The book Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing discovers a unique perspective behind organizing your possessions at home.
Marie Kondo, the author, explains this defining perspective behind organizing one’s possessions, and here are our three takeaways.
1) Discard first, then decide which items to keep.
There are two practices to remember in the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing. First, it is important to tidy up quickly and easily until finishing the process of discarding. Thinking about where to put your possessions sets a trap, putting an end to your discarding process. You can only think about organizing your belongings once you have finished decluttering what you will not need.
After discarding, you can now decide which of these belongings you will keep. She mentioned the value of refocusing your perspective when tidying up. To determine this, you can ask yourself “Which one of these sparks joy in my heart?” Determining the possessions that speak to your heart makes it easier for you to decide.
2) Start tidying up per category from easiest ones to difficult possessions.
You might not see it, but tidying your home by location is not the most advisable course of action. If we do this separately, you’ll observe you’re doing the same work all over the place without working efficiently.
Moreover, she mentioned three factors to consider when assessing the value of one's possessions: function, information, and emotional attachment. Each factor makes it challenging for a person to keep his or her belongings, whether they can be useful, provide significant information and/or have sentimental value.
With this, she highlighted the importance of beginning with the easiest categories down to the most difficult ones. She recommends a sequence when tidying up: clothes, books, papers, miscellany, and lastly, souvenirs or mementos.
3) Using Storage is a Trap!
Creating or buying more storage is not an essential practice when decluttering and organizing. It appears to be an easy route to tidying up, but little do we know that it sets you in a trap of thinking that you are able to remove clutter without actually discarding the non-essential items.
“When you are choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you are choosing where to store something, ask your house.” The remarkable Marie Kondo’s Japanese art of Decluttering and Organizing truly shares a unique perspective on life and a change in your lifestyle you can never imagine.
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