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Have you ever felt that tidying up doesn’t yield any results in spite of all your efforts? After discarding one item after another and buying all possible kits for organizing things, your home doesn’t feel tidy at all. It feels like cleaning up is not your thing, it is just too complicated.
What if we suggest that it is not true? Below you will find some helpful and rather simple but effective tips from Japanese author on keeping you and your home organized:
1. Tidying up is just a tool, not the final destination
By saying this we mean that the true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order. There is a saying ‘a messy room equals a messy mind”. Form the moment you start tidying, you will be compelled to reset your life.
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As a result, your life will start to change. That’s why the task of putting your house in order should be done quickly. It allows you to confront the issues that are really important.
2. Start sorting by category, not by location
We all did that: “Today is ‘clean the pantry day!” “Tomorrow I conquer the bathroom cupboards!” Many people maintain this custom for years. Sorry to say, but tidying up by location is a fatal mistake. When we tidy each place separately, we fail to see that we are repeating the same work into many locations and become locked into a vicious circle of tidying.
When we disperse storage of a particular item throughout the house and tidy one place at a time, we can never grasp the overall volume and therefore can never finish.
3. Tidying is a special event
Do not tidy up every day. By successfully concluding once-in-a-lifetime task, you will gain the lifestyle you aspire to and enjoy a clean and orderly space of your choosing. A
ll you need to do is to take the time to sit down and examine each item you own, decide whether you want to keep it or discard it, and then choose where to put what you keep. Unbelievable as it may sound, you only have to experience a state of perfect order once to be able to maintain it.
4. Start by discarding, all at once, intensely and completely
You think you have tidied everything perfectly, but within a few days you notice that your room is becoming cluttered again. This rebound effect is caused by ineffective methods that tackle tidying only halfway.
For the best results, you have to adhere faithfully to the following rule: Discard first and then decide where to keep things. Just two, but discarding must come first. Failure to follow this order is one of the reason many people never make permanent progress.
5. Does this spark joy?
Let’s not focus on what to discard, on attacking the unwanted obstacles around us. Instead, let’s cherish the things that we love, the things we want to keep. The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?”
If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge. You may wonder about the effectiveness of such a vague criteria, but the trick is to handle each item. Your body will react to each item different. Try it and see for yourself.
6. Reduce until you reach the point when something clicks
What is the right amount of possessions? I think that most people don’t know. This makes it hard for many people to imagine how much they need to live comfortably. 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.
You will feel it as clearly as if something has clicked inside your head and said, “Ah! This is just the amount I need to live comfortably. This is all I need to be happy!” Interestingly, once you have passed this point, you’ll find that the amount you own never increases.
This is the true pleasure of tidying. If you have not yet felt a click, don’t worry. You can still reduce. Tackle this job with confidence.
References:
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, – Oct 14 2014 by Marie Kondo.
