By now we've all heard of Marie Kondo, the Japanese home-organization guru whose book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up became an international bestseller in 2011.
Created by Marie Kondo. With Marie Kondo.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Kathleen Fitzpatrick)I believe that I have caught myself just this side of a major case of burnout. If that sentence is an exaggeration, it’s not by much. A few friends who had the dubious pleasure of talking wit…
How online shopping and cheap prices are turning Americans into hoarders
People keep fettering while I’m always unfettering….
(A digital copy, naturally…)
Steve Dowe (dowe.io)Marie Kondo’s bestseller, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Amazon link), is quite an inspiration. She takes what is, essentially, a slightly mundane activity – decluttering – and transforms it into a ritual; a rite of passage for one who wants to transcend from disorganised hoarder, to ...
I ought to do more frequent tidying, but having done a major purge last year just before I moved into a new house has made a huge difference in my life and general happiness level.
The entertaining rooms meant to make us social actually foster isolation
A friend pointed me to a story on Medium called “Death to Typewriters,” by Medium designer Marcin Wichary. The story is about the influence of the typewriter on digital typesetting. It references my “excellent list” of typewriter habits.
Minimalism doesn’t foreclose either expressive breadth or conceptual depth. On the contrary, the minimalist program—as it initially emerged in fine art of the 20th century—has been about diverting the viewer’s attention from overt signs of authorship to the deeper purity of the ingredients. ❧
This also sounds like a great way to cook!
Like all nonsense, it’s intended to be easy to swallow. ❧
You’re giving up far more than design choice. Mr. Williams describes Medium’s key benefit as rescuing writers from the “terrible distraction” of formatting chores. But consider the cost. Though he’s baiting the hook with design, he’s also asking you, the writer, to let him control how you offer your work to readers. Meaning, to get the full benefit of Medium’s design, you have to let your story live on Medium, send all your readers to Medium, have your work permanently entangled with other stories on Medium, and so on—a significant concession. ❧
You’re definitely not owning your own data.
Boiled down, Medium is simply marketing in the service of more marketing. It is not a “place for ideas.” It is a place for advertisers. It is, therefore, utterly superfluous. ❧
The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Presents a guide to cleaning and organizing a living space, discussing best methods for decluttering and the impact that an organized home can have on mood and physical and mental health.
Kondo does an excellent job of highlighting the most important parts of the book as she goes along, so it’s rather easy to skim back through the book for important parts.
The basic gist is to get rid of everything in one’s home that doesn’t “spark joy” when physically holding it. It’s not too dissimilar to the philosophy set forward by designer/artist William Morris who once said, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”
Most of the book is devoted to some of the basic philosophy as well as recommendations about how to go about paring things down and storing them. In particular I found some of her ideas about folding things interesting and I was a bit surprised at how one can differently fold things to not only save space in drawers, but to also make them easier to see and choose.
I went so far as to watch some videos about how she folds:
This series of short videos and a few longer talks do a relatively good job of encapsulating the contents of the book.
An interesting thing I find in what I’m supposing is a translation from Japanese is that though the translation is strong, the flavor of the writer’s Japanese culture still burns through the philosophy and story of the work. To me these were some of the most interesting parts of her story.
If you tidy up in one shot, rather than little by little, you can dramatically change your mind-set.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order.
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Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved. […] This is why tidying must start with discarding.
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…the space I live in is graced only with those things that speak to my heart.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
Start by discarding, all at once, intensely and completely
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
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.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
In fact, that particular article of clothing has already completed its role in your life, and you are free to say, “Thank you for giving me joy when I bought you,” or “Thank you for teaching me what doesn’t suit me,” and let it go.
\Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
You may have wanted to read it when you bought it, but if you haven’t read it by now, the book’s purpose was to teach you that you didn’t need it.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
…storage “solutions” are really just prisons within which to bury possessions that spark no joy.
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
Never pile things: vertical storage is the key
Added on Saturday, May 6, 2017
Never hang on to them in the belief that you might use them someday.
Added on Monday, May 8, 2017
This is why I urge you to refrain from stocking up on things.
Added on Monday, May 8, 2017
This is why I urge you to refrain from stocking up on things.
Added on Monday, May 8, 2017
When you treat your belongings well, they will always respond in kind. For this reason, I take time to ask myself occasionally whether the storage space I’ve set aside for them will make them happy. Storage, after all, is the sacred act of choosing a home for my belongings.
Added on Monday, May 8, 2017
I truly believe that our possessions are even happier and more vibrant when we let them go than when we first get them.
Added on Monday, May 8, 2017
Yellow–general highlights and highlights which don’t fit under another category below
Orange–Vocabulary word; interesting and/or rare word
Green–Reference to read
Blue–Interesting Quote
Gray–Typography Problem
Red–Example to work through
