Order in your own world and. Organize your home once and for all: how to get rid of chronic clutter, organize your space and start a new life

By maintaining order, we maintain calm and strength. The "small order" method works. And, perhaps, it still influences external circumstances - the waves calm down, the storm ends...

Everything got out of control and went downhill; There is such a period in life. Chaos in thoughts, chaos in events; What the coming day has in store for us is unclear. Most likely, nothing good. Because wave follows wave. And it’s impossible to even come up with a plan of action, everything is so unpredictable... We can’t influence objective events, can we? Or maybe it's worth a try?

"Small order" method

Ancient philosophers believed that the microcosm repeats the huge Cosmos and is connected with it. One man, in difficult and unpredictable circumstances, did not read philosophers, but did this: he shaved carefully every day. Although I felt very bad, I was weak and worried about the future. He put on a clean, ironed shirt - he only had one decent shirt at that time. And he carefully poured simple soup into his plate and had dinner at exactly eight o’clock. He could only eat once; he had almost no money. And he made his bed every morning with an old blanket. But smooth and beautiful!

And one woman was wiping and beautifully arranging glass figurines on a shelf. There were little animals, birds, flowers; she arranged a magical garden. Everything in her life was then destroyed; everything was falling apart. She lived in a rented apartment in, frankly speaking, terrible conditions. But on the shelf her magical glass garden sparkled, a small oasis of order and happiness. She dealt with troubles and life's storms. And now she has a real garden in which order and harmony reign.

If everything gets out of control, if a storm of life comes and destroys everything in its path, you need to maintain at least a little order. Fold the socks in the drawer neatly, sort out the things in the closet. Don't throw anything around; It is very important at such a time to put everything away and tidy up. Wash the dishes thoroughly. Try to have lunch and dinner at the same time. Wipe the dust with a cloth... And pay special attention to your clothes; You need to dress especially neatly and clean your shoes. Maintain your little personal order.

This is how we resist the destructive Chaos. Little order is our little personal struggle against destructive forces and influences. Chaos is a symbol of death. Order is Cosmos, this is life. The small affects the big; and putting things in order has a beneficial effect on the brain. We better resist stress and depression, maintain strength, and plan actions, even in an unpredictable situation. By maintaining order, we maintain calm and strength. The "small order" method works. And, perhaps, it still influences external circumstances - the waves calm down, the storm ends...

Can cleaning your house make a miraculous difference to your life? Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo promises: if you are ready for big changes, the result of cleaning will be a real miracle.

Bestseller by Marie Kondo"The Life-Changing Magic of Navigation"decluttering: The Japanese art of getting rid of unnecessary things and organizing space"truly changed the life of Emily Clay, a homeowner in Oregon. After reading the book, she says, she got rid of “a ton” of clothes and books, and although she loves shopping, Marie Kondo’s advice kept her from restocking her shelves and closets. “This book completely changed the way I think about things,” she says. “If I don’t like something, if I’ve never used it, never read it, never worn it, I get rid of it without thinking.”

A designer from San Francisco shares the same opinion: “I myself follow the main tenets of Kondo’s book and advise everyone to do the same: you should only keep what brings you pleasure,” she says. - This rule helps me determine the place of things in my heart and my home. It’s amazing how much cleaner my house is after I threw out all the junk.”

We are waiting for changes!

However, the definition of “life changing” is perhaps too bold. Life is changed by such events as marriage, birth, death, moving. Cleaning, even a major one, does not fit my idea of ​​global change, but Marie Kondo’s ideas change the attitude towards the house without a doubt.

It doesn't matter how you feel about magic, which is the constant emphasis of this book. However, the sales volume of this book around the world can truly be called supernatural. It spent 23 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the Advice & How-To Guides category. On the Amazon website it was named best book 2014 in the “Crafts, Home and Garden” section. Since its first edition last fall, the book has been in print 13 times and sold two million copies. Looking at these numbers, we can conclude that people are really desperate to change the status quo. Let's see if Marie Kondo will fulfill the promise made in the bold title of her book.

Two Key Rules

After years of practice, the Japanese space organizer has developed her own method. The idea is simple, but it can be incredibly difficult to apply (I’m speaking from own experience), because people never want to part with their own things.

So, the two key principles of Marie Kondo’s method boil down to: that you should only keep things at home that fill your heart with joy. And in the cleaning process you need to work not with rooms, but with categories of things.

