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If you are often guided by emotions or intuition, then magical cleaning is for you. This is not just an original decluttering method. The magic begins at the end of the process. For example, you are left with only those things that give real pleasure. In general, the Marie Kondo method is much more than ordinary cleaning.

The book about the Japanese art of putting things in order at home and in life has become a world bestseller. "Magical cleaning. The Japanese Art of Tidying Up Home and Life” has been published in more than three dozen countries. But that is not all. Its author entered the TOP 100 most influential people in the world. according to the American magazine Time! This happened in 2015, when Maria Kondo was only 29 years old.

What did she do? I just wrote a book about cleaning. Yes, despite the mystical name, it's just about putting the house in order.

Japanese magic cleaning

So, what did Ms. Kondo invent in terms of organizing home life? It would seem that the topic is hackneyed far and wide. What is not here. From vintage advice for a young housewife to untranslatable decluttering, fighting the unnecessary. But no! Get more - magic cleaning, KonMari method. It turns out that if you devote your whole life and aspirations to your favorite business, there will definitely be sense.

That's what happened with Marie. Even at the age of five, she was passionately interested in cleaning the premises. “When I saw an item that hadn’t been used, I vengefully pounced on it to throw it in the trash,” she recalls in her book. Given the small size of Japanese dwellings, one can understand Mari's family. They did not have time to save precious souvenirs from the raids of a zealous housewife. It is clear that the girl had a hard time. But the trials only hardened Kondo. And, having matured, she took up cleaning seriously - as a business.

As a home improvement consultant, Kondo has studied the experiences of hundreds of people. She has read and put into practice advice from dozens of books. The result was a new method, magical cleaning. She proudly named the method after herself, KonMari.

9 rules and Marie's magical cleaning

The basics of this method can be summarized in several paragraphs. But in order to feel the philosophy of the KonMari method and feel the real magic of cleaning, you need to read the book.

It is there that you will learn in detail what needs to be done. And also understand - why do it this way and not otherwise. And you will learn new things about the most ordinary things with which you share your living space. And also about what it really is to own a thing.

Here are the basic rules that Marie suggests:

1. Remove everything at once, "in one sitting." Methods of gradual decluttering (in one room or corner) are categorically rejected. In practice, they turn our lives into eternal cleaning. It is assumed that magical cleaning using the KonMari method will take several hours. According to reviews, it may be longer.

1. Visualize your goal. You need to accurately imagine what you want to get as a result of cleaning. Imagine what your home will be like. You need to imagine the result, not the process. “Put things in the closet, and books on the shelves” is not correct. That's right: "I want to live like a goddess surrounded by beauty."

1. Find in every thing a "spark of joy". Instead of focusing on throwing away as much junk as possible, Ms. Kondo suggests otherwise. You need to look at everything with fresh eyes. And then proceed from whether it brings you joy or not. We leave only what makes us happy. But we also find a “spark of joy” in the items to be discarded. After all, they once delivered some joyful moments to us. Every thing must, at a minimum, be held in your hands. Marie, by the way, often mentions in her book and

1. Store things by category. In most families, it is customary to store clothes, books or dishes in different places. Ms. Kondo believes that all things of the same category should be nearby. For example, in one place - clothes, in another - dishes, and so on. She adheres to the same principle. magical cleaning by KonMari. It is necessary to collect all the clothes (books, little things) in one place and only then start sorting.

1. Get out in a certain order. According to the KonMari method, you need to start with clothes. Then books, documents, little things follow. And finally - things of sentimental value, personal archives. It is interesting that for some reason the dishes did not get into this queue. In our families, it often occupies not only kitchen shelves, but also sideboards. Perhaps the point is in the peculiarities of Japanese life. In general, with the sequence of dishes you will have to decide for yourself.

1. Stack things properly. A special place in the KonMari method is occupied by the correct approach to warehousing and folding things. He is truly original. Things are folded into a tube and placed vertically. Unfortunately, there are no illustrations in the Russian edition of the book. But here's what it looks like.

1. First we throw it away, then we put it down. Until the trash bags containing unnecessary things are taken out of the house, it is forbidden to start laying out the rest! The author of the book insists on this.

1. Keep creative. There are rules for organizing storage in a new way. For example, bags and handbags are stored one inside the other. Marie Kondo encourages creativity and ingenuity in this process. And he thinks that coming up with the best storage options is a great pleasure.

1. Use shoeboxes. According to Ms. Kondo, there is no need to spend heavily on storage devices. All those pretty containers and boxes are useless. She considers an ordinary shoe box to be the best place for things.

Take a step towards a free life

If you are often guided by emotions or intuition, then the KonMari method is for you. The great thing about it is that no one forces you to follow the rules that do not suit you. All these “7 jackets and 10 blouses is an ideal number” or “if you don’t wear a thing for two years, throw it away” are not for emotional natures.

At the end of the cleaning process, you are left with only that which gives real pleasure. You can joyfully run for new pleasant things to the online store and go shopping.

But in general magical cleaning- it is much more than usual. The little Japanese woman has become famous all over the world because she helps us to do a simple and at the same time difficult thing: to remove from everyday life what does not bring us joy.

How to turn cleaning from a heavy duty into an easy and simple ritual? Do you think that cleaning is a boring and tedious task that spoils the mood, upsets the nerves, and gradually loses health? And here is the author of the bestseller “Magical Cleaning. The Japanese art of putting things in order in the house, ”Marie Kondo thinks otherwise.

In her opinion, this activity heals, calms and puts thoughts in order. And her approach is liked by both housewives and those who are interested in the issue of maintaining order in the house and in their lives. As proof of this - multi-million copies of the book, which are sold out like hot cakes.

Marie Kondo cleaning system

The style of cleaning that Marie Kondo offers is striking in scale. As a result, as the creator of the methodology promises, serious changes are taking place in the lives of its followers, a person understands what he should do and what he should not undertake.

Marie Kondo considers cleaning in two planes - spiritual and practical.

The spiritual side of the technique implies the following aspects:

Things should bring joy, not tire or annoy.

Everything that appears in the living space is alive and feels the attitude of the owner. Therefore, things should not be scattered, but you need to carefully fold, take care of them. Then the benefits from them increase, positive energy accumulates, and the service life is extended.

Items that have reached the end of their useful life and are subject to recycling should be thanked as if they were true friends at a certain stage in life.

But the practical side of the technique is no less important. Order frees up energy that will be needed for other tasks..

The principle of cleaning: get rid of the unnecessary and figure out how it is more convenient to store the necessary.

Another rule - "someday" will never come. Things should be useful here and now. It makes no sense to litter the space in anticipation of poverty, life's adversity, or for the sake of memories of the past.

Before putting things in order, Marie suggests asking herself questions:

• What should the final living space look like in order to want to return home?
• What activities await the landlord at home?
• Why is this order necessary?

The last question is usually answered: "To be happy."

The cleaning system was called KonMari, where the first letters of the author's first and last names are used.

decluttering

Keep essential items at home

Decluttering is the process that begins cleaning with the Marie Kondo method.

KonMari recommends getting rid of junk in one fell swoop. After that, the person experiences a feeling of relief and enlightenment. The day when this event should take place, let it become a holiday and a starting point from which another life will begin - in a clean house, with pure thoughts, with energy for new achievements.

Each member of the family sorts out his things himself, with the exception of children who still have little life experience. Relatives should not participate in decluttering. They will appeal to the senses, seeing how an expensive handbag or memorabilia is thrown away, and this will affect the result of the cleaning if emotions prevail.

At the same time, you need to focus not on what is to be thrown away, but on things that should remain. People surrounded by their favorite things become calmer, happier.

Tricks if you can't get started.

Cleaning up KonMari

Here are the cleaning principles that Marie Kondo suggests using for housewives.

The pursuit of excellence

Get rid of everything that no longer pleases Other authors of methods of restoring order advise not to be too zealous, but to start small. So, it is recommended to throw out unnecessary things every day. As a result, by the end of the year, the house will be freed from 365 pieces of garbage. Kondo, on the other hand, sets the highest goal - perfection. She believes that working half-heartedly, it will not work to put the house in order, so all efforts are directed to this. You need to deal with everything in a day. At least one of the categories, which will be discussed next.

Remove everything at once

People don't store similar things in one place. Usually they are dispersed throughout the house. Therefore, the method does not work when cleaning is carried out in one place - first in the bathroom, then in the kitchen. This leads to the fact that things only migrate from one place to another.

Throw away unnecessary

The hardest part is throwing away what you don't need. There is always a temptation to leave something for later. According to the methodology, you need to get rid of things that do not cause joy, do not give positive emotions. Things that were not useful in the past will not be useful in the future. If a person, as planned, did not make a bag or rug out of old jeans during the year, then he will never do this, because he does not want to.

Clean up by category

• clothes, shoes - the most liquid part of household property;
• books;
• documents and papers;
• Miscellaneous - CDs, hygiene items, cosmetics, accessories, electrical appliances, kitchen utensils, stocks of provisions;
• objects dear to the heart - souvenirs, gifts, photographs.

They throw away unnecessary papers - stickers, old manuals, unused notebooks, expired warranty cards, instructions for devices and devices. Excess paper only clutters up the space. The same applies to unread books during the year. The Japanese suggest using gadgets for recording, using information from the Internet, online libraries. This not only saves space, but also saves natural resources.

The most difficult category is memorabilia, as it is associated with memories and experiences. According to Marie, cleaning is not only cleaning the house, but also a way to deal with the past. Some things are stored by inertia. But they ask themselves the question: what are memories worth if they are forgotten immediately, as soon as the “beacon” disappears from sight?

