[Story] I was messy and disorganized two months ago. I got very motivated to keep my house clean after reading a Japanese book about tidying.

I've lived my whole life as a slob. I could never muster the willpower to clean when I could be doing something better, like work or video games.

January 8th, I'm clicking /r/random over and over, and click on /r/konmari. Hmm, something about cleaning like Japanese people. Kept clicking.

The next day, I was going through my browsing history and pulled it up again. I read the FAQ. Googled it. Torrented the audiobook from a private tracker.

So there's this self - help book called 'the life changing magic of tidying up', and I want you guys to know that reading it made me feel very pumped up about keeping my house clean, which was not something I thought was possible.

The book told me to throw all the things away that don't make me happy. It said to touch each item and ask it if it brings me joy.

I began with clothes. I threw all my underwear away, and all my socks. 80% of my long sleeve shirts, 90% of my shorts. I loved all my t-shirts and jeans, lol. I bought myself 4 pairs of merino wool socks, and 4 pairs of modal underwear.

On this day I bought the book from Amazon.

I had to work the next day. I build cars all day. I kept a notebook to write in during my downtime, because the next thing was gonna be rough : books.

I hadn't read anything in about 3 years, preferring audiobooks to print so I can work. I put all my books on the floor, and spent a good 3 hours picking each up and putting it back down. I had a bunch of art books I never used, hyperbole and a half, night vale, wheel of time, and a bunch of Richard Dawkins books signed by the author.

I hadn't read any of it in years. They sound like prized possessions, but really, they brought me no happiness. I sold them all to half - priced books for $400.

I then took ALL of my papers and threw them on the floor. It took a whole day, but by the end I had reduced my paper volume by 95%. My shredder jammed. I threw it away, who needs a shredder when your job has a composter? My filing cabinet was empty. I donated it and kept my papers in a folder.

I got the audiobook version of the 2nd book, listened to it over and over again while working. When I got home again, I tackled my CDs.

I have an external hard drive, AND a bunch of high capacity flash drives! I threw every CD away except for labyrinth and my ghibli stuff.

I tossed my sunscreen, it was expired anyway. Goodbye, empty shelves. I had a bunch of uncomfortable blankets that were given to me as a gift years ago. Donated.

I didn't like any of my bookshelves, and I don't keep books on them anymore anyway. Those will be gone soon.

Now, my house is so easy to clean, I barely even need motivation to do it. But there's no feeling of hopelessness, so I feel like cleaning way more often.

How did you become a tidy person?

Submitted May 01, 2017 at 06:13AM by Kyrinia http://ift.tt/2pvzkJQ