
Kissing Your Socks Goodbye - aaronbrethorst
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/garden/home-organization-advice-from-marie-kondo.html
======
obviouslygreen
This is crap. It's also not very Japanese... the assertion that your apartment
already has all the organizational equipment you need is utter bullshit if
you've ever visited or lived in an apartment in Tokyo (that costs less than 5k
USD a month). Even in less crowded places, there's usually a practical need
for extra shelving, hanging space, etc. in order to keep enough clothes and
related items around unless you live alone and lead a rather spartan
lifestyle. I'm currently managing it, but only barely, and with a bare minimum
of... everything.

It doesn't help that consumption here is positively rampant. Without making a
value judgement, I'll just leave it here that shopping is a major form of
entertainment.

This is the same kind of self-improvement crap that sells so well in the US.
Don't make the mistake of thinking Japan doesn't have it too.

So, really, the only objection I have here is the idea that it's a "Japanese
art." That's marketing; effective marketing, but like most effective
marketing, it's a lie. I got rid of most of my stuff to move here, which was
actually one of my goals, and I'm very pleased with it; however, the "joy"
tenet is misguided, and the general lack of space in Japan has NOT inspired
minimalism. It's inspired clutter and the avoidance of the home as a place to
entertain and relax.

Again: Not a value judgment. Just observations from an American living in
Japan and surrounded by the culture and people this piece misrepresents.

~~~
danielweber
I've seen people who's idea of "organizing" is to Buy More Things. That
advice, in my head, was trying to stop those people from Buying More Things in
order to unclutter the house.

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wvenable
My wife and I do a full clean out every year. Our key phrase is "Be ruthless".
Some things are obvious tossers, some are obvious keepers, and if it comes to
a discussion usually just saying "be ruthless" to the other is enough to force
the decision.

It's frightening how much stuff you can collect over the year but also how
much stuff you kept last year that you no longer care about.

~~~
sliverstorm
On the other hand, if it's my closet or the landfill (as opposed to reselling,
and the associated depreciation and opportunity costs) I'm not in a _rush_ to
toss things.

Unless there are circumstances like an impending move, or I am running out of
space in the closet.

It's kind of a difficult line to walk. I used to keep way too much stuff. But
just yesterday I pulled equipment (tools, a VGA cable, a prototyping board)
out of the back of my closet that I hadn't used in four or five years, and was
able to save myself a couple hundred bucks (computer repair). That VGA cable
occupies _very little_ space.

~~~
bostonvaulter2
I would advise you to not completely rule out the tax that every item you own
has. Even just looking at a drawer that is full of odds and ends can be
stressful. With that said I am all in favor of re-selling things, then someone
can get use out of them and overall waste in the system is reduced. Now I just
need to sell my $300 jambox that I only used 10 times...

~~~
sliverstorm
I'm definitely aware of that. But I am also avoiding the other extreme. For
years I was cutting "stuff", largely because I was moving constantly. Then I
bought a small house and stopped living with other people, and found that a
barren house is its own brand of distressing.

I'm not very good at creating a "warm" house, but one thing I do know is that
empty rooms and bare walls are not it! So I am not afraid to have a little
extra "stuff", for example my $10 pair of ice skates. What little annoyance
they provide (Where does one KEEP ice skates!?) is easily repaid by the fun
they provide pond skating each winter.

~~~
kaybe
Reading your post, I imagined the ice skates as wall decorations. Just a nail
needed, and maybe an old frame or some of that fancy ricepaper sticky tape.

------
keerthiko
I have a pretty simple rule with my stuff, which works because I mostly live
out of a suitcase. Since I kind of relocate somewhat often, almost all my
belongings end up in boxes regularly. If something hasn't left a suitcase I
have with me by the time I'm packing again, I sell/donate/chuck it.

If I'm in a place longer than 3 months, that's the other time I audit all my
boxes and see if an item has been there since I moved in. I either try to put
it to use right away (if I'd just forgotten about it) or get rid of it if it's
not immediately useful. I am really ruthless with my stuff if I'm living in a
big city or in the states, where I can re-acquire a similar item on short
notice (nearby store or amazon) when needed.

Winter-wear is the only exception to this rule - a single thick jacket, pair
of gloves and two sweaters stay in my possession despite not being used for
months, for obvious reasons.

Edit: With this rule, I find I own less and less stuff every year, and I have
rarely missed anything I've discarded due to this rule (I do miss things I had
to discard for other reasons, like when I couldn't afford to reasonably
transport my home theater system across continents).

------
mareofnight
This sounds very similar to Alicorn's How to Have Things Correctly
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/eyt/how_to_have_things_correctly/](http://lesswrong.com/lw/eyt/how_to_have_things_correctly/)

------
fractallyte
Right this moment, my mom's going through my old school books and papers -
work I did from ages 7-16. I still have C64 printouts from the 80s, old BASIC
listings and graphics. And lots more besides.

These are the equivalent of old family photos. You can't capture these things
electronically! There's no way to run your fingers over the curves and grooves
of decades-old handwriting, to hold a sheaf of printouts to your nose and have
the scent of Epson dot matrix ink bring back memories of days long-gone.

This is personal history, a record of who I once was. If I'd thrown it all
out, who would I be now?

------
sithadmin
>For Ms. Kondo’s instruction on sorting papers is perhaps the most liberating
of all her maxims: Just throw them all away.... >“There is nothing more
annoying than papers,” she says firmly. “After all, they will never spark joy,
no matter how carefully you keep them.”

Strongly agree with this. Scanning every document I owned, then discarding the
originals (save for things like my birth certificate, social security card,
etc.) was one of the most liberating things I have ever done.

Now, I scan every piece of paper I have collected over a month, then shred and
recycle.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
What do you do with old tax returns?

