整理你的家的一個快速指南

整理你的家的一個快速指南

Living in a cluttered home is not fun. It means you'll spend an inordinate amount of time looking for things when you need them – and quite possibly never finding them. It means you'll waste hours cleaning and rearranging to keep your home looking more or less inviting. It means you'll carry the mental burden of having too much stuff and not being able to relax fully when you're at home.

生活在一個雜亂的家里并不有趣。這意味著當(dāng)你需要的時候，你會花費大量的時間去尋找——很可能永遠(yuǎn)找不到。這意味著你要浪費好幾個小時來打掃和重新布置房間，以使你的家看起來或多或少有吸引力。這意味著你將背負(fù)著擁有太多東西的精神負(fù)擔(dān)，當(dāng)你在家時，你將無法完全放松。

Fear not! There is a cure, and it's called decluttering. This process, difficult though it may be at times, can change your life. It will transform your living space into one that you want to be in and it can miraculously add hours to your life – hours that you can spend on pursuits more pleasant than looking for things you can't find.

不要害怕!有一種改善方法，叫做清理。這個過程，盡管有時會很困難，但可以改變你的生活。它會把你的生活空間變成一個你想要的地方，它會奇跡般地增加你的生活時間——你可以把這些時間花在追求上，而不是去尋找你找不到的東西。

Damian Lugowski / Getty Images

There are many decluttering experts with excellent advice to share (most famously, Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method), but here we will distill what we consider to be the most useful information for starting your own decluttering journey.

有許多整理專家都有很好的建議可以分享(最著名的是近藤麻理惠和她的近藤麻理法)，但是在這里我們將提煉出我們認(rèn)為最有用的信息來開始你自己的整理之旅。

Ask Yourself Questions

問自己問題

Marie Kondo thinks people should ask if an item "sparks joy." Gretchen Rubin suggests asking if an item "energizes" you. Joshua Becker tells people to hold each item in their hand and ask, "Do I need this?"

近藤麻理惠認(rèn)為，人們應(yīng)該問問某件物品是否“能帶來歡樂”。格雷琴·魯賓建議問一下某樣?xùn)|西是否能“激勵”你。喬舒亞·貝克爾告訴人們把每一件物品拿在手里，然后問，“我需要這個嗎?”

The Unclutterer says there are three questions to ask: (1) If you had to purchase an item at full price, would you? (2) If someone you didn't like gave you the item as a gift, would you keep it? (3) Does it invoke happy memories?

這位組建者說有三個問題要問:(1)如果你必須以全價購買一件物品，你會這樣做嗎?(2)如果你不喜歡的人送你這件東西作為禮物，你會保留它嗎?(3)它喚起了快樂的回憶嗎?

Nineteenth-century British designer William Morris simplified it further: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

19世紀(jì)的英國設(shè)計師威廉·莫里斯進(jìn)一步簡化了這個概念:“在你的房子里，不要有任何你不知道有用或認(rèn)為不漂亮的東西。”

Choose the question(s) or approach that works best for you. The point is to begin analyzing the items in your home with a critical eye and questioning their reason for being there.

選擇最適合你的問題或方法。關(guān)鍵是要開始用批判的眼光分析你家里的物品，并質(zhì)疑它們存在的原因。

Pull Everything Out

把所有東西都移開

Both Marie Kondo and Francine Jay, author of "The Joy of Less," insist on the importance of removing everything from its usual place in order to better assess its current relevance to your life and home. As Jay explained, we become accustomed to seeing things in certain places:

近藤麻理惠和《少的快樂》一書的作者弗朗辛杰伊堅持認(rèn)為，為了更好地評估它目前與你的生活和家庭的相關(guān)性，把所有東西從平常的地方移開的重要性。Jay解釋說，我們已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了在某些地方看到固定的東西:

"The broken chair that’s been in the corner of your living room for as long as you can remember seems to have staked its claim to the space; it’s like a member of the family, and it feels disloyal to move it. But once it’s out in the backyard, with the light of day shining on it, it’s suddenly nothing more than an old, forlorn broken chair."

“從你記事起，那把破椅子就一直放在你客廳的角落里，似乎已經(jīng)占據(jù)了這個空間;它就像家庭的一員，搬家會讓它覺得不忠。但一旦它到了后院，在陽光的照射下，它突然就變成了一把老舊的破椅子。”

The same goes for clothes, which Kondo tells people to put in a big pile in the middle of the room. Leave nothing untouched in a drawer or closet. You need to be able to see everything to know what you're dealing with.

衣服也是一樣，近藤告訴人們把衣服堆成一大堆放在房間中央。抽屜或壁櫥里的任何東西都要動一動。你需要看到所有的東西，知道你在處理什么。

Establish a Sorting Method

建立分類方法

There are as many sorting methods out there as there are socks in your sock drawer, but here are some that we consider to be effective. Jay recommends dividing belongings into trash, treasure, or transfer (give away/donate/discard), and to use black garbage bags that don't allow you to second-guess your decision. Whatever remains is divided into three further categories: Inner Circle, Outer Circle, and Deep Storage, based on frequency of use.