Ruthlessness with gifts, even if they are useless, is not to everyone's liking. But, according to the Japanese woman, every gift fulfilled the function assigned to it, when it was handed over, it caused joy. If he is no longer useful, it is time for him to move to the trash can.

Used and out of order are thrown into a landfill, and not offered to friends and relatives: what's the point of cleaning when rubbish from one house moves to another, or worse - to the next room to a sister or brother. Memorabilia is often sent to parents. This is also not worth doing, since this box is likely to remain unpacked, therefore, its value is small.

Adding by KonMari

Keep things in their place

When you get rid of everything superfluous, you need to properly fold what is left so that you less often put things in order in the house.

It is recommended to store all things of the same category in one place.. So, books are placed in a bookcase and nowhere else, clothes in a wardrobe, etc. After use, they are put back in their place. Otherwise, they will “spread out” around the house again and necessitate another decluttering.

Clothes are stored in the drawers of the nightstand. The products are folded vertically, having previously been rolled up according to the sushi principle or folded into a rectangle, the height of which is slightly less than the height of the box, and strict rows are formed.

This arrangement has several advantages:

• less space is taken up than in a closet on a coat hanger,
• getting a thing, keeping order, is easier;
• maximum visibility of objects is achieved.

According to the method, it is more convenient to use chests of drawers with drawers for storage than wardrobes, and instead of partitions and organizers, use shoeboxes.

But this does not mean that clothes are not hung. Coats, jackets, dresses, suits cannot be stored in bundles. These wardrobe items are hung on hangers according to the principle: the heaviest - on the left, the lightest - on the right. The sequence is:

• coats, jackets;
• jackets, suits;
• dresses;
• trousers;
• skirts;
• blouses.

Bags are stored one inside the other, handles up. Out-of-season clothes are not hidden, so as not to forget later about any item of clothing.

Organization and storage of things, video advice:

Advantages

Keep organized Those who have already used the system say that in this way they manage to get rid of half of the things and free up space. Another advantage of this technique is cleaning in one fell swoop, which eliminates the effect of reverse action, when procrastination returns to the original mess.

The advice Marie Kondo gives in her book is simple. And they are suitable for the inhabitants of our country. After all, the notorious "Khrushchev", which the townspeople complain about, will seem to many Japanese as royal mansions. Indeed, often the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have to settle in 10 square meters. Therefore, a plump family album or a wardrobe for them is sometimes an unaffordable luxury.

Marie Kondo how to fold things: video.

Another video on folding bedding. Although it is in English, it is very clear.

This book is written by Kondo Marie whose magic cleaning has conquered the world.

She was a strange child and instead of children's games she was engaged in .... cleaning. In high school, her girlfriends were looking for the perfect love, and she is the perfect way to fold and store socks. Her parents thought she would make a good housewife, and she made millions helping people declutter their homes by creating Kondo Marie's Magical Cleanup.

Marie Kondo, 30, is the world's most sought-after tidying consultant and author of the groundbreaking KONMARI CLEANING METHOD. Following her recommendations, you will put things in order at home and in life - once and for all.

Kondo Marie Magic cleaning. The Japanese Art of Tidying Up Your Home and Life

Foreword

Foreword

The Kondo Mari method of magical cleaning is simple. It's witty and effective method defeat clutter forever. Start by getting rid of the trash. Then organize your space—carefully, completely, in one go. If you adopt this strategy, you will never go back to clutter again.

Although this approach is contrary to popular belief, anyone who applies the KonMari method to its fullest successfully maintains order in his house - and with unexpected results. Tidying up the house has a positive effect on all other aspects of life - including work and family. Having dedicated more than 80 percent of my life to this topic, I I know that cleaning can transform your life.

Do you still think it sounds too good to be true? If your idea of ​​cleaning is to get rid of one unnecessary item a day or clean your room little by little, then you are right. It is unlikely to seriously affect your life in any way. However, if you change your approach, cleaning can have a truly immeasurable impact. In essence, this is what it means to put your house in order.

I've been reading housewife magazines since I was five years old, and that's what inspired me, starting at the age of fifteen, to get serious about finding the perfect way to clean. Which, in turn, led to the creation of the KonMari Method (KonMari is my pseudonym, composed of the first syllable of my last name and first name). I have now become a consultant and spend most of my time visiting homes and offices giving practical advice people who find cleaning difficult, who clean but suffer backlash, or who want to clean but don't know where to start.

Putting things in order in the house, you put things in order in life.

From clothing and underwear to photographs, pens, magazine clippings, and makeup trials, my clients' discarded items must have already exceeded a million. This is not an exaggeration. I have helped individual clients who have thrown out two hundred 45-liter garbage bags at a time.

As a result of research into the art of organizing and my extensive experience in helping disorganized people who want to become tidy, there is one conviction that I can state with absolute certainty: a significant reorganization of the house causes an equally significant change in lifestyle and worldview. She transforms life. I am not kidding. Here are just a few of the testimonials I receive daily from former clients.

“After completing your courses, I quit my job, started my own business and now do what I have dreamed of doing since I was a child.”

“Your course helped me understand what I really need and what I don’t. So I filed for divorce. Now I feel much happier."

“Recently, I was contacted by a person with whom I have long wanted to meet.”

"I'm happy to report that after I cleaned my apartment, I was able to significantly increase sales."

“There was a much greater rapport between me and my husband.”

“I was surprised to find that by throwing out some things, I changed myself in many ways.”

“I finally managed to lose three kilograms.”

My clients are glowing with happiness and the results show that cleaning has changed the way they think and approach life. In fact, she changed their future. Why? A more detailed answer to this question is given throughout the book; but, in a nutshell, by putting his house in order, a person puts his affairs and his past in order. As a result, he quite clearly understands what he needs in life and what he does not need, what is worth doing and what is not worth doing.

I currently offer classes for clients in their homes and for business owners in their offices. All these are private lessons, taking place one on one with the client, but there is no end to those who wish. Currently, my waiting list is three months long, and I receive daily inquiries from people who have been referred to me by former clients or who have heard about my course from someone else. I travel around Japan from end to end, and sometimes I go abroad. One of my public lectures for housewives and mothers sold out in one evening. Not only was a waiting list drawn up in case of refusal from classes, but also a list of those who simply wanted to get on the waiting list. However, the number of repeated calls to me is zero. From a business standpoint, this may seem like a fatal flaw. But what if the lack of retries is actually the secret to the effectiveness of my approach?

As I said at the very beginning, people who use the KonMari method never litter their homes and offices again. Since they are able to maintain order in their space, there is no need to re-come to class. From time to time I contact people who have completed my courses and find out how they are doing. In almost all cases, their home or office is still in order; Moreover, they also continue to improve their space. The photographs they send me show that they now have even fewer things than they had when they completed my course, and that they have acquired new curtains and furniture. They are surrounded only by the things they truly love.

Why is this course transforming people? Because my approach is not just a technical method. The act of cleaning is a series of simple actions in which objects are moved from one place to another. It involves moving things to the places where they should be. It seems so simple that even a six-year-old child should be able to do it. However, most people fail to do so. Soon after cleaning, their space turns back into a chaotic mess. The reason for this is not a lack of skills, but rather a lack of awareness and an inability to clean effectively. In other words, the root of the problem is in the mind. Success is 90 percent dependent on our mental attitude. If we exclude from the total number of people a few lucky ones for whom ordering is natural process, for everyone else, if we don't focus on this aspect, the backlash is inevitable, no matter how many things are thrown away or how intelligently the rest is ordered.

So how do you get this right mental attitude? There is only one way to do this, and, paradoxically, that way is to get the right method. Remember: The KonMari Method that I describe in this book is not just a set of sorting, ordering, and storage rules. This is a guide to getting the right mindset to create order and make you a neat person.

Of course, I cannot say that all my students have mastered the art of cleaning to perfection. Unfortunately, some, for one reason or another, had to abort the course without completing it. And others stopped classes because they expected that I would do all the work for them.

As a fanatic and organiser, I can tell you right now: no matter how hard I try to organize another person's space, no matter how perfect the storage system I develop, I will never be able to put another person's house in order in the true sense of the word. Why? Because the awareness of a person and his point of view on his own way of life is much more important than any skills of sorting, storage or anything else. The order depends on personal values ​​that determine the way a person wants to live.

Most people would rather live in a clean and tidy space. Anyone who has managed to clean up at least once will want everything to stay that way - cleaned up. But many do not believe that this is possible. People try a variety of approaches to cleaning and find that the situation soon returns to “normal”. However, I am quite convinced that everyone is capable of keeping their space in order.

To do this, it is essential to take a close look at your cleaning habits and attitudes. This may seem like a lot of work, but don't worry! By the time you have finished reading this book, you will be ready and eager to do this work. People often say to me: I am a person who is not organized by nature. I can not do it" or " I have no time»; but disorder and slovenliness are not hereditary qualities, and they are not associated with lack of time. They are much more strongly associated with the accumulation of misconceptions about cleaning, such as: it is best to deal with one room at a time; or it is best to clean a little every day; or the storage must match the streaming plan.

In Japan, people believe that doing things like cleaning your room and keeping your toilet spotless brings good luck, but if your house is cluttered, polishing the toilet still won't do much. The same is true for practice. Feng Shui. Only after you put your house in order, your furniture and decorative elements will sparkle with life.

Chapter 1

Why can't I keep my house in order?

