Project COPE -- Life-changing magic

How did I just now find out about this book? In a year-long quest for getting a handle on my household clutter, I did not know of this book's existence until after we moved apartments.
At that point, I had already done some "purge" challenges here on the blog. I hadn't done them perfectly, but I thought I was in a pretty good place with our belongings when we moved in.

Then, I read this little book about decluttering and organizing, and her simple criteria for figuring out what to keep changed everything for me. Forget flow charts; forget levels of "usefulness;" or arbitrary guides on how long to keep certain items. Marie Kondo has one criteria for what to keep. Simply hold the item in question in your hand and ask yourself one question: "Does this spark joy?" If the answer is no, you get rid of it.

While there are some exceptions for important paperwork, of course, for the most part, this question suddenly freed me to start getting rid of things that I had been holding onto for no good reason. I cleaned off a shelf and-a-half of books (that's a lot for me), I filled up a bag of clothes to give away -- without even delving into my off-season clothes, and I felt a deep appreciation for the books and clothes that I kept -- and I've barely even begun.

So for the next few installments of Project COPE, I'll be following the "Kon-Marie" method for purging and organizing my stuff. I've already done books, and, despite her advice to the contrary, I'll be saving clothes for last so that I can do all my fall/winter stuff in August, when I typically go through those items in preparation for the changing season. The purging part will take a while, but I hope to finish by the end of summer so that I can get on with organization. If you'd like to join me, you can buy the book here, get a free printable check-list for following the method here, or get a quick run-down of the book here.