this is stuff you like and well I mean it's January there are only four things
that people are ever interested in in January 1 getting organized 2. getting
fit 3 getting rid of their New Year's hangover and 4 getting someone to
empathize with their Star Wars feels so in reverse order: it is my lifelong project
to get people to empathize with my Star Wars feels so we'll talk about that
some other time 3 every January is a dry January for me as is February and
March and April and I just don't like the taste of alcohol or the smell, eurgh.
2, it's my opinion if you want to start an exercise regimen especially in a gym
then you should go in February or maybe March. The half-a-dozen people who have
stuck to their New Year's resolution will still be there but all of the
people who joined in January and then only go twice will have you know gone
away but getting organized I'm always up for that, and of course in the United
States of America January is getting organized month. 2 years ago I reviewed
the life-changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo so let's check in with that
and talk a little bit about her new book as well: spark joy. I am going to have to
turn off my green screen for a second to show you the book because it is Wow look
at that why is it so bright? I don't know the idea of the first book was basically
this: if you only have in your life things which you really need things that
you really enjoy having or preferably both then you will be happy and
everything will be great which is of course it very materialist philosophy on
life. and for all that it encourages you to give stuff away superficially the
Marie Kondo KonMari method seems very consumer capitalist friendly because if
you do clear out all of your stuff and make space then what else is there to do
with this space but buy more stuff to fill it? but part of the genius of the konmari
method is that it makes you take stock of the actual amount of stuff that you
have by making you put all of your things in a big pile on the floor. so you
start with clothes but the idea is that you make a big pile of all of your
clothes or if you can't do that because it's just too much then all of your tops
on your bed or on your floor and then you go wow look at how many tops I have
and then you sort through them which goes some way towards making you less
likely to do things like buy 20 of the same item and hopefully makes you less
likely to fall into mindless acquisition patterns again after you finish or at
least if you do then you'll notice faster and so you'll fix it faster. last
time we said that when you follow her method you become much less willing to
let non-joy-sparking stuff into your and that's true but it's more true if
you finished completely than if you've just started. so if you've just cleared
out your sock drawer then sure you might think well I'm not going to buy any more
horrible socks. but if you've done your whole house right the way through to
your photographs then you're much less likely to let anything back into your
life that you don't really like or really need at least. the thing is most
decluttering projects are partial successes at best and well there's
nothing wrong with a partial success better than no success they are partial
successes for this reason: if you throw out give away donate sell recycle
whatever a bunch of stuff you don't want or need but you haven't addressed the
reason that you have a bunch of stuff you don't want or need in the first
place then it's quite likely that it's going to start piling up again in short
order. And I don't know about you but stuff is constantly coming into my house
most of it gets used or recycled true but it can really pile up if you're not
thinking about it. and it's really easy not to think about it. after all you have
better things to do than spend your life organizing your stuff right? but I did
the konmari method two years ago and I have to say it's stuck pretty well. Though I
should point out that since then I have moved house twice including moving
country but I have also had a baby so there have been opportunities to pare
down my stuff because you've got to put it all in the moving boxes or on the
truck or whatever but there are those have been many opportunities for many
new things to arrive and I've got a say KonMari is definitely a help with
the avalanche of possessions which arrive when you have a new baby. People
are very kind it can be a little bit overwhelming. But this one's the real
secret it is much easier to be organized if you have been organized once
komari goes on about how you should do it once completely and totally and then
you'll never need to do it again at least not to that degree. And she's kind
of right after all all that stuff you sorted and disposed of isn't going to
magically reappear. Yeah new stuff's going to come into your life but all of that
old stuff you got rid of is still gone the life-changing magic of tidying up is
as I said in my original review a bit woo but very helpful in getting you to
address your feelings around your stuff spark joy by contrast has less of the
personal stories and more of the tips and tricks about how to do the tidying
and how to do the storing after you've finished tidying. It's basically a large
collection of advice on how to fold store or make joy sparking just about
any collection of objects and that's nice
but definitely the life-changing magic of tidying up is the one you should read
first. You don't necessarily need to read spark joy at all unless you particularly
want to get hints and tips on storing things, or you finished and now your
house looks kind of bare and you want to make it a more joyful space. We currently
live in a place where we can't put stuff on the walls and where things are not
necessarily very joy sparking. The bathroom is orange and the boiler is
probably about the same age as one of my cousin's so I'm thinking that spark joy
isn't really the book for me for now. regardless I still really recommend the
first book. I still hate daily tidying aka put it back where you got it when
you're finished Jill but I gotta say daily tidying is actually pretty fast
and easy now I've sorted through all of my stuff regardless of how aesthetically
folded my socks are ie not at all or the beauty of my storage methods Yeah right
I'm happy for now sticking with the principles of the first book: basically
only keep things in your life which are joyful or necessary and preferably
things that are both. it's not that spark joy isn't a helpful book I'm sure it is
to some people but there are fewer of the anecdotes and the personal stories
of Marie Kondo which made the life-changing magic of tidying more
interesting for me. spark joy is all well and good but if you actually want to
address your feelings around the stuff you have then you probably need the
first book and while you don't need to read the book to be able to do it is
nice to have Marie Kondo slightly kooky tidying pixie there to help and cheer
you on. Because you can't organize junk or rather you can't organize it but then
you just spend the rest of your life organizing it and why would you bother?
keep the good stuff ditch the rest and spend your newly acquired free time