You just don't know how to clean properly

When I tell someone that my job is to teach other people how to clean, I usually receive a look of astonishment. " Is it really possible to make money on this?” is the first question of my interlocutor. And it is almost always followed by another: Do people really need cleaning lessons? »

Indeed, although a variety of instructors and schools offer courses in almost any discipline, from cooking and gardening to yoga and meditation, finding a cleaning class will take a lot of work. It is generally accepted that cleaning is not taught, that its skills arise naturally. Culinary skills and recipes are passed down from generation to generation as a family heirloom, from grandmother to mother, from mother to daughter; however, no one has ever heard of the secrets of cleaning being passed from hand to hand in any family, even in the same household.

Think back to your own childhood. I'm sure most of us were scolded for not cleaning our rooms; but how many parents deliberately taught us how to clean? How many of them were part of their upbringing? In one study on this topic, less than half a percent of respondents answered yes to the question " Have you ever taken formal cleaning training?". Yes, our parents demanded that we clean our rooms, but they themselves were never taught how to do it. When it comes to cleaning, we are all self-taught.

Cleaning training is not paid attention not only in the family, but also at school. In home economics classes in Japan and around the world, children can be taught how to make hamburgers in a cooking class or use sewing machine to tailor an apron; but, unlike cooking and cutting and sewing, the topic of cleaning is practically not given time at all.

Food, clothing, and a roof over our heads are the simplest and most important human needs, so one would think that the conditions in which we live should be considered as important as what we eat and wear. However, in most societies, cleaning, the work that makes a home a living space, is not given much importance due to the misconception that basic cleaning skills are acquired through experience and therefore do not require special training.

Do people who have been cleaning for more years than others really do it better? The answer is negative. Twenty-five percent of my students are women in their fifties, and most of them have been housewives for about thirty years, which makes them practically veterans of this work. But can we say that they do a better job of cleaning than twenty-year-olds? Just the opposite is true. Most of them have been using conventional approaches that don't work for so many years that their homes are now overflowing with unnecessary items and they are struggling to keep clutter under control with inefficient storage methods. How can you expect them to have effective cleaning skills if they have never studied this topic properly?

If you also lack the skills to effectively clean, do not despair. Now is the time to learn. By learning and applying the KonMari Method presented in this book, you can avoid the vicious circle of clutter.

Putting things in order once and for all

« I clean when I suddenly realize how untidy my house is, but as soon as I finish cleaning, everything soon becomes a mess again.". This is a common complaint, and the standard recipe offered by magazine columnists is: Don't try to clean the whole house at once. You will only get the opposite effect. Get in the habit of doing a little each time". I first heard this old song when I was five years old. Being the middle child in a family with three children, as a child I could not complain about the lack of freedom. Mom was busy taking care of my newborn little sister, and my brother, who was two years older than me, did not stop playing video games. As a result, I spent most of my time at home, on my own.

When I was growing up, my favorite pastime was reading lifestyle magazines for housewives. My mother had a subscription to ESSE is a magazine filled with articles about interior decorating, making housework easier, and reviewing new products. As soon as the magazine was delivered, I snatched it out of the mailbox even before my mother knew about it, opened the envelope and plunged headlong into its contents. On the way home from school, I liked to go into the bookstore and look through Orange Page, a popular Japanese food magazine. I couldn't read all the words yet, but these magazines with pictures delicious meals, delicious tips for removing stains and grease, and ideas to help save an extra yen, fascinated me as game guides fascinated my brother. I turned down the corners of the pages that caught my interest and dreamed of putting these tips into practice.

I also came up with all sorts of single player "games" for myself. For example, after reading an article about how you can save money, I immediately joined the game called "save energy", during which I ransacked around the house and pulled out appliances that were not working at the moment, although I did not know then nothing about electric meters. After reading another article, I began to fill plastic bottles water and put them in the toilet tank in an individual competition for saving water. Articles on storage methods inspired me to turn milk cartons into boxes for my drawers. desk and build a letter shelf by stuffing empty videocassette boxes between two adjacent pieces of furniture. At school, while the rest of the kids were playing tag or leapfrog, I sneaked out to tidy our classroom bookshelves or check the contents of the mop closet, constantly complaining about the wrong storage methods: “If there was an S-hook, everyone it would be much easier to use…”

But there was one problem that seemed unsolvable: no matter how much I cleaned, very soon any space turned into chaos again. The drawers in my desk drawer, made from milk cartons, were soon overflowing with pens. The letter shelf, made from videocassette cases, soon became so full of letters and papers that they spilled onto the floor. Skill in cooking or sewing can indeed be achieved by practice, but although cleaning is also a subspecies of housework, I did not manage to achieve any improvement, and no matter how often I cleaned, no room was kept in order for a long time.

“There’s nothing you can do about it,” I consoled myself. “The retroactive effect is like a natural disaster. If I do all the work at once, it promises me only disappointment. I have read these words in many cleaning articles and have come to the conclusion that they are true. If I had a time machine now, I would go back in time and say to myself, “That’s not true. If you take the right approach, there will be no retroactive effect.”

For most people, the phrase “reverse effect” is associated with diet, but in the context of cleaning it does not lose its meaning. It seems logical that a sudden and drastic reduction in clutter can have the same result as a significant reduction in calories - a short-term improvement is possible, but it will not last long. But don't be fooled. The moment you start moving furniture and getting rid of unnecessary things, your space changes. Everything is very simple. If you put your house in order with one giant effort, you will clean it completely. The backlash effect occurs because people mistakenly believe that the cleaning was done carefully, when in reality they have only partially sorted and put things away for storage. If you put your house in order properly, you can always keep it clean, even if you are lazy or slovenly by nature.

Clean a Little Every Day and You'll Clean Forever

What about the assumption that you need to clean a little each day? While it sounds convincing, don't be fooled. The reason you feel like cleaning never ends is because you clean little by little.

Changing lifestyle habits acquired over the years is often extremely difficult. If you have never succeeded in keeping order up to now, you will soon find that it is almost impossible to train yourself to clean a little. People cannot change their habits without first changing the way they think. And it's not easy! After all, it is very difficult to control your own thoughts. However, there is one way to radically transform the way you think about cleaning.

The topic of cleaning first caught my attention when I was in middle school. I came across a book called "The Art of Getting Rid of Unnecessary Things" ( The Art of Discarding) Nagisa Tatsumi, who explained the importance of throwing out unnecessary things. I picked up this book in the store on my way home from school, intrigued by a topic that I had encountered before and still remember the thrill of reading it on the train. I got so carried away that I almost missed my station. Once at home, I went straight to my room, taking a bunch of garbage bags with me, and locked myself in there for several hours. Although my room was small, by the time I finished, I had eight bags full of rubbish - clothes I never wore, textbooks from elementary school, toys I haven't played with in years, collections erasers and prints. I forgot about the existence of many of these things. After that, I sat on the floor like a statue for almost an hour, staring at a bunch of packages and thinking: “Why did I even need to keep all this nonsense?”

However, what shocked me most was how different my room began to look. After just a few hours, I was able to see areas of the floor that had never been seen before. daylight. My room was completely transformed, and even the very air inside it became so fresh and pure that my head immediately brightened up. It turns out that cleaning can have a much bigger impact than I ever imagined. Struck by the magnitude of the change, from that day forward, I shifted my focus from cooking and sewing, which I had previously considered the most important skills of a housewife, to the art of cleaning.

Cleaning produces visible results. Cleaning never lies. The main secret success is this: if you remove it in one fell swoop, and not gradually, then you can forever change your thinking and life habits. My clients don't develop the habit of cleaning gradually. They have all rid themselves of clutter forever since they started their cleaning marathon. This approach is the key to preventing backlash.

If people again litter their premises, even when they often clean, the problem is not in the premises themselves and not in the number of things, but in the way of thinking. Even if they are initially inspired, they find it difficult to stay motivated, and their efforts gradually fizzle out. The main reason for this lies in the fact that they do not see results or feel the impact of their efforts. That is why success depends on the ability to immediately experience tangible results. If you apply the right method and focus your efforts on thoroughly and completely getting rid of the trash within a short period of time, you will see instant results that will give you the strength to keep your space in order - now and always. Anyone who has experienced this process for themselves, whoever he may be, will swear to himself never to litter the room again.

The goal is perfection

« Don't aim for perfection. Start small and just throw away one item a day". What sweet and comforting words for those who lack confidence in their ability to clean, or who are convinced they don't have enough time to complete the task properly! I stumbled upon this tip while binge-reading every cleaning book ever published in Japan...and took the bait—including hook, line, and bobber. The momentum spurred on by my unexpected insight into the possibilities of cleaning was beginning to fizzle out, and I began to feel discouraged by the lack of consistent results. It seemed to me that these words make sense. After all, it seems so difficult to strive for perfection from the very beginning! Besides, perfection is supposedly unattainable. Throwing away one thing a day, I could get rid of 365 things by the end of the year!

Convinced that I had found a very practical method, I immediately began to follow the instructions in this book. In the morning, I opened the closet doors, wondering what I would throw out today. When I saw a T-shirt that I no longer wore, I tossed it in the trash can. Before heading to bed the next evening, I opened my desk drawer and found a notepad that seemed a little too "baby" to me. I threw it in a trash bag. Noticing a pile of sticky notes in the same drawer, I thought to myself, “Oh, I don’t need these anymore either,” but as I reached out to pick them up and throw them away, I hesitated as I had a new thought. "I can save them to throw away tomorrow." And I waited until the next morning to throw out the sheets. Another day passed, and I completely forgot that I needed to throw something away, so a day later I threw out two items at once ...

