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Feb 16, 2019
I hear Ms. Kondo has a Netflix show now? I'd be interested to see it, if I had TV. As far as the book goes, like most self-helps, there are things that are helpful and things that are less so. A major "plus" in my opinion is the "sort by category" method. Why go room by room when you have multiples of the same thing in different rooms? In the bathroom, where cosmetics and medicine cabinet items tend to expire before we use them, this is particularly helpful. Assemble all items in the same area, cull the expired and no longer used (what's the point of lipstick in seven different shades of magenta when you never wear lipstick anyway?), and redistribute the kept items. Clothing is also another area where this method works well: sort everything by type and size, keep only your favorites, and voila! You now know a) everything in your closet is something you actually like and b) what you actually NEED to buy to flesh out your wardrobe (as opposed to doing some expensive hit-or-miss guesswork). The other thing I like is the "keep only what you love" mentality. Face it, how many times do we cringe or turn a blind eye to something we bought on a whim or were given as a gift, but do not use, cannot stand, or can't bring ourselves to throw it away because it's "perfectly good"? Having belongings around that make you feel guilty JUST BY OWNING THEM is not fun. If we only ever kept items that we loved or were useful (i.e. I don't "love" my screwdriver, but it sure is handy to have one), how nice would that be. If you donate these "perfectly good" items, then someone else who may truly need them gets a chance to own them. And once all the "excess" has been culled, you can more clearly see what you yourself need to fill the gaps. This can lead to wiser use of your money, again as opposed to buying stuff at random and hoping you need it OR finding you already had one buried somewhere at home. Other things in the book are not as helpful. Fancy garment folding? Please. It's all I can do to motivate myself to fold stuff the "regular" way. Talking to your belongings? That's a bit "out there" for me. I also see complaints in the comments here as to how Ms. Kondo comes across. I don't recall anything in particular myself, but it's important to remember that she comes from a different culture than our own, and it may simply be a matter of "translation". In short, read the book, accept that it isn't gospel, pick-and-choose what will actually help YOU, and ignore the rest. (Hint: that's pretty standard across the board for self-help books.)