Using KonMari to Reduce Dad's Books 2015

As you may know from earlier posts, I had kept about 26 boxes of my dad's books after he passed away. After 4 years, I had still reduced or read very few of them. I had tried just looking through them, getting a friend to help (hi Ash!), and finally doing one author letter at a time. The last strategy was going a little better... but still really slow.

Enter Kondo. In three days, the books I chose to keep are in three bookshelves, and hundreds of books that I would not have ever read were donated. I was shocked how much clarity I had in the book selection after 4 years of being totally confused. When I look at the bookshelves they spark joy! I want to read the books, and the arrangement reminds me of being at home and visiting my dad.

Suddenly I have clarity on my dad's books! Donate! Donate!

 

Less than half the number I started with, but still, admittedly, a lot.

Okay, we still have a lot of books. We probably always will. But when I look at them they make me happy now in a way they did not before. They don't stress me or make me feel guilty. They make me look forward to pulling the next adventure off the shelf.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Clothing/Bedroom
So I finished the book on March 17th, and I finished eliminating and organizing my clothing, purses, and jewelry before that, on March 16th. I also cleared out my bedroom of nonsense, and cleared off my desk in there, and the bedroom and desk are both a pleasure now. We were gone on vacation from March 17-22.

Books
I did my books pretty quickly when I got back because I was so excited to pick up where I left off. I got my nonfiction down to 45 + 3 borrowed books, and my fiction to 70 + 2 borrowed books. I broke the konmari rules a little and kept a bunch of books I have not yet read, and could probably still weed them down a little, but I'm happy with how little space they take up currently.

The only problem is that I have hundreds of my dad's books from when he passed away, so even though I made a lot more progress on those than in the last 4 years of slowing sorting them, they are a big project and they are kind of a cross between books and mementos.

Next up paper...
I suspect that most people do their clothes and then get stuck, based on the plethora of youtube videos about konmari and clothing items. But I'm resolved to through all the categories and all the rooms in my home.


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