~~~
techsupporter
I dunno about others, but I use TaxACT to file my taxes and it spits out a PDF
of my full return. My W2s are delivered as PDFs through my employer's internal
site. Everything else (student loan interest, investments, etc) is
downloadable. The only tax document that doesn't come electronically is the
mortgage interest statement from my (crappy) servicer so I scan it and shred
it. Hopefully that gets fixed next year when I refinance.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Ah, I see. My taxes are complicated enough to require a CPA, which means I get
a thick envelope full of papers back from him that I promptly stick in a box
and hope never to look at again. (Until recently when I started working on thr
mortgage preapproval process.)

------
doshi
I clean out my belongings at the end of every month, and it is surprisingly
refreshing to see how much unused stuff has been cleared out of my home.

But I guess it's easier to live a lifestyle as a 24-year-old where I can pack
up and move to a new location easily... I imagine it's more difficult for
older people that have more items of sentimental value.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I'm 32 and have become _less_ sentimental over time. I went through an
aggressive cleaning spree about six months ago, and gave away about 1/3 of my
belongings.

~~~
dionidium
33, never been very sentimental and I don't own much stuff, but there are
those weird little things. Sitting here in my office is the manual film camera
I used during photography class in college. I've been meaning to put on eBay.
It hasn't been used in many years and I could always get another camera, if I
wanted one. And I wouldn't even want this model again, if I were starting from
scratch. But once it's gone, I'll never have _this_ camera again. I don't know
why that matters, but it somehow does.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Camera gear is the only part of my collection of stuff that is growing, but—on
the plus side of things—I actually make use of all five cameras that I own:

* Fuji medium format film rangefinder

* Leica M6 35mm film rangefinder

* Hasselblad 501CM medium format film SLR

* Fuji X-T1 SLR-style digital mirrorless

* Fuji X100s digital rangefinder

I can't imagine needing or wanting to buy another camera without paring down
on my existing collection[1].

On another note, you should run a roll of film through it just for fun. I've
been compiling a list of available types of film, along with darkrooms and
film labs where you can have it developed here:
[http://www.ishootfilm.org](http://www.ishootfilm.org)

[1] Except for a 4x5 large format camera, which I've been drooling over for
months. Still, they're sufficiently impractical that I've resisted the urge.

~~~
justincormack
Hmm, yes, have a Mamiya medium format SLR, M6, X100s, but 4x5 is a bit small,
have a 5x7. Film cameras are much more interesting, you can have more -
borrowing a Hasselblad Xpan at the minute.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I'd definitely rather have a 5x7 or 8x10 than a 4x5, but film availability for
5x7 seems...limited. I only know of ten film stocks available in a 5x7
format[1] vs. 25 for 4x5[2] (including some C-41 and E-6) and 19 for 8x10[3]
(again including C-41 and E-6).

And then, of course, 4x5 seems moderately impractical, and 8x10 only more so
;)

[1]
[http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?utf8=✓&film_size%5B%5D=size_5...](http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?utf8=✓&film_size%5B%5D=size_5x7)

[2]
[http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?film_size%5B%5D=size_4x5&utf8...](http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?film_size%5B%5D=size_4x5&utf8=✓)

[3]
[http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?utf8=✓&film_size%5B%5D=size_8...](http://www.ishootfilm.org/film?utf8=✓&film_size%5B%5D=size_8x10)

~~~
justincormack
There is more 5x7 than that - Fuji still make some
[http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/film-analog/film/sheet-
fi...](http://www.japanexposures.com/shop/film-analog/film/sheet-film/page-2/)
and Kodak Portra is available for special order, and thats just the colour
ones. You used to get a bunch in half plate and European metric sizes too,
although less now. (I also have an 8x8 back for my camera and cut down
8x10...)

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Ah, I see, from Japan. Cool, thanks for the links. I'll add them.

edit: all of the 5x7 film listed there is out of stock :-\

