---
layout: quote
categories: excerpts
title: 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing'
author: 'Marie Kondō'
quotes:
- 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.
- Items that we can't bring ourselves to discard even when they don't inspire joy are a real problem. Human judgment can be divided into two broad types: intuitive and rational. When it comes to selecting what to discard, it is actually our rational judgment that causes trouble. Although intuitively we know that an object has no attraction for us, our reason raises all kinds of arguments for not discarding it, such as "I might need it later" or "It's a waste to get rid of it." These thoughts spin round and round in our mind, making it impossible to let go.
- When you come across something that you cannot part with, think carefully about its true purpose in your life. You'll be surprised at how many of the things you possess have already fulfilled their role. By acknowledging their contribution and letting them go with gratitude, you will be able to truly put the things you own, and your life, in order. In the end, all that will remain are the things that you really treasure. To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.
- It is not our memories but the person we have become because of those past experiences that we should treasure. This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us when we sort them. The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.
- 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.
- Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore, storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort needed to get them out.
- Clutter has only two possible causes: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong.
- I store things vertically and avoid stacking for two reasons. First, if you stack things, you end up with what seems like inexhaustible storage space. Things can be stacked forever and endlessly on top, which makes it harder to notice the increasing volume. In contrast, when things are stored vertically, any increase takes up space and you will eventually run out of storage area. The other reason is this: stacking is very hard on the things at the bottom. When things are piled on top of one another, the things underneath get squished. Stacking weakens and exhausts the things that bear the weight of the pile
- We aren't sure what would satisfy us or what we are looking for. As a result, we increase the number of unnecessary possessions, burying ourselves both physically and mentally in superfluous things.
---
Excerpts from the book - [The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KK0PICK)
Add excerpts for the book on tidying up
Add excerpts for the book on tidying up
