Every time I turn around, I see a friend or another blogger talking about this book –The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing ($10.81). I’ve been wanting to order it for months and I finally went and did it this week.
I sort of already knew much of what the book was about based on other people’s comments. I knew if I read it, I would basically learn I have too much crap in the house and I need to rid of most of it.
I’m only partway through the book but I’m already inspired. The first tip I’ve really taken to heart is not to do a little at a time. How many times have you gotten inspired and said, “I will clean xyz room today.” I do this all the time and it may help… for awhile. If you’re always cleaning a little at a time, you will be cleaning the rest of your life.
But author Marie’s argument is that you have to tackle categories– if you sort and organizeby categories rather than rooms, and everything has a set place, you will no longer need to clean.
For example, for us, I keep medicine in 2 different places in the house. Sometimes I get inspired and will clean the one medicine cabinet but really it’s a half-assed job because the other spot in my house (random cabinet in the kitchen) didn’t get organized.
I need to make more of an effort to categorize items in my house and keep them all in one spot – if they all have a set place, there will be less clutter.
Next weekend, I’m hosting a big social media event in Philadelphia. But once I get beyond that, I plan to tackle and focus on putting some of Marie’s advice to work. I will be starting with my closet and my clothes first, which is what Marie recommends.
Marie suggests getting rid of most of what you own. If you don’t absolutely love something, get rid of it. Why are you holding onto it? We need to try and let go and if we have less everything in our life, we’ll feel lighter and able to focus on the things that are really important in life (the non-material things). I’ve really taken to heart much of what she’s said in regard to clutter and emotions.
It’s so true that if I walk into a room in my house and it’s a mess, it causes my stress level to rise and affects me and everyone around me. It’s so totally unnecessary.
So stay tuned. I’m partway through the book but once I finish, I’m going to be brutal and hope to put much of what we have on the chopping block.
What are you reading? Have you read Marie’s book? Has it changed your organization or your house at all? I’d love to hear from you all.
I agree, we know a lot of what we NEED to do. This book was such a great reminder. I reviewed it too!
http://www.momtrends.com/2015/09/the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up/reviewed it too.
I saw you were reading it over the summer too Nicole! You were one of the ones I was referring to. So many people jumping on the bandwagon and rightly so – this book is a fabulous reminder to get moving and get organized.