Sunday, November 1, 2015

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Section 1

I have often wondered what I was doing wrong with housekeeping  I feel like, no matter how much I organize, pick up, clean, there is always more. So I am going into this book as somewhat a skeptic.
In the first section, Marie Kondo, introduces her self, and covers Why we have a hard time keeping our homes in order.  
You can not Tidy if you have never learned how.
She goes on to explain how,  many times we were told to tidy our room, we also tell our kids this, but has anyone ever been taught?  In school the focus is more on Cooking, not as much on Tidying.  I want to note, In Japan "Tidy" is more of a huge cleaning than what I think of when I say Tidy.  This book is going to offer a chance to finally learn how to Tidy.
A Tidying Marathon Does Not Cause a Rebound.
She claims that you should only have to Tidy Once in a lifetime. I can not wrap my mind around this yet. She says that if you put your room in order properly, you should be able to keep your home tidy even if you are messy by nature.  Marie also claims to be a messy person.  I am pretty certain she is not.  She was reading organization magazines in kindergarten.  She states that Tidying needs to be an event.  If you tidy every day, you will never keep a clean home.  I, again, can not imagine how this will work.  Will I really be able to get my home to a point where I can not have to clean every day?  The method she is using, is supposed to have such an impact on you, once the tidying is done, that you will never have to Tidy again.  She encourages you to aim for perfection. She says you will never get your home where you want it if you do it half halfheartedly.  In my mind, this makes sense.  All you need to do is look at each item, decided if you want to keep it, and where you want to put it.  She says, you only need to aim for perfection one time, and you won't rebound.  
Sort by Category, not by location.
Marie gives an example from her child hood.  She is telling us that, if you start sorting clothes in one room, you will have to repeat the process in the next room.  Rather, she encourages taking all from one category and going through it.  She would set goals like "books today, clothes tomorrow."  Again, this makes sense, however, I have no idea if I would have the stamina, or the time, to do ALL the clothes in my house.  I feel like this is something I would need to do room by room.  I am not sure how I will go about this yet.  I know that sometimes you need to look at your situation and adjust. (she actually encourages you not to do this...but she isn't my boss right?!)  I do want to attempt to do this as much as I can.  Maybe like "Kids toys one day?"  
In the last section she talks about making Tidying an event, which I covered above.  She has said that it can even be over a period of months.  But it needs to be a short period.  The one quote that hit my heart the most was this, "the space I live in is graced only with things that speak to my heart.  My life style brings me joy"  I love this, because many days I dream of being able to sit at the table and be able to just enjoy what I am doing, rather than looking around making a list of more cleaning.  Just to be able to truly enjoy your home.  I am hoping to get exactly there.  To the point where I can sit, sip my coffee, look around, and feel joy.  
Thanks for coming along on this journey.  Feel free to leave any questions or comment below.

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