“People who can’t stay tidy can be categorized into just three types: ‘the can’t throw it away type’, ‘the can’t put it back type’, and ‘the first-two-combined’ type.”

Being surrounded by things that bring joy makes you happy

Cherish the things you love. Cherish yourself.

To quietly work away at disposing of your own excess is actually the best way of dealing with a family that doesn’t tidy.

People who use the KonMari Method never revert to clutter again.

Storage, after all, is the sacred act of choosing a home for my belongings.

Start with clothes, then move on to books, papers, komono (miscellany), and finally things with sentimental value.

One reason so many of us never succeed at tidying is because we have too much stuff.

Never, ever tie up your stockings. Never, ever ball up your socks. ―Marie Kondo

I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely.

Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong.

Your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now. To put things in order means to put your past in order, too.

Caring for your possessions is the best way to motivate them to support you, their owner.

The lives of those who tidy thoroughly and completely, in a single shot, are without exception dramatically altered.

Everyone needs a sanctuary.

Clutter has only two possible causes: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong.

I believe that tidying is a celebration, a special send-off for those things that will be departing from the house, and therefore I dress accordingly.

The best way to make news is to announce a new category, not a new product.

You have to stop listening in categories. The music is either good or it’s bad.

Society likes to file you away, put you in this or that category. And I never fit any category.

So the idea of being able to shop cross-category to buy the beach bag, the summer lip gloss, and the pillows for your pool house makes it into very focused, easy life.

Possessions of this world have not been for the exclusive use by such or such category of individuals.

You taste something from St. George, even across categories – the gin, the whisky – it tastes like something from St. George. It’s the same as going to a great bar:

Reading across three languages is a way for me to diversify my intake as a reader, not to tunnel into certain categories or demographics.

What is meant, however, is a higher category than being: the power of maintaining being.