The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

January 28, 2021

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Even as a child, Marie Kondo liked order and was always reorganizing her family's home. But she would finish one room, and a day or two later, it would be in chaos again. She developed an innovative approach to clearing clutter, advocating a category-by-category approach rather than working room-by-room. The author asserts that if done correctly, you will never have to declutter your home again. Her system is based on evaluating each item to see if it still "sparks joy." If the item no longer excites you or is no longer useful, she recommends thanking the item for its service and then deciding whether to donate or discard the item.

She suggests taking every item of one type (for example, all of your clothes) out of closets and drawers, putting them all in a pile on the floor or the bed, and then going through the pile, evaluating each item. I have a feeling that as you get toward the bottom of the pile, you start discarding stuff faster just to be done with the task. Kondo even has recommendations about how to fold or store items such as t-shirts and socks. 

I tried this system on my clothes and it does work well. Where I got bogged down with with things like family collectibles (like my mother's crystal and my grandmother's silverware), which I don't want anymore, but I'm not sure I have the right to get rid of them without consulting other family members. Still working on that.

Also, you need to make up your mind that you're not going to buy stuff that you don't actually need or want, and to buy things only to replace other things that are worn out or being discarded. Otherwise you'll end up with piles of clutter again. Maybe that's more of a Japanese thing rather than an American thing.