06 Jan 2015
Posted by Diana Duong 
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Have you ever cleaned your home only to find it’s reverted back to the same mess a week later? Cleaning consultant Marie Kondo, known as the Japanese ‘Queen of Clean’, shares her tips in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Here are three points to get you started.
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1. Start with a mass exodus
The only way to keep the effects for the long-term is to incorporate it into the everyday and accept it as a part of your lifestyle.
Kondo suggests changing your organization habits by clearing out the pointless clutter in one shot – clothes you never wear, textbooks that have little sentimental value – this way, you can instantly see visible results of what your clutter-free place looks like. These tangible results will transform your tidying habits, so there’s less of a chance for a rebound.
2. Storing away isn’t tidying up
Putting things away doesn’t solve your clutter problem.
Kondo refers to storage units as ‘illusions,’ because eventually, those racks, shelves, and drawer dividers get filled up and you’re back where you started. Instead of hoarding and lettings your belongings overflow, make a habit of letting go of anything you don’t need.
3. The hierarchy of discarding
By now, you’ve learned the importance of getting rid of the unnecessary.
There are many reasons for feeling attached to your belongings, Kondo separates these into four levels: functional value (still usable), informational (could be helpful), sentimental, and rarity (hard to replace). Clothes should be the first to go because it is easy to replace, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos such as photographs and letters. Go through each item, one by one, and ask yourself, ‘Does this give me joy?’ If those unread books or unused accessories don’t bring you any happiness, discard it without second thought.
It may be hard to let go of your belongings, so why not donate some gently used items this holiday season and make someone’s holiday brighter.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Marie Kondo, $20.
