阅读打卡第26天 - The life-changing magic of tidying up

progress: pg. 69

Notes:

• ·      “Tidy in 1 shot, as quickly and completely as possible, start by discarding”

• ·      Visualize the lifestyle that you want, ask yourself “why do I want to tidy?”

• ·      “Take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If not, dispose it.” --> does the piece give you joy when wearing it?

• ·      Sort by category, not by place --> collect everything that belongs to the same category and lay them out on the floor: keep the ones that spark joy, and discard all the rest

• ·      People have trouble discarding due to the following values of their belongings: functional, informational, emotional and rarity

• ·      The best sequence: clothes first, then books, papers, komono (miscellany), and lastly, mementos. --> from easy to the hardest, this sequence will horn your decision making skills, so by the end, it seems simple.

• ·      Putting your house in order is fun!

• ·      Don’t let your family see what you are getting rid of: it’s stressful for them to see, and they may retrieve what they don’t need from your pile of burden

• ·      Ask your family: “is there anything that you were planning to buy? If you happen to come across exactly what they need, give it to them as a gift”

• ·      Start by quietly cleaning your own space and confronting your own stuff --> tidying sets up a momentum, your untidy family will soon follow (“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”). Don’t throw out other’s belongings. Leave the communal spaces to the end.

• ·      “What you don’t need, your family doesn’t either” --> only give things that your family would really like, or would pay for. Don’t transfer what you can’t part with to your family.

• ·      Tidying is an internal dialogue between you and your belongings

• ·      The best time to start tidying is early in the morning, when your mind is clear and the morning air is fresh

• ·      Not every person you meet in life will become a close friend or a lover. Same with your belongings. Part with the things that have outlived their purpose (if you don’t wear a certain cloth, ask yourself why? Maybe it doesn’t suit you, then it has already served its purpose of telling you what doesn’t suit you)

• ·      To get rid of what you don’t need is neither wasteful nor shameful

• ·      Start with clothes first, go by subcategories. “Make sure you gather every piece of clothing in the house and be sure to handle each one.”