More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Marie Kondō
To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.
Tops (shirts, sweaters, etc.) Bottoms (pants, skirts, etc.) Clothes that should be hung (jackets, coats, suits, etc.) Socks Underwear Bags (handbags, messenger bags, etc.) Accessories (scarves, belts, hats, etc.) Clothes for specific events (swimsuits, kimonos, uniforms, etc.) Shoes
Your tidying festival has begun.
In other words, these castoffs are not really loungewear at all. Calling them that merely delays parting with clothes that don’t spark any joy.
What you wear in the house does impact your self-image.
Folding is really a form of dialogue with our wardrobe.
The key is to store things standing up rather than laid flat.
The goal is to fold each piece of clothing into a simple, smooth rectangle.
Of course, there are some types of clothing that are better stored on hangers. These include coats, suits, jackets, skirts, and dresses.
Arrange your clothes so that they rise to the right.
By category, coats would be on the far left, followed by dresses, jackets, pants, skirts, and blouses.
Never, ever tie up your stockings. Never, ever ball up your socks.
If my client’s space is limited, I have them store only small, specific off-season items, such as bathing suits and sun hats for the summer season, and mufflers, mittens, and earmuffs for the winter season.
If you are planning to buy storage units in the near future, I recommend that you get a set of drawers instead.
Although in plain sight, they remain unseen, just like a praying mantis still in the grass, merging with its surroundings.
The criterion is, of course, whether or not it gives you a thrill of pleasure when you touch
Books you have read have already been experienced and their content is inside you, even if you don’t remember.
I now keep my collection of books to about thirty volumes at any one time,
one’s personal Book Hall of Fame,
Recently, I have noticed that having fewer books actually increases the impact of the information I read.
The moment you first encounter a particular book is the right time to read it.
My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.
reason, I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely.
Make sure that you keep all such papers in one spot only. Never let them spread to other parts of the house.
First, let’s start by parting with these manuals. Take a look at them. Have you ever used them?
In Japan, it is the custom to send New Year’s cards to convey New Year’s greetings (many have lottery numbers at the bottom). This means that each card has fulfilled its purpose the moment the receiver finishes reading it.
Loose change, hairpins, erasers, spare buttons, wristwatch parts, batteries that may or may not be dead, leftover medicine, lucky charms, key rings.
1. CDs, DVDs 2. Skin care products 3. Makeup 4. Accessories 5. Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.) 6. Electrical equipment and appliances (digital cameras, electric cords, anything that seems vaguely “electric”) 7. Household equipment (stationery and writing materials, sewing kits, etc.) 8. Household supplies (expendables like medicine, detergents, tissues, etc.) 9. Kitchen goods/food supplies (spatulas, pots, blenders, etc.) 10. Other (spare change, figurines, etc.)
(If you have many items related to a particular interest or hobby, such as ski equipment or tea ceremony articles, treat these as a single subcategory.)
The true purpose of a present is to be received. Presents are not “things” but a means for conveying someone’s feelings.
Boxes are surprisingly bulky. Discard or recycle the box your cell phone comes in as soon as you unpack it. You don’t need the manual or the CD that comes with it either.
I often come across broken TVs and radios in my clients’ homes. Obviously, there is no need to keep these. If you, too, have broken appliances, see this as an opportunity to contact your local recycler and get rid of them.
You will never use spare buttons. In most cases, when a button falls off, it’s a sign that the particular shirt or blouse has been well worn and loved and has now reached the end of its life.
“Thank you for the boost you gave me when I bought you,” or “Thank you for helping me get a little more fit.”
A cell phone screen cleaner that came with a soda bottle, a ball pen engraved with your school’s name, a paper fan you got at an event, a set of plastic cups won at a fair, glasses bearing a beer company’s logo, Post-its stamped with a pharmaceutical company’s name, a folder with just five sheets of blotting paper, a promotional calendar (still in its tube), a pocket calendar (unused even six months into the year). None of these are going to bring you any pleasure. Discard or recycle them without any qualms.
I beg you to rescue those forgotten coins wasting away in your home by adopting the motto “into my wallet!”
Truly precious memories will never vanish even if you discard the objects associated with them.
When I threw them away, I felt like I was confronting my past for the first time in my life.”
before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now.
If you are keeping them because you can’t forget a former boyfriend, it’s better to discard or donate them. Hanging on to them makes it more likely that you will miss opportunities for new relationships.
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.
With this method, you will keep only about five per day of a special trip, but this will be so representative of that time that they bring back the rest vividly.
My next task is to empty the contents of my handbag on the rug and put each item away in its place. First I remove all the receipts. Then I put my wallet in its designated box in a drawer under my bed with a word of gratitude. I place my train pass and my business card holder beside it.
The reason every item must have a designated place is because the existence of an item without a home multiplies the chances that your space will become cluttered again.
Even the bookcases have disappeared.
Rather, the bookcases are now in the closet or cupboard. Putting bookcases in the cupboard is one of my standard storage practices.
Somewhere along the way, I had begun to see my things and even my house as an adversary that I had to beat, and I was constantly in fighting mode.
The secret to maintaining an uncluttered room is to pursue ultimate simplicity in storage so that you can tell at a glance how much you have.
Everyone needs a sanctuary.
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.