Keep what you love

Kondo often uses the phrase “sparkling with joy” when talking about things dear to his heart. Summarizing what has been said, we can draw the following conclusion: if you don’t like a thing, get rid of it. The difficulty lies in, as they say, separating the wheat from the chaff and distinguishing between the concepts of “happiness” and “attachment.” In his book, Kondo offers a rather tough way to help do this.

Deal with things, not rooms

One of the main ideas that distinguishes the Kondo method from all others is that you should sort things into categories. For example, instead of cleaning out your closet, you need to deal with all the clothes you have in the house.

Usually it is stored in several places: in the dressing room, chests of drawers and closets in bedrooms and children's rooms, in the hallway and even in the attic. Marie Kondo's work experience showed that if you clean each room separately, it will be an endless process. Therefore, everything that is in the house must be divided into categories and dealt with each of them. On the first page of his work, the author writes: “First you need to discard everything unnecessary, and then put the whole house in order once and for all.”

And this is only the first tip, and the book is quite large - as many as 216 pages. We asked Marie Kondo for an interview via email and she summed it up for us: basic principles of his method .

Cleaning step by step

Meet Marie Kondo as she begins cleaning out one of her clients' closets. In her world, the path to cleanliness and order begins with an idea of ​​how you want to live. In her interview, she described this process in stages.

1. Think about what an ideal life is. In other words, how you want to live.

2. Collect things of the same type and put them together. For example, put all your clothes on the floor. Kondo suggests starting with clothes, then books, and finally documents.

3. Ask yourself if each item radiates joy.“Take the thing in your hands, touch it and try to feel if there is joy in it,” writes Kondo.

4. Sort things and put them back in their place. Determine a suitable place for each item in advance.

Seems too simple, doesn't it? But Kondo believes that what makes the method difficult is that many of us fill things with emotion. Sometimes we become attached to things we don't like simply because they were given to us. We let books and papers pile up on our desks in the hope that someday we will read them. We flatly refuse to throw away unsuccessful purchases because we regret the money we spent. “The essence of my method is to take an impartial look at your possessions and decide what of all the things you have accumulated over the years that are truly important,” writes Kondo.

Now you understand how difficult it is. In response to all doubts, Kondo cites the words of Princess Elsa from Frozen: let go and forget.

BEFORE:

This is a photo of the room of one of Kondo's clients before cleaning. For many of us, shelves packed to capacity and endless bags of things are a familiar sight.

And Marie Kondo has seen this hundreds of times. She encourages people to forget those things that overflow closets (since they are hidden there, it means no one needs them), not to become attached to items that may be needed “someday” (for Kondo, “someday” means “never”), and be sure to give your things to those who need them, so as not to feel guilty about getting rid of them.

AFTER:

The same room after cleaning using the Kondo method. The publisher was worried that photographs of the homes of Kondo's Japanese clients might frighten Europeans. And in fact, after the table was moved to another room and most of the things were thrown away, this room seems empty.

However, what seems spartan to one person, another would call ideal. Here's how Kondo describes his own home: “In my home, I feel a sense of bliss, even the air seems fresher and cleaner. In the evenings, I like to sit in silence and think about the past day over a cup of herbal tea.

Looking around, I see a painting that I really love and a vase of flowers in the corner of the room. My house is small, and it contains only those things that have a place in my heart. This lifestyle brings me joy every day.”

AFTER: The same kitchen after Marie Kondo's work. Radical transformation, isn't it?

What about considerations of necessity?

“A lot of people have a hard time following Marie Kondo's rules,” says Kaylee, a San Francisco-based space planner. ─ I like some of her ideas, but not all of them work.” How, for example, can we put into practice the idea that we should only keep things that bring us joy? “Every home is full of things that have nothing to do with happiness, but are simply necessary,” says Kaylee.

Kondo also talks about necessary things, but her definition of what is necessary goes beyond conventional ideas. For example, what to do with textbooks and equipment operating manuals? They can be found on the Internet.Books you haven't read? Give it away, you'll never read them anyway. Gifts from loved ones that you don't use? Free yourself from them too.

Real example from California

Kayley is sure that many people find it difficult to follow Kondo's advice in everything. To be on the safe side, we turned to Susie Shoaf, a San Francisco resident who won a free consultation with Marie Kondo, for help. In this photo you can see Susie (left) in her 84 square meter home. m during a meeting with Marie Kondo.

