (90/90 / 20/20 / one-pile)
- Items kept (count or estimate)
- Items donated or sold
- Items trashed or recycled
- Date completed
- Exit destination booked (drop-off / pickup / listed)
Exercise: Break the Emotional Block
Pick five items you keep avoiding a decision on. For each, name the emotion holding it and apply the matching counter, then record your decision.
- Item and the emotion holding it (sunk cost, just-in-case fear, guilt gift, or aspirational self)?
- Which counter applies: the money is already gone, the 20/20 rule, the gift already did its job, or own things for who I am now?
- If it is sentimental excess, which few will you keep and what will you photograph and release?
- Final decision: keep, donate, sell, or trash?
Checklist: Capsule and High-Friction Zones
- Gathered each category into one physical pile before deciding
- Tried the reverse-hanger test in the closet to expose what I never wear
- Built a versatile core wardrobe (roughly 30 to 40 pieces) or started a Project 333 challenge
- Decluttered the kitchen of duplicate tools and failed-90/90 gadgets
- Cleared expired products and sample sizes from the bathroom
- Deleted blurry and burst-duplicate photos, keeping one or two best per moment
- Adopted one-in-one-out so a new item means an old one leaves
Intentional Spending and Money
Reframe purchases as life-hours, build a values-based budget, and install brakes on the consumption cycle.
Worksheet: Calculate Your Real Hourly Wage
Use the Your Money or Your Life method to find what you actually trade your life for. Subtract the time and money costs of working from your take-home pay. Fill in each line, then compute the bottom row.
- Take-home pay per week
- Hours worked per week (paid hours)
- Extra unpaid work-related hours (commute, prep, decompression)
- Work-related expenses per week (commute, clothes, bought lunches, recovery spending)
- Adjusted pay (take-home minus work expenses)
- Adjusted hours (paid plus extra hours)
- Real hourly wage (adjusted pay divided by adjusted hours)
Exercise: Price Your Purchases in Life-Hours
For one week, convert every non-essential purchase you consider into hours of your life using your real hourly wage, then test it against your values. Record at least four decisions.
- Item considered and its price?
- Cost in life-hours (price divided by your real hourly wage)?
- Does it serve one of your core values, and how directly?
- Decision after the life-hours and values test: buy, skip, or revisit after a pause?
Worksheet: Values-Based Budget Builder
Sort your recent spending into categories, tag each as aligned with your values or not, and decide a direction for each. Fund what matters generously and cut what does not. Fill one row per category.
- Spending category
- Average monthly amount
- Aligned with my values? (yes / no)
- Structure target (50/30/20 bucket or zero-based job)
- Action (fund more / hold / cut / cancel)
- New monthly amount
Checklist: Spending Brakes Installed
- Audited all recurring subscriptions and canceled the misaligned ones
- Chose a budget structure I will maintain (50/30/20 or zero-based with YNAB)
- Funded my top one or two value categories first and deliberately
- Set a 72-hour pause for small wants and 30 days for larger ones
- Removed saved payment details so buying requires deliberate effort
- Unsubscribed from retail emails and muted accounts that trigger wanting
- Automated savings and value-aligned spending so it happens by default
Time, Attention, and a Sustainable Simple Life
Declutter your calendar with essentialism, reset your digital life, and install maintenance habits that keep it all from drifting back.
Worksheet: Commitment Audit (90 Percent Rule)
List your recurring commitments and score each from 0 to 100 on how well it serves your priorities. Anything below 90 is a candidate to cut. Fill one row per commitment.
- Commitment
- Hours per week or month it costs
- Priority score (0-100)
- Which value it serves (or none)
- Decision (keep / cut / gracefully exit)
- Graceful exit line I will use
Exercise: Plan Your 30-Day Digital Declutter
Design your digital minimalism reset using Cal Newport's method. Decide what counts as optional, what fills the gap, and the rules you will set when tools return. Answer each prompt before you begin.
- Which technologies are optional for you (apps or services you could leave for 30 days without harming work or key relationships)?
- What high-quality offline activities will you use to fill the freed time (reading, walking, hobbies, people)?
- After 30 days, which tools earn reintroduction because they serve a deep value, and what is the rule for each (when, how long, which device, what purpose)?
- Which immediate changes will you make today (notifications from people only, phone out of the bedroom, social apps off the phone)?
Worksheet: Maintenance Routine Designer
Define the reviews that keep your intentional life from drifting back, and anchor each to an existing habit (habit stacking). Fill one row per routine.
- Review (monthly money / seasonal life audit / annual values check-in)
- What it covers
- Existing habit or event it is stacked onto (pay rent, clocks change, birthday)
- Time budget
- Trigger or cue
Checklist: Lock-In and Long-Term
- Identified one sub-90 commitment to exit and protected the reclaimed time for a value
- Allowed notifications from real people only and silenced engagement apps
- Moved phone charging out of the bedroom and use a real alarm clock
- Removed social apps from the phone and access them via browser only
- Adopted one-in-one-out for possessions, subscriptions, and commitments
- Placed a permanent donation box for continuous editing
- Scheduled a monthly money review, a seasonal life audit, and an annual values check-in
- Set a plan to redirect future income increases away from lifestyle creep
Your Action Plan
- Define three to five core values and write your decision filter as a single question.
- Set your enough point for possessions, spending, commitments, and screen time.
- Run a one-pile declutter on your highest-friction category using 90/90 and 20/20.
- Build a capsule wardrobe and clear the kitchen, bathroom, and photo library.
- Calculate your real hourly wage and start pricing purchases in life-hours.
- Audit subscriptions, build a values-based budget, and cancel what does not serve you.
- Add a 72-hour or 30-day pause and remove saved payment details to slow buying.
- Audit your commitments with the 90 percent rule and gracefully exit one sub-90 obligation.
- Plan and start a 30-day digital declutter, then reintroduce only tools that pass the test.
- Adopt one-in-one-out and schedule monthly, seasonal, and annual reviews via habit stacking.
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