The Art of Discarding

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years, you probably have heard of the KonMari Method for tidying up your home permanently.

According to Ms. Kondo, Japan’s tidier-in-chief and moi, tidying is a special event and should be done just once.

There are two types of tidying – “daily tidying” and “special event tidying”.

Daily tidying is simply putting each item back where it belongs after you use it.

Tidying this way is your ticket to nirvana. Now you are free to have someone visit at the drop of hat, (as long as you pick it up and put it back where it belongs), head to the beach or fly off for a weekend in Paris – always having, and returning back to, a tidy home.

“Special event tidying” is that one special time when you tackle your house within a short space of time.

Your first cry of cavil is that you will never be able to keep it this way. This is because the majority of people are the “can’t-throw-it-away, can’t put it back” type.

Part One: All you need do is take the time to examine every item you own, decide whether you want to keep or discard it, and then choose where to put what you keep.

Part Two: Then put everything back where it came from immediately upon usage.

Effective tidying involves two essential actions: discarding and deciding where to store things. Of the two, discarding must come first. – Marie Kondo

The cornerstone to the KonMari method is DISCARD FIRST.

The system is that you need to do a complete analysis of everything you own. You need to ask, “Does this spark joy?”, of every item.

If it doesn’t, you’ll feel free to donate, sell, recycle or otherwise dispose of it. There are naturally some things that don’t spark joy, but you still need to keep, such as tax returns and your toothbrush.

Instead of asking yourself, “What should I get rid of?”, you need to ask yourself, “Why should I keep this?”

For example, can you think of a compelling reason to keep old cheque books? Can you truthfully say that you treasure something buried so deep in a closet that you have forgotten its existence?

It is important that you physically handle each item, once and only once, by making an immediate decision on its fate.

All points bulletin.

Tidying by location is a fatal mistake.

The reason is that most people have the same kind of item in more than one place.

Instead of tidying by one room at a time, tackle clutter by category in the following order: clothes (since it’s the least emotionally loaded of one’s things), then books, papers, miscellany, and then things with sentimental value, otherwise you’ll suddenly be down a rabbit hole of nostalgia.

Clutter happens for two reasons: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong.

But most importantly, arrange your storage so that you can see everything at a glance.

Process: Put all your clothes on the floor in one giant pile. This means clothes from every closet, drawer, shelf and room, including the attic and basement, otherwise they’ll continue to creep from room to room, and you’ll never rein in the clutter.

A cursory glance in your closet or drawer will not do. After all, what is the point in tidying if you are not going to do a through job, once and for all?

Repeat the process for each category in the order as above.

Miscellany is the things you keep “just because,” like small tools or accessories or those electronic cables you can’t identify anymore.

Sorting Papers

There are three categories paper falls into: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be keep indefinitely. “Indefinitely”, means things like your will and up-to-date passport.

True story. A few years ago, I was travelling with a group of friends to Costa Rica (actually 88 of my closest friends), when one of my friends arrived at the check-in desk to discover that she had grabbed one of her old passports instead of her current one. Needless to say, I now was travelling with 87 of my closest friends.

Towels for the Guest That Never Comes

You shouldn’t own more than two bath towels per person. Pare down towels to only your best of the best. Set a goal of just two bath towels per person, two hand towels, and several washcloths. Any more is unnecessary.