This is a photo of Susie's living room after Marie Kondo's visit. “You may laugh, but I've been really meaning to declutter for a long time,” says Susie, who has heard of Marie Kondo's method but hasn't read her book. “I inherited many things from my parents, and I myself love collecting finds from flea markets. Things piled up until it became difficult to move around the house. Something had to be done urgently about this.”

AFTER and BEFORE:

Although Susie usually borrows books from the library, she has a weakness for art and design albums and foreign country guides. This is what her bookcase looked like before she started cleaning with Kondo.

The prospect of getting rid of so many of her things scared Susie a little, but she knew that she could keep what she truly loved, and that thought calmed her.

“She started by taking all the books off all the shelves on the first and second floor,” says Susie, who herself was shocked at how many books she actually had (Kondo gives many similar examples in her book). “She didn't judge me,” Susie continues. “But when I saw how many books I had accumulated, I realized that I wanted to cope with this avalanche and accepted Marie’s method with all my heart.”

“Before the analysis, Kondo patted each book and said that this was how she woke them up,” recalls Susie. - Then we sat down on the sofa and began to take one book after another. Through a translator, Marie asked me about each book whether it radiated joy. If I said “yes,” we put the book in one pile, if “no,” we put it in another. We went through 300 books that day and got rid of 150.”

When all the books were sorted out, Kondo suggested bowing to the books that had been decided to say goodbye to and thanking them.

In her book, Kondo says that thanking things for their service is an important part of saying goodbye to them. “When you say thank you to the things that have served you well, you let go of the guilt of throwing them away and feel grateful for the things you allowed to stay,” she writes.

AFTER: The idea of ​​throwing away so many books confuses many people. But whatever you think, admit it: this bookcase looks a lot better now. “I took seven boxes of books to the Library Friends fund. This means a lot to me. And I’m sure that, as counterintuitive as it may sound, analyzing each individual book sped up the process and helped me understand which ones were really important,” shares Susie.When Susie and Marie sorted out the books and kept only their favorites, there was plenty of space on the shelves for photos and decorative items. And, importantly, now they are better visible.

“Books you liked when you bought them may become useless over time. Information in books, articles and documents does not remain relevant for long, says Kondo. ─ When you put on the shelves only those books that bring joy, it is easier for you to understand that you no longer need the rest. And then everything is simple: the fewer books on the shelf, the easier it is to maintain order.”

“Now my drawers look beautiful both inside and out,” laughs Susie.

Cleaning as a path to success

How to become an international star in the field of space organization? In the first part of her book, Kondo tells how she began her path to success. Since childhood, she has been obsessed with cleanliness and clearing away debris. “When I was five years old, I read my mother's home economics magazines and it sparked my interest in all things home,” she says.

At school, for the first time, she realized what her main mistake was. Before Marie discovered the book “The Art of Throwing Things Away” by Nagisa Tatsumi, her experiments sooner or later turned into a vicious circle. She cleaned one room, then moved to the next, and the next - and so on until she returned to the first, where it all started all over again. “It seemed to me that no matter how much I cleaned, it didn’t get better. At best, the process of clearing the rubble came later, but it still happened,” she says.

However, after reading Tatsumi's book, Mari realized that she urgently needed to reboot the entire system. She returned home and locked herself in her room for several hours. In her book, she writes: “When I finished, I had eight bags full of clothes that I had never worn, textbooks from primary school and toys that I haven't played with for years. I even threw away my collection of erasers and stamps. I honestly admit that I forgot that I had all these things. After sorting it out, I sat on the floor for an hour and wondered why I even kept all this junk.”

This very question marked the beginning of my own business with clients who wait in line for several months. As a result, he led to the writing of a book that became a bestseller in many countries.

Does it actually work?

So, we return to the question posed in the title of this article: can cleaning change our lives?

Of course, Kondo believes he can. “The whole point of my method is to teach people to understand what is important in their lives and what is not,” says Marie. ─ By following my advice, you will understand what things make you feel joy, which means you will know exactly what you need to be happy.”

Readers like Emily Clay agree: “The book made me think about how much stuff I have and how much I actually need. I don’t regret at all that I got rid of a lot of unnecessary things, although it’s unpleasant for me to remember how much money I spent in vain. Getting rid of unnecessary things freed me to some extent,” admits Emily. “Now, instead of buying new bags or shoes, I save money for a trip to Italy.” published

P.S. And remember, just by changing your consumption, we are changing the world together! © econet

What emotions do you experience when you think it’s time to clean out your closet? Shudder? Irritation? Want to escape?

