The #1 New York Times bestselling guide to decluttering your home and the inspiration for the hit Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.ONE OF CNN’S MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole … noodles?
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).
With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
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Interesting Perspective
I was intrigued by the somewhat different approach to decluttering. Do it once and done? Category by category? I couldn’t help but picture a pile of clothes on the floor for however long it takes me to finish going through them, a process that could a long time. Still, there are some tips that I think are helpful in terms of how to store things. I don’t see myself communing with inanimate objects, but gratitude for them when choosing to keep or discard is a good way to reflect on our possessions. Many of us have (and hoard) much more than we need.
Inspired to finally clean up.
Life changing
This really made me think about my life as a whole and where I need to make changes and where i can improve on things that aren’t working for me. But I never realized til reading this book how all of the clutter can effect ones life.
I tried some of her advice. Putting my shirts in my drawer the way she suggests has made finding and seeing all of them much easier. I have used her sock folding method and it has saved my socks elastic giving them longer life. All in all it is worth reading, giving new ideas and perspective on your everyday items.
The Hunting Party is the real deal. Well written, deftly and deeply plotted, characters you come to know well in relation to each other (and from the perspective of several other characters), a strong sense of shared history, etc. Lucy Foley ensures you don’t learn the victim’s identity for quite a while, and aren’t sure until the very end which of several characters may be the perpetrator. Ties up loose ends well. Well done!
This book takes an all-at-once approach to tidying up. It may be practical and useful for some, but I found it ultimately to be impractical as a strategy.
I enjoyed reading this book. It wasn’t awe-inspiring or have a wow factor to it, but it was actually pretty soothing to read. Which, after reading through some thrillers and fantasy books, was a comfort. It’s not that long but it’s also not a quick read.
What I really enjoyed the most about this book was Marie herself. Her voice resonated from the words, so much so that I could almost hear her speaking. Reading this was soothing, with a gentleness about it that I really needed after the last few books I read. The organization of the book was clean, with the feeling of being walked through the steps and order in which the cleaning should be done. Her passion and sincerity shone throughout, which helped me as the reader relax and enjoy the book. It did read a little slow at times, mainly during some of the middle sections where more in-depth information was present. That didn’t really detract from the overall experience, but it was definitely noticeable.
I enjoyed reading this as picked up a few ideas but overall found the theory to be a bit extreme.
Perhaps something is lost in the translation-I found her pretty harsh and judgemental, rather than helpful.
This book will help you get all the junk out of your house. And you will feel better for it..
Since reading this the author has become a media sensation with her own show. Some of what she says I agree with and some not.
I do keep my clothing folded and organized differently in my dresser based on her suggestion, which is really useful to me.
Her logic for choosing what to keep and what to get rid of feels too simplistic. There are alot of things in life that I don’t love, but need to keep around for practicality and the demands of life.
Quick read and helpful if you are ready to clean out and live with only what you love and brings you joy.
I learned to fold clothes in my drawers so that each item is seen at all times. I like this. However, I don’t think I’m prepared to handle each and every household item to determine if it brings me joy…this was the tip that made me laugh. Would have liked a one page summary.
Not totally practical for those who value busy-ness and constant motion over slower tactile experience and understanding the placement of things as a form of meditation, I still aspire to nurture my inner Marie Kondo this year.
Review: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering
by Marie Kondo.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is an absolute gas! I can’t find any other way to say it, but to use that old fifties slang word, for a very new book. I never knew cleaning up your crap could be this much fun.
I’m not sure why I picked it up to read? I had lots of vital reading/research to get done for my own book. I certainly didn’t have time for someone else’s. But that title: ‘Life changing?’ Tidying up could be life changing? Oh, come on. It drew me in. I needed to know what this woman had in mind. On top of that, there was that word: “Tidying.” Who says that? Say the word out loud. Doesn’t it feel strangely wonderful in your mouth. These must have been the things that got me to purchase the book. But could what was inside keep me going?
Well, I’m here writing this review, so you know the answer to that. There was much to keep me going and I found myself totally excited about the potential of ‘tidying’ up my apartment by the KonMari Method. There was really only one spot in my place that visibly looked messy and then, of course, there was the closet. But, I didn’t think this would be all that much of a job; I was eager to go on a spiritual journey by tidying up. I was ready to have my life changed through the KonMari Method.
This book is about much more than just “tidying up.” Let me share how to store your socks according to the KonMari Method. Kondo tells a story about an interaction she had with a client. (Professionally, she consults with individuals and groups about tidying up) She opened the woman’s sock drawer and “gasped. It was full of potato-like lumps that rolled about.” I found Kondos’ reaction hysterical; she certainly takes her work seriously. In bold, she says, “Never, ever tie up your stockings. Never ever ball up your socks.” This sounded like good advice even though I was guilty of this shocking behavior. I thought it made sense because you could stretch out the tops of your socks. But this was NOT Kondo’s reasoning:
“Look at them carefully,” she says. “This should be a time for them (the socks) to rest. Do you really think they can get any rest like that?” I discovered I had been torturing
my socks and knew I couldn’t ever ball them up again. The guilt would be too
great. I switched to the KonMari Method for storing socks. Wonderfully explained in the book.
