I read Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, a few years ago. It’s a bestseller, and many people have tried it and love it. However her organizing approach isn’t for me. She’s a minimalist, she believes in examining items to see if they “spark joy” and then getting rid of everything that doesn’t. As I mentioned in an Amazon post last week, I found Clutterbug last year, her latest book is Cluttered Mess to Organized Success, and she changed my life! Clutterbug helps you understand your organizational style (take this test she has) and then arrange your space according to what works for you. For instance I am a ladybug by her classification, I shove stuff in drawers and closets but my house looks clean. With her systems I’ve been able to purge and clean my stuff, but not to the level that Kondo recommends. Kondo is from Japan, they have a different aesthetic and they have less space than Americans. I can’t fold like she can, I tried watching videos of her doing it, and I just don’t feel comfortable getting rid of so much stuff. Maybe I’m just stubborn.
Anyway organizational expert Kondo has a new show coming to Netflix, called Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, where she helps everyday people organize. They released a trailer and it looks wonderful frankly. Kondo hears people’s stories and helps bring joy and organization to their spaces. I got teared up just watching the trailer, which includes a family going through downsizing and a woman who recently lost her husband. I am here for organizational shows (also baking shows despite the fact that I can’t do that either). Kondo even speaks Japanese on camera, which is so cool. I love that Netflix doesn’t think we need English-only shows or overdubbing for everything and that they’re just churning out the international content. (I stayed up so late last night watching a trashy French show, but I digress.)
Here’s more about Kondo’s show, which premieres January 1st on Netflix, just in time for resolutions!
“My mission is to spark joy in the world through tidying,” Kondo says, recalling the message of the “KonMari method” found in her hugely popular 2011 book (published in the U.S. in 2014), which instructed readers to ditch any belongings that do not “spark joy” in them.
According to a profile in the Wall Street Journal, Kondo has had a lifelong commitment to neatness. As a child, she “cleaned her siblings’ bedrooms. In grade school, she was the assigned class organizer.” She started her organizing business at 19 and ended up writing her book at the request of potential clients stuck on her extensive waiting list
I have to admit that she comes across as caring, approachable and much different than I imagined reading her book. That could be a translation issue as her tone might not come through in the English version. I’m really looking forward to this show. I also want my girl Cassandra from Clutterbug to get a show! She is amazing. Check out her YouTube channel.
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Funny, that’s exactly how I imagined her. But God, she is so tiny.
Nothing wrong with that.
When I lived in Japan, my colleague and I were always laughing about how big we were and how spaces were not made for us – particularly him (he’s a tall Swiss German guy). I’m 5’8” and everyone was always telling me how gigantically tall I am and he is 6’4” so… he spent a lot of time ducking and trying to squeeze in.
This trailer is so cute. She must have worked hard to deal with all of the hugging and touching! Japanese don’t hug and touch – it makes them uncomfortable. I remember going away for a long weekend with some Japanese girls and at the end my (very handsome) South African friend went to hug them goodbye. They stood stiff with their arms at their sides and looked uncomfortable and terrified. We were laughing at him (he was newly in the country) and told him they don’t hug. He was aghast: “but how do you say goodbye to friends??” They stood several meters away and said “like this!” And did a cute, stiff little wave. 😂😂 I remember so many situations where we’d forget and go to hug or touch a Japanese friend and all the awkwardness that ensued. I used to go to Yoyogi Park and watch the young Japanese kids (late teens to early 20s) hanging out and the boys and girls were so cute and so awkward together. I loved it! Best people watching in the world in that park.
Anyway, everyone is touching and hugging Kondo-san a lot here. She’s handling it pretty well! She must have practised before the show.
SK – I enjoyed reading that!
Agreed! That was a lively first-person perspective on being non-Japanese and living in Japan. Thanks!
I had no idea this was going to be a show! Definitely going to watch.
I just downsized for a move from a townhome (about 1400 square feet with great storage) to 900 square feet (three closets for storage). I had to give away so much stuff, including many things I could say I loved-I at least enjoyed and appreciated them. I read Marie Kondo’s book and it didn’t help me.
What did help me was having a friend by my side to help me pick things to take along to my “new life”.
He said things like, “Will you ever use that?” (so many dishes), or “You already have x souvenirs from you mom, why don’t you pick a number and choose the best?” or “Couldn’t someone else make better use of that?”.