If you don’t want to open the closet door again for fear of being overwhelmed with things or, even worse, experiencing a shock to all your aesthetic senses, I recommend following us - we will tell you how to solve this problem once and for all.

A little over 30 years ago, a girl named Marie was born in Japan, who would go on to change the lives of thousands of people.

Perhaps her method will help you too. Marie has developed a system, after getting acquainted with which a person only has to carry out the last cleaning of his life. Don't worry, everyone will be alive and well. The method has nothing to do with hara-kiri, although you still have to open the cabinets and remove all the contents from them.

The analysis of all assets will take place in stages:

1. cloth,
2. books,
3. documentation,
4. komono (all the little things - from hairpins to kitchen utensils),
5. things with an emotional component (photos, letters, postcards).

Please do not break the sequence - this is important. What is important to know before you start:

The KonMari method (that's what it's called) is not about throwing away. Its essence is precisely in identifying the things that need to be preserved. Taking each item into your hands, you ask the main question: “Does it make me happy?” For men who find it difficult to understand their feelings, I recommend answering a slightly different question: “If I saw this thing in a store now, would I buy it?”

Try to imagine what you would like your home and your life to look like after cleaning. What are you aiming for? In any undertaking, the final goal is important, because without knowing where you are going, you may not understand that you have already arrived.

Listen to yourself. Always and in everything. Somewhere deep down we know what is right for us, but the voice of reason, parents, husband often pulls in the other direction. For the same reason, try to follow all the instructions that follow, alone or with a like-minded person. A mother who comes in at the wrong time can “save” from garbage bags something that neither you nor she needs, but the Soviet past, in which they were taught to stock up just in case, will work perfectly.

It is best to start cleaning early in the morning. There are a lot of arguments here: there is a whole day ahead, and in the light of day some things become clearer, and you are full of energy. But if all your activity begins after sunset, you shouldn’t give up on the idea. Everything is individual, and only you decide what and when is best for you to do.

One last thing before we start. Some people fearfully ask: “I’ll have to throw away my favorite things, right?” Nothing like that: you have the right to decide what should remain in your life.

The introductory part is over, let's move on to action.

So, the first, very broad, but the simplest category in terms of disposal is clothing and shoes.

Step 1:

We collect all clothes in one place, including scarves, belts, underwear, bags and shoes. We take things out not only from the closet, but also from all the unexpected places where you might have once forgotten them. The rule says: everything that was not found or that was forgotten at that moment goes into the trash bag by default. The exception is items in the dirty laundry basket. They stay.

Step 2:

We will select things in a certain order, starting with tops (cardigans, T-shirts, etc.). It is believed that it is through them that one can feel what joy is, since they are closest to the heart. This is followed by trousers and skirts, clothes that are stored on hangers (suits, jackets, cocktail and evening dresses), socks and tights, underwear, handbags, suitcases and clutches, scarves, ties and belts, specialized clothing (swimsuits, ski overalls, dance sets), shoes.

It's easier to start with out-of-season clothes. Take each of the objects in your hands, ask yourself a question and listen to the response. Advice from personal practice, which differs slightly from the methodology: paired items, such as tracksuits, a vest and a shirt, etc., that were produced as a single set, should be considered together.

Step 3:

So, the choice is made. Some of the things are put into bags, but we have to arrange (and precisely place) everything else in its place. At this stage, it is important to determine its place for each thing. Subsequently, it will be convenient for you to return them back. Important: it is better to store nearby things that are similar in material and purpose.

Step 4:

Let's learn how to fold correctly. Forget about even stacks that occupy the entire shelf space from top to bottom. Underwear inevitably experiences high blood pressure, crumples more and, on top of everything else, is lost from sight. The wise Japanese Marie Kondo found the ideal option through trial and error: vertical storage. Each item is folded in such a way that it forms a dense, smooth rectangle. You can check whether everything is done correctly by placing the rectangle on its edge. If it maintains an upright position and does not fall over, the job is done. If you have doubts about technology, YouTube can help you. By arranging things by purpose, fabric, color, brand or any other criterion you like, you will notice how much space you have freed up, and each item on the shelves radiates a light of joy. Perhaps this is called harmony.