Some Tenants of The KonMari Method
1. Do it all in one day (This prevents rebound)
2. Take out all your things—and she means everything—and put them on the floor.
3. Don’t even consider putting anything away. Discard first. (“Keep only those things that speak to your heart and discard the rest)
4. Fold, hang and store by category, not location. (Sorting by location is a “fatal” mistake)
5. The special order for tidying that you must follow is this:
a. Clothes
b. Books
c. Papers
d. Miscellany (Kondo calls this komono)
e. Mementos
How to Decide What to Discard
Now, here’s my favorite part of the book. Throughout she tells you things like
you have to pick up every single item in your space one by one, hold it in your hand and ask yourself if it gives you joy. The question is NOT whether it gave you joy at some past time; the question is ‘Does it give you joy NOW.” If not, it goes in the Discard pile, but FIRST, you must thank it for giving you joy in the past. When I was only thinking about doing this tidying project, I found this humorous, later I thought of it as kind of cute and now I love the whole idea of it. Kondo thanks objects all day long and I’ve begun to see what a terrific idea that is. You begin to live in a world in which everything is alive and you’re always grateful.
There are lots more goodies in the book. These were the things that endeared me and made me decide to go on my own spiritual journey. I chose a day (Kondo says the day you choose to tidy up should be especially chosen. Make it an event) I decided that I would not just clean up that one messy area and the closet. I would, instead, use the KonMari Method to tidy up everything: my closets, my drawers, my desk, my medicine cabinet, the whole place.
The Results of My Own Tidying Up Spiritual Journey
I started at seven in the morning and ended at ten at night when I could barely move. I was attempting to follow Kondo’s rule to do it all in one day to prevent rebound.
I got a lot done in that day, but I did not finish. I was slowed down by deciding whether items of my clothes gave me joy or not. The only way I could tell was by putting them on. How I looked in the clothes was what generated the joy, not the simple fabric by itself.
I probably saved some time on the books, however. A few weeks before I read Kondo’s book, I had organized my bookshelves and turned them into a kind of library giving each book its own place and recording the location on my laptop. As a researcher I often have to go back and read a section of a book. I am frequently frustrated by not being able to find a book among the many I have on my shelves. Sometimes, I’ve bought the same book a second or third time. It turned out that my organizational system wasn’t too different from Kondo’s, except there was one giant difference. She says you should throw out books you’ve already read because you’ll never re-read them. As a researcher I may not read a book cover to cover, but I’ll go back to the same section or sections often.
Kondo has a unique way of storing clothes. She recommends folding some blouses in a specific way, instead of hanging them on a hanger. This type of folding allows you you to stand your blouses up in the drawer. I tried it and I liked it. I also liked the extra space I had in my closet.
But as I said before, I didn’t finish in one day and I only have a studio apartment. I think someone with two or three rooms would have a worse time getting done in one day. Kondo doesn’t mention the bathroom, the kitchen, or the bedroom which I consider part of my tidying up.
Overall, though, I learned a lot from Kondo’s book, and I think I’m going to continue using her approach in the future. Instead of risking rebound by doing the tidying I have left in short bursts over a number of days I have planned a second event for next week in which I will complete my spiritual journey.
Kondo says, “Tidying is a dialogue with one’s self…There is a significant similarity between meditation under a waterfall cascading down your body and tidying.
Personally, I’d rather have the waterfall, but I do love Marie Kondo’s approach
to tidying up and life.”
Evyrthing gets its own place for all time.
Okay, I’m late to the party because I stupidly resist fads, even if they’re awesome. This book is not a fad, and it is life-changing. My AC/DC t-shirts are confused as they have never been folded before and will probably never be the same. Before I read it (well, listened to it, since I got the audiobook version), everyone seemed to be stuck on this “spark joy” concept, as if that was the difficult part to assimilate. I’m fine with sparking joy or holding something and knowing it sucks and throwing it out. The bit I did find a little odd was talking to my socks. Knowing me, my socks would talk back so I’m saving that for later. Much later. Highly recommended, if not a little odd, but aren’t we all…
Since Marie has changed the world, i’m sure she doesn’t need my recommendation, but i see people who’ve never read the book saying weird things about it – -“you can only keep X number of books” etc. — so i need to add my voice to the thousands who say Marie has made their life better. I love clothes, but the need to hold onto clothes that were never quite right but were new and maybe expensive was a real sticking point for the health of my closet. With Marie’s “spark joy” test I’ve been able to make my closet and my drawers fit my life — and done the same with my books and other possessions. True, i keep many books i will never read again (and a few i’ve never read at all) just because i love having them in my house, but as long as i have the bookshelves to hold them and they spark joy, I’m not stressing. Thank you Marie! Everyone can get some little nugget of joy from this book.
I’m not sure it’s as great as the hype but it does make you think about your relationship with your stuff. If you love your nicknacks and still have every book you’ve read and loved ( and maybe even a few you’ve saved for your future self), read it with caution.
I read this book when it was first translated to English. The processes Marie Kondo suggests are helpful. She is extremely minimal and will appeal to those people.who aspire to rid their life of clutter. Most of her ideas are very effective if followed. I fall into the category of people who only own clothes that spark joy that I wear and still own too many articles. Have to reread to clarify the situation.