To be honest, I didn't even last two weeks. I'm not one of those people who likes to pore over something for a long time, moving forward in small steps. For people like me who take on tasks just before a deadline, this approach just doesn't work. Also, throwing away one item a day doesn't make up for the fact that when I go shopping, I buy several items each time. Ultimately, the speed at which I reduced the number of items could not keep up with the pace of acquiring new things, and I had to accept the discouraging fact that my space was still cluttered. It wasn't long before I forgot to follow the rule of throwing away one item a day.

So I'll tell you, based on my own experience: you will never put your house in order if you clean it halfway. If, like me, you are not the hard-working, persistent type of person, then I recommend setting perfection as your goal right away.

Many may protest against the word "perfection", arguing that it is an impossible goal. But don't worry! After all, cleaning is just a physical act. The work done in its process can be roughly divided into two types of actions: deciding whether or not to throw away a particular object, and then deciding where to place it. If you are able to perform these two operations, then you can certainly achieve perfection. Items can be counted. All you have to do is look at each item, picking them up one at a time, and decide if it's worth keeping or not, and if so, what place to allocate for it. Nothing else is needed to complete this job. It is not so difficult to carry out a perfect and complete cleaning in one fell swoop. In fact, anyone can do it. And if you want to avoid the backlash effect, then this is the only way.

Cleaning resets your life

Has it ever happened to you that you could not sit down for classes on the evening before the exam, and instead began a feverish cleaning? I confess that this has happened to me. In fact, it was business as usual for me. I collected piles of additional materials that were littered with my desk and threw them into the wastebasket. And then, unable to stop, she collected all the textbooks and papers that cluttered up the room, and began to arrange them on the bookshelves. Finally, I pulled out the drawers of the table and began to organize all sorts of pens and pencils. I did not have time to look back, and the clock was already half past three in the morning. Overwhelmed by sleep, I jerkily woke up at five o'clock in the morning - and only then, in a state of complete panic, opened my textbooks and sat down to study.

I thought that this irresistible desire to clean up before the exam was my specialty; but after meeting a lot of people who do the same, I realized that this is a common phenomenon. Many people feel the urge to clean up when they are stressed, such as before an exam. But this urge does not arise because they want to clean their room. It arises because they need to put something else in order. In fact, their brain craves to immerse themselves in activities, but when it notices a cluttered space, the focus of attention switches to the thought “I need to clean my room.” The fact that the urge to clean rarely "survives" after a crisis is over proves this theory. As soon as the exam is over, the energy that went into cleaning the night before dissipates and life returns to normal. Any thoughts about cleaning are eroded from the mind of a person. Why? Because the problem is solved, that is, the need for classes for the exam is “removed”.

Visual clutter distracts us from the true source of clutter in our lives.

This doesn't mean that cleaning your room will actually calm your overexcited mind - although it may help you temporarily feel rested because you haven't addressed the real cause of your anxiety. If you allow yourself to achieve temporary relief by tidying up your physical space, and thereby deceive yourself, you will never recognize the need to clean up your psychological space. In my case it was. When I was distracted by my "need" to clean the room, cleaning took so long that I always sat down too late to study, and the result was always terrible grades.

Let's imagine a cluttered room. Disorder in it does not arise by itself. It's you, the person who lives there, making the mess. There is this expression: clutter in the room - clutter in the head. I look at it this way. When a room becomes cluttered, the reason for this is not only physical. Visual clutter distracts us from the true source of clutter in our lives. The very act of littering is really an instinctive reflex that draws our attention away from the root of the problem. If you are unable to relax in a clean and tidy room, try to deal with your feelings of anxiety. This way you can shed light on what is really bothering you. When your room is clean and uncluttered, you have no choice but to explore your inner state. You gain the ability to see problems that you avoided and are forced to deal with them. From the moment you start cleaning, you are forced to "reboot" your life. And as a result, life begins to change. That is why the task of putting your house in order should be solved quickly. This allows you to tackle the issues that really matter. Cleaning is just a tool, not a final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle that you most desire - immediately after putting your house in order.

Storage Experts - Hoarders

What is the first problem that comes to mind when you think about cleaning? For many, the first and fastest answer is storage. My clients often want me to teach them what to store and where. Believe me, I am able to understand this - but, alas, this is not the real problem. A booby trap lies in the very word "storage". Articles on how best to organize and store things and products always contain formulaic phrases that make it seem like a simple matter; for example, "organize your space in a minimum of time" or "make cleaning quick and easy." It's human nature to take the easy way out, and most people fall for storage methods that promise quick and easy ways to get rid of visible clutter. I confess that I, too, was once fascinated by the storage myth.

Being a fan of housewife magazines since childhood, every time I read an article about how to clean things, I immediately tried to put the suggested methods into practice. I made boxes out of boxes and broke the piggy bank to buy all sorts of pretty things designed to store things. When I was in high school, on my way home, I would stop by the DIY store or browse the magazine rack to catch any new ideas. Once I even called the office of the company that made the storage items I was particularly interested in and harassed them with demands to tell me how these items were invented. Dutifully, I used these items to organize my belongings. And then I stood in the middle of the room and admired the fruits of my labors, pleased with how comfortable my world was becoming. Based on this experience, I can declare in good conscience that storage methods do not solve the problem of clutter. Ultimately, they are only its superficial solution.

When I finally came to my senses, I saw that my room still didn't look tidy despite being chock-full of magazine racks, bookshelves, drawer dividers, and all sorts of other storage utensils. "Why does my room still feel cluttered - even after I've worked so hard trying to organize and put away my belongings?" I wondered. In desperation, I began to review the contents of each item for storage - and then a revelation overtook me. I did not need at all - for the most part - those things that were in them. Although I thought I was cleaning, in reality I was just wasting my time stuffing things and putting them out of sight, hiding things that I didn't need at all. When things are not visible at first sight, it creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved. But sooner or later, all the storage devices overflow, the room is flooded again with things, and it becomes clear that some new and “simple” storage method is needed, which creates a negative spiral. That is why cleaning should begin with getting rid of unnecessary things. We need to exercise self-control and resist the urge to store our belongings until we have finished figuring out what we really need and want to keep.

Sort by category, not by location

I started learning about cleaning in earnest when I was in middle school, and most of that learning was continuous practice. Every day I cleaned one room - my own room, my brother's room, my sister's room, the bathroom. Every day I planned where I would clean, and single-handedly launched “campaigns” that resembled fire sale slogans in their mottos: “The fifth of every month is the day of the living room!”, “Today is the day of cleaning the pantry”, “Tomorrow is the fight against bathroom cabinets!

I kept this habit even into high school. Arriving home, I immediately went to the room that I decided to clean that day, without even changing my school uniform for home clothes. If plastic bathroom cabinets were my goal, I would open the doors wide open and unload everything from one drawer, including beauty samples, soaps, toothbrushes, and razors. Then I sorted it all into categories, organized with drawer dividers, and returned the unloaded to the locker. Finally, I stared in quiet admiration at the neatly organized contents for a long time before moving on to the next drawer. I would sit on the floor for hours sorting through my locker until my mom called me for dinner.

When cleaning, we most often just shove things on the shelves that we don’t need at all.

One day I was sorting through the contents of a chest of drawers in the hallway and suddenly froze in amazement. “It seems to be the same box that I processed yesterday,” I thought. No, the box was different, but the items inside were the same—cosmetic samples, soap, toothbrushes, and razors. I sorted them into categories, put them in boxes, and returned them to the big box, just like I had done the day before. And at that moment it dawned on me: to clean, based on the location, is a fatal mistake. Sadly, I must admit that it took me three years to understand this.

Many people are surprised to learn that this supposedly viable approach is actually a common trap. The problem stems from the fact that people often store items of the same type in different places. When we clean each place individually, we lose sight of the fact that we are repeating the same job in many places - and fall into a vicious cycle of endless cleaning.

To avoid this, I recommend cleaning by category. For example, instead of deciding that you will be cleaning a specific room today, set a goal like “clothes today, books tomorrow.” One of the main reasons many of us fail to succeed at cleaning is because we have too many things. This excess is caused by the fact that we simply do not know how much we actually have. When we distribute storage spaces of the same type throughout the house and clean one room at a time, we have no way to estimate their total volume - and therefore, we can never finish cleaning. To avoid this negative spiral, clean by category, not by location.

No need to look for "your" cleaning method

Books on cleaning and decluttering often state that the causes of clutter depend on the personality of the individual and that therefore we should look for the method that best suits our personality type. At first glance, this argument seems convincing. “So that’s why I can’t keep my space clean! we think. “The method I have used is not in keeping with my character.” We can even consult a handy chart that shows which method suits lazy people or busy people, picky people or promiscuous people, and choose the one that works for us.

At some point, I got carried away with this idea - to classify cleaning methods by type of character. I read psychology books, asked clients what their blood type was, what their parents' temperaments were, etc., and even paid attention to their birth dates. I have spent more than five years analyzing my discoveries, looking for general principle, which would dictate the best method for each personality type. Instead, I discovered that there is absolutely no point in changing your approach to fit your personality. When it comes to cleaning, most people are lazy, and besides, they are too busy. As for intelligibility, everyone has a special relationship to one certain thing, and not to all. Studying the proposed personality categories, I realized that one way or another I fall under each and every one of them. So by what standard was I to classify the causes that lead people to be slovenly?

I have a habit of trying to classify everything, probably because I've spent so much time thinking about ways to organize things. When I started working as a consultant, I worked diligently, trying to classify clients and tailor the content of my services to suit each type. But now, looking back, I see that I was driven by some ulterior motive. For some reason, I imagined that a complex approach consisting of various methods For various types character will help me look more professional. However, on mature reflection, I came to the conclusion that it makes much more sense to classify people by their actions, and not by some generalized personality traits.

