Interesting View on Decluttering

[LynnO]

All fine and good as long as it is not stopping you from rehoming stuff you know you should remove from your home.

I don't use dvds anymore and should get rid of the 100-200 I have left. I want them to go to a good home, but don't want it to be too much work.

[Lucky Star]

Originally Posted by Elzabee5

I found ya gotta take some of her suggestions with a grain of salt Do my toothbrush or my hammer "spark joy"? Not really. But I'll be keeping them, thanks

I get what you're saying BUT, were you considering tossing out your hammer (or toothbrush) in the first place? After all, for most of us it's not too many hammers that are cluttering our homes (and lives). I'm sure the "sparks joy" requirement is strictly for those collections of "too many" we may have ... and we who have them know what they are.
For some tool buffs, I'm sure it IS hammers.

The William Morris quote is spot on!

[Nuggie's Auntie]

I just spied my meat thermometer... does it 'spark joy?' Not quite, but I still want to keep it!

[Demeris]

Originally Posted by Nuggie's Auntie

I just spied my meat thermometer... does it 'spark joy?' Not quite, but I still want to keep it!

Mine sparks joy when, from deep inside a prime rib, it reads 130 degrees.

[Elzabee5]

Originally Posted by Lucky Star

I get what you're saying BUT, were you considering tossing out your hammer (or toothbrush) in the first place? After all, for most of us it's not too many hammers that are cluttering our homes (and lives). I'm sure the "sparks joy" requirement is strictly for those collections of "too many" we may have ... and we who have them know what they are.
For some tool buffs, I'm sure it IS hammers.

The William Morris quote is spot on!

Well, if you read the book, the philosophy and instructions basically tell you to go through several categories, in order, so that you take each and every item you own in your hand and ask if it sparks joy. So yes, the hammer and the toothbrush would be included among the items you consider to keep or let go of if you take her instructions literally. And you are correct-- some people would keep the hammer because it sparks joy for them. But not me!

I have heard the William Morris quote over and over through the years. It is a very nice quote with a valuable philosophy. However, it never resonated enough with me to make me truly excited about what I was keeping and getting rid of. The "sparks joy" element makes me excited. I have "tidied" (as Kondo puts it) my house on many occasions only for it to begin to fall apart after a week or two. Kondo argues that if you follow her method, the house will not "fall apart" again.

I am not completely finished with my "tidying" but so far have found her advice to be true.

Like anything, this approach may or may not resonate with you. If you have been a "tidy" person your whole life, you certainly don't need it. If it sounds interesting to you, it may be worth checking out, taking what is valuable to you, and disposing of the rest. (Let's be real: This woman treats her belongings as though they have "feelings." That's not on my agenda, though the idea of having a greater respect for my things is a valuable idea.)

I think this book appeals to my sense of optimism and idealism more than anything else. I finally have a practical way to appeal to my sense of the ideal-- keeping what "sparks joy" rather than experimenting with a new skincare routine or a new DVD system, etc. that clutter up the bathroom, the living room, etc and instead just keep the one(s) I like best. I can still experiment if I want, but one at a time is plenty for me.

[Nuggie's Auntie]

Originally Posted by Demeris

Mine sparks joy when, from deep inside a prime rib, it reads 130 degrees.

HAHAHAHa! Indeed!

I appreciate the spiritual/esoteric component of things, but sometimes I think we need to view them practically, too. Things are tools. Does this item serve me? Or is it just 'stuff?'

I bought a pair of courduroys on massive sale when I was very pregnant with my first child (read: I couldn't try them on, but they were my pre-preg. size.) Even after losing the lion's share of the 'baby weight,' they never fit well. But I hung onto them for YEARS. I guess I felt guilty giving them away because I spent money on them and never used them. Only $7, but still.... Finally I realized they were NOT serving me, only making me feel guilty. Out they went.

[susan p]

Here's my issue with decluttering. I am a neat freak minimalist and my husband is exactly the opposite. All three of my children are LIKE MY HUSBAD (those dang genes! Oh my gosh!)

So, I feel very crowded and get the urge to declutter. But I can't declutter what isn't MINE. . . so I declutter my own stuff. And not anyone else's stuff because we have strong personal boundaries in my house and "stuff boundaries" are almost palpable!

So if I declutter my stuff, and no one else declutters theirs, well. . . my percentage of the household space grows smaller and smaller.

OH THE DILEMMA!!

This bugs me tremendously. Fortunately, I love my family just a little bit more than tremendously, otherwise I would go bonkers.

I'm sorry if this contributes nothing at all to the thread, but I had to bemoan my fate for a moment. Thanks for listening.

On edit, "HUSBAD" is a scream! Do you think I was having a Freudian moment there? HAHAHAHA!!!

[Yelly]

Originally Posted by susan p

On edit, "HUSBAD" is a scream! Do you think I was having a Freudian moment there? HAHAHAHA!!!

Lol - I love it!!

(and to the op - I'm totally getting this book!)
EDITED TO ADD: omg! Ya want to know how unorganized I am? I went to Amazon to download this book, and I ALREADY OWN IT!! I can't believe I had it this whole time and never looked at it. Thanks so much for this post! I'm a hopeless case as far as being orderly, but one can dream, ha ha!

[ellaenchanted]

This philosophy works well fo me, but my husband could justify that every piece of clutter brings him joy. It's one o fthe things I've seen in the home improvement shows wher ethey decluttered and remodeled. The homeowner would have something like a baby bouncy seat rotting in a basement but they were emotionally attached to it though their kids were adults and out of the house.

[bee]

My husBAD is a packrat (I'll never forget the first time I went to his parent's house and saw how they lived and I imagined that's how my life would become, and yes, it's somewhat true) but to make matters worse, perhaps, we live 30 minutes from town, we have our own water system, my husband is a big do-it-yourselfer, and it's hard to get any repair people to come out our way anyway. What that means is that when he needs some PVC or screws or anything, he always buys about twice as much as he needs because he doesn't want to be in the middle of something and not have what he needs. Then the problem becomes finding what it is he needs -- he knows he has it here somewhere, but he can't find it, so he goes to the store and buys double, again. It's insane! We also has our remaining living parents pass on, so we both have a lot of stuff from their houses that we probably don't need. I want to begin this joyful decluttering with him!! Thanks for the pointer and inspiration, all.