I received a free copy of this book a few weeks ago, via
Blogging for Books (see disclaimer at the end of the review).
This small, delightful book by Marie Kondo, one of Japan’s
foremost organizing and decluttering mavens, was a real treat to read. Her
writing style is friendly and direct, making the reader feel like she is
personally guiding and advising in the decluttering process. Her approach is
simple, but designed to be effective and as painless as possible. She advocates
sorting and decluttering in one fell swoop, instead of bit by bit over time, as
most people are inclined to do. She also recommends a particular order of
possessions to declutter, starting with clothes and ending with sentimental
items, so you don’t get overwhelmed by the process and short-circuit it before
you reach the end. (By following her order of categories, you also get a chance
to build your chops on easy, low-hanging fruit such as clothes you never liked
or which don’t fit – things that are pretty easy to throw away – before getting
to the more difficult items, like that ceramic bowl Aunt Sally gave you for
your wedding and which you’ve never been able to get rid of, even though Aunt
Sally has been dead for 15 years.)
I found much of the advice in this book counterintuitive,
but logical -- which makes this book a breath of fresh air. It’s clear that the
author is not just going back over the same old tired ground that others have
written about – she is thinking about the problem of clutter in new and even
revolutionary ways. For example, a common piece of advice for preventing
clutter is to think about the ways in which you use items, and then organize
these items to correspond with your workflow, keeping them close at hand and
easily accessible. Kondo says this is the wrong way to think about the problem,
because clutter comes not when we get an item out, but when we are reluctant or
unable to put the item away again. (In other words, it’s not a problem on the
front end, but a problem on the back end, and I have to admit this simple shift
in perspective blew my mind.) Therefore, her recommendation is to find a
solution that reduces the effort to put things away, not the effort needed to
get them out in the first place. Her rationale is that when we are getting
something out to use, our motivation to find and use the item is high enough
that we will probably not mind any difficulties at this stage of the process.
But if putting the item away again is too challenging (because the item doesn’t
really have a home, or its home is not a good one), then we will immediately
just give up and put it anywhere, and it becomes clutter.
The book is also filled with what seems at first like quirky
advice, but it definitely has its roots in things that the reader may already
feel, but does not know how to name. One of Kondo’s big pieces of advice is to
say “thank you” to your possessions after you are finished using them. Weird?
Maybe – but then I think about every autumn, when I take my old green “Members
Only” jacket out of the closet to wear for another year (hoping desperately
that it’s still in style enough to actually wear), and I experience an emotion
that is very close to Kondo’s “thank you” – a sense of fondness and joy for
this piece of clothing that has been with me for a major portion of my life,
and is still going strong. I could very easily see myself saying “thank you” to
this jacket (especially if there is no one else around to hear me).
But “life-changing”? Really? Yes, says Kondo. When you
reduce your possessions to only those things that you need and that give you
real joy, you achieve clarity on what it is that you want in life. You achieve
peace and freedom from excess baggage. And the process of decluttering, and the
honed decision-making skills that result, will carry over into the other areas
of one’s life. So yes, one’s life may very well be changed by the seemingly
simple process outlined in this book. I highly recommend it for anyone looking
for a jumpstart on clearing and decluttering their possessions and their life.
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