For many people, “Tidying up” means parting with stuff first, and that is very hard sometimes.
My opinion-watch Marie but realize that you may have to be disciplined and even harsh when slimming down your stuff before you can even address her helpful hints.
There is also the less perky and more militant version of tidying, “The Swedish Death Cleaning Book”…
This does look like it could be a good show. She is so tiny!
I will have to check out clutterbug, I read Kondo’s book, but found her method to be a bit too extreme and odd for me.
Thanks for the recommend, seems like she has a lot of useful tips and is less wacky than Marie Kondo (nothing wrong with wacky but talking to my socks is not for me!) I came out as a Ladybug too although I think I’m more of a Butterfly…*looks around* or maybe just a Dung Beetle lol. Watching the videos is providing the ideal guilt-free way to procrastinate instead of actually clearing up, WIN.
Yeah that’s where she lost me too, stuff like talking to socks. Overall it’s a good method, but veered into the weird for me.
Maybe just culturally different to you? As opposed to weird.
I took the Clutterbug quiz too and it said that I was a Ladybug as well. I think it fits me for the most part, though tbh some of the answers they offered didn’t apply to me…like why didn’t they have an “I don’t have a lot of storage space” option, for example? Anyway! Not a big deal, lol.
I agree that Kondo’s method is a bit too off the wall, but I’ll probably check out the show regardless. She looks so nice, and maybe I’ll get a bit inspired?
Marie Kondo might be overdoing the minimalism thing, but the Clutterbug channel seems so messy. There’s just too much of everything.
I love Janell Krisitina for minimalism advice and inspiration, she’s great and her channel has a really soothing vibe. She actually grew up with hoarder parents. https://www.youtube.com/user/SimpleCentral/videos
Hmmm, maybe I’m doing it wrong, but I didn’t read Marie Kondo’s book as a guide to minimalism, but as a way to only keep what makes you happy and/or is useful. I read it as that means different amounts of stuff for different people.
That’s how I see it too. To me, she discourages excess materialism but balances by acknowledging that owning things you love can bring great pleasure.
Yes, that’s how I read the book, too.
She says several times in the book that it’s not about the AMOUNT of stuff, but rather about if the stuff adds true joy to your life. Following her advice decreased my stress at home by at least 50%.
Never read her book but found her from YouTube. Just from watching her interviews, I found the strength (read: released the guilt) to dump a LOT of things I have been holding on to forever! I use her Kondo method for organizing my clothes in my drawers. But I use organizers for my bathroom, kitchen and living room. So glad she’s getting her own show!
Hooray! Congrats from a fellow holder-on! I’m not a Kondo-er but I’m glad you found something that worked for you . 🙂
Thanks! I’m not completely cured but I’ve gotten significantly better, LOL. I’m glad I found Kondo through her personal interviews than through her book. Sounds like her book might have put me off!
So excited to see you are another Clutterbug fan! I love her!
I didn’t read her book but a couple of my friends did and really embraced her philosophy. I keep my house very tidy but am dying to clear out clothes and old toys and other extra stuff I have stored in my closets. I honestly wish I could park a dumpster outside and just dump everything without even thinking about it too much. I even want to clear artwork from my walls.
I think part of the reason I’m craving this is because both my MIL and step MIL are legit hoarders — my SIL hired four different declutterers for my MIL and they all quit except for one — and I think I have this fear that somehow I’ll end up the same way.
I just checked out Clutterbug — I’m a cricket! So I’m pretty good with organizing but I tend to get paralyzed by the idea of perfection sometimes. I think that’s pretty accurate, as I am currently paralyzed by how I can get rid of the extra stuff.
And I want to watch Kondo’s show. As long as the people aren’t hoarders, that is too harrowing to watch, imo.
@Esmom – as a fellow declutterer with perfectionist tendencies I found this website helpful. I’ve read Marie Kondo’s book, and others, which got me in the right frame of mind to get started, but I was still overwhelmed by what I thought I was “supposed” to do.
There’s a lot of individual decluttering ideas, but my main takeaway was an understanding of how much was considered “good enough”, and that you could break things down into individual tasks that could be accomplished in 15-30 minutes a day. I print out the monthly calendars, really as just a guide. I don’t follow them to the letter; besides, at this point I’m pretty far down the decluttering road (papers and photos still a problem! but they’re really the last major thing I have to tackle).
