50 in '15: #13
Title: the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing
Author: Marie Kondo
Length: 206 pages
This came on my radar when it was mentioned on a couple of the blogs I read. So I looked to see if the library had it, and they did, and I requested it, and it took a couple of months before I got it. It's a popular book ATM!
This is definitely a translation, but I can mostly tell that because of the content, not because it's stilted. Little things like, when going over types of clothing, "clothes that should be hung" is a category. Or the section on shrine charms, which is very much a Japanese thing.
Now, that said, this is a pretty fast read. The author is a little more into animism (the idea that things have their own life and that, for example, you should thank your shoes for the work they do for you) than I am, and her method has some structure that I think is unnecessary, but what this book boils down to is discard everything but those items that give you joy. Which is actually not a bad way to go about life, if you think about it. We all accumulate a lot of dross that weighs us down.
I've been feeling the need for a good purge of stuff recently, particularly since I've been looking around the house thinking "I'd like to invite people over, but...." So this book came to me at the right time to resonate strongly. Our bedroom is the one room in the house that I would actually call neat and tidy, and I want to get the rest of the house looking and feeling the same way.
So today, now that I'm on spring break from my Tuesday (kindergym), Wednesday (writing), and Saturday (bellydance) classes, I gave it a try, starting, as the author suggests, with clothing. And I talked my husband into giving it a go also, though he didn't feel up to as thorough a purge as I did.
Four trashbags full of clothing we don't love and don't wear now wait to go to Goodwill tomorrow. My scarves and coats have moved from the hall closet to the bedroom closet. All my clothing is in one place. Will that make it easier? Who knows. I shall find out.
I don't imagine the rest of the process of discarding will be as quick and easy, but it's certainly something I am going to try.
I am considering buying a copy of this book, since the library will only let me borrow it for two weeks. Yet I am wondering if doing so would go against the spirit of the book? Something to consider.
Verdict: Highly Recommended.
Author: Marie Kondo
Length: 206 pages
This came on my radar when it was mentioned on a couple of the blogs I read. So I looked to see if the library had it, and they did, and I requested it, and it took a couple of months before I got it. It's a popular book ATM!
This is definitely a translation, but I can mostly tell that because of the content, not because it's stilted. Little things like, when going over types of clothing, "clothes that should be hung" is a category. Or the section on shrine charms, which is very much a Japanese thing.
Now, that said, this is a pretty fast read. The author is a little more into animism (the idea that things have their own life and that, for example, you should thank your shoes for the work they do for you) than I am, and her method has some structure that I think is unnecessary, but what this book boils down to is discard everything but those items that give you joy. Which is actually not a bad way to go about life, if you think about it. We all accumulate a lot of dross that weighs us down.
I've been feeling the need for a good purge of stuff recently, particularly since I've been looking around the house thinking "I'd like to invite people over, but...." So this book came to me at the right time to resonate strongly. Our bedroom is the one room in the house that I would actually call neat and tidy, and I want to get the rest of the house looking and feeling the same way.
So today, now that I'm on spring break from my Tuesday (kindergym), Wednesday (writing), and Saturday (bellydance) classes, I gave it a try, starting, as the author suggests, with clothing. And I talked my husband into giving it a go also, though he didn't feel up to as thorough a purge as I did.
Four trashbags full of clothing we don't love and don't wear now wait to go to Goodwill tomorrow. My scarves and coats have moved from the hall closet to the bedroom closet. All my clothing is in one place. Will that make it easier? Who knows. I shall find out.
I don't imagine the rest of the process of discarding will be as quick and easy, but it's certainly something I am going to try.
I am considering buying a copy of this book, since the library will only let me borrow it for two weeks. Yet I am wondering if doing so would go against the spirit of the book? Something to consider.
Verdict: Highly Recommended.