In My Honest Opinion... The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
I constantly strive to be a neatly organized person; when my belongings are in order, my world seems to be in order. As a side effect of this, I love reading books about organization, and, lately, I've been on a minimalism kick. I'm not a huge proponent of minimalism for myself- I love having stuff- but that being said, the philosophy itself is intriguing, and people who can actually pull it off are highly commendable. Marie Kondo's The Life Changning Magic of Tidying Up is just the newest novel in a series of my beloved tidying type books. For one reason or another