Step 5:

A few words need to be said about tights and socks. For me, this was a real stocking revolution, since these items are now stored exclusively vertically in my chest of drawers. Often I see that people either put tights in shopping bags, creating tangled balls of nylon snakes, or store them twisted in tight knots (if tights) and balls (if socks) right on the shelf. The disadvantages of both methods are obvious: the threads stretch, the products lose their appearance, and housewives have difficulty figuring out which pair to wear (in this heap, the same tights can come across five times).

Marie teaches: you need to love every thing and give it care. Therefore, carefully take the tights, lay them out in front of you, and smooth them out. Place the top stocking on top of the bottom one so that the heel part is inside, fold the tights in half lengthwise and roll them up like a big roll. With socks it’s even easier: fold them heel to heel, then in half twice. If you don’t have any shelf restraints, it’s convenient to put tights and socks in a shoe box and put it in the drawer. Just choose a prettier box.

Underwear, especially the corsetry part, should be treated like royalty and should have enough space.

Step 6:

All clothes on hangers should be positioned so as to create the impression of taking off. This means that the bulkiest and longest things (coats, fur coats, heavy floor-length evening dresses) should hang on the left, while the lightest and shortest ones (blouses, shirts) should hang on the right. Between these two extremes all other things are located in descending order of length and increasing airiness. It is also good if color is also taken into account (dark to the left, light to the right).

The first stage is completed. All that remains is to decide what to do with the things that do not pass the joy test. There are a lot of options here: from noble - give to Orphanage or a relief fund, to the completely mercantile level - sell. You can, of course, throw it away, but if the things are good and aren’t dying, give them a chance to make someone else happy.

Let's move on to books.

The stages of work here remain the same: we collect books in one place, take each one in our hands, feel joy or “not so much”, put on the shelves (again exclusively vertically) what lights us up, figure out where to put the rest. If you have a lot of books, before checking for joy, you can conditionally divide them into 4 categories:

1. Fiction books (anything you read for pleasure)
2. Applied books (everything you read to improve your professional level in any field)
3. Illustrated books (albums with reproductions, manga, comics)
4. Magazines

If you find books unread, half-read, or slightly started, sincerely thank them and say goodbye. Apparently, their mission was solely to be bought or studied a little, or maybe given to someone who needed it more. Books are very similar to people: not all people stay with us all our lives, most come to teach us a short lesson.

A few words should be said about the handouts that the organizers of various seminars and training generously reward us with. We go to seminars to listen to the lecturer, get an emotion, and feel the subject. Most of us, after attending a seminar, have never looked at the bulging folders lovingly prepared by the coach.

What you heard during training is already in your head, perhaps somewhere very deep, but if once you have already allowed this knowledge to go into the subcortex, do you really need it that much? Our world is filled with a huge amount of information, so selectivity in absorbing food for the mind should be no less than for the stomach.

What can you do with books? By the way, it’s much easier to attach them than clothes. One wise friend of mine, after checking her library for joy, photographed all the volumes that she had to say goodbye to and posted it in social network with an offer to give it into good hands free of charge to those who are very interested and will definitely read the received book.

Everything, from karate tutorials to court speeches by an eminent lawyer in 6 volumes, sold out in a couple of days. There are other options: take them to the library; most of them, due to poor funding, will accept books with great joy; can be sold through trading platforms, but there is a risk that unsold samples will flow into the permanent collection and the selection will soon have to start again.

What to do with books is up to you, and we move on to, perhaps, the most bleak category - documents.

How can documents spark joy, you ask? No, but if we leave these papers unsorted, then, firstly, the feeling of complete harmony and relaxation will not come, because we will always remember that there is a place in our house where it is better not to look; secondly, according to the theory of broken windows (proven many times in practice, it must be said), soon the entire apartment will again be swallowed up in chaos. But we are not spending so much time and effort to roll back. Our goal is a beautiful bright present and a radiant future.

We gathered for a breakthrough, took out and put in one pile all the letters from government agencies and banks, guarantee cards and instructions, agreements with various organizations and labor contracts, newspaper clippings, diplomas and certificates, fat deposits, etc. Take each document in your hands and determine how relevant the information in it is and whether it requires your participation. If this is a letter from the tax office, put it in a pile for urgent execution, a warranty card - double-check whether you still own this item, if so, put it in documents that require long-term storage, if not, you know what to do. By looking through document after document, you can create an action plan for the coming days to resolve all urgent issues. You probably hate this thought. Most people tend to constantly put off unpleasant things, but I once heard what I think is a wise rule: “Do all the unpleasant things planned for the day in the morning.” Gritting your teeth, you do what you have to do anyway, exhale - and enjoy life. Constantly postponing an unpleasant task, we are in constant stress, and the task, like the sword of Damocles, continues to hang over us, rewarding us with neurosis and other ailments.

