Cleaning by category, not location, is the key to staying tidy
My study of tidying began in earnest when I was in junior high and basically consisted of repeated practice. Every day I cleaned one place at a time-my own room, my brother's room, my sister's room, the bathroom.
Each day I planned where to tidy and launched solo campaigns that resembled bargain sales.
"The fifth of every month is 'living room day'!" "Today is 'clean the pantry day.'" "Tomorrow I conquer the bathroom cupboards!"
I maintained this custom even after entering high school. When I came home, I headed straight for the place I had decided to clean that day without even changing out of my school uniform. If my target was a set of plastic drawers in the washroom cupboard, I would open the doors and dump everything out of one of the drawers, including makeup samples, soaps, toothbrushes, and razors.
Then I would sort them by category, organize them into box dividers, and return them to the drawer. Finally, I would gaze in quiet admiration at the neatly organized contents before going on to the next drawer. I would sit on the floor for hours sorting things in the cupboard until my mother called me for supper.
One day, I was sorting the contents of a drawer in the hall cupboard when I stopped in surprise. "This must be the same drawer that I cleaned yesterday," I thought.
It wasn't, but the items inside were the same-makeup samples, soaps, toothbrushes, and razors. I was sorting them by category, putting them in boxes, and returning them to the drawer just like I had the day before. It was at this moment that it hit me: Tidying up by location is a fatal mistake. I'm ashamed to admit that it took me three years to see this.
_
To avoid this, I recommend tidying by category. For example, instead of deciding that today you'll tidy a particular room, set goals like "clothes today, books tomorrow."
One reason so many of us never succeed at tidying is because we have too much stuff. This excess is caused by our ignorance of how much we actually own. When we disperse storage of a particular item throughout the house and tidy one place at a time, we can never grasp the overall volume and therefore can never finish. To escape this negative spiral, tidy by category, not by place.
Excerpted from THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP Copyright © 2014 by Marie Kondo. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
- Colon cancer rates are rising in young people. If you have two symptoms you should get a colonoscopy, a GI oncologist says.
- I spent $2,000 for 7 nights in a 179-square-foot room on one of the world's largest cruise ships. Take a look inside my cabin.
- An Ambani disruption in OTT: At just ₹1 per day, you can now enjoy ad-free content on JioCinema
- Markets rally for 6th day running on firm Asian peers; Tech Mahindra jumps over 12%
- Sustainable Waste Disposal
- RBI announces auction sale of Govt. securities of ₹32,000 crore
- Catan adds climate change to the latest edition of the world-famous board game
- Tired of blatant misinformation in the media? This video game can help you and your family fight fake news!
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market