To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose. To throw away what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful.

This was on my "wish I had time to read" list for a while and then I saw her Netflix show and then I finally read this. See my rating up there? I am definitely going to try her method to finally get rid of all the too-much-stuff I own.

It is a quick read and well worth looking at for anyone who has ever felt like they have too much stuff. I like her technique about getting together all your things by category in descending difficulty and then touching everything and seeing if the item "spark's joy".

The best sequence is this: clothes first, then books, papers, miscellaneous items (komono) and, lastly, sentimental items and keepsakes.

I also like how she imbues every item with its own purpose even when the purpose may have been to teach me that I didn't need it. This may come across weird to some, I guess, and it might put off some people. If the book doesn't explain well enough: watch a couple of episodes of the show.

If you missed your chance to read a particular book, even if it was recommended to you or is one you have been intending to read for ages, then this is your chance to let it go. You may have wanted to read it when you bought it, but if you haven’t read it by now, the book’s purpose was to teach you that you didn’t need it. There’s no need to finish reading books that you only got halfway through. Their purpose was to be read halfway. So get rid of all those unread books. It will be far better for you to read the book that really grabs you right now than one that you left to gather dust for years.


What the book lacks is the "where to get rid of all the stuff" because in Germany I cannot just throw 20-40 bags of unsorted items into the trash. Also, I would want to donate many of the things. I think some hints on how to organize that part would have been nice.