50 in '15: #13

[sakon76]

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.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

This is Dragon too lazy/tired to mess with signing in tonight.

If there weren't such a time limit on your having the book, I'd say it might go against the spirit. But it's something REALLY useful to you that you would be finding use in for longer than two weeks.

I'd say buy it with the intention that when you're done, you make sure to pass it on to someone else who will find great use in it. =3

[toothycat]

Can you get the book as an e-book? The Kindle app is free and can be used on the computer, if you don't have an e-reader and don't want to use the tablet.

[fairegoddess.livejournal.com]

This has been on my radar, too. From what I've seen, including your thoughts, I'm not sure I really need to read the book. I do really like the idea of keeping only what gives you joy. Do you read Andrea Schewe? She was the first person on my sphere to mention it, and it was interesting to see her thought process on what constitutes joy and which items passed the test for her.

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Yes, hers was one of the two blogs I read that it came up on.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Hi! This is completely off-topic, but I wanted to say thank you for the chocolate pear jam! It was a lovely, unexpected surprise, and every bit as delicious as I imagined. Thanks for making it, and for sharing it with me.

[velvetpaws.livejournal.com]

I have this book! (I got it for the Kindle. Well, iPad, actually.) I love it. I've done the clothes purge and reorganization, which was a great success. I've bogged down a bit with the rest of it: the books were a struggle, and a lot of the rest involves working with stuff in the common areas of the house, which starts involving Sheri, at least insofar as she has to deal with me reorganizing things she uses, and she's not too comfortable with it. Plus I've been really focusing on writing lately. But hopefully I'll get to it before too long!