5 tips on what to do with unwanted stuff

It would be good if JapanToday mentioned at the start of the article that it is mainly for a foreign country, not Japan.

Moderator: The advice can be applied to any company in any country, including Japan.

Fact is, you just can't trust neat people.

My wife says this all the time after discovering yet another thing was tossed or dropped off at the local thrift store without consulting her. As if she's ever once said yes to getting rid of anything. A packrat and a compulsive tidier--we're a great match. Had I married Kondo no doubt we would have lived in zen simplicity, for a short time that is before we killed one another.

We are minimalists. Very little excess. I much prefer to spend money on things that build memories, than on objects. Fortunately my wife is not particularly attached to objects either, so we get along well.

Lol i thought she didn't like boxes, i guess just those from competing brands that she doesn't like lol

One of my Old Man© mentors told me to keep everything for seven years, you'll need it in that time. I've quadrupled his time line...all kinds of mess I'll need some day.

I find it is just the next level of shameless consumerism and wasting. At some point, people used to feel guity "oh dear, I have two dozen pairs of shoes, it's so stupid as most I'll never wear...". They'd hid their excesses. No more : move into bigger place with walk in closet, get more ikea to display your crap, rent storage space for out of season. No more shame, you're so hip, you're a shoe connoisseur, you exhibit that. I'm sick of seeing tv shows or videos of idiots that make you visit a house with more merchandise than in a supermarket. And you add the Kondo : kiss, fold and dump the crap. Feel good and proud. Congratulate yourself for wasting. And then, a new cycle, back at buying new crap.

If you don't want it, chuck it out.

No. Don't want = don't buy. If you've bought, use it. It's your responsibility.

"I think we're living in the age where people are taking the stress out of their lives 

They are becoming perfectly careless. The case that you get rid of a truckload that should be for exceptional circumstances (the baby no longer needs baby stuff, you're kicked out your house, you die...). I remember what we'd say to kids and teens not so long ago : "You keep . You wanted a guitar/tennis racket, you play the guitar/tennis, finish the course then you can consider a change of hobby... Don't be a baby.". . That's still valid.

"But there's a lot of stress in trying to find all these places that will take all these things."

mainly for a foreign country, not Japan.

I agree that in Japan, it's a no brainer. Call any moving company, they will empty your place the next day. OK, you pay. But it's normal. I don't see why others in society would pay the consequence of your reckless shopping and hoarding.

An expert in how to tidy up!

Millions of people have done it everyday for thousands of years.

If you don't want it, chuck it out. Not rocket science

Divorce will get rid of a lot of unwanted stuff.