Minimalism and Joy

July 11, 2016 — clutter, magic, Marie Kondo, tidying, yo-yo tidying

life changing magic book

I have been listening to the popular book by Marie Kondo, the life changing magic of tidying up.  She is an expert in this field who has a very specific way to approach all possessions in consideration of  the happiness of the objects, as well as the joy of the owner.  Her technique is being adopted all over the world, but she is from Japan, a country where living space is much smaller typically than housing in the US.  She has been kind of obsessed with organizing and tidying since she was a very young child.  Her overview of the practices as well as the pitfalls of common elimination and storage strategies is brilliant. Formulas, as she demonstrates, must be simplistic, or they backfire.

addicted to junk pick up

She has helped me see the light about my yo-yo decluttering habits.  Exactly like yo- yo diets, the system that does not holistically evaluate the perfect items to keep as well as the way to permanently let go of objects will end in rebound to the status quo.  In the exact same way people buy weight loss products rather than making a permanent life style change, some of us buy organizing and storage products rather than just trimming down the volume of what needs to be stored.  She has my number.  I am addicted to the concierge pick up service offered by Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. When they call I always gather a load for them to pick up in front of my garage.  Since I began this practice I have significantly reduced my total volume of items that I own.  It makes me feel accomplished every time. However, this temporary feeling of successful lightening of the load is always…I can admit now it is always….followed by more junk that creeps back up and fills my office desk, my closets, and sometimes my garage.  I am too old to allow this to continue.  This is just mastery over my space, so I am not sure what is so difficult.

I love systems, and think the end result must be heavenly.  She promises that if you go through each and every item as instructed your breakthrough to minimalist living will be complete.  I am sure she is right that dealing with your stuff is dealing with your past.  If you only deal with part of it, you will never be finished.  One of her points really hit home for me: You can deal with your stuff right now, later, or never.  Right now is the only one that does anyone any good. The stuff contains that “emotional baggage” about which we hear so much.  When you have properly dealt with the reasons you keep stuff, you have fully examined the past and put it to rest.

Do you struggle to stay tidy, gentle reader? Or are you a natural?