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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Marie Kondō
Read between
October 23 - October 25, 2025
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.
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.
What things will bring you joy if you keep them as part of your life?
ask yourself quietly, “Does this spark joy?” Your tidying festival has begun.
To me, it doesn’t seem right to keep clothes we don’t enjoy for relaxing around the house.
To truly decide whether you want to keep something or to dispose of it, you must take your things out of hibernation.
The criterion is, of course, whether or not it gives you a thrill of pleasure when you touch it.
Imagine what it would be like to have a bookshelf filled only with books that you really love. Isn’t that image spellbinding? For someone who loves books, what greater happiness could there be?
Books are essentially paper—sheets of paper printed with letters and bound together. Their true purpose is to be read, to convey the information to their readers. It’s the information they contain that has meaning. There is no meaning in their just being on your shelves.
For books, timing is everything. The moment you first encounter a particular book is the right time to read it.
Too many people live surrounded by things they don’t need “just because.” I urge you to take stock of your komono and save only, and I mean only, those that bring you joy.
Presents are not “things” but a means for conveying someone’s feelings. When viewed from this perspective, you don’t need to feel guilty for parting with a gift. Just thank it for the joy it gave you when you first received it.
But you don’t need to worry. Truly precious memories will never vanish even if you discard the objects associated with them.
No matter how wonderful things used to be, we cannot live in the past. The joy and excitement we feel here and now are more important.
It is not our memories but the person we have become because of those past experiences that we should treasure. This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us when we sort them. The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.
As you reduce your belongings through the process of tidying, you will come to a point where you suddenly know how much is just right for you.
As you put your house in order and decrease your possessions, you’ll see what your true values are, what is really important to you in your life.
“Choose those things that spark joy when you touch them.”
Believe what your heart tells you when you ask, “Does this spark joy?” If you act on that intuition, you will be amazed at how things will begin to connect in your life and at the dramatic changes that follow. It is as if your life has been touched by magic.
One of the main reasons for rebound is the failure to designate a spot for each item. Without a designated spot, where are you going to put things when you finish using them?
For the reasons described above, my storage method is extremely simple. I have only two rules: store all items of the same type in the same place and don’t scatter storage space.
If you have already been selecting what to keep on the basis of what speaks to your heart, then you will understand what I mean because you have already collected items by category, spread them out in one spot, and held them in your hand to make your decision. The work you have been doing has actually honed your ability to sense what belongs together and to choose appropriate places for storing them.
Having your own space makes you happy. Once you feel that it belongs to you personally, you want to keep it tidy. If it is hard to give everyone his or her own room, you can still give each person his or her own storage space.
But not having a space you can call your own is dangerous. Everyone needs a sanctuary.
First, start by sorting only your own things. Choose what you want to keep and store it in your very own space. By doing so, you will learn the basics of how to put your house in order.
Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore, storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort needed to get them out.
Clutter has only two possible causes: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong.
For people like me who are naturally lazy, I strongly recommend focusing storage in one spot.
Just designate where to keep your things in accordance with the design of your home and your storage problems will be solved.
Store everything similar in the same place or in close proximity. Don’t disperse your storage space. If you follow this advice, you will find that you have created a very natural flow plan.
When you are choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you are choosing where to store something, ask your house.
But I can tell you right now: there is no need to buy dividers or any other gadget. You can solve your storage problems with things you already have in the house. The most common item I use is an empty shoebox. I have tried all kinds of storage products, but have never found any other that is free and still surpasses the shoebox.
Personally, I recommend hanging sponges outside, such as on the veranda.
I dry not only my sponges but also my cutting boards, colanders, and dishes on my veranda. Sunlight is a good disinfectant, and my kitchen always looks very tidy because I don’t need a dish rack.
One of the homework assignments I give my clients is to appreciate their belongings. For example, I urge them to try saying, “Thank you for keeping me warm all day,” when they hang up their clothes after returning home.
I began to treat my belongings as if they were alive when I was a high school student.
If we treated all things we use in our daily life, whether it is our computer, our handbag, or our pens and pencils, with the same care that athletes give to their equipment, we could greatly increase the number of dependable “supporters” in our lives.
Once my clients have learned to treat their clothes with respect, they always tell me, “My clothes last longer. My sweaters don’t pill as easily, and I don’t spill things on them as much either.”
realized for the first time that letting go is even more important than adding.”
one of the magical effects of tidying is confidence in your decision-making capacity. Tidying means taking each item in your hand, asking yourself whether it sparks joy, and deciding on this basis whether or not to keep it. By repeating this process hundreds and thousands of times, we naturally hone our decision-making skills. People who lack confidence in their judgment lack confidence in themselves. I, too, once lacked confidence. What saved me was tidying.
Gaining confidence in life through the magic of tidying
“Discard anything that doesn’t spark joy.” If you have tried this method even a little, you have realized by now that it is not that difficult to identify something that brings you joy.
The moment you touch it, you know the answer.
But when we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future.
During the selection process, if you come across something that does not spark joy but that you just can’t bring yourself to throw away, stop a moment and ask yourself, “Am I having trouble getting rid of this because of an attachment to the past or because of a fear for the future?”
The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.
Selecting and discarding one’s possessions is a continuous process of making decisions based on one’s own values.
This is why I can tell at a glance whether something truly sparks joy. The genuine emotion of joy resides in the body and in the possessions of the owner, and therefore it can’t be concealed.
Being surrounded by things that spark joy makes you happy
