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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Marie Kondō
Read between
August 22 - August 29, 2025
Start by discarding. Then organize your space, thoroughly, completely, in one go.
A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective. It is life transforming.
when you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.
As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need in life and what you don’t, and what you should and shouldn’t do.
They are surrounded only by the things they love.
If you tidy up in one shot, rather than little by little, you can dramatically change your mind-set.
If you use the right method and concentrate your efforts on eliminating clutter thoroughly and completely within a short span of time, you’ll see instant results that will empower you to keep your space in order ever after.
There is a saying that “a messy room equals a messy mind.”
When a room becomes cluttered, the cause is more than just physical. Visible mess helps distract us from the true source of the disorder.
When your room is clean and uncluttered, you have no choice but to examine your inner state. You can see any issues you have been avoiding and are forced to deal with them.
From the moment you start tidying, you will be compelled to reset your life. As a result, your life will start to change.
Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination.
The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order.
Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved.
Tidying up by location is a fatal mistake.
people who can’t stay tidy can be categorized into just three types: the “can’t-throw-it-away” type, the “can’t-put-it-back” type, and the “first-two-combined” type.
Effective tidying involves only two essential actions: discarding and deciding where to store things. Of the two, discarding must come first.
Tidy in the right order. As we’ve seen, there are only two tasks involved—discarding and deciding where to keep things.
Do not even think of putting your things away until you have finished the process of discarding.
What was it that motivated you to tidy in the first place? What do you hope to gain through tidying?
Think in concrete terms so that you can vividly picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space.
Your next step is to identify why you want to live like that.
The whole point in both discarding and keeping things is to be happy.
“Why do I want to tidy?”
Because we should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.
take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it.
Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest. By doing this, you can reset your life and embark on a new lifestyle.
Gathering every item in one place is essential to this process because it gives you an accurate grasp of how much you have.
Things stored out of sight are dormant. This makes it much harder to decide whether they inspire joy or not.
By exposing them to the light of day and jolting them alive, so to speak, you’ll find it’s surprisingly easy to judge whether they touch your heart.
People have trouble discarding things that they could still use (functional value), that contain helpful information (informational value), and that have sentimental ties (emotional value). When these things are hard to obtain or replace (rarity), they become even harder to part with.
Clothes are the easiest because their rarity value is extremely low. Photographs and letters, on the other hand, not only have a high sentimental value but also are one of a kind; therefore, they should be left until last.
The best sequence is this: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos.
However, it’s extremely stressful for parents to see what their children discard.
The sheer volume of the pile can make parents anxious about whether their children can survive on what’s left.
To quietly work away at disposing of your own excess is actually the best way of dealing with a family that doesn’t tidy.
The urge to point out someone else’s failure to tidy is usually a sign that you are neglecting to take care of your own space.
You can leave the communal spaces to the end. The first step is to confront your own stuff.
But that is not the same as forcing things onto your family members because you can’t bring yourself to discard or donate them.
When it comes to selecting what to discard, it is actually our rational judgment that causes trouble. Although intuitively we know that an object has no attraction for us, our reason raises all kinds of arguments for not discarding it, such as “I might need it later” or “It’s a waste to get rid of it.”
“Thank you for giving me joy when I bought you,” or “Thank you for teaching me what doesn’t suit me,” and let it go.
Every object has a different role to play. Not all clothes have come to you to be worn threadbare. It is the same with people. Not every person you meet in life will become a close friend or lover.
To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.
To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful.
Can you truthfully say that you treasure something buried so deeply in a closet or drawer that you have forgotten its existence? If things had feelings, they would certainly not be happy. Free them from the prison to which you have relegated them. Help them leave that deserted isle to which you have exiled them. Let them go, with gratitude. Not ...
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The process of assessing how you feel about the things you own, identifying those that have fulfilled their purpose, expressing your gratitude, and bidding them farewell, is really about examining your inner self, a rite of passage to a new life.
Start with clothes, then move on to books, papers, komono (miscellany), and finally things with sentimental value.
By starting with the easy things first and leaving the hardest for last, you can gradually hone your decision-making skills, so that by the end, it seems simple.
What things will bring you joy if you keep them as part of your life?
The most important points to remember are these: Make sure you gather every piece of clothing in the house and be sure to handle each one.