After selection, you can divide all documents into 4 categories: those already selected for urgent execution, used constantly (for example, some notes that you often refer to for information), used for a limited period (insurance policies, etc.), used long (employment contracts, etc.).

Those documents that need to be dealt with as quickly as possible are best placed vertically in a visible place. This way your hands will reach them faster. You can come up with your own system, but try not to complicate it.

Do you have any strength left? Then I present the penultimate category - “komono”.

The author of the technique suggests starting with disks (CDs and DVDs). Perhaps many of you have seen them only as design elements for decorative items, in which case pay attention to flash drives, memory cards, mobile devices and digital media. This will allow you to free up a lot of gigabytes for new joyful memories, videos, music and programs, and will also increase the performance of your devices.

Having dealt with digital world, go to the real one and collect together all the skin care products and, if there are not so many of them, cosmetics. Of course, we throw out all expired products. On many packages of expensive cosmetics and on all products from the USA, the expiration date is indicated in a very unique way. Read on the Internet how to determine it. Do not use products whose service life has expired! Love yourself and your body. Also look through cosmetic samples: what you want, try it; what you don’t need, say goodbye. After care products, we look through hair accessories and jewelry, then move on to jewelry, credit and discount cards.

We throw away maps of places that have already closed (unfortunately, for Belarus this is common occurrence), we also get rid of credit and salary cards that we don’t use. We move on to electrical appliances, throw away or take faulty ones for repair, if possible, say goodbye to the factory cardboard packaging. We look through all the equipment for housekeeping: office supplies, sewing kits (special attention to spare buttons and pieces of fabric to check the resistance of the material to shedding during washing), shoe cleaners, etc. Don't forget about medicines, supplies of hygiene products and paper towels, canned food and seams, sets of dishes and cutlery. The last subcategory in this section is the link for the last two stages. We are talking about gifts. What is the connection?

Let me remind you that the last thing we will look at are things with sentimental overtones, which often include gifts.

Of course, I'm not talking about a coffee shop certificate given to you by your colleagues for your birthday. But before you get to the really hard stuff, look through all the gifts that never resonated with you. All these figurines, candles, notebooks and certificates for all sorts of girly training that don’t inspire you at all (for me it’s soap and cream making, for example). Isn't this all yours? Find those to whom it will bring joy. Perhaps these two figurines of pigs playing the accordion and violin are what your colleague needs to complete her collection, and learning to embroider with satin stitch is your classmate’s long-standing unspoken dream. Throw a cry - there will be people willing.

Well, of course, no one forbids throwing it away.

This is the last push. For many, dealing with sentimental items is more difficult than all the previous tons of clothes, books and broken TVs. There are too many experiences, joys, anxieties and triumphs contained in them. So, we pick up, one by one, all the letters, postcards, photographs, gifts, scraps of newspapers with hastily scribbled confessions, you never know what you keep there. Look carefully at each item and ask the good old and tired question, “Does this thing bring me joy?” So photographs of my first love disappeared from my life (I kept them for more than 15 years), incomprehensible declarations of love from random people, scraps of my old life. Has it become easier? Definitely! Did I save anything? Letters that my husband, who was not yet at all, wrote to me in those days when mobile communications were an unaffordable luxury, and the Internet was turned on only from the fifth dial-up on the computer. Stay with me and Greeting Cards from grandfather. He sent them to every holiday. Then it seemed like a vestige of the Soviet past. And now every monogram, every word is like a second from the past. Now it seems to me a great idea to resume this tradition - sending colorful postcards by mail with a few sentences written in your own hand. This is certainly better and a hundred times more pleasant than the faceless “sr” left on the wall in your account.

Let's summarize. Have you achieved the goals you set at the very beginning? Has it become easier to breathe? Moving around the house? If you have taken before and after photos, please send them to us at [email protected]. Seeing our work bear fruit is the ultimate reward. For those who doubt whether they need this and are reading these lines, I will say one thing: “If you have read to the end, then go for it!” And let every day be better than the previous one!

While January cheered us up with holidays, parties, vacations and home gatherings, we are sure that you, like us, have accumulated a lot of things during this time that have no place in a house that desperately needs cleaning. And cleaning is the last thing you want to do during the lazy winter period, when there is hot tea and cookies waiting in the kitchen, and a new season of your favorite TV series on your laptop. It's good that there are professionals who know how to pull themselves together and finally sort out the mess. We have selected literary hits whose authors give the clearest, most practical and simple recommendations.

