I’d just arrived in New Zealand for an extended visit, and unexpectedly felt completely out of sorts at being home again after so long. It might be because I read her book with perfectly serendipitous timing. In fact, I actually kind of suspect Marie Kondo might be a genius.
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If I’d read this book when it first came out, the younger and more self-righteous version of me would have written it off as the ravings of a madwoman, filing it away in the same junk basket as crystal healing and creativity-enhancing jade Yoni eggs. While Japanese politeness may have kept her bemused clients from grasping her by the lapels and shaking her, critical reviewers of the English language translation of her book have shown no such deference: Other than that, there’s not a shred of introspection, and no attempt made to explain the rationale for her supernatural beliefs. There’s one point in the book where Kondo notes that her clients look at her strangely sometimes. Do you really think they can get any rest like that?” She recounts a harrowing story of having to confront a client who had committed the atrocity of balling up her socks, instead of folding them: She hates to see inanimate objects stacked on one another, squeezing the life out of the poor souls on the bottom. She encourages the reader to throw out everything that doesn’t “spark joy”. When she buys a new phone, she sends a text message to the old one to thank it for its faithful service. She gently strokes books, and touches all her clothing items to nurture them (when you run your hands over an item, “you pour your energy into it”). I mean, you couldn’t make this stuff up: Kondo empties out every last item from her purse when she gets home each day. To be completely blunt, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is certifiably, lock-’em-up-and-throw-away-the-key, batshit crazy. Now that I’ve finally got around to reading it, let me tell you, it was… not what I expected. I’ve been meaning to read this classic of the genre ever since I first got interested in the minimalist lifestyle, and conducted a great big dreamy purge of my own possessions. Her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has sold more than four million copies, propelled her into superstardom, and attracted admiring hordes of Konverts. This epiphany set her down the pathway to developing her famous ‘KonMari Method ™, which she has used to help thousands of clients organise their homes.
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Most people who start hearing strange voices might take it as a sign that maybe their obsession is getting a little bit out of hand. They spoke to her one fateful day, as she kneeled in supplication on her bedroom floor after yet another failed attempt at tidying up: 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.Marie Kondo-queen of decluttering, bestselling author, empire-builder-hears voices in her head. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).
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The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. 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. ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE-CNNĭespite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?
#Japanese tidy up book series#