I have never read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up) But I did watch some of the documentary on Netflix.
I am the sort of person that rather likes clutter. I feel comfortable in it. Likely nostalgia. But things bring up memories and the memories are awesome. The thing doesn’t bring me joy. The memories do.
But also, when I was younger and healthy, I would go on these cleaning binges and just toss a crapton of stuff in my cleaning frenzy… and it made me feel good. And not being healthy means a) you cannot clean the house in a day and b) things get more cluttered because it is harder to get out to donate things.
But we are trying to sell our house and downsize. In this market, that may not happen or not happen for a while anyway. Such is life. But you have to declutter to make your space look more… spacious.
So we have slowly and carefully decluttered.
Marie Kondō is right about a few things:
- Purging makes you feel good. I learned that when I was younger and I feel it again. It is a sort of release. And I like the feeling.
- Donating the things I am not using or wearing also makes me feel good. I always do, but not this much. And I like it.
- I got rid of a lot of books and I didn’t die. Just saying. I weeded down my bookcases so that there is one line of books per shelf. And that was a massive amount of books I gave away to do so. But some were so old and I never re-read them nor had any intention of it… so why keep it? I mean, I love books and being surrounded by them feels good. But not so good that I cannot donate a lot of them so someone else can enjoy that book again for the first time.
- I find a lot of things do not bring me joy. They are just things. And things I do not need.
And now the house looks let crowded. More spacious. Cleaner. I like it.
It also makes me feel like doing more because I still have that craving to clean the entire house and get rid of a bunch of stuff like I used to. But I have to conserve energy and do it inch by inch.
So I think regardless of if we sell, I will keep it like this I think.
UPDATE: my house is now empty of all things. Just me sitting on the floor eating chips.
Okay that was a lie.
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deep cleaning always makes me feel better, but as you pointed out, it takes me so much longer to accomplish even small tasks.
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Yeah it took me a good month of tackling small tasks to get anywhere. But my spouse helped me with the decluttering aspect which was nice. And cleaning. Because I clean by inches… he cleans by miles
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I completely understand……….i use to be able to clean the entire house in a day……….now, maybe it takes a year.
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And a humorous lie it was:)
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😁
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Currently working on the same and it’s taking forever. If I start moving too quickly, I’m either tossing or keeping too much. If progress is too slow, same thing.
Enjoy your chips. 😉
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It does take forever. Still feel like I am keeping too much though
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Oh man! I am going through the same thing as we are selling too! One thing I found extraordinary, I have more clothes to wear now that all the clutter clothes are gone! I found things I haven’t seen in years! Tomorrow I will sit on the floor of an empty house eating chips with you… lie! But only for now… it really will happen when we sell! Just for clarity, do you mean chips as in fries cause I’m getting a whole big bag of Doritos!😉
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I can’t wait until this process is done! Then it will be dull pickle chips in an empty house. Lol
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Ooohhh… those are awesome too!
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I think I became a saver because I moved a lot (military kid) and thrift shopping made me feel alive when I had no friends yet…then I got crowded out by all my stuff when I finally stayed in one place and started making friends. Doing self-improvement over the years I’ve learned to stop therapy shopping, but that moving thing…well, I got married and it started over again. I definitely was a sentimental saver, so like you, when we moved for my husband’s job several times, the decluttering began. (If you’re interested, I share my journey on my site). Also, I love dill pickle chips. haha
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We do attach emotion to certain things for sure. It has to be a part of human nature or something. But purging some of that does also feel good too.
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