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The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
really lives up to its name.
This isn’t a particularly timely post, considering Marie Kondo‘s #1 New York Times Bestseller came out back in 2014, but it’s something I’m super excited to talk about right now. The book was enormously popular and caused quite the tidying frenzy. So you may have already heard about this organizing guide that promises to not only tidy up your house, but also change your life. Kondo feels so strongly that her method works that she went so far as to put “life-changing” in the title! (like a BOSS)
I mean, right from the get-go, you know it’s gonna be good.
And let me tell ya, this book 100% lives up to its promise.
Marie Kondo is an organizing master. She started her own organizing consulting business in her home of Tokyo when she was just 19 years old. She created the KonMari Method, which is so effective she has over a three month long waiting list to work with her. Kondo was listed as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2015 and now trains other consultants in her trademarked KonMari Method around the world.
Confession: I’ve had this book since 2014, and I only just recently actually went through and did it a few months ago. I read the book briefly back when I first bought it, but at the time it just didn’t click. Everything made sense to me, but I still didn’t get the point. Looking back, I understand why – I wasn’t emotionally ready for this book. I had just started to battle a crippling neck injury and was horribly depressed and just very far away from myself.
I couldn’t bring myself to start the method, because The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Marie Kondo makes you get really, really real with yourself.
So be warned: this book is kind of magical. If you pick it up, your life will never be the same again.
Kind of exciting, right? But also a little scary, so it can be easy to go the same route with it that I did – read it, tell yourself, promise yourself, swear that tomorrow you’re definitely positively for sure going to do this… and then let the book sit on your shelf for three years.
You also can’t fall into the bad compromise of only tidying up some of your stuff and calling it good. This book requires commitment – it’s an all or nothing deal.
You have to go all in, examine every single thing you own, and be ready to decide what type of person you are going to be.
Wait, what? I thought this was a book about tidying all the crap I have in my house? This sounds like some heavy shit.
Yeah, and that’s why it works. Kondo’s genius is that she’s not just another organizing master. She understands human psychology, and that our exterior lives are often a reflection of our interior lives.
“Visible mess helps distract us from the true source of the disorder. The act of cluttering is really an instinctive reflex that draws our attention away from the heart of an issue.”
A messy and cluttered home usually points to some kind of life chaos. Granted, I know plenty of highly-organized people whose homes are ready for a photographer at any moment who are also downright trainwrecks. But they probably have a lot of belongings in those perfect houses of theirs that do not bring them joy – which means they still definitely need to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Kondo’s method is all about only living with things that bring you joy.
It’s such a simple concept, but so profound. You have to go through every single thing you own, in the category order that Kondo lays out for you, and hold each item in your hands. You then ask yourself if it brings you joy. If it’s not an immediate yes, it’s trash. (unless it’s like your cooking pans or internet router or other life basics – those you’re obviously still allowed to keep)
“When you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.”
This is why this book is so much more than just another organizing how-to that tells you to go crazy at The Container Store. This process of really becoming present and connecting with everything that surrounds us leads to a transformation not just in your closets, but in your mindset as well.
This is also why Kondo recommends going through everything you own in one shot. For most people, that will mean setting aside one weekend day a week to go through your belongings until you’re done, which could take up to a year. I got inspired to revisit this book when I moved to Hawaii. Since I was unemployed and bored, I decided to overhaul our home. I sorted through most of our things like I usually do as we unpacked, but then a month or so later I finally went through the book, page by page. I ended up getting rid of two Ford Explorer-fulls of stuff. As in, my husband had to make two trips to the donation center to clear it all out.
It was just as healing as I’d hoped it would be.
I was finally ready for the that life-changing magic.
Before you even begin to pick through your things, Kondo instructs you to get clear and visualize the life you want to be living. That can be your life! All you have to do is decide to be the person you’ve always wanted to be. The items that fit in with that life get to stick around. Anything holding you back gets cleared out.
“The whole point in both discarding and keeping things is to be happy.”
Who knew?!
Up until I did the Konmarie method, I had absolutely been collecting clutter around me as I slid deeper down into a state of unhappiness. I’ve always been kind of a natural minimalist – I love to get rid of stuff. But the past few years I’d allowed myself to pile up a whole lot of crap that I didn’t even really like. I could sense deep down that it wasn’t a true reflection of me, but I was too down in it to figure out how to get back to myself.
Becoming more selective about the things I have has made me value myself so much more.
And I have to tell you, it really has been such an incredible experience for me. I now look at everything in my life with that same simple philosophy: Does it bring me joy?
People, jobs, things… they all influence our habits and thoughts. If you surround yourself with negativity, or with things that aren’t really you, you’re dimming your own light. Sometimes we just need to be done with past events, past relationships, past selves. Keeping things just for sentimentality can hold us back from being the beautiful person we are NOW.
So get out some trash bags and prepare to say goodbye to old limitations and hello to the new you.
If you allow yourself to be 100% authentically you and love yourself enough to demand the best for yourself, well… that dream life of yours just might become a reality.
You don’t just go through your clothes, by the way. That box full of letters from your elementary school pen pals? You have to go through each one. All the childhood photos you’ve got stashed in that top shelf in the corner of your back closet? Yup – each one. All the jewelry your late grandmother gave you that is absolutely hideous but maybe worth something and also you feel guilty for potentially dishonoring her memory? If those earrings don’t bring you joy, it’s time to say goodbye.
Also – this book covers the practical aspects of tidying, too, of course. My dresser drawers have completely transformed. Kondo’s folding method is GOLD, people. It sounds crazy when you read it (or at least it did to me), but trust me here and just do it. I used to not even bother folding any of my clothes and just stuffed them into a drawer so full I couldn’t find anything in it. Now my drawers could be display cases at a high-end retail store. And it’s not even that hard or time-consuming and you can see everything you actually have.
After going through the KonMari Method, you very well may look back on your old ways with utter disbelief. I’m honestly embarrassed that I ever treated my yoga leggings so poorly.
“I can think of no greater happiness in life than to be surrounded only by the things I love.”
I completely agree.
Have you read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up? Do you feel like you have too much stuff? Share your experiences with me in the Comments below!
xo,
Amy
This post is not sponsored, but there are affiliate links throughout this post if you’d like to buy the book and support the blog. I genuinely cannot recommend this book highly enough!