The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, #1
Hardcover, 231 pages
English language
Published Oct. 14, 2014 by Ten Speed Press.
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 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 will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
Revolutionized my ability to emotionally detach from items I really don't need. I recommend for anyone who feels like "less is more" sounds good but is hard to accomplish.
the practical methods detailed are quite useful and simple, yet they can me summed up in about 10 pages and the book delves into multiple areas of f**kery seemingly more and more as it goes on. fast and simple read though, i cant lie.
I'm in the middle of a Really Big Move (from Alaska to Virginia), and even if I can't put all of Marie Kondō's advice--for instance, about the proper way to fold clothes and store items--into practice immediately, I am already benefitting immensely from the concept of evaluating each item in my life before deciding to keep it ("does it spark joy?" -- do I love it?), and, if I decide not to keep it, thanking it for the purpose it served before throwing it away or donating it, as the case may be. It's very freeing, being relieved of the guilt for not keeping every little thing.
The author has an engaging writing style, and the book is a quick read--less than a cross-country flight (and way less than a cross-continental flight). I think most people would enjoy and benefit from reading it. Some aspects of her approach may not …
I'm in the middle of a Really Big Move (from Alaska to Virginia), and even if I can't put all of Marie Kondō's advice--for instance, about the proper way to fold clothes and store items--into practice immediately, I am already benefitting immensely from the concept of evaluating each item in my life before deciding to keep it ("does it spark joy?" -- do I love it?), and, if I decide not to keep it, thanking it for the purpose it served before throwing it away or donating it, as the case may be. It's very freeing, being relieved of the guilt for not keeping every little thing.
The author has an engaging writing style, and the book is a quick read--less than a cross-country flight (and way less than a cross-continental flight). I think most people would enjoy and benefit from reading it. Some aspects of her approach may not appeal to everyone; she anthropomorphizes inanimate objects, attributing feelings and preferences to them in a way that appealed to and made sense to me, but which might be off-putting to others. Also, she is not a fan of keeping items "just in case," or of buying in bulk, both of which are pretty well-loved practices by many people I know.
I would be interested in how she might modify her advice for someone who does significant crafting, for instance; I don't love cross-stitch canvas until I've done something with it, but then I do, very much.
I would also be interested in how her advice changes for someone with more space than income (which is the opposite situation of her clients in Japan, I realize).
For myself, I may not implement her approach fully, but I enjoyed learning about it and will definitely adopt a large portion of it.