Using this approach, people who are unable to keep order can be classified into just three types: the “can’t throw away” type, the “can’t put back” type, and the “both together” type. Then, looking at my clients, I realized that ninety percent of people fall into the third category, the "can't throw away and can't put back" type, while the remaining ten percent fall into the "can't put back" type. I have not yet met a single person who would relate to pure type“can’t throw away” – probably because anyone who can’t throw things out soon has so many things that the storage space overflows. As for the ten percent who can throw away but don't know how to put things back, when we start cleaning in earnest, it soon becomes obvious that they could throw away a lot more, because these people collect at least 30 bags of garbage.

Effective cleaning involves just two critical steps: getting rid of what you don't need and figuring out where to store what you need.

What I mean is that cleaning should begin with getting rid of things, regardless of the type of personality of their owner. If my clients internalize this principle, there is no need for me to change the content of what I teach to suit the individual. I teach the same to everyone. Of course, how I present it and how each client puts it into practice is different, because each individual is as unique as the way they furnish their home. Effective tidying involves only two critical steps: getting rid of what you don't need and figuring out where to store what you need. Of these two actions, discarding should come first. This principle does not change. Everything else depends on the degree of neatness that you personally want to achieve.

Turn cleaning into a special event

I begin my course with these very words: “Cleaning is a special event that happens once in a lifetime.” Usually these words are followed by a few moments of stunned silence. And yet I repeat: cleaning should be done only once. Or, to be more precise, the cleaning job must be done once and for all within the same space.

If you think that cleaning is an endless boring chore that needs to be done daily, you are seriously mistaken. There are two types of cleaning - "daily cleaning" and "cleaning as a special event". Daily cleaning, which consists of using things and putting them back in their places, will always be a part of our lives, as long as we need to use clothes, books, writing materials, etc. But the goal of this book is to inspire you to organize this as soon as possible. "special event" - putting your house in order.

By successfully completing this one-of-a-kind-of-a-lifetime challenge, you will achieve the lifestyle you aspire to and enjoy the clean, clutter-free space of your choice. Are you able, hand on heart, to swear that you are happy, being surrounded by so many things that you don’t even remember what you have? Most people are desperate to get their house in order. Unfortunately, most of them are not able to treat this task as a "special event" and instead live in rooms that look more like storage rooms. While they unsuccessfully try to maintain order through daily cleaning, decades can pass.

It's hard to get really organized if you have too many things.

Believe me! Until you complete the one-of-a-kind event of your life to put your house in order, any attempt to clean daily will be doomed to failure. Conversely, once you get your house in order, cleaning will be reduced to the very simple task of putting things away where they belong. In essence, it becomes an unconscious habit. I use the term "special event" because it's critical to get this job done within a short period of time while you're full of energy and excited about what you're doing.

You may be afraid that when this event is over, your space will return to the previous mess. You probably love shopping and imagine how your belongings begin to pile up again. I realize it's hard to believe if you've never tried it; but once you've completed this grand cleanup, you won't have any more trouble putting things back where they belong or deciding where to store new things. As incredible as it sounds, you only need to experience the state of perfect order once and you will be able to maintain it. All you have to do is take the time to sit down and look at each item you own, decide whether you want to throw it away or keep it, and then decide where to store what you save.

Have you ever said something like this to yourself: “Cleaning is just not for me” or “it’s not worth trying: I was born a slob”? Many people nurture such a negative self-image for years, but it disappears the moment they feel their own ideally pure space around them. This dramatic change in self-perception, the belief that you can do anything if you set yourself such a goal, transforms behavior and lifestyle. That is why my students never come back to me. Once you feel the powerful impact of a perfectly tidy space, you will never return to clutter again. Yes, I mean exactly you!

It may sound difficult to the ear, but I give you my word of honor, there is nothing difficult here. While cleaning, you are dealing with objects. Items are easy to throw away and move from place to place. Anyone can do this. Your purpose is clear and distinct. The moment you put everything in place, you crossed the finish line. Unlike work, research, or sports, there is no need to compare your achievements with others in cleaning. You are that standard. Moreover, the one thing that every person finds most difficult - continuing to maintain order - turns out to be completely superfluous. You only have to decide where to put things once.

I never tidy my room. Why? Because it's already fixed. The only cleaning I do is once or twice a year, and each time it takes a total of about one hour. There were so many days that I spent cleaning without seeing any lasting results that it now seems almost unbelievable to me. Now, on the contrary, I feel happy and satisfied. I have time to feel bliss in my free space, where even the very air seems fresh and clean; I have time to sit with herbal tea as I reflect on my day. As I look around, my eyes fall on a foreign-bought painting that I particularly like, and a vase of fresh flowers in the corner. Although the space in which I live is small, it is decorated with only those things that somehow touch my heart. My lifestyle gives me joy.

Wouldn't you like to live the same way?

It will be easy - once you know how to really get your house in order.

Chapter 2

First, get rid of what you don't need.

To get started, get rid of unnecessary - in one fell swoop

You think that everything is perfectly cleaned, but only a few days pass and you notice that your room is starting to get cluttered again. Time goes by, you get some more things - and before you have time to look back, how your space has returned to its previous state. The backlash effect is caused by inefficient methods that cause cleaning to stop halfway through. As I mentioned, there is only one way to avoid this negative spiral - by removing everything effectively at once and as quickly as possible to create a perfect, clutter-free environment. But how does this create the right mindset?

By completely clearing out your space, you are transforming the “decoration” around you. This change is so fundamental that it will seem to you as if you live in a completely different world. It deeply affects your mind and causes a persistent aversion to the old cluttered state to which you no longer wish to return. The main thing is to make this external change so sudden that you experience a complete spiritual change. Such an impact cannot be achieved if the process is gradual.

To achieve such a sudden change, you need to apply the most effective method cleaning. Otherwise, before you have time to look back, how the day will pass, and you will not move forward at all. The longer it takes to clean, the more tired you get, the more likely you are to give up after only half the job is done. And when things start to pile up again, you will find yourself in that same downward spiral. Based on my experience, "fast" means about six months. It may seem like a long period of time, but it's only six months of your life. Once the process is complete and you get a feel for what it's like to live in a perfectly tidy space, you'll forever be free from the misconception that cleaning isn't your thing.

The secret to success is to remove everything at once, as quickly and completely as possible, and you should start by getting rid of the unnecessary.

For the best results, I ask you to strictly adhere to the following rule: clean in the correct order. As we have already seen, the cleaning process involves solving only two tasks: throwing out unnecessary things and deciding where to store things. Yes, there are only two tasks, but throwing out should come first. Make sure you complete the first task completely before moving on to the next one. Don't even think about putting things away until you've completed the process of getting rid of what you don't need. Failure to follow this order is the only reason people fail to make consistent progress. In the middle of the process of getting rid of the garbage, they start thinking about where to put things. And as soon as the thought arises: “I wonder if it will fit in that box? ..” - the work of getting rid of the unnecessary stops. You can think about where to put things away when you're done getting rid of everything you don't need.

To summarize: the secret to success is to remove everything at once, as quickly and completely as possible, and start by getting rid of the unnecessary.

Before you start, visualize your end goal

By this time, you already understand why it is very important to throw away unnecessary things before you start thinking about where to store the ones you need. But to start throwing out the unnecessary without thinking everything over in advance would be to prepare yourself for failure even before starting work. Instead, start defining your goal. There must be some reason why you picked up this book. What initially motivated you to clean? What do you hope to achieve by cleaning?

Before you start throwing away things, take the time to think carefully.

It means visualization perfect image the life you dream of. If you skip this step, not only will you delay the entire process, but you will put yourself at a much higher risk of rebounding. Goals such as "I want to live clutter-free" or "I want to learn how to clean things" are too general. You need to think much deeper. Think in concrete terms so you can vividly imagine what it would be like to live in a clutter-free space.

One of my clients (age - no older than 30 years old) defined her dream as a "more feminine lifestyle." She lived in a cluttered “seven-mat” room – in Japan this means a room the size of seven tatami, that is, an area of ​​3 × 4 meters – with a built-in chest of drawers and three shelves. different sizes. This was supposed to provide ample storage space, but no matter where I turned, the only thing that caught my eye was the clutter. The cupboard was so crowded that the doors wouldn't close, and things peeped out of the inner drawers like hamburger toppings. The cornice above the bay window was hung with so many clothes that there was no need for curtains. The floor and bed were covered with baskets and bags filled with magazines and newspapers. When my client went to bed, she moved things from her bed to the floor, and when she woke up, she put them back on the bed to make her way to the door and be able to go to work. Her way of life could not be called "feminine" even with the most titanic efforts of the imagination.

What do you mean by "feminine lifestyle"? I asked.

She thought for a long time before finally answering:

- Well, suppose when I come home from work, the floor will not be littered with anything ... and my room will be as clean as in a good hotel, and my eyes will not cling to anything ... I would have a pink bedspread on the bed and white lamp in antique style. Before going to bed, I would take a bath, light incense sticks, and listen to classical piano or violin music while doing yoga and making herbal tea. I would fall asleep with a sense of unhurried spaciousness.

Her description was as vivid and vivid as if she really lived in this environment. It is important to achieve just this level of detail, visually imagining your ideal lifestyle, and describe it on paper. If this is difficult for you, if you are not able to mentally picture the kind of life you would like to live, try looking in interior magazines for photographs that will attract your attention. It may also be helpful to visit a couple of show houses. Looking at a range of different rooms will help you get a feel for what you like. By the way, the client I described above now really enjoys baths, aromatherapy, classical music and yoga. She emerged from the abyss of confusion to find for herself the very feminine lifestyle that she aspired to.