“Perfect order in 8 minutes”, Regina Leeds

Regina Leeds is an American author and expert in the field of space organization. In her book, she gives very practical tips and life hacks on where to start cleaning, how to start clearing out cluttered things, and how to find time to organize your home when you’re already short on time. The author suggests breaking one large task into many small ones that will not be difficult for you to complete. Yes, few people want to spend the whole day cleaning the house, especially if it is not even clear which way to approach the mess. But if you organize cleaning by sector and promise yourself to spend at least 8 minutes on it every day, this duty no longer seems so impossible.

“The Magic of Tidying Up”, Marie Kondo

This book became a bestseller immediately after it went on sale. And no wonder! Its author, Marie Kondo, has been fascinated by tidiness since childhood, and already at the age of 19 she opened her own cleaning and household organization service. In the book you will find Marie’s author’s method of what to do when you haven’t cleaned properly for several months, or even more. It will also help you find inspiration to start cleaning the house. To begin with, Marie suggests boldly getting rid of unnecessary things and surrounding yourself only with those items that give you pleasure. She suggests sorting things not by room, but by category, based on their purpose - cosmetics, office supplies, dishes, accessories, etc. Marie advises not to fill cabinets and storage drawers to capacity so that you can take in everything that is there. And to cope with the clutter in your dressing room, you should try folding clothes using the origami technique.

“Flylady School. How to get your home and life in order,” Marla Seelly

Another system of how to stop being shy about your own home and afraid of the visit of unexpected guests is offered by Marla Cilley. Its principle is not based on cleaning the house and routine duties, but on love and self-respect, which are not always taught from childhood. In addition, Marla advises introducing certain rituals into your life that discipline. For example, every morning she advises getting dressed and even putting on lace-up shoes, even if you are not going out anywhere. And every evening - wash the sink until it shines. The author talks about the importance of identifying and eliminating “hot spots” - places where things accumulate that you put there temporarily. The flylady method also includes the ritual “boogie-woogie 27” - before you start cleaning, you need to get rid of unnecessary trash by quickly running through the house and collecting 27 things for trash.

“Death Cleaning” by Margareta Magnussen

Yes, the title of this book alone evokes anxiety and even fear, and therefore discourages the desire to read it. But the book's author, Swedish artist Margareta Magnussen, who defines herself as “a woman between 80 and 100 years old,” advises a philosophical approach to tidying up your home. Her method is really based on the need for relatives and friends to sort through just mountains of things after a person has passed away, and think about what to do with them. In Sweden there is even a special definition for such cleaning - döstädning. Despite the fact that the author’s concept talks about older people, national traditions and is based on many years of experience, this technique is also suitable for young people. A conscious approach to cleaning involves not just getting rid of unnecessary things, but also adding nostalgia, “saying goodbye” to things. On the other hand, the author does not recommend starting cleaning with personal items, such as photo albums and postcards, as there is a chance that you will get stuck in the memories and never move. Think about whether things that are useless to you can become a gain for someone else - neighbors, comrades. If you hate throwing them in the trash, find new habitats for them - find out where the nearest thrift store, cross-booking point or homeless shelter is where your old things can be useful. Also, try to look at cleaning not as a boring routine, but as an exciting pastime - call your friends or one of your relatives who can help, and at the same time chat.

“Everything in Order”, Erin Doland

The author of this book used to run Unclutterer.com, so she knows everything about cleaning. In her book, she advises not to allocate some time free from other tasks for cleaning, which is always a pity to spend on cleaning the apartment, but to use the freed minutes between tasks. For example, you have a few minutes before guests arrive or before the courier arrives, while the kettle is boiling or the bath is running, while the washing machine is running or you are calling one of your friends. In general, while you are waiting for the culmination of important things, this time is enough to take at least a small step towards purity. To do this, the author suggests dividing the cleaning tasks by time - some may take thirty seconds, some may take a minute, five or fifteen - depending on how much time you have, for example, while lunch is being prepared. Erin also shows how to divide tasks into rooms and zones so you can get started without having to move from the same kitchen while the pot is simmering.

