The life-changing magic of tidying up – Best book in January

Here is my January 2015 entry for ‘The best book I read last month’.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo is my pick for the best book I read in January.

On the surface, this book appeared to be just another book about organization / cleaning / minimalism / simple living. But as I got into the book, I realized that the author’s perspective was very interesting, different and thought-provoking.

I would summarize the book as follows:

You should love your possessions and the things you use. If you don’t love them, then you shouldn’t own / possess / have them.

Think of your possessions as you would think of people and honor them , respect them, consider their feelings, give them fresh air and space, and if you can’t do justice to them, then let them go.

Basically think of owning clothes / possessions etc. from the point of view of the item (not your point of view) – kind of like Woody’s perspective from Toy Story rather than the perspective of the little boy (who owns Woody).

What I like:

Easy to read. Once we get into it, the book gets quite interesting. The perspective is very different and as you read, you start think how the author’s advice can actually be used in all parts of life – not just the tidying up part.

Who should read this:

Persons who are interested / already into the ideas of simple living or minimalism or streamlining their lives and reducing their possessions will find this book useful. It is also useful for those who think they are messy / cluttered and don’t want to be that way any more.

What will you get from this book? The general guideline on how to choose / own / discard possessions. The author also gives quite a few suggestions for categorizing possessions and how to deal with each category.

Format:

Kindle EBookThe Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Kindle Version

HardcoverThe Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Hardcover Version

AudiobookThe Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Audio Version

Public Library – Check here to see if it’s available in your public library.


March 28, 2015