BY THE BOOK: THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP SCARES ME
Photo courtesy of Ballard Design
Baskets, designed by Bunny Williams for Ballard Designs are reminiscent of my favorite French lidded baskets with a scallop-edge liner. They are an easy way to create organizational systems of the "everything has a place" variety.
Photo courtesy of Ten Speed Press
It's hard to ignore something that works. When a book of the self-help variety comes along and it seems to be highly effective, I'm game. This particular book, released in October, just keeps getting hotter. Wendy Goodman, the amazing design world fixture and New York Magazine Home Editor instagrammed it, saying she was going to read it, and I became even more curious. When it comes to reading a seminal book about life change through organization style, I have to say the thought of taking on Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing scares me. I know I can live in a New York City apartment with less stuff. I know I can organize everything within an inch of it's life and it will sooth me, both visually and mentally. But can I actually read the tome and take action? With over 2 million copies sold, the international best-seller is obviously teaching great things to people. The hook? Joy. Does each and every thing you live with provide you with a feeling of joy? "When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too. As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need in life and what you don't," Kondo says. We live in a culture of stuff, conspicuous consumption and mass accumulation, so does the act of de-cluttering equal happiness/joy? I am on the road to finding out. Next week I am taking off for a vacation with family, and I plan on conquering my fear of discovering what I already know by reading the book. I know I live surrounded by too much stuff. But I love stuff--my decorative accessories, my collections, my books, they help define who I am and what I enjoy. They provide reassuring attachment. Or do they? I'll report back on my experience, and perhaps even share the positive effects it has had on me, my productivity, and the way I live. Letting go of some stuff might be the best thing I've ever done. If you've read it, has it changed your life?