The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014. 213 pages. ISBN 9781607747307.

I am completely charmed by this guide to organizing your home. Marie Kondo's recommendations for getting rid of excess clothing, books, papers, and other possessions are not for the faint of heart. She recommends going through your whole house, one category of item at a time, and discarding what's no longer needed. For example, if you were to start with clothing, you would bring all your clothing to one room and pile it all on the floor. You would then go through your clothing one item at a time, physically handling every item, and choosing what to keep. She emphasizes that you are to choose what to keep, not choose what to discard; the distinction makes it easier to decide.

After you have gone through your whole house, discarding what you can, you can turn your attention to how you want to organize what's left. She recommends organizing by category, and keeping like things together. For example, all your books should be together, all your clothing and shoes in one place. She makes the point that many people keep things in certain places because they're handy when needed. But what helps keep your house tidy is having things in places that make it easy for them to be put away. Ms. Kondo gives a lot of good advice about low-cost or no-cost storage solutions, and recommends against purchasing expensive storage systems. She shares innovative ways of folding and storing shirts, sweaters, socks, and other clothing that makes them easier to find when needed.

One of the things that I found charming about this book is Ms. Kondo's attitude toward inanimate objects. She believes that objects care about how they're treated and we should treat them with respect and care. Objects that are treated considerably will hold up much longer and serve us well. For example, Ms. Kondo empties her purse every evening when she returns home, thanking each object as she takes it out of her purse and puts it into its spot for the night. This allows her purse to relax and rest overnight before being used again. While this sounds a little eccentric, her point is well taken: if we treat everything in our environment with respect and thoughtfulness, they will serve us better.

I recommend this book to anyone who would like to make their world a little more organized, peaceful, and happy.