By now you’ve probably read about The Life-Changing Guide to Tidying Up. I’ve seen various sites list the top takeaways and based on that, I wasn’t sure that I needed to read the entire book, aren’t those takeaways enough? I decided to read the book and after finishing it in 3 days (it’s short and tiny and a very quick read), I can say that there are many more things you can get from this book outside of the cliffs notes version.
I’ve moved NYC apartments 5 times in 8 years (crazy, I know. but that’s a story for another time) and every time that I moved, I’ve done what I thought was a deep clean and got rid of bags and bags of clothes and random crap. Even so, I’ve always felt overwhelmed by clutter (when moving, often a few bags of “misc” never get fully unpacked in the new space). I live in a duplex and I like to think that the downstairs, which I do not frequent is “out of sight, out of mind,” but it’s not. I know it’s cluttered and full of things I don’t need anymore and even worse, full of things I might need but have no idea where to find them. I dream about a minimalist space where I will know exactly where everything I need is. Is there something that I’ve been missing when it comes to tidying? After reading this book, I have a totally new approach to my space.
I’ll give you a few of my top takeaways and if you want to learn more, I suggest reading the entire book.
- Why do you want to tidy? Kondo suggests making a list of why you want to make these changes. Dig beyond the surface answer (I want a clean apt!) and get into the nitty gritty of why you want to tidy and how it will affect you. Once I started, my list got long. A few of my reasons: I want to know exactly what is in my closet to make getting ready in the morning faster, I want to have things in their place and not be searching every storage bin in my apartment when I’m looking for a particular item, I want to come home to a neat space and a clear head, after a long day of work I don’t want to come home to clutter with the need to do surface tidying, I want to feel ok that if Ollie is roaming the apartment he won’t find something random and eat it (what is even under my bed??) and so on.
- Don’t keep things out of guilt: Things that I’ve kept but should get rid of include gifts that I don’t actually want or aren’t my style and expensive clothes/accessories that I excitedly purchased because at the time I loved it, but by now realize it doesn’t fit right or isn’t my style. Don’t feel guilty getting rid of these things, thank them for the joy they brought you when you received or bought them, and then release them into the world. You’re not doing any favors to your items burying them deep in your closet. Also, you’ve already spent the money so keeping an expensive dress out of guilt won’t give you back the money you paid for it.
- That bag of misc cords? Get rid of it. In my basement I have an enormous bag filled with cords. I’ve never bothered to go through it and I also couldn’t seem to part with it because what if one day I need one of those cords? Guess what, even if I do need a cord from that pile (which may never happen), chances are it’s going to be a bitch to figure out which cord is the right one. Kondo suggests going through your cords once, if you know what it goes to and you need it, keep it. If you aren’t sure, throw it out. Maybe one day you will realize you threw out a necessary cord and if so, buy a new one. The stress of trying to find the right one in a jumbly pile is more of a bother than buying what you need when you need it.
- This approach goes for papers and other random things in your house. Once you have real organization, you won’t have to go through the stress of turning your house upside down in order to find what you’ve misplaced. I’ve done this way too many times to count. If I have less stuff and things are in their place, I’ll find what I need more easily and also I’ll know off the bat if it’s even in my apartment.
- When you get home, clean out your bag If you look in all of my bags (gym bag, purse, totes, etc) you are likely to find gum wrappers, receipts, business cards, old lip gloss, sunscreen and so on. Take the two minutes after using a bag to empty out the contents. Things won’t build up and you’ll get rid of the trash right away.
Some of the book is cheesy, like saying hi to your house when you walk in the door and thanking your shoes for getting through the day, but whatever, I loved it! I totally ate up everything Kondo said. Kondo suggests doing a big deep clean ONCE, not a little bit each day. I really wanted to do this but didn’t have any completely free days so while it’s against her advice, I took it piece by piece. Kondo suggests going by category so that’s what I’m doing, over a series of days. The suggested order is: clothing, books, papers, miscellaneous (misc can be broken down in this order: CDs/DVDs, skin care products, makeup, accessories, valuables, electrical equipment, household equipment, household supplies, kitchen goods, other) and ending with things of sentimental value.
Per the book, the first thing I tackled was clothes. I’ve parted with dresses I absolutely loved but haven’t worn in years and know I won’t ever wear again (so why was it so hard to part with these in the past?) as well as things that are no longer my style or seem too young. Note to self, I’m 30, time to dress like it. The fact that I had clothes in my closet from college is a sign that a deep clean out was necessary.
Taking Kondo’s advice has given me a new approach to why I’ve kept things that I should have parted with years ago. As Kondo says, you can clear the clutter now, later, or you can die with it. I say take on the day and do this now! Live a clutter-less life! Maybe I’m on a tidying high after finishing the book and my strong feelings with dwindle…but for now I’m ready to take on the tidying challenge!
I’ve already gotten rid of about 8 bags worth of clothing (some I sold via ThredUp, others I donated to Housing Works). If you need some clutter-clean out inspiration, I recommend this book.
Have you read the book? What were your biggest takeaways?
*top image via
