09/28/2025
I haven’t read this book, but I agree with everything that is said in this synopsis.
Note: I often find organizing books at my clients homes. Some people can’t learn to - or get started - organizing just from reading a book. They need hands-on help. That’s what JOY Home Organizing is here for! 🤚
Fumio Sasaki was not a hoarder. He was an ordinary guy living in a small Tokyo apartment, surrounded by ordinary things. But he felt constantly anxious, inadequate, and somehow… never enough. His apartment was cluttered, his mind was cluttered, and his life felt like it was on hold, waiting for some future moment when he would finally have the right stuff to be happy.
Then, he made a radical change. He said goodbye to his things.
This isn't a book about interior design or organization. It's a philosophical manifesto on how our possessions possess us, and the profound freedom that awaits when we let them go.
Sasaki argues that every object we own carries a hidden cost—a mental tax that we pay every day.
The Cost of Decision: Every item is a decision point. More clothes mean more choices about what to wear. More gadgets mean more cords to manage and updates to install. This constant low-level decision-making leads to decision fatigue.
The Cost of Maintenance: Things need to be cleaned, organized, repaired, stored, and insured. They demand our time and energy.
The Cost of Comparison: We often buy things to keep up with others or to project an image of who we want to be. This creates a cycle of comparison and insecurity, where our sense of self-worth becomes tied to our possessions.
The Cost of the Past and Future: We hold onto things out of guilt (a gift we never use) or for a "someday" that never comes. This anchors us in the past and a hypothetical future, preventing us from living fully in the present.
The New Japanese Minimalism: Less as a Path to More
Time and Energy: You are freed from shopping, organizing, and cleaning. Time and energy can be invested in relationships, hobbies, and experiences.
This isn't about austerity or living in an empty white box. It's about intentionality. It’s the process of identifying what truly adds value to your life and discarding everything that distracts from it.
The goal is not to have less. The goal is to make room for more: more time, more energy, more focus, more freedom, and more joy.
The Principles: How to Say Goodbye
Sasaki's rules are practical, psychological, and deeply freeing.
1. Discard Something Right Now.
The best time to start is now. Don't get paralyzed by planning the perfect minimalist life. Pick up one thing you haven't used in a year and let it go. Action precedes motivation.
2. Discard the Idea of 'Someday.'
"Someday I'll fit into these jeans." "Someday I'll use this fancy pasta maker." "Someday I'll read these books." 'Someday' is a lie we tell ourselves. If you haven't used it in the past year, you won't use it in the next. Thank the item for its service and let it go.
3. Our Things Are Not Our Memories.
A ticket stub is not the concert. A souvenir is not the trip. We cling to objects for fear of forgetting precious moments. But true memories are etched in our minds and hearts, not in our closets. Take a photo of sentimental items if you must, then let the physical object go.
4. Discard It If You Haven't Used It in a Year.
This is a simple, brutal, and effective rule. It removes emotion from the decision and focuses on cold, hard utility.
5. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others.
Minimalism is an internal journey. Your "enough" will look different from anyone else's. Don't try to emulate a minimalist influencer. Discover what you need to feel free.
6. Know Your Why.
Why are you doing this? Is it to save time? To reduce stress? To save money? To be more eco-friendly? A clear purpose will keep you motivated when letting go feels difficult.
The Benefits: The Life That Awaits on the Other Side
The rewards of this practice are not just a tidy apartment; they are a transformed life.
Freedom from Anxiety: Without the constant visual noise of clutter, your mind settles. The mental tax is abolished.
Contentment: When you stop comparing and acquiring, you discover that you are already enough, right here, right now. You find joy in what you have.
Time and Energy: You are freed from shopping, organizing, and cleaning. Time and energy can be invested in relationships, hobbies, and experiences.
Gratitude: With fewer things, each remaining item becomes special. You appreciate the perfect pen, the comfortable chair, the warm sweater. You use the good china on a Tuesday.
Authenticity: Your identity is no longer tied to your stuff. You begin to define yourself by who you are and what you do, not by what you own.
A Final, Liberating Thought
"Goodbye, Things" is ultimately an invitation to edit your life. It asks: If you could start over, what would you keep?
The process of letting go is a series of small goodbyes that add up to one big hello—hello to your life, your time, and your attention.
Get Book Here: https://amzn.to/483b4X0
It’s not about what you’re losing. It’s about all that you stand to gain.