The 2019 weekly task list is posted, but at the bottom of the page is the list from 2018, complete with links to articles. Look also at the monthly calendars (see sidebar), which break weekly tasks down over specific days. Good luck!
https://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/organized-home.html
oooh, thanks for this. am definitely heading down that linkhole.
That’s really interesting, the calendar method!
I think it makes the great point that you can’t do it all at once. If you break it down into smaller projects, it becomes more manageable.
I’m planning on spending a lot of my time off during the holidays cleaning out the clutter. I’m a “bee” according to clutterbug and it was so accurate. I have a longing for micro-organization, but I never have time, so it just piles up. Celebitchy, thank you for that recommendation!
Thanks, windyriver!
@Esmom
These are the two videos with Kondo that really got me to decide she is more practical than crazy! Her method helps you let go:
With Katie Couric https://youtu.be/oA6y3PzRUbA
With a regular family
https://youtu.be/TfoP7-LVgHs
Thank you! I don’t think I have a problem letting go anymore but I do have a problem motivating myself to actually do the work of clearing out the closets. I’m looking forward to checking these out.
I’ve just checked and I’m a Bee. The quiz worked for me and I’m excited to see what she recommends.
I can’t don’t want to do her whole thing, but I love the idea of keeping only that which has utility or sparks joy. I’m still a cluttered mess (paper is the worst for me – I can really organize myself decently except for paper! I’m a butterfly btw – thanks for the quiz link to the clutterbug test!) but it’s leagues better.
I’m a butterfly too! I Kon Marie’d my books recently, which were everywhere, way too many for my bookshelves to hold. And I was shocked but I ended up getting rid of about half of them! Going through them all one by one made me realize I was hanging on to a bunch out of habit or a feeling of obligation. There was a definite “yes!” when I wanted to keep one. I was really surprised to feel the difference between “yes!” and “eh” or, most surprisingly, “this one makes me feel bad,” which I had never realized before. That was about a month ago, and I don’t miss any of them. Crazy!
What French show were you watching, Celebitchy? I loved the French shows Call My Agent (Netflix) and Spiral (Hulu). Totally different, both great.
P.S. Clutterbug looks good!
Call My Agent is so good!
Thank you for the recommendations! I was watching The Hook Up Plan on Netflix. I will check those other ones out!
The Hookup Plan looks fun and I am totally going to give it a try this weekend, thanks! It actually got a very complimentary capsule review in the NY Times today, which I saw after you mentioned it.
By the way, it’s not French, it’s Spanish, but Elite seems like a show you might like? (Also on Netflix.) I flew through it.
Some of french finest. I am glad they are successful outside of France! Spiral is an absolute favourite of mine. The wait between seasons is a drag though.
I adore Marie Kondo and I am so excited for the show. Decluttering shows (Consumed, Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners, How Clean is Your House) activate some sort of cleaning-pleasure zone in my brain – I can’t get enough.
This is going to be perfect hangover New Year’s Day watching.
I listened to it on audio book and while I didn’t adopt all of her practices I found just listening to it to be soothing.
I’m here for this. I just got her audiobook. I want to have one of those “everything in its place” houses, but I don’t. I’m not a hoarder but I struggle to throw things away because it’s wasteful. I donate what I can. But I would really love a house that only has the stuff that sparks joy. I’m having a hard time getting there.
I read her book, but it’s not really for me it sparked no joy so I threw it out!
On a side note. When you are stressed and packing to move across the country, that is not the best time to Marie Kondo 😂 I miss all my things.
I have a friend who will lose her mind over this show though.
Hmmm never heard of her but I actually love getting rid of stuff! It feels so great! When my parents moved this year my mom asked me to go through all this childhood stuff at their house to see if I could throw stuff out and so much of it was assignments from high school/college and I rediscovered so many stories I had written I had no memory writing. I didn’t get through all the stuff because I kept getting distracted from the stuff I’d written lol.
I would love to have a clean and tidy house, and everything finds its way back to its place, but it never seems to work like that. I can spend hours cleaning and my kids can undo it within minutes. My husband says we need less stuff, but it is so hard for me to get rid of things that even if my kids or I or my husband don’t love, someone spent their time and money choosing it and getting it for us. Plus, I inherited most of my grandma’s furniture, when we already had furniture. I was able to sell some, but it is such a strong emotional connection I have with that furniture, b/c of the person it belonged to. I haven’t been able to make peace with letting go of things that someone I loved, also loved.
