The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
By Marie Kondo
Ten Speed Press (Penguin Random House) or Amazon.com
Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess? Then this is the book for you.
Marie Kondo, Japanese cleaning consultant, has taken tidying up to a whole new level in her best-selling guide, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
The promise of this global best-seller (more than two million copies) is significant: If you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. She offers detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t).
The slim volume has captured readers at a moment when many have reached the tipping point of clutter in their lives. The concept of decluttering has been promoted for more than a decade, but Ms. Kondo is the first to offer a philosophy for people struggling with letting all of the stuff go…permanently.
Meanwhile, “Tidying Up” has developed a cult-like following, according to an extensive two page review in the Wall Street Journal (February 27, 2015). The news journal quotes Megan Bryant, a Winston-Salem writer of children’s books, who, after reading the book, started a Facebook group to share tips and progress reports on tidying up.
Re the book, “I couldn’t put it down,” she said. “It’s a funny thing to be so excited about learning to tidy and organize and make sense of your space… I felt like I had one epiphany after another every time I turned a page.”
Readers say her advice frees them from the guilt that might come from discarding an article of sentimental value. Instead, she advises readers to thank their clothes for their service before letting them go. She also advises on storage. “Never, ever ball up your socks. They take a brutal beating in their daily work. The time they spend in your drawer is their only chance to rest.”
She offers Five Tips on How to Kondo:
1. Tidy by category: clothes, books, papers, miscellany.
2. Give to charity. Don’t foist your unwanted items on family members
who might accept them out of guilt.
3. Papers. Throw them away unless absolutely necessary.
4. Forget fancy storage. Drawers and shoeboxes usually suffice.
5. Avoid piles. Tip items on their sides rather than stacking them.
Her final advice: “When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and past in order too. As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need in life and what you don’t.”