Book of the Week: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

25 Aug 2016

the_life-changing_magic_of_tidying_up This week I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by the amazing Marie Kondo. If you watch any videos of Marie, you’ll see why I call her amazing. She’ll change your life for the better. Marie developed her KonMari method after years of running a tidying business. Tidying is not just about making your living space uncluttered, it is about freeing your mind to focus on the things that bring you joy. As I learned in make space, people are heavily influenced by their environment. You must create an environment for people to thrive. This book is more about mindset than technique. You need to change the way your relationship with things, the final state of where you want to people and why you want to be there. Marie is not alone. Other people have reaped the benefit of tidying. James Altucher got rid of most of his possessions and found that minimalism brought him freedom and joy. A lawyer in Shanghai switched careers to run a tidying business just like Marie. Tidying Tidying is composed of two actions: discarding and deciding where to store things. You should not do a little bit of tidying every day. You should allocate time and make this a special event where you set yourself up with the proper habits. When you start tidying you should start by category and not by location. This lets you evaluate everything in that category. Discarding

People have trouble discarding things that they could still use (functional value), that contain helpful information (informational value), and that have sentimental ties (emotional value). When these things are hard to obtain or replace (rarity), they become even harder to part with.

Tidying begins with discarding. When you discard first, you have less to store. The criteria for keeping something is to ask, “Does this spark joy?”. If it does not, then chuck it. Eventually you’re left with stuff that brings you joy. There is less noise, letting focus on what makes you happy.

To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.

There is a proper order to tidying.

Clothing can be further sub categorized into

Folding Clothes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tglp9eWQEhY There is a special KonMari method for folding clothes. It is probably better to watch the video of it than have me try to explain it. What you end up with is something that you can stand up vertically that will stand up by itself. The reason to store things vertically is that you don’t bury things underneath and it also takes up space, so you can’t fool yourself by stacking things high. You will notice the accumulation of crap sooner. Actually feeling and touching the clothes while you’re folding also has some spiritual effects. Your closet should be arranged with clothing length getting shorter, material getting thinner and the clothes getting lighter as you move from left to right. Books Books can be divided into four board categories.

You should be left with books that bring you joy. Papers

I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three’s categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely.

Like clothing, having them vertical helps too. Bias toward throwing away everything. Komono (miscellaneous items) People tend to accumulate more stuff than they want or need. No special storage devices are necessary. As part of tidying, you should eliminate visual information like tags and other things that don’t need to be there. Marie goes into specifics for each of these subcategories in her book.

  1. CDs, DVDs
  2. Skin care products
  3. Makeup
  4. Accessories
  5. Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.)
  6. Electrical equipment and applicants (digital camera,s electric cords, anything that seems vaguely “electric”)
  7. Household equipment (stationary and writing materials, sewing kits, etc.)
  8. Household equipment (expendable so like medicine, detergents, tissues,e tic.)
  9. Kitchen goods/food supplies (spatulas, pots, blenders, etc.)
  10. Other (spare change, figurines, etc.)

Sentimental items

By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. To put things in order means to put your past in order too. It’s like resetting your life and settling your accounts so that you can take the next step forward.

Don’t store shit at your parent’s home and make it their problem. This is about living in the here and now. What we like doesn’t change over time, but tidying helps us discover it. Discarding things is like a value statement. Only by making decisions do we find out what we truly value.

But when we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future.

Making these decisions helps one decide what you want to do your life.

As for you, pour your time and passion into what brings you the most joy, your mission in life.

I need to put my life in order.