The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

a person’s awareness and perspective on his or her own lifestyle are far more important than any skill at sorting, storing, or whatever. (Location 177)

Rebound occurs because people mistakenly believe they have tidied thoroughly, when in fact they have only sorted and stored things halfway. (Location 247)

People cannot change their habits without first changing their way of thinking. (Location 255)

The key is to make the change so sudden that you experience a complete change of heart. (Location 440)

What was it that motivated you to tidy in the first place? What do you hope to gain through tidying? Before you start getting rid of things, take the time to think this through carefully. (Location 457)

Think in concrete terms so that you can vividly picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space. (Location 460)

Your next step is to identify why you want to live like that. (Location 479)

As you continue to explore the reasons behind your ideal lifestyle, you will come to a simple realization. The whole point in both discarding and keeping things is to be happy. (Location 484)

It’s easy to get rid of things when there is an obvious reason for doing so. It’s much more difficult when there is no compelling reason. (Location 492)

the moment you start focusing on how to choose what to throw away, you have actually veered significantly off course. (Location 495)

we should be choosing what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of. (Location 514)

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. (Location 517)

If it’s not so that our space and the things in it can bring us happiness, then I think there is no point at all. (Location 522)

Before choosing what to keep, collect everything that falls within the same category at one time. Take every last item out and lay everything in one spot. To demonstrate the steps involved, let’s go back to (Location 540)

Things stored out of sight are dormant. This makes it much harder to decide whether they inspire joy or not. By exposing them to the light of day and jolting them alive, so to speak, you’ll find it’s surprisingly easy to judge whether they touch your heart. (Location 549)

The process of deciding what to keep and what to discard will go much more smoothly if you begin with items that are easier to make decisions about. (Location 565)

The best sequence is this: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos. (Location 570)

Marathon tidying produces a heap of garbage. At this stage, the one disaster that can wreak more havoc than an earthquake is the entrance of that recycling expert who goes by the alias of “mother.” (Location 574)

the risk of losing your family’s trust when you are caught is far too great. (Location 633)

To quietly work away at disposing of your own excess is actually the best way of dealing with a family that doesn’t tidy. (Location 643)

The urge to point out someone else’s failure to tidy is usually a sign that you are neglecting to take care of your own space (Location 650)

We need to show consideration for others by helping them avoid the burden of owning more than they need or can enjoy. (Location 691)

To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose (Location 738)