The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying.
By Marie Kondo.
A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever.
I had come across the name of this book, and the name Marie Kondo, a few times over the years in different articles and podcasts, so when I discovered the physical book I bought it, and read it with interest. The delivery of the content is simple, neat, polished and precise – very like the person who wrote it. I watched one of her TED talks too which was translated, and she comes across as incredibly respectful of her subject, and very sure of the efficacy of her methods.
Essentially, this book is about finding joy and contentment by surrounding ourselves only with things we truly love, and learning to clear the items that stifle and complicate our lives. She calls her approach ‘The KonMari Method’, and it is unnervingly simple: Start by discarding, thoroughly, by category. Then, organize your space, diligently and completely, in one go. When Marie refers to “one go” she does not mean just in one sitting, which would be way too difficult for all of us considering the number of possessions we have. What she means is focus entirely on one category i.e. books, and do that, all in one go, starting from the morning when you have the most energy. You can tackle different categories on different days. She confidently writes that if we adopt this strategy, we will never revert to clutter again. She explains that when we put our houses in order, we put both our affairs and our past in order too. The book is a guide to acquiring the right mindset for creating order, and becoming a tidier person. Order is dependent on the extremely personal values of how a person wants to live. She says, “Once you have experienced what it’s like to have a truly ordered house, you’ll feel your whole world brighten.”
Having duly followed her principles and her process over the last month, I found myself living lighter, with a feeling of more space both around me, and in my head. I hope the principals have stuck enough that I guard against future unnecessary possessions and clutter – the feeling of calm and control are well worth the effort. I found there to be a bit of repetition across the chapters, but this seemed necessary to drive the simplicity of the method home, and I have included a bit of the repetition in the summary.
Chapter 1: Why can’t I keep my house in order?
You can’t tidy if you’ve never learned, which is why clutter can keep reappearing.
Tidy once and properly. General advice is to tidy bit by bit. If you put your house in order in one monumental effort, you will have tidied up completely.
Tidy a little each day and you will be tidying forever; as you can’t see the results or feel the effects. Success depends on experiencing tangible results immediately.
Tidying up in one go dramatically change your mindset – it affects your way of thinking and your habits.
Tidying brings visible results and can be a transformative experience.
First, decide whether or not to discard something, until you have completed the category. Then, decide where to put what is left.
When your room is clean and uncluttered, you have no choice but to examine your inner state. Issues become clearer, and you can deal with them more easily.
We need to exercise self-control and resist storing our belongings until we have identified what we really want and need to keep.
Sort by category, not by location. Rather than tidying a room, do clothes, or books, or camping equipment, or kitchen utensils, or games, or CDs, or sports gear, et cetera.
If we sort by room or drawer we can never grasp the overall volume of the category, and therefore can never finish.
Don’t change the method to suit your personality. When it comes to tidying, the majority of people are busy, and lazy! Tidying means getting rid of things, regardless of personality type.
Tidying is a special event. The work of tidying should be completed once and for all within a single period of time. Putting your house in order should be a special event and it is crucial to tackle it in a specific time.
The space that you live in should be graced only with those things that speak to your heart.
Chapter 2: Discard First
Stop by discarding, all at once, and as quickly as possible.
When you transform the scenery around you rapidly you will feel different, and experience a strong aversion to reverting to disorder.
A sudden change makes a great impact than a gradual one.
The more time it takes, the more tired you will feel.
“Quickly” can mean up to half a year, which seems long, but you will be tidy forever afterwards.
Important: Tidy in the right order: first, discard, and completely finish this. Second, decide where to keep things.
Before you start, visualize your destination. You must be able to vividly picture living clutter free. If you can try to understand why you want to do this, it will be easier to tidy to a point of happiness and contentment.
How to choose what to keep: Does it spark joy? If it does, keep it. If not, throw it out.
Focus your attention more on what you want to keep, than what you want to get rid of.
Bring everything in the category to the same place, and put them out on the floor or on a table. You may be shocked at the volume! Then, pick up each item, focus on it, and decide.
Begin with categories that are easier to make decisions about i.e. clothes, books and papers, household items. Leave the sentimental items until last.
Dispose of your own excess first and you will likely start a chain reaction in the family.
Tidying is a dialogue with oneself: Considering each object is conversing with oneself through the medium of possessions. Consider why you have that item in the first place. When did you get it, and what meaning did it have? Reassess the role it plays in your life now. Try to recognize its true purpose in your life (many things have fulfilled their role already.) Things outlive their purpose. Let them go, with gratitude.
