The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

While reading this book, I kept thinking of my sister.  From a very young age, she loved organizing and keeping things in order.  Her room was always neat as a pin with everything in its place.  She would put away the toys while we were still playing with them and loved organizing anything – mom’s kitchen drawers, my jewelery box…anything slightly messy was at risk of little sister putting it in order.

It’s no wonder I was reminded of my sister — Marie Kondo also grew up wanting to organize and tidy things – from her classroom, to her siblings rooms to her parents kitchen and has turned this lifelong passion (obsession?) into a phenomenon in Japan.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is a small book – purposely designed to take up very little space.  It has a calming clouds and sky image on the cover and easy to hold it in your hands. From the beginning I really warmed to the word “tidy” – such a sweet, old-fashioned word, which seems gentler and more approachable than many other guides and television shows focused on getting organized or how to clean out your awful hoarding mess things. This book is translated from Japanese, so some of the writing is a bit clunky, but nonetheless,  I gathered some new ideas, and shook my head at others, while making my way through this book.

She divides people who can’t stay tidy into three types:  “Can’t throw it away”, “Can’t put it back”, and “first two combined.” Well, that rang true right off the bat. Ms. Kondo goes on to bust the usual practice of cleaning one closet or one drawer at a time.  She advocates cleaning out things (not spaces) in a certain order – and not putting anything back until you’ve finished the process of discarding.  This may be practical in tiny Japanese homes, but I wonder how it would work for the multi-storied, many-roomed homes of America.  For example, Ms. Kondo wants you to take every single piece of clothing in your home and place it on the floor – the mere thought gave me an instant headache.  But it appears that’s the goal —  to overwhelm her clients with the staggering amount of clothing they posses and seldom (or never) wear. As a person who changes sizes with regularity (I have three sets of clothes: fit me now, maybe fit me soon, and in my dreams…) this is a very scary proposition.

Storage solutions (sorry Container Store) are poo-pooed as just a method to perpetuate hoarding.  OK that does make sense but Ms. Kondo goes too far when keeping a spare button box is discouraged because when a button falls off it is usually time to get rid of the clothing?  The question mark is mine.  Should we also not keep a sewing box to make repairs?

When it comes to childhood memorabilia and other things from the past – Ms. Kondo makes good sense with this advice;   “It is not our memories but the person we have become because of those past experiences that we should treasure.  This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us when we sort them.  The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.”  Whoa — I had to write that down.

This book does point out that mess is often about unhappiness and that tidying can bring happiness – OK that, too is true.  I always feel better when I’ve cleared out a drawer or a closet.   But I’m not sure it’s linked to the spirituality that Ms. Kondo promises.  This little volume is packed with some pretty “out-there” suggestions – greet your home when you enter it.  Say thank you to items before you put them away. Folding clothes with an open palm transmits positive energy.  Do my clothes really need energy of any sort?

Stockpiling is obviously discouraged (sorry Costco, Sam’s Club) and once again I thought of my sister – when she uses one can of tomato sauce, she replaces it with one can of tomato sauce.  No impulsive buy 3 get one free sales for her.  Even though my house is tiny, I have a pantry.  I live in fear of running out of chicken broth. I just looked and currently have three cartons.

The book advocates only keeping things that truly give you joy – which I understand, but what about my the pragmatic things in your life?  My food processor is ugly, it takes up space in my cupboard and it doesn’t actually bring me said “joy” –but when I need it – wow is it practical.  Ms. Kondo lost me with her advice on clearing out books (natch),  She advocates taking each book off the shelf and deciding if the book in your hands brings you joy before deciding whether to keep it.  She feels books left on the shelves have a certain inertia and tend to stay there. Has she never wanted something to read, not sure what, and found the perfect book on your own shelf…now that’s joy.

I fear her OCD  (she empties her purse every single night, placing each of the contents in its own little place, and puts her watch into a little box every night so it can “rest” overnight)  — seeps into her advice, loosing credibility for the real world and the rest of us.    I agree with other reviewers that the book only talks of throwing things away rather than donating, recycling or selling items you’re discarding.  Does Japan have a bottomless landfill?

I shook my head over the impracticality of much of her advice. Ms. Kondo is obviously a single woman and able to keep everything she owns exactly in place …obviously she doesn’t live with messy children or a “I’ll find a use for this someday” husband. Her business is thriving in Japan and this book is a best-seller…but I must admit I only got a few good pointers from the book and overall I found it preachy and overly-simplistic.  So do as I did – get this book from your library – gather what you will from reading it – and then return to your library — no need to add this book to your clutter.