Twenty seconds of watching a clip on YouTube took me to a place I never thought I’d go – I read a book about about tidying and I enjoyed it.
I have just put down Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I am almost pathologically messy – books on housekeeping aren’t my thing. Four or five months ago I stumbled on a YouTube clip of a Japanese woman demonstrating how to fold your socks right. “Ummm, no thanks,” I thought and clicked onto something else. Soon the KonMari method (Kondo’s approach outlined in her book) was popping up everywhere – word was that it was as much about living more with less than housekeeping. I was intrigued, so I signed up as number 28 in the queue to loan a copy from the local library. It was worth the wait.
The KonMari method
Marie Kondo is a Japanese tidying guru. She’s worked one-on-one with hundreds of clients to tidy their homes and offices and, along the way, helped them discard over a million possessions. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up details her KonMari strategy of tidying which she guarantees will put your house in order once and for all, never to revert to clutter again. That’s a pretty big claim – needless to say, I was sceptical.
The essentials of the method include:
- Tidy your entire home all at one
She qualifies this to mean within six months– phew!
- Tidy by category – not location
Start with clothing, followed by books, then papers, miscellaneous, and finally sentimental items and keepsakes
- Discard first
Cull your possessions down to only items you really like – those that “spark joy”. Approach the cull from the perspective of deciding what to keep, rather than deciding what to get rid of.
- Decide were to keep things
A place for everything and everything in its place. No need for fancy storage solutions, just make sure everything is easy to put away.
Kondo offers sound rationale behind her methods and is backed by years of experience assisting her clients get their own houses in order. She presents a convincing argument.
Initially, I scoffed at the idea of considering if my potato peeler “sparked joy”. However, when I think back to my Minimalist Game experience, I definitely made the best progress when I just followed my gut and didn’t over think things – which is really what the crux of the “spark joy” test is all about.
The book is written in an easy-to-read style – Kondo could be explaining all this to you over a cup of tea. She has a definite thing for tights and socks, and a few other personal quirks came through too – to the point where, at times, I thought she was a little kookie. Some of this may have been down to the differences in our cultural perspectives – it is, after all, a book written by a Japanese woman, originally written in Japanese and intended for a Japanese audience.
One thing put me off diving head-first into implementing the KonMari method – children. I get the feeling that there are no small children living in the Kondo household and that very few are present when she works in clients’ homes. Toys and other child-related clutter (my son has just started bringing artwork home from preschool!) get scant mention in the book. That’s not a show-stopper for me though, as you can apply the same principles as any other categories of things. It is the practical realities of tidying the KonMari way with a little helper underfoot that really put me off.
I am terrified about the prospect of, say, piling every book in the house on the living room floor, in case they end up there for weeks. It is the polar opposite of the quick-15-minute-mission approach that I have been using to date. The method does seem to predispose that you have decent chunks of quality time to devote to the process. Otherwise, it sounds like a bit of a recipe for chaos.
The real magic
I have read a lot about possessions, decluttering and minimalism in recent months. Our relationship with stuff is always a key feature. I’ve been labouring under the view that to embrace a post-materialistic lifestyle a “stuff is just stuff” attitude is needed. In contrast, Kondo’s approach accepts that people are attached to their possessions. This attraction is natural and it’s not rational. You are allowed to love your possessions – in fact you should love them – just keep what brings you joy and discard the rest. I found this refreshing and comforting. What’s more it was helpful. My previous attempts to apply more rational tests such as 20/20 Rule or 90/90 Rule just weren’t very helpful. Paralysis by analysis was often a problem as, I overthought each object, got into a mindset of justifying why I was allowed to keep things and ended up feeling quite guilty.
Kondo also touches on guilt, particularly in relation to gifts that don’t spark joy. She has an interesting take on approaching all your things with gratitude to aid people who struggle with this. I must admit that in regards to this particular strategy, I don’t think it is quite as easy in practice as she makes it sound.
Her method may not be for you, but The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up it is definitely worth a read. There is nothing heavy and you never know, the results may be life changing!
Have you read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up? What did you think? Have you put the method into action in your own home?