Chapter 3: How to Tidy By Category
Follow the correct order of categories.
The act of putting your house in order can be a process of examining your inner self; a rite of passage to a new life by.
Some tips for clothes tidying:
o Break the habit of downgrading clothing that doesn’t thrill you to homeware. What you wear at home affects your self-image too.
o Fold rather than hang, for space.
o Rise to the right - hang heavy on the left and light on the right.
o Dark to light colours.
Some tips for book tidying:
o Remove them all from the bookshelf
o Touch each individual book.
o ‘I will read this sometime’, often means ‘never’.
o What purpose is the book serving?
o If you haven’t done with it what you intended to, then discard it.
o Having fewer books increases the impact of the information you read.
o The moment you first encounter the book is the right time to read it. To avoid missing that moment, keep your collection small.
Some tips for sorting papers:
o Rule of thumb: dispose of everything.
o Keep only papers that are currently in use, or that are needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely for reference.
o Keep all papers in one spot – do not let them spread.
o File, but refrain from over dividing.
o Don’t hang onto study materials unnecessarily – it is unlikely that you will refer to them again.
o Warranties and manuals are largely unnecessary, as are greeting cards.
Some tips for sorting miscellaneous items:
o Keep things because you love them, not just because.
o Gifts: often the true purpose was to be received.
o Watch out for unnecessary accumulation of: free novelty goods, cosmetic samples, health crazes, broken items, bedding, unidentified electrical cords, unnecessary stockpiles.
Some tips for sorting sentimental items:
o Truly precious memories will never vanish even if you discard the objects associated with them.
o Sending to your parents or family members is not always a method of tidying.
Some tips for tidying photos:
o Remove all photos from their albums and look at them one by one.
o When you touch each one it is clear which touch your heart, and which don’t.
o The meaning of a photo is the excitement and you feel when taking the picture. In many cases the prints developed afterwards have outlived their purpose.
The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.
Just because you throw something away does that mean you give up past experiences or your identity. By selecting only those things that inspire joy you can identify precisely what you love and need in your life.
Chapter 4: Storing your Things for an Exciting Life
Designate a place for each thing. If you have a specific spot for everything, keeping your space tidy becomes second nature.
Decide where your things belong and when you are finished using them, put them back there.
Discard first, store later. If you start storing before you have limited your excess, you will rebound.
With storage, pursue ultimate simplicity. Focus less on the storage space and more on minimizing the contents.
If you can tell how much you have, it will be easier to keep things simple.
Store all items of the same type in the same place
Have one spot where each category belongs, rather than stored at arm’s reach for convenience. Your flow will adjust according to the storage position.
Things at the bottom of piles get used in frequently. Do you need them?
Appreciate your possessions and be mindful of every item that supported you during the day.
Chapter 5: The Magic of Tidying Dramatically Transforms your Life
When you put your house in order you often discover what it is you really want to do.
The things we really like do not change over time. Putting your house in order is a great way to discover what those things are.
What you choose to keep tells you a lot.
Tidying can make you more passionately involved in your work:
o Inspiring you to set up your own company
o Or change your job
o Or take more interest in your current profession
Our positions accurately relate the history of our life’s decisions, and tidying is a way of taking stock.
The realization that letting go is even more important than adding.
A side-effect of tidying is an increased confidence in your decision-making capacity.
Through tidying you can have confidence in your environment:
o The things you earn
o The clothes you wear
o The house you live in
o The people in your life
The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.
Discarding things helps us to see what we really need now, in this moment.
The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t. Therefore, confront each of your positions properly, one by one, to understand your relationship with them.
We are all surrounded by things we do not need.
Do you greet your house? If you do every time you arrive home, in time you will feel your home start to respond and you will feel where it would like you to tidy and put things. Possessions want to help you!
There is a reason why each of your belongings came to you and everything you own wants to be of use to you. When you free possessions, positive energy is released.
After tidying, worldly desires decrease, and there is less craving to be satisfied.
If you organize your environment, it feels more comfortable, and makes you feel energized and happy, which increases your good fortune.
It is best to tidy up quickly and get it over with, because tidying is not the purpose of life. Rather put your passion into what brings you joy, your mission in life. Putting your house in order will help you to find the mission that speaks to your heart. Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want once your house has been put in order.
Photo by Nandhu Kumar on Unsplash