“No more mess!, or How to clean up the nursery with your child,” M. Suzdaleva, A. Kaygorodova

Young mothers convincingly say that no one knows more about clutter and lack of time to clean than they do. Therefore, the authors of the book decided to help them by showing many ways how the house can remain clean, despite the fact that it is inhabited by a 4-year-old wrecker (or several) and how to accustom him to order and discipline. The advice is based on child psychology and gives very clear recommendations that work for children. The child himself is unlikely to want to clean, but if he is offered to play cleaning, his enthusiasm grows. It may be boring for you to make to-do lists, but if you do this with your baby, he will perceive the task as a game and will be happy to complete tasks in order to be the first to put a multi-colored check mark on the paper. Think about the fact that a mess happens when there are no places to store things, or there are more things than these places, or these places are inappropriate. Perhaps you and your child can make an additional box for toys or children's things, which he can put away himself when he comes back from a walk. In general, mothers can not despair, but find solutions that, it turns out, have already been invented for a long time.

When I was little, the terrible torment of my childhood was room cleaning. I always knew that my mother would return from work at six o’clock; 15 minutes before her arrival, panic began. Clothes flew whistlingly under the bed, a stool saved the closet from falling apart, and books and toys were mixed with socks... Socks are a separate story, which is embarrassing to mention.

Order in life

Little has changed in adulthood. Although I don’t mix dirty clothes with clean ones, getting ready for work in the morning is catastrophically difficult. My closet is like a keeper of chaos, it’s better not to look there again. Whatever came out first, he put on. And the kitchen doesn’t worry better times, if it weren't for the dishwasher, we would have to eat out of plastic dishes.

Before children appeared, sloppiness in everyday life was invisible. We spent little time at home: concerts, walks, romance... No one demanded order, and the disorder was easily eliminated. The children filled the house with delirious happiness, but worries about cleanliness became a burden.

Everything went wrong: two kids and new job They couldn’t get along with beauty and brilliance. Up to a certain point, this bothered me; after eight hours of work, I grabbed the vacuum cleaner, put scattered clothes and books on the shelves. The evening fairy tale had to be replaced with cleanliness lessons, and I no longer had the strength to read books.

“I’m turning into my mom!” I came across this thought during another sorting of trash in the nursery. I realized at that moment that I was doing everything wrong. Putting order in life much more important than hanging things on hangers. And let it all go to waste, but I won’t trade a happy family for a tidy apartment!

We are used to living according to a template and driving ourselves into limits. It's all about this systematized and ordered world, where, in an effort to organize our lives, we are faced with reality - life turns out to be unpredictable and chaotic! Any attempts to bring order to this chaos are unsuccessful. Everything happens exactly the opposite - order creates even greater madness.

No matter how much you try to clean up, it will never work, this is a temporary phenomenon, and you need to come to terms with it. People whose houses are a mess seem strange and wrong to others, but they are not!

This does not mean that you need to plunge into chaos. Rules and organization very useful and important, but should not be overestimated. Modern psychologists have studied the reasons for people's untidiness and have come to the conclusion that people who are prone to scattering things and accumulating garbage are actually more creative than everyone else. Amazing but true.

World renowned Ph.D. Kathleen Vohs says: “We all want to become more creative people, to experience insights more often. My advice to you: if you are in a stupor, move to a dirty room. This will allow you to go beyond your usual perceptions and come up with fresh ideas faster. Order is the result of our desire for security, chaos is our desire for a creative rethinking of the world.”

But it takes incredible strength to ignore the rules and live in your creative chaos. Albert Einstein once remarked: “If a cluttered desk means a cluttered mind, then what does an empty desk mean?”

Creative individuals are not fixated on individual details of their lives. They see a picture of the future, go with the flow and easily adapt to changes without wasting their time resources on such a strange thing as cleaning.

The mania for tidying up is often considered a sign psychological disorder. There is a scientific name for this disease - obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Sometimes OCD develops into severe phobias and depression. Excessive cleanliness can provoke Alzheimer's disease, and a pathological desire to get rid of germs contributes to the development of autoimmune diseases!

There is nothing wrong with a healthy approach to cleaning, it is a great activity for distraction and lifting your spirits, because you see extremely positive results! It helps to let it out negative emotions, structure thoughts.

Excessive craving for cleanliness is a sign of insecurity and complexes. This is a kind of protection against outside world where a person feels uncomfortable. Pathological cleanliness they go crazy over insignificant little things that are unnoticeable to an ordinary person. But in fact, the roots of the problem lie deeper. Here you need to work with a psychologist.