I am delighted to share with you a cunning trick while sorting papers! I have so many bits and pieces, quotes I like, little factoids etc. Coming by these, I say "Oh what a great saying, I have to keep this." I set it aside. But upon taking it up again, it does not hold the same magic at all. I don't know why my brain responds with enthusiasm the first time and with 'blah' the 2nd! I still love the quote, but have no wish to keep it. So all that stuff I like, goes in a pile. Then a second glance to experience 'blah' before it goes into the recycling. 
I feel like 'Little Jack Horner' pulling out a plum. 
The real Horner was a vulture capitalist in Tudor England, His first name was Thomas, and it during the dissolution of the monasteries that he grabbed some real estate, or so it is claimed. The nursery rhyme is supposed to have come from the fact that he hid the title deeds in a pie to deliver them safely to London, but before he handed them over he pulled out a nice little property for himself. 

Instead of thanking items for having served me, I thank God. Objects are not alive. Otherwise, Kondo's method is very similar to the Christian way of Simplicity. Most First World Christians don't know about this, even our pastors struggle with too much stuff.
Pope Leo X111, the Pope of the working classes who wrote the classic Rerum Novarum, said:
"Once the demands of necessity and propriety have been met, the rest of what one owns belongs to the poor."

Radical, isn't it? A good starting point. Of course 'necessity' and 'propriety' might be open to wide interpretation, depending on what one is used to. 
Do I need my laptop? Yes. 
Do I need 20 blank DVDs? No, I will not use them. The reason I have 20 is that I couldn't at the time buy less than that number. I used one or two.
This is how we accumulate needless junk!
Do I need a 2nd Winter Coat? I hesitate over this. One is for winter rain, the other for warmth, and not to be worn in the rain. 

.I haven't been here for a while - hopefully I have been busy decluttering! Yes! The papers continue to be sorted. Also, I finally bought 'The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo. Yes, it was inevitable. I had been creeping past it in the bookstore for a while now, hoping it would not call me. But I succumbed.
It's grabbed me. More than Swedish Death Cleaning, which is great too.
The bottom line is - we all have far more than we need and let's only keep the stuff we love. (and need). Thinking you might need something, is not needing it. On the other hand, I just got a commission to write a Victorian story. I secretly congratulated myself for keeping a book called 'Victorian Remedies'. I have looked at it perhaps three times in 20 years. However, now now I might need it, in case one of my characters gets sick, I know exactly what to dose him with, probably some horrible salts and vinegar concoction. 
(But I could have found that on the Internet). 
I still contend that Books are not clutter. And though I am folding the KonMari way now, there are some ideas of Kondo I will never adopt. I will never hide my bookcases in a cupboard! That would cheat my guests! Of course, I could always tell them where the books are...
She's right though. Stuff is stress. Keeping only those things that give you joy, is a good, inspiring idea.
For the last several days, I've been meeting an old calendar everywhere. It was kept because it has pretty pictures. But somehow it wandered out into the living room and from there to the lounge and even onto the dining room table, If I get annoyed when I see something, it's time to let it go!