So, now that you've envisioned the lifestyle you've been dreaming of, is it time to move on to getting rid of the stuff you don't need? No, not yet. I understand your impatience, but in order to prevent a backlash, you need to move forward properly, step by step, through this one event in life. Your next step is to determine why you want to live the way you do. Review your notes about the lifestyle you desire and think again. Why do you need aromatherapy before bed? Why do you want to listen to classical music while doing yoga? If your answers are: Because I want to relax before bed." And " I want to do yoga to lose weight”, - ask yourself why you want to relax and why you want to lose weight. Perhaps your answers will be: I don't want to feel tired when I go to work the next day." And " I want to go on a diet to become more beautiful". Once again ask yourself the question "why?" for each of these answers. Repeat this process three to five times for each topic.

As you continue to explore the reasons why you think this is the ideal lifestyle, you will come to a simple realization: the whole point of getting rid of unnecessary things and keeping the things you need is to be happy. It may seem obvious, but it is important to feel this awareness for yourself and let it imprint on your heart. Before you start cleaning, take a look at the lifestyle you're aiming for and ask yourself, "Why do I need to clean?" When you find the answer, then you will be ready to move on to the next stage - the study of what you own.

Selection principle: does it cause joy?

What standards do you use when deciding what to throw away?

When it comes to throwing things away, there are a few common patterns of behavior. One is to throw things away when they are no longer functional, such as when they break beyond repair, or when part of a complex item or set breaks down. Another approach is to throw out obsolete items, such as clothes that are out of fashion, or items associated with a long-gone event. It's easy to get rid of things when there's an obvious reason for doing so. It is much more difficult when there is no obvious motive. A variety of experts offer different criteria for throwing away things that people find it difficult to part with. The set of such criteria includes rules like “throw away everything that you haven’t used for a year” and “if you can’t decide, put these things in a box and look at them again after six months.” However, the moment you start focusing on How choose what to throw away, in reality you are significantly off course. Continue cleaning in this state is extremely risky.

At some point in my life, I practically became a living “waste disposal facility.” When I discovered The Art of Getting Rid of Unnecessary Things at the age of 15, I focused entirely on getting rid of things, and my research efforts doubled. I was always looking for new places to practice, whether it was my siblings' rooms or lockers at school. My head was chock-full of cleaning tips, and I had a complete—albeit misguided—confidence that I could clean any room.

My specific goal at the time was to get rid of as many things as possible. I applied every criterion offered in various books to reduce the amount of things that got into my hands. I tried to get rid of clothes I hadn't worn in two years, throw out one of my old pieces every time I bought something new, and throw out everything I wasn't sure I needed. In one month, I got rid of 30 bags of garbage. But no matter how much I throw away, no room in my house seems any cleaner.

What's more, I found myself going shopping just to relieve stress, and pathetically sabotaging all my attempts to reduce my overall inventory. At home, I was in constant tension, constantly looking for extra things that could be thrown away. When I find something that has not been used for a long time, I vengefully pounce on this thing and throw it in the trash can. Not surprisingly, I became increasingly irritable and tense and could not relax even in my own home.

One day, when I got home from school, I opened the door to my room to start cleaning it as usual. At the sight of this messy space, my patience finally snapped. "I don't want to clean anymore!" I exclaimed. Sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, I began to think. I spent three years cleaning and throwing things away, yet my room still seemed cluttered. Please someone tell me why my room is still a mess even though I put so much effort into cleaning! Even though I didn't say those words out loud, I almost screamed in my heart. And at that moment I heard a voice.

"Look closer at what's here."

What do you mean? I look at what is here every day - so carefully that I could drill several holes with my eyes. With that thought in my head, I fell asleep soundly. If I had been a little smarter, I would have realized even before I became such a neurotic that focusing solely on throwing things away can only lead to discouragement. Why? Because we should choose what we want save and not what we want get rid of .

When I woke up, I immediately understood what that voice in my head meant. Take a closer look at what's here. I was so focused on what I had to throw away, on attacks on unwanted objects around me, that I completely forgot to appreciate the things that I love, the things that I want to keep. Through this experience, I have come to the conclusion that the best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to hold each item in your hand and ask, “Does this bring joy?” If it does, save it. If not, throw it away. This is not only the simplest, but also the most accurate measure for judgment.

You may doubt the effectiveness of such a vague criterion, but the whole trick is to hold each object in your hands. You need not just open a wardrobe and, having cast a diagonal look at it, decide that everything in it delights you. You must take every piece of cloth in your hands. When you touch a piece of clothing, the body reacts to it. His reactions to each subject are different from each other. Trust me and try to do it.

I chose this algorithm for a reason. What is the point of cleaning? If it's not about our space and the things it contains giving us happiness, then I think it doesn't make any sense at all. Therefore, the best criterion for choosing what to keep and what to throw away is to answer the question whether keeping this item will make you happy, whether it will give you joy.

Are you happy wearing clothes that you don't enjoy?

Do you feel joy when surrounded by piles of unread books that don't touch your heart?

Do you think that owning accessories that you will never use will bring you happiness?

The answer to these questions must be negative.

Now imagine that you live in a space that contains only those things that spark joy from your soul. Isn't this the lifestyle you dream of?

Save only those things that resonate in your heart. And then make a decisive jump - and throw away everything else. By doing this, you can "reboot" your life and choose a new way of being for yourself.

One category at a time

Let me start by telling you what No need do. Do not start the process of selection and disposal based on the location of things. Don't think, "First I'll clean my bedroom and then I'll go to the living room" or "I'll go through the drawers of my desk, starting at the top and working my way down." This approach is a fatal mistake. Why? Because, as we have already found out, most people do not bother to store the same type of items in one place.

In most households, items that fall under one category are kept in two or more places scattered throughout the house. Let's say for example you start with a wardrobe in your bedroom or a chest of drawers. Once you've finished sorting and throwing away what's in it, you're bound to stumble upon clothes you've kept in another closet, or clothes thrown over an armchair in your living room. After that, you will have to repeat the entire selection and storage process; under such conditions, you will waste time and effort and simply cannot make an accurate assessment of what you want to keep and what to throw away. Repetition and wasted effort can kill motivation and should therefore be avoided.

For this reason, I recommend that you always think in terms of category, not place. Before deciding what to keep, collect all the items that fall under the same category at the same time. Take each of these items and put them all in one place. To illustrate the whole process, let's go back to the clothing example above. You start by deciding that you want to organize and put away your clothes. The next step is to search every room in the house. Bring all the clothes you can find to one place and put them together. Then pick up each piece of clothing and ask yourself if it makes you happy. These - and only these - things should be preserved. Follow the same procedure for each category of things. If you have too many clothes, you can create subcategories like tops, pants and skirts, socks, etc. and browse items by category.

Collecting all the items of the same category in one place is extremely important, as this gives you an accurate idea of ​​how many items you have in total. Most people are shocked at the very volume of the pile of things, which is often at least twice as much as they imagined. In addition, by collecting things in one place, you can compare items that are similar in design, as a result, it becomes easier for you to decide whether you want to keep them. There is another good reason to take all items of the same category out of drawers, cabinets and chests of drawers and arrange them together. Things that are not stored in plain sight are sleeping things. This makes it much harder to decide whether they make you happy or not. Once you expose them to the light of day and bring them to life, so to speak, you will find that it is surprisingly easy for you to tell if they touch your heart.

Dealing with just one category within one period of time, you speed up the cleaning process. So try to really collect every single item in the category you're working on. Let nothing slip away unnoticed.

Start right

You start your day with a burning desire to put things in order, but before you have time to look back, the sun is already setting, and you have just managed to approach your things. Glancing at your watch with a shudder, you feel yourself sinking into remorse and despair. What is it that you are holding in your hands now? Most often, it turns out to be one of your favorite comics, a photo album, or some other item that evokes pleasant memories.

My advice to start cleaning not by room, but by category, collecting all the items in one place and at the same time, does not mean that you can start with any category of your choice. The degree of difficulty in choosing what to keep and what to get rid of varies greatly depending on the category itself. People who get stuck half way usually do it because they start with the things that are the most difficult to decide on. Things that evoke memories, like photographs, are not the best start for cleaning newbies. And the point is not only that the volume of objects in this category is usually larger than in any other; it is much more difficult for us to decide whether they are worth keeping.

In addition to the physical value of things, there are three other factors that add extra value to your things: functionality, information, and emotional attachment. And when an element of rarity or uniqueness is added to all this, the difficulty of choosing increases many times over. It is difficult for people to throw away things that they can still use (functional value) that contain useful information(informational value) and with which sentimental bonds are associated (emotional value). When such items are difficult to acquire or replace (the rarity factor), they become even more difficult to discard.

The process of deciding what to keep and what to get rid of will go much more smoothly if you start with items that are easier to decide on. Gradually working through more complex categories, you will hone your decision-making skills. Clothes are the easiest, because in this category the rarity factor is extremely insignificant. Photographs and letters, on the other hand, not only have a high sentimental value, but are one of a kind, and therefore should be left "for dessert." This is especially true of photographs, since they usually fall unexpectedly and accidentally when we sort out other categories of things, and also find themselves in the most unexpected places, for example, between the pages of books and among documents. The best sequence of actions is as follows: first clothes, then books, documents, category "miscellaneous" ( komono) and, finally, "sentimental" items and memorable gifts.

Before you start cleaning, have a clear idea of ​​what kind of lifestyle you are striving for.

This order also proved to be the most efficient in terms of levels of difficulty in solving the next task, storage. Finally, if we stick to this sequence, it sharpens our intuitive sense of exactly what items make us happy. If you can significantly speed up your decision-making process just by changing the order in which things are thrown away, why not at least give it a try?

