As I work my way through the annual holiday hangover, the words of born-again minimalist Joshua Becker call to me. "Own less, live more" is his motto, and, dare I say, should be ours, too. The author of several books and a popular blog on minimalism, and host of an online decluttering course, Becker’s advice feels like a juice cleanse right about now.

I called him for some ways to both minimize and maximize my life. Becker, age 45, started by telling me about his tipping point 11 years ago. He was living in Vermont, working as a youth pastor, married with two young children.

Over Memorial Day weekend, he and his wife decided to spring clean. He took on the garage. The project — moving everything out, sorting, tossing, reorganizing, cleaning and moving much back in — took the whole day.

During that time, he struck up a conversation with his neighbor. “I was complaining to her about how much time this was taking, and she said, ‘That’s why my daughter is a minimalist. She keeps telling me I don’t need to own all this stuff,’” he said.

“I had never heard the term ‘minimalist’ before.” The concept struck him like a giant storage locker landing on his head. In that instant, he looked back toward his house.

On one side he saw his 5-year-old son joyfully swinging on the swing set, and on the other he saw all his stuff waiting to go back in the garage. The disconnect was glaring. “I realized that not only were my things not making me happy, but also that th.