Declutter Your World

Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved.

Organizing all your junk better does not equal getting rid of clutter. And unfortunately most people leap at storage methods that promise quick and convenient ways to remove visible clutter.

For example, set goals like “clothes today, books tomorrow.” 

We often store the same type of item in more than one place and when we tidy each place separately, we fail to see that we’re repeating the same work in many locations. 

1. Decluttering in one shot allows for immediate transformation: If you tidy a little at a time, you would tidy forever because you wouldn't see the drastic results.
2. Sorting by category instead of by room can save you time.
3. The emphasis is keeping only what "sparks joy": Will help you better decide what to keep, and also give you a greater appreciation for what you have.
4. You let go of your stuff with gratitude for the usefulness they served. 

1. This process may not be realistic for larger spaces or families: This guide is written from the point of view of a single woman in her early 30's who lives in a small flat in Japan.
2. Category sorting may not be as effective if you have a family.
3. Untagging clothes and immediately hanging them in your closet doesn't always make sense.
4. The book doesn't address how to deal with children's toys.

We are constantly invited to do something, think something, experience something or buy something.

For every social event or task we say yes to, we run the risk of overfilling our lives. It may leave us feeling overstretched, overtired and overwhelmed.

There is often an underlying fear that prevents us from saying no. Perhaps we fear that we are not good enough. We find the compulsive "yes" might help us feel better. However, we cannot continue living at this pace.

We need to ask ourselves why we continue to do the very things that make us unhappy. Self-restraint and missing out are vital for our well-being.

Don't think how you will organise items if you're still considering what to keep. You can only assess available storage space when you're done decluttering.

Sort and throw away first before you put back the stuff you've been collecting in your junk drawer.

Gather all the items of one category in one spot. You can only decide what to keep and what to discard if you know what you have and how much you have.

Categorization is important in the process of decluttering. The five main categories are clothes, books, paper, miscellaneous, mementos. Gather and assess all like items at the same time. If you have two junk drawers, tackle the objects in both spaces at the same time.

1. Commit yourself to tidying up.
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle.
3. Finish discarding first.
4. Tidy by category, not by location.
5. Follow the right order.
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy.

Many people have minimalism forced upon them by circumstance. Poverty and trauma can make frivolous possessions seem like a lifeline instead of a burden.

Although many of today's gurus insist that minimalism is useful regardless of income, they target the affluent. The focus on self-improvement is more about accumulation.

True minimalism is not about throwing things out, but about challenging your beliefs in an attempt to engage with ideas as they are, to not shy away from reality or its lack of answers. 

Underneath the vision of “less” is a mode of living that heightens the miracle of human presence.

While working remotely, it might turn up to be quite challenging to separate private from professional life. This is why you should try to find a ritual that has the role to set the boundaries between the two.

Furthermore, you could also place the things you use while working in a separate place from your personal belongings.

Working remotely is likely to become permanent in many companies, given the uncertainty of the current situation.

While doing home office can be quite a piece of cake when you live alone, it might become a challenge if you live with somebody else. The most important is that both you and your partner know exactly how to support and help each other in order for things to function properly.

Instead of trying to find ways to make more money, minimalists contemplate the opposite: They live with less.

Minimalists find that after going through simplifying their lives and their interiors, they feel more at peace and in charge of their surroundings.

Getting started on the road to minimalism can be the hardest. Once you realise how much you own, it can be overwhelming and fill you with guilt about the money wasted.

After decluttering, you may encounter another emotional factor: When you live with just the things you really love, breaking something will feel way more dramatic.

Once you know what’s on your calendar, ask yourself: “What is the purpose of each thing on here? Are we accomplishing that or does something need to change?” 

Question each task. Start with recurring meetings, which can very easily build up and take over your calendar.

... and put them in one of four quadrants:

• Quadrant I: Important, Urgent (crises, last-minute meetings for important deadlines)
• Quadrant II: Important, Not Urgent (strategic planning, long-term goal setting)
• Quadrant III: Not Important, Urgent (certain emails, phone calls, meetings, and events)
• Quadrant IV: Not Important, Not Urgent (scrolling mindlessly through social media, binge-watching TV you don’t really care about).