I promised myself that once I put together our tax-related documents and handed them to our accountant for filing, I’d begin the “Clutter-Free Forever” project in earnest.
Still, the title of this post fills me with a certain amount of apprehension because, I’ve been trying to clear clutter in my home and office for 15+ years. I’ve achieved success but inevitably, the clutter would creep in again.
This time, however, I’m using the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, as my guide. I expect to be more successful using this book because:
- It got rave reviews on Amazon.com from self-titled skeptics.
- Homes in Japan are significantly smaller than those in the U.S. and I’ve always admired the minimalist approach of having only what you need and no more.
- I love the author’s advice to keep only items which “spark joy.” I’ve tried so many different strategies to figure out what to keep or not keep and the idea “Does this spark joy” feels so straightforward and easy to implement.
I’m feeling apprehension because:
- The author counsels making “organizing an event” where I need to set aside large chunks of time to clean an entire room. This freaks me out because I have so much crap, I’m afraid it will take me months to truly dig through all my stuff.
- I have all this junk because I struggle with deciding whether to keep it or throw it out. I’m worried I’ll still find ways to “sneak around the “joy” or not rule.
- One of the things Ms. Kondo says is that keeping clutter is a distraction from the real problems I need to tackle in my life. I wonder if I’ll sabotage myself simply because I like having the excuse of “I can’t work on this yet because I have all these rooms to clean and organize.”
Nonetheless I’m moving forward and I’m just about done with Chapter 1: Why Can’t I Keep My House in Order? I stopped reading at the section that begins “Make Tidying a Special Event Not a Daily Chore” because of my aforementioned anxiety. But I’m committed to finishing Chapter 1 by the end of the day tomorrow.