a place where there are no unnecessary things, and our thoughts become clear,” she says. “The inside of a house or apartment after decluttering has much in common with a Shinto shrine. She began communing with her belongings in high school and, after years of work at a Shinto shrine, realised her calling as a professional consultant on attaining the joy of minimalism. Kondo says she has been obsessed with tidying since she was five, opting to arrange shoes and pencils while other kids played outside. Papers and documents – there won’t be many since few are truly necessary and they generally hold so little joy – are likewise filed rather than stacked. Cupboards are meticulously reorganised to fit everything from electric fans (at the bottom) to spare blankets (on top). So T-shirts and socks (the ones you’ve kept because they make you happy) are rolled and arranged beautifully, like sushi in a bento box. The key, she says, is storing things mostly in drawers, arranged so everything can be seen at a glance and nothing is stacked, a practice decidedly unkind to items at the bottom. The first step is to confront your own stuff.”Īfter joyfully relegating mountains of unneeded or unloved belongings to charity or the bin, she turns to organising what is left. “You can leave communal spaces to the end. “There’s no need to let your family know the details of what you throw out or donate,” she writes, although she advises against secretly disposing of other people’s things. Instead of deciding what to get rid of, she says, the focus should be on what to keep: which few things spark sufficient joy or are truly necessary.īut how to contend with family members unready to join in the celebratory purge? If possible, carry the bags out of the house yourself. So, all the clothes, then all the books, then documents, then miscellany and, last and most difficult, photos and mementos. Part of what makes her method unusually speedy is that instead of decluttering room by room, she tackles belongings by subject, starting with what is easiest to part with. Even her book, she says, should be quickly discarded when it’s no longer needed. Clients suddenly find themselves surrounded entirely by things that provide clarity, unencumbered by belongings that carry baggage (unwanted gifts, clothes that no longer fit) or anxieties about the future. The results can be life changing, she says. After … the same room after the ‘KonMarie method’
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