The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.

If we treated all things we use in our daily life... with the same care that athletes give to their equipment, we could greatly increase the number of dependable 'supporters' in our lives.

When I put my house in order, I discovered what I really wanted to do.

Discard anything that doesn’t spark joy.

The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.

Tidying is a way of taking stock that shows us what we really like.

The act of folding is far more than making clothes compact for storage. It is an act of caring, an expression of love and appreciation for the way these clothes support your lifestyle.

Being surrounded by things that spark joy makes you happy.

The best criterion for choosing what to keep and what to discard is whether keeping it will make you happy, whether it will bring you joy.

The custom of storing seasonal clothes is behind the times. With the introduction of air-conditioning and heating, our homes are less subject to the weather outside.

You cannot judge whether or not a book really grabs you when it’s still on the shelf. Like clothes or any other belongings, books that have been left untouched on the shelf for a long time are dormant.

My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away. There is nothing more annoying than papers. After all, they will never inspire joy, no matter how carefully you keep them.

The True purpose of a present is to be received. Presents are not 'things' but a means for conveying someone’s feelings.

To put your things in order means to put your past in order, too. It’s like resetting your life and settling your accounts so that you can take the next step forward.

If you put your house in order in one fell swoop, you will have tidied up in one fell swoop.

Start by discarding, all at once, intensely and completely.

Tidying is a dialogue with one's self.

The moment you start you reset your life.

To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.

The process of assessing how you feel about the things you own, identifying those that have fulfilled their purpose, expressing your gratitude, and bidding them farewell, is really about examining your inner self, a rite of passage to a new life.