Scraponomics Episode 125: Marie Kondo and the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

**Note: My apologies to Marie. In the audio version of this post, I called her book "The Magic of Tidying Up" instead of "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Her methods are most certainly life-changing, so my apologies for leaving that out of the title!

“Keep only those things that speak to your heart.” — Marie Kondo

Usually as spring comes around, we talk about spring-cleaning on Scraponomics to help educate the public on what they have in their houses. What’s recyclable as scrap material? What isn’t?

When it comes to clearing out the clutter, I think it’s also worth taking a look at the mindset of Marie Kondo. Her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is a #1 New York Times best seller, and achieved Best Book of 2014 in Craft, Home & Garden on amazon.com.

Marie Kondo’s mindset is unique for a number of reasons.

She focuses on how tidying is really about the art of getting rid of stuff, and only keeping things that spark joy.

Also, rather than focusing on tidying up by location, Marie Kondo advocates focusing on prioritizing by topics. In other words, begin the tidying process with things you’re not as emotionally attached to, and then work your way to more sentimental items. For example, begin with clothing and lastly go through old photos.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up doesn’t really cover the scrap that’s involved, but I think the same principles apply.

For example, much of the scrap-related stuff you have may be an easier decision. Those old broken shelving units in your garage most-likely aren’t so sentimental. But even if they are, you can still use the philosophy of physically handling them, thanking them for having a positive impact on your life when they were useful, and then taking them to a scrap-processor, where they’ll eventually be sent to a foundry and re-melted into something new.

The part about feeling gratitude toward old shelves may seem a bit odd on the outset, but from experience, I can tell you, it works, and makes the process of decluttering a lot easier.

Before spring gets here, consider grabbing yourself of copy of Marie’s book.

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