Title: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Author: Marie Kondo
Genre: Organization/Productivity
Trigger Warnings: None
Back Cover:
Japanese organizational consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly declutter your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Whereas most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, the KonMari Method’s category-by-category, all-at-once prescription leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have been repeat customers (and she still has a three-month waiting list of new customers!). With detailed guidance for every type of item in the household, this quirky little manual from Japan’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help readers clear their clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home–and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
Review:
I’ve heard a lot about this book in organizing circles – a lot of people recommend the KonMari Method for organizing, there are a lot of articles on using the KonMari method on closets/kitchens/etc., and in general it’s had a pretty high profile. And since I actually really enjoy cleaning and organizing (odd, I know), when I found this as an audiobook at the library, I snatched it up to listen to on my commute.
If I had to pick one word for this book, it would be: Inspiring.
Admittedly, I love organizing anyway. But something about the way Marie Kondo laid out the method she developed was inspiring. She detailed her experience with organizing, all the mistakes she made and the good ideas she found, and how she developed her method. She also gave a lot of examples from clients she’s worked with and how her method has helped them. So the KonMari method has a very practical foundation.
But it was really the method itself that was the most fascinating. Mainly because it’s so simple. The entire premise is “keep things that bring you joy, discard things that don’t.” There’s some more to it, and Ms. Kondo goes into a lot of detail and explains specifically how it should be done – including what order you should go through your things in – but she promises that even if you’re the laziest person in the world, none of her clients have ever recluttered their house and you won’t either.
There was one weird part about this book, though – the personification of things and places. Ms. Kondo focuses a lot on how sad and dejected unused items feel, how thanking items for their use makes them happier and therefore last longer, methods for helping your items rest and relax … basically treating them like people. She also talks a lot about how your house knows how much stuff should be in it and each item knows how it should be stored. Maybe that’s a Japanese thing, but as a westerner, I found it cool, but a little odd.
The main result of listening to this book for me was that I wanted to go home immediately and organize everything – and if 95% of my stuff wasn’t in boxes right now, I would have. (As it is, my epic organizing binge will have to wait until the plumbing in our new house is fixed and we can move in and get everything out of boxes.) I honestly plan on buying this book just so I can read through it a couple more times – the information in it is so useful, interesting, and inspiring. It’s definitely worth all the hype I’ve been seeing!
2019 update: I read the companion book and re-read this one!
Bluejay Reads 