Book Review vol. 1

As I mentioned before Christmas I was planning on writing some book reviews. I have a stack of books surrounding topics of depression, social anxiety, shyness, introverts and perhaps surprisingly...tidying!

The first edition of these book reviews is on the book that was a sensation in 2015 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' by Marie Kondo. You might wonder how this book comes into relation to mental health. I happen to experience extreme anxiety when it comes to clutter. Unfortunately this anxiety conflicts with my nature of being a bit of a hoarder. I'm terrible when it comes to magazines, magazine cuttings, books, beauty samples and products and clothes. I've previously mentioned on the blog that I experience IBS which causes severe bloating. Due to this I have a range of sizes in clothing. It makes me anxious knowing I have clothing stored under the bed! As much as I try to tidy my space, it soon accumulates again and I'll end up sitting amongst things feeling overwhelmed.

Marie Kondo spent much of her childhood fascinated with housekeeping magazines. She was constantly tidying the cupboards in her family home, and this even extended into tidying up her classroom during break time at school! She soon realised that the 'storage solutions' promoted in magazines actually made the problem worse. We're a part of a mass consumer society, we most likely have far more than we really need. I'm sure you have things tucked away in the back of draws and cupboards that you had long forgotten about. Perhaps you'll be happy to rediscover such treasures, but it's more likely that those things are just taking up space. The 'Konmari' method centres around the process of bringing all of your possessions together from different categories. You start with clothing as this is the easiest area to start with, whereas trinkets, photos and heirlooms are more difficult to part with. It's likely that we have clothing dotted around in various rooms of the house, so it's important to bring them all into one space. The process of being confronted with the volume of clothes you own should by itself flag up a problem. We own too much! We have one body each, I'm guilty of stocking up on my favourite pair of jeans in case they get stained, ripped or worn until they are thread-bare. I've realised that process doesn't help. I end up wearing them all to the point where they are all looking well loved and in need of replacing.

The Konmari method encourages us to spend time touching, looking and feeling our belongings and asking one question "does this bring me joy?". The answer may come to you quickly. Sometimes it might take longer and we'll end up with a pile of 'maybes'. We usually hold onto things due to memories, because they were from our childhood or because they were gifted to us.

I was sceptical about this book at first, the process of holding belongings and asking yourself if they are loved or neglected and could be cherished elsewhere is a slightly strange process. Well, I ended up devouring this book in 2 days. I'm a convert! I seem to tidy up at least once a month. I'll get the bin bags out, turn up the music and blitz my room. I'll end up with several bags full of rubbish, yet I feel like there is still clutter surrounding me and it clogs up my mind too. When adopting this method, the aim is to undertake your tidying in one hit. This doesn't mean in one day, it could day between a few days to a maximum of 6 months if you are tackling an entire house full of clutter! I'm focusing my efforts on the bedroom and office. I find I can't relax in the bedroom due to clutter and I get distracted in the office and I'm unable to start the projects I want to do because of limited space and a lack of organisation in the room.

There are plenty of reviews for this book online. Most accept the method. Some people have problems with it because they feel it's too severe, that they will end up throwing away things and regret it later. I think you can follow this to a 'T' or take and leave the bits you want to. For instance there is an advised list of areas to work through. I've already strayed from this as I'm almost pre-tidying various bits of rubbish, boxes from Christmas deliveries etc. before I start tackling belongings I've had for a while. I'm hoping that I'll end up with two well organised rooms, places that I find relaxing but can also work in when I need to. Kondo's belief is that when there clutter in a room our thoughts are often directed to the mess. When you remove the mess you are left with your thoughts and anxieties that you've been avoiding for a while. There are also reports of people looking better physically, taking control of their lives in other ways. Also, removing clutter from a room and whipping around a room allows the settled dust to move, air to circulate and fresh air to come in- all of which can benefit the skin, bonus!

I'd give this book a 4/5. It's really easy to read. If you aren't interested in the approach as a whole you can skip to sections that appeal to you most e.g. organising your sock draws or desks.

I've included a photo of how many pages I've turned down to give you guys an idea of how useful I found this book. I'll be doing the same for every book review I post in the future.

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