The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Because you've looked under your friend's bed...and those Pokemon cards from second grade are not making her happy.

"The best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one's hand and ask, 'Does this spark joy?' If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it," explains Marie Kondo in her best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Kondo is a consultant with a three-month-long waiting list who has developed her own way of decluttering based around the idea of how an item makes you feel (not how it functions). It's possible for anyone to get organized, Kondo argues, and the most important rule is to tidy up by category in a short amount of time. For example, tackle all of your books in one day instead of trying to clean each room over the course of a week and getting burned out. The hardest lesson, but one she's seen client after client learn, is a surprising one: "Life becomes far easier once you know that things will still work out even if you are lacking something," she writes. "If we acknowledge our attachment to the past, and our fears for the future by honestly looking at our possessions, we will be able to see what is really important to us."

— Michele Filgate