Don't let your family peek

A cleaning marathon brings out a pile of rubbish. At this stage, the only catastrophe that can create even more havoc than an earthquake is the arrival of a recycling expert, who is also known by the pseudonym “mother”.

One of my clients, whom I will call M., lived with her parents and sister. They moved into their current home 15 years ago when M. was still a student at primary school. Not only did she love to buy new clothes for herself, but she also kept things that had sentimental value to her, such as school uniforms and T-shirts made for various events. M. kept them in boxes, which she placed on the floor until the floorboards were completely out of sight. It took five hours to sort and put away all these things. By the end of the day, she was filled with 15 bags of discarded items, including 8 bags of clothes, 200 books, lots of soft toys and crafts she made at school. We carefully stacked all these bags near the door on the floor (which is now finally visible), and I was just about to explain to M. one very important point.

“There is one secret to getting rid of all this rubbish that you should know…” I began, and then the door flew open and the client’s mother entered the room, holding a tray of iced tea in her hands. "Oh no!" I mentally moaned.

The woman placed the tray on the table.

“Thank you so much for helping my daughter,” she said, and turned to leave. And at that moment, her eyes fell on the pile of things by the door. “Oh, are you going to throw it away? she asked, pointing to a pink yoga mat on top of a pile of bags.

I haven't used it for two years.

- Is it true? Well, maybe then I'll use it. And she began to rummage through the bags. “Whoa, maybe this one too…”

When the woman finally walked out the door, she took with her not only a yoga mat, but also three skirts, two blouses, two jackets, and some stationery.

When the room became quiet again, I took a sip of cold tea and asked M.:

How often does your mother practice yoga?

“I've never seen her do it.

Before her mother entered M's room, I was going to say this: “Don't let your family members see what's going on here. If possible, take out the garbage bags yourself. There is no need to let your family know what exactly you are going to throw away.

I especially recommend to my clients not to show the discarded items to their parents and family members. It's not that there is something to be ashamed of. There is nothing wrong with cleaning. However, the sight of what their children throw away is the greatest stress for parents. The sheer volume of the trash can cause parents to wonder if their children can live with what they have left. In addition, while they should be happy about their child's independence and maturity, it can be very painful for parents to see clothes, toys, and souvenirs from the past in the trash heap, especially if they themselves gave these things to their child. To hide this rubbish from their eyes is to show tact. In addition, this way you protect your family from acquiring more things than they need (and than they can bring them joy). Up to this point, your family has been happy with what they have. When relatives see what you decide to throw away, they may feel guilty about such outright waste, but the items that they "rescue" from your trash heap will only increase the burden of unnecessary things in your home. And we should be ashamed to make them bear this burden.

In the vast majority of cases, it is the mothers who “rescue” things thrown away by their daughters, but they rarely wear the clothes that are taken away. My female clients, who are in their fifties or sixties, invariably end up throwing away things given to them by their daughters, never even wearing them. I think we should avoid creating situations like this where the mother's attachment to her daughter becomes a burden. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this if other family members really use things that you do not need. If you live with your family, you can ask your family, “Are there any things you need that you planned to buy?” - before you start cleaning, and then if you happen to find exactly what they need, give them this thing.

Focus on your room

"Even if I clean, the rest of my family makes a mess again."

“My husband is a typical hoarder. How can I convince him to throw away unnecessary things?

If your family is not cooperating with you in trying to create the "perfect" home, it can be very annoying. I myself have encountered this problem many times in the past. At one time, I was so absorbed in cleaning that cleaning my own room was not enough for me. I just couldn't help but take care of my siblings' rooms and every other area in the house. And my messy family always upset me. main reason despondency served as a common wardrobe-chest of drawers, standing in the middle of the apartment. It seemed to me that at least half of its contents were unused and unnecessary trash. The clothes hangers were crammed with outfits I had never seen my mother wear and with my father's suits that were outdated. Boxes of comics that belonged to my brother cluttered the entire floor.

I waited for the right moment and approached the owner of the things with the question: “You don’t need this anymore, right?” But I always heard in response: “No, you need to!” or “I’ll throw it away later,” but that never happened. Every time I looked into this closet, I sighed and complained: “Why does everyone just accumulate things? Don't they see how much effort I spend to keep the house in order?

Knowing full well that I was the "black sheep" in terms of cleaning, I was not going to give up. When my frustration reached the limit, I decided to use the tactic of stealing. I identified items that hadn't been used in years, judging by their design, the amount of dust that had accumulated on them, and the smell. I moved these items to the farthest part of the closet and watched what would happen next. If no one noticed their disappearance, I got rid of them - one thing at a time - just like thinning out plants in the beds. After three months of applying this strategy, I managed to get rid of 10 bags of garbage.

In most cases, no one noticed anything, and life went on as usual. But when the volume of discarded reached a certain point, my family began to notice that one thing was missing, then another. When they pointed their finger at me, I was not at all embarrassed. My main tactic was to play complete innocence.

“Hey, do you know where my jacket went?”

If they started pressuring me, the next step was denial.

Marie, you sure why didn't you throw it away?

- Yes, I'm sure.

“Yeah… well, I wonder where she could go…”

If they gave up at this point, I would conclude that the item, whatever it was, was not worth keeping. But even if they didn't let themselves be fooled, I still didn't give up.

- I I know that she was here, Marie! I just saw her with my own eyes two months ago.

Instead of apologizing for throwing the thing away without permission, I responded with an angry retort:

"I threw it away for you because you weren't capable of doing it on your own!"

Looking back, I must confess my extreme arrogance. When my antics came to light, I was flooded with reproaches and protests, and ultimately I was forbidden to clean anywhere but my own room. If it were possible, I would go back in time and give myself a good slap in the face, making sure that the idea of ​​unleashing such a ridiculous campaign never occurred to me. Throwing away things that belong to other people without their permission is a demonstration of a regrettable lack of common sense. While my thievery tactic has generally been successful and the discarded items have gone unnoticed, the risk of losing family trust if caught is too great. Besides, it's just wrong. If you really want to keep your family tidy, there's a much easier way to do it.

After I was forbidden to clean the rooms of other family members and I simply had nowhere to go but my own room, I took a good look around in it - and was amazed amazing fact. There were far more things to throw away than I had previously noticed—a shirt in my wardrobe that I didn't like anymore, along with an outdated skirt that I wouldn't wear again; books on my shelves that I definitely didn’t need ... I was shocked to realize that I was guilty of exactly the crime of which I so zealously accused my own family. Realizing that it was not in my place to criticize others, I sat down on the floor with the trash bags and focused on cleaning my own space.

About two weeks later, things began to change in my family. My brother, who, no matter how much I begged him, no matter how much I whined, refused to throw away anything, began a careful sorting of his own belongings. In one single day, he got rid of more than 200 books. Then the parents and sister began to gradually disassemble and throw away their clothes and accessories. In the end, my whole family learned to keep the house in a much tidier condition than before.

Quietly working on getting rid of your own excesses is actually the best way to deal with a family that is not accustomed to order. As if walking in the wake of you, relatives will begin to "weed" unnecessary things and clean their rooms, and you do not even have to utter a single word of complaint. It may seem incredible, but when someone starts cleaning, a chain reaction starts.

Quiet self-cleaning creates another interesting change - the ability to put up with a certain level of slovenliness of family members. As soon as the condition of my own room began to satisfy me, I no longer wanted to immediately get rid of the things that belonged to my brother, sister and parents. When I noticed that our shared spaces, such as the living room or bathroom, were in disarray, I simply cleaned them up without thinking or bothering to mention it. I have noticed that the same change is happening in the families of many of my clients.

If you find yourself annoyed by the messiness of your family, I strongly advise you to check your own space, especially storage areas. You will certainly find things there that you need to throw away. The urge to put others in front of you, the inability to keep the house in order are usually signs that you are neglecting to take care of your own space. That is why you should start by getting rid of your own unnecessary things. The common area can be left for later. The first step is to sort out your own things.

What you don't need, your family doesn't need either.

My sister is three years younger than me. Quiet, a little shy, she prefers active leisure and communication to sit at home and draw or read. Undoubtedly, she suffered most from my research in the field of cleaning, always being their gullible victim. By the time I got to university, I had already focused on “getting rid of the unnecessary,” but there were always things that I had a hard time throwing away, such as a T-shirt that I really liked, but for some reason somehow didn’t fit me. Unable to force myself to part with it, I tried it on more than once, standing in front of the mirror, but in the end I was forced to come to the conclusion that it simply did not suit me. And if it was something completely new or one that was given to me by my parents, the mere thought that it would have to be thrown away aroused in me an irresistible feeling of guilt.

At such moments, having a sister at hand was extremely useful. The “gift to sister” method seemed like the perfect way to get rid of such items. And in this case, "gift" did not mean wrapping in a gift box, etc. - not at all! Taking unwanted clothes in my hand, I burst into my sister's room, where she lay on the bed with a book, pleased with herself and the world. Taking the book away from her, I said: “Do you want this T-shirt? If you like it, take it." Seeing the puzzled expression on my sister's face, I delivered the final blow: “She's brand new and so pretty! .. But if you don't need her, I'll have to throw her away. What do you say?"

My poor, well-bred little sister had no choice but to answer: "Perhaps I'll take her."

This happened so often that my sister, who barely went shopping, had a wardrobe filled to overflowing. While she did wear some of the items I gave her, there were many others that she only wore once, if not at all. However, I kept throwing "gifts" at her. After all, they were all good clothes, and it seemed to me that she would only be glad to have more things. It didn't dawn on me how wrong I was until after I opened my consulting business and met a client I'll call K.