Margie follow Clutterbug! She is so relatable because she has kids with a lot of stuff too and she talks about getting a routine and processes in place to keep your house clean. She’s all about half assing it and the results are the same. You can do it! She has a podcast too, her approach helped me a lot. I’m very lucky to work from home though.
I will try that!! I am going to take the test you linked to above. Thanks!
Thanks for the Clutterbug hint, I’ll check it out! Kondo always seemed like someone who has anorectic relationship with stuff, she’s so extreme. But that show looks good.
My husband loves to clutter and it’s driving me crazy, perhaps Clutterbug can help.
I loved and used her method which allowed me to look at my possessions purposefully and objectively and donate those which had lost meaning or lol never really had meaning in my life. I felt really good after tossing and re-homing my stuff.
My town does a big yard sale every year (hundreds of people go down my street!), so I have a good way to clear stuff out, and then donate the rest.
The question is…how to stop so much from coming in?!
Marie Kondo “konmari” changed my life. I loved her first book, the humor and simple clarity of how she presented the material. I am a designer and also utilize feng shui and other techniques from around the world in my practice, but this was really big for me especially the “spark joy” concept. It helped me let go of so much and I really love how it is an expression of Japanese aesthetic that honors the object as having spirit rather than the declutter shaming that seems to be a big part of Western strategies.
I must add that I was very disappointed to run across an awful article on Apartment Therapy that was mocking Marie and her practice. It was so racist, actually, and so problematic, emblematic of white Western privilege and really nasty in a jealous kind of way. I used to love AT and even had my work and home featured on there many years ago when they first began, but I avoid it now because I just can’t support that kind of meanness and also shocked that the owner would allow that essay to be published.
Marie Kondo is brilliant and I can’t wait to see her new show!
I’ll have to check out those books and also the show. Years ago, I read How Not to Be a Messie: The Ultimate Guide for the Neatness Challenged : The Messies Manual/the Messie Motivator Hardcover – July 1, 1999 by Sandra Felton (Author) and it helped for a while. Guess I need to read all of these to get back on track. lol
I read The Year Of Less by Cait Flanders and found it really inspiring. She stopped spending for a year. She was only allowed to buy food, essentials and replacements. She was allowed to spend money on experiences just not stuff. She also started getting rid of possessions she didn’t need. I’ve started doing this but I’m going to adopt it from Jan. I have a habit of spending mindlessly. No more!
I will try that too! I’m really frugal, but I still buy too much.
Thanks for the heads’ up about this show! I loved her book and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the show. Love that you mentioned it is not dubbed and how great this is. Watched a French show on Netflix that I adored called The Hookup Plan. What was the “trashy French show” you watched on Netflix? I’d love more recs.
I usually watch Hoarders when I’m unmotivated to clean, just to gauge where I am on that spectrum: not as bad a the lady collecting pee in a jar, but the clothing pile in my bathroom is impressive. Not sure Kondo’s gonna work for me.
Thanks CB for the Clutterbug tip… turns out I’m a bee and it was very spookily accurate – am doing a PhD and have neat piles of books all over the dining table, piles of papers on the study floor and on the desk in there where I should be studying and on the rarely used Aeron chair! This diagnosis also somewhat explains why the Marie Kondo book has sat in a pile of other unread, pretty looking books piled on the bedside table…. 😐
I will recommend Marie’s show to my elderly mum though, who will appreciate the show as she’s nearly through a brutal cull of the “clutter” of a lifetime of memories…. cherished gifts and ornaments, loved pieces of furniture and kitchen items she’s had since first married, dad’s old tools and fishing gear, photos from the 1950s onwards of her and my late dad, kids, grandkids and great grandkids, much loved old friends – many of whom are now passed. We always had a normal, cluttered farm house and I can’t believe how far she’s come of her own accord. Her motivation has been that she didn’t want there to be any hassle for us kids when she finally passes, which is sad to me that she’d think that way. As it turns out, my sister is about to take on caring for her full time so it’s good that there will be minimal stress and decision making about what to keep and what to throw away as she downsizes from a whole house to essentially a bedroom.