The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Book # 17 for 2015

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. I was intrigued by this book since it started appearing on many blogs/IGs that I follow. Most reviews were really positive but some thought Kondo's tidying methods were extreme, with 'ceremonies' unlike other tidying practices. I am interested in anything that can help put the house in order (better order?) so I had to check this out for myself. Thank you, local library!

The first thing is that Kondo recommends doing a one-time big-time tidying process of the whole house according to a certain order - clothes, books...momorabilia. The main criteria for keeping or getting rid of stuff is the question "Does it spark joy?" This necessitates handling each object and determining how it makes one feel. So it's a long process but it also allows one to confront all the reasons behind keeping things we don't need or like. Is it attachment to the past or fear of the future? Kondo cites how her methods have been effective for her clients and I also tend to believe that they work. I have not tried doing the whole process by the book but it has helped me see things in a different way.

We let go of many things when we moved from Manila so the volume of our current possessions is still reasonable. The next step is deciding on a place for everything and storing them in the right way. This is work in progress for us. I know much of the clutter at home can be solved by assigning a place for everything and have everyone return objects to their proper place. Kondo also recommends a specific way of hanging and folding clothes with the primary goal that everything should be in plain sight. I applied it to Ela's and my drawer and I really like it. I also discovered that I liked folding. Who knew?=)

Comments

  1. carlaOctober 15, 2015 at 3:43 AM

    Wala pa ko kabasa sa book, sa blogs lang pud. Effective tong showing gratitude ba, or something. Mas dali ko naka-purge sa akong China stuff. One luggage ra gihapon ko pagbalik :-)

    ReplyDelete

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