K. was a young woman in her 30s who worked for a cosmetics company and lived with her parents. As we sorted through her belongings, I began to notice something strange about her selection system. Even though she had enough clothes to fill a medium-sized wardrobe, the number of items she chose to keep seemed unnaturally small. Her answer to the question "Does this thing cause joy?" was invariably negative. Thanking each item for a job well done by her, I handed it to K. - "for throwing away." I couldn't help but notice the look of relief that came over her face every time she put some clothes in the trash bag. Looking more closely at her clothing collection, I saw that the pieces she preferred to keep turned out to be mostly casual items, like t-shirts, while she tossed out items of a completely different style - tight skirts and open tops. When I asked her about it, she replied: "These things were given to me by my older sister." When all the clothes were sorted and K. made her final choice, she muttered, “Wow! I was surrounded by a bunch of all these clothes, and I don’t even like them!” The things given to her by her sister made up more than a third of her wardrobe, but it is unlikely that any of them aroused in K. that same feeling of awe and delight. Although she wore them—they were still gifts from her sister—she never liked them.

I think it's very sad. And this case cannot be called out of the ordinary. In my work, I noticed that the amount of things thrown away by younger sisters is always greater than the amount thrown away by older sisters, a phenomenon that is definitely related to the fact that younger children often get used to wearing older ones.

There are two reasons why little sisters tend to hoard clothes they don't really like. One of these reasons is that it is difficult to throw away an item received as a gift from a family member. Another is that they themselves don't really know what they like, and because of this, it is difficult for them to decide whether to get rid of this thing. Because they get so many clothes from others, they have no real need to go shopping, and therefore less opportunity to develop an intuitive understanding of what really brings them joy.

Do not misunderstand me. Giving away things you can't use to other people who might find a use for them is a great idea. This is not just a cost-saving solution: it can be a source of great joy when you see that the person you are close to enjoys and appreciates these things. But that's not the same as forcing unnecessary things on your family members just because you can't bring yourself to throw them away. Whether your “victim” is a sister, brother, parent, or child, this habit should be broken. Although my sister never complained, I'm sure she must have had mixed feelings when she accepted such things from me. In fact, I was just conveying to her my guilt about not being able to part with them myself. Now, looking back, I'm ashamed of it.

If you want to give something away, do not force the person to accept it unconditionally and do not put pressure on him by manipulating guilt. Find out in advance what he likes, and when you find something that fits his criteria, then - and only then - should you show him this thing. You can also offer this item as a gift, provided that the person would be willing to pay for it. We must be tactful towards others, helping them avoid the burden of having more things than are necessary and capable of bringing joy.

Cleaning is a dialogue with yourself

“Marie, would you like to go stand under the waterfall?”

I received this offer from a client, a charming woman who, at seventy-four, was still an active business manager, avid skier and hiker. She had been practicing meditation under running water for over a decade and seemed to genuinely enjoy it. She casually threw the phrase "I'm leaving for the waterfall" as if she was about to go to the spa. You understand that the place where she took me turned out to be by no means a “training” waterfall for beginners. Leaving the hotel where we were staying at six in the morning, we began to climb the mountain path, climb over the hedges and ford the river, where the foaming water bubbled at our knees, until at last we reached a waterfall that had not a single living soul. .

By parting with unnecessary things, you can really put in order what you own, and your life itself as a whole.

But I started talking about this not because I want to introduce you to such an unusual form of recreation. The fact is that through this experience, I found a significant similarity between meditation under a waterfall and cleaning. When you stand under the waterfall, the only sound you hear is the roar of the water. When the cascade of water hits the body, the sensation of pain soon disappears and numbness spreads. Then, when you enter a meditative trance, the feeling of warmth warms you from the inside. Although I had never tried this form of meditation before, the sensation it evoked felt strangely familiar to me. It clearly reminded me of what I feel in the process of cleaning.

Although cleaning is not exactly a meditative state, there are times when I can enter into a calm communion with myself while doing it. When I carefully examine every object I own to see if it awakens joy in me, it is like talking to myself, and things play the role of an intermediary in this conversation.

For this reason, it is important to create a calm space in which to appreciate the things in your life. Ideally, you should not even listen to music. I have often heard recommendations to clean up to the rhythm of some incendiary melody, but personally I do not approve of this. It seems to me that any noise makes it difficult to listen to the internal dialogue between the owner and what he owns. And of course, there can be no question of the included TV. If you need some background noise in order to relax, then choose calm music without words or a well-defined melody. If you want to give an extra boost to your work while cleaning, tap into the energy of the atmosphere in your room instead of relying on music.

The best time to start is early in the morning. Fresh morning air clears the mind and sharpens judgment. For this reason, most of my lessons start in the morning. The earliest class I ever taught started at 6:30 and we managed to get out in half the time we normally would. That feeling of clarity and freshness that you get from standing under a waterfall can be addictive. It's the same with cleaning: once you've finished putting your space in order, you may feel an unbearable urge to do it all over again. And, unlike meditation under a waterfall, you don't have to walk several miles across rough terrain to repeat the experience. You can enjoy the same effect in your own home. There is something extraordinary in this, isn't there?

What to do if you can’t raise your hand to throw something away

My criterion for deciding whether to keep an item or throw it away is the excitement that comes with it the moment I touch it. It is human nature to resist the need to throw something away even when we know it needs to be done. Items that we can't bring ourselves to throw away, even if they don't bring joy, are the real problem.

Human judgments can be divided into two broad types: intuitive and rational. When it comes to choosing what to throw away, rational judgment is the cause of the problems. While we know intuitively that the item has no attraction for us, our minds come up with all sorts of arguments for not throwing it away, such as “I might need it later” or “it’s wasteful to throw it away.” These thoughts cut circles in our mind, making it impossible to part with this thing.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with hesitation. The inability to decide speaks of a certain degree of attachment to a particular subject. And not all decisions can be made purely intuitively. But that is why we need to consider each item with love and care, without being distracted by thoughts of our extravagance.

When faced with something that is hard to throw away, carefully consider why you even possess that particular item. When did you get it and what did it mean to you then? Re-evaluate the role he plays in your life. If you have some clothes that you bought but never wore, study these items one by one. Where did you buy this particular outfit and why? If you bought it because it looked great in the store, then it fulfilled its function - gave you joy at the time of purchase. Then why didn't you ever wear it? Maybe because you realized that it doesn't suit you when you tried it on at home? If so—and if you've never bought the same style or color again—then the item served another important function: it let you know that certain pieces didn't suit you. In fact, this particular piece of clothing has already played a role in your life, and you are free to say: “ Thank you for bringing me joy when I bought you”, or “Thank you for showing me what suits me and what does not”- and break up with him.

Each item must play a specific role. Not all clothes come to you to be worn to holes. It's the same with people. Not every person you meet in your life will be the one for you. best friend or beloved. Some you won't get along with, some you won't be able to love, but these people teach you precious lessons: thanks to them, you understand who you are. like, Who are you love to appreciate those special people in your life even more.

When you stumble upon an item that you can't throw away, think carefully about its true purpose in your life. You will be surprised how many things you own have already served their purpose. By acknowledging their contributions and letting them go with gratitude, you can truly put things in order, and your life itself. Ultimately, all that you have left will be exactly what you truly value.

To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first get rid of those that have already outlived their purpose. Throwing away what you no longer need is not wasteful or shameful. Can you say in all sincerity that you treasure an item that is so deeply hidden in a closet or drawer that you forgot about its existence at all? If things could feel, then such things would definitely be unhappy. Release them from the prison you put them in. Help them leave that lonely island to which you have banished them. Release them with gratitude. Not only you, but also your things will feel clean and rejuvenated when you are done with cleaning.

Hello my dear readers! In the last post, I told you a little about Marie Kondo and her magic system cleaning. And today the article will be devoted to the basics, you can also call them rules, which are the foundation of her method of restoring order. There is an entire chapter in her book devoted to the mistakes that keep the house from being clean. Here we will analyze them today.

Storage organizers are not what you need

Recently, on the shelves of stores you can find a huge number of organizers, boxes, currants, pockets for storage. And many people think that they are able to solve the problem of clutter and clutter in the room. But this is an erroneous opinion. They will never put your home in order if you do not completely get rid of unnecessary items.

The apartment will look neat, orderly, beautiful. Each thing will lie in its place, but this is just an illusion. The first step to take is to throw away the junk, and then organize the storage of what you use constantly or are dear to your heart.

Clean by category, not by location

Japanese cleaning Marie Kondo involves sorting and organizing things into categories, such as clothes, cosmetics, combs, books. When you see how many items you have from a certain category, only then can you determine their need, evaluate their importance and usefulness. Instead of focusing on one storage space, focus on one category of things. This will save you from a large number of the same type of extra items.

The main principle of effective cleaning

The whole process of restoring order in the house consists of only two parts. They are the same for everyone, regardless of personality, character, gender and age. The first thing to do is to throw away everything unnecessary, and the second is to come up with a place to store what you need. This is the basis of the entire system, including the Kon Mari system.

special event

Each of us wants to be free from obligations, useless deeds, but in order for this to happen, you need to try. Tune in to change, in a positive way, change your life and way of thinking. Get smarter, get rid of the trash, and make this day a holiday, a special, turning point in your life. Mark it on your calendar as the day that determines your future. All in your hands!

These are the principles followed by Marie Kondo in her system of perfect cleaning. I think you already have a general impression of her. If you want to continue, be sure to subscribe to the blog mailing list.

Best wishes! See you! Bye!