The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: by Marie Kondo | A 15-minute Key Takeaways & Analysis

Discarding items is the most important step in tidying, and must always come first. The rule is for the owner to pick up each individual item and ask whether it excites them or brings any joy to their life. If so, it should be kept for reorganization and storage. If not, it should be discarded. While discarding, people should follow a certain order, with hard-to-part-with items such as mementos and tokens of sentimental value sorted last. This is to avoid becoming derailed in the discarding process.

shock value of seeing the full volume of how much of one item a person has

Rather than approach tidying on a room-by-room basis, the book promotes the idea that clients should sort by category.

learn a lot about themselves through these thought patterns about objects

Problems with discarding come down to attachment to the past or anxiety about the future.

The book comes together with current zeitgeist about the power of gratitude.

they want to be let go. This speaks powerfully to the reader who might feel guilty for discarding objects

Belongings want to be used, and if they are not wanted or used, they want to be let go

French idea of mise en place, which stems from cuisine and refers to how all ingredients and tools necessary to create a meal should be set up in advance of cooking, each in its own place

Nagisa Tasumi: Tasumi is the author ofThe Art of Discarding