~~~
justincormack
Argh, wonder if it is discontinued. You can get Rollei Ortho 25 5x7
[http://www.macodirect.de/films-blackwhite-films-sheet-
films-...](http://www.macodirect.de/films-blackwhite-films-sheet-films-178cm-
rollei-rollei-ortho-sheet-
filmbr127x178cm-5x710-sheets-p-426.html?language=en&osCsid=f3987683c9a45d56e5e3ecffa22ab2d6)

Also Ilford do other films ie Delta 100 in any size in their annual ULF run
[http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/201457131359681.pdf](http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/201457131359681.pdf)
(their Ortho is 13x18cm which needs different holders but they are fairly easy
to get).

But yes its got much worse recently... I mostly stick to Ilford.

------
rtpg
slightly OT, but I remember seeing the blog of some guy who got rid of
everything he owned except for a laptop, a kindle, and some clothes, does
anybody remember this person?

I've always been fascinated at having as little junk as possible, especially
since I've been moving very often recently.

~~~
archagon
Not the same guy, but figured I might as well put this here. I've been living
on what can fit in a suitcase for the past... year or so? Especially now that
most of our valuable possessions — photos, writing, music, video — can be
digitized, it's awfully liberating to pare your physical inventory down to the
bare minimum.

I'm doing this for travel purposes, but the end result is mostly the same, I
think.

[http://www.archagon.net/a-few-pointless-
thoughts/2013/8/28/g...](http://www.archagon.net/a-few-pointless-
thoughts/2013/8/28/gathering-the-goods)

[http://www.archagon.net/a-few-pointless-
thoughts/2014/6/15/g...](http://www.archagon.net/a-few-pointless-
thoughts/2014/6/15/gathering-the-goods-take-2)

~~~
lifeformed
I've been living out of a suitcase for the most part, but recently I've been
developing my hobby of cooking, and now I'm anchored down by a huge pile of
heavy, expensive kitchen items.

~~~
tracker1
It's funny, but the kitchen is my main reason for thinking about getting a
house now... I'm turning 40 at the end of the year, and though I had a house
with an ex-wife, I was only there on the weekends for the most part. Though I
like having a big entertainment center, I could live without it... and all the
extra "stuff" I could easily pair down.

My kitchen, however is quite a bit different... I have the assortment of pots,
pans, utensils and even gadgets that I actually use pretty regularly. I'm
actually about out of space in my kitchen now, and thinking it might be time
to look into getting a house again. That, or might get a nice armoire or
wardrobe to expand my storage near the kitchen with.

------
jimmcslim
If Marie Kondo can show me how to fold a king-size fitted sheet properly, I'll
suggest that's a feat worthy of nomination for the Nobel Prize in Physics...

~~~
codemac
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHTyH2nuFAw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHTyH2nuFAw)

Been following this method for a few years, and worked really well. I also
suggest just not buying fitted sheets if you make your bed everything morning.

------
ebt
If you have a compulsive reading disorder[1] and need to shed books, consider
[http://www.books4cause.com/](http://www.books4cause.com/) \-- they will pick
up your books and provide a tax deduction receipt. The last time I dealt with
them was 176 books, no problem. My local (Queens, NY) libraries weren't so
friendly.

[1] [http://bit.ly/1w1NT64](http://bit.ly/1w1NT64)

~~~
danielweber
The median value of a used book is $0. Most people don't want your book at
all. The only way bookstores make money is by having exactly the book you want
when you want it.

Libraries have a hard enough time getting rid of yesterday's books; they don't
want yours to add to their problems. Libraries are places of learning, not
museums for books.

I just chuck most books to the Goodwill or Amvets.

------
state
Wouldn't it be incredible if this was the attitude of your average American?

~~~
SiVal
Why? What are the "incredible" benefits that you imagine? This is about taking
things that once brought you enough "joy" that you bought them and moving them
from closets to landfills, probably making room to buy some more joy.

I'm not saying that tidying up is a bad idea--I think it's a _good_ idea--but
I'm not sure what imagined consequences have filled you with such rapture.

~~~
state
If you are mindful of the things that you have, you tend to acquire less of
them.

~~~
SiVal
Or more. After clearing out more space in your home, and thinking "mindfully"
about what you like and don't like, you could just as easily become _more_
interested in acquiring new things than if your home were already "full" and
you weren't thinking about things. You could be right, and I'm somewhat
curious to know, but I'm not aware of any evidence either way, and I'm
skeptical that such certain claims may be based more on a fashionable type of
utopian theory than on real-world evidence.

------
coldtea
Nice methodology described (well, maybe methodology is too heavy a word) by I
disliked all the BS self-references and attempts at jokes by the journalist.
Either cover your subject with respect or don't.