襪子抽屜里有多少襪子，分類的方法就有多少，但這里有一些我們認(rèn)為有效的方法。杰建議將物品分類為垃圾、珍寶或轉(zhuǎn)移(贈送/捐贈/丟棄)，并使用黑色的垃圾袋，這樣你就不會懷疑自己的決定。根據(jù)使用頻率的不同，剩下的部分可以進(jìn)一步分為三種類型:內(nèi)圈存儲、外圈存儲和深度存儲。

Professional organizer Dorothy Breininger uses a 5-point "clutter scale" to gauge whether or not an item belongs in the home: 5 – non-negotiable items that must be there, 4 – items that are difficult to replace or that you use daily, 3 – items used occasionally but not within last six months, 2 – items rarely used but you're hesitant to discard, 1 – items never used, seasonal, specialized tools, etc. Breininger observes that "there are surprisingly few items that fall into the 2 and 3 categories; and as soon as something is labeled thus, it becomes easier to purge."

專業(yè)整理師Dorothy Breininger使用5分“雜亂程度”來衡量一件物品是否屬于家里:5 -轉(zhuǎn)讓物品,必須在那里,4 -難以取代,或者你每天使用的物品,3 -偶爾使用，但最近六個月內(nèi)沒用過的物品,2 -很少使用,但你不愿放棄的物品，1 -從未用過的，季節(jié)性的或?qū)Ｓ霉ぞ叩?。Breininger觀察到，“屬于第二和第三類的東西少得驚人;一旦有了這樣的標(biāo)簽，就更容易清除。”

Enlist Your Family's Help

尋求家人的幫助

Unless you live alone, decluttering cannot be a solo activity. It's important to sit down with your spouse, children, or other family members to discuss what you want to do and how they can help. Explain the benefits of decluttering and how it will free up time and resources for other fun family activities. Older children should take responsibility for decluttering their own spaces.

除非你一個人住，否則整理不能成為一個人的活動。和你的配偶、孩子或其他家庭成員坐下來討論你想做什么以及他們能提供什么幫助是很重要的。解釋一下清理房間的好處，以及它是如何為其他有趣的家庭活動騰出時間和資源的。大一點的孩子應(yīng)該負(fù)責(zé)整理自己的空間。

Discard Items Responsibly

對丟棄的物品負(fù)責(zé)

Determine what can be given away to friends (host a clothing swap), donated to charity, set on the curb for free taking, or resold through online marketplaces or a yard sale. Always clean items prior to selling, and try to repair them if possible. Seek out recycling facilities whenever possible. Landfill should be a last resort.

確定哪些東西可以送給朋友(舉辦一場衣服交換活動)，哪些可以捐給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)，哪些可以放在路邊免費拿，哪些可以在網(wǎng)上市場或庭院拍賣會上轉(zhuǎn)售。在出售之前一定要清洗物品，如果可能的話盡量修理它們。盡可能尋找回收設(shè)施。填埋應(yīng)該是最后的手段。

Establish New Rules

建立新規(guī)則

Certain habits got you into the mess of having an overly cluttered home and they will take you right back there unless you're vigilant. It's important to take the decluttering process slowly and with full awareness.

某些習(xí)慣會讓你的家變得亂七八糟，除非你保持警惕，否則它們還會把你帶回去。慢慢地、充分地意識到清理的過程是很重要的。

One excellent rule is "one in, one out." While it's a human tendency to stockpile extras in case you need them, it leads to clutter and disorganization. A better approach is to keep one of each thing you need – one set of bed linens, one belt, one coat, one spatula, one bathing suit, one pair of sandals. You'll always know where it is because there's less stuff in the house obscuring its location and, as Becker says, "There is a peaceful joy found in the presence of owning one."

一個很好的規(guī)則就是“一進(jìn)一出”。雖然囤積額外的東西以備不時之需是人類的一種傾向，但這會導(dǎo)致混亂和無規(guī)矩。一個更好的方法是在你需要的每樣?xùn)|西中保留一件——一套床單，一條腰帶，一件外套，一個刮刀，一件泳衣，一雙涼鞋。你總能知道它在哪里，因為房子里的東西少了，把它的位置模糊了。正如貝克爾所說，“擁有一幢房子，你會找到一種平和的快樂。”

Decluttering is a slow and ongoing process. Don't get discouraged, but keep plugging away until the job is done. Use this time to acknowledge how much you possess, how little you truly need, and how important it is to fight back against a culture that constantly tells us that we need more, more, more. More often than not, less is the right answer.

整理是一個緩慢而持續(xù)的過程。不要灰心，但要堅持不懈，直到工作完成。利用這段時間來承認(rèn)你擁有多少，你真正需要的有多少，以及對不斷告訴我們需要更多、更多、更多的文化進(jìn)行反擊是多么重要。通常情況下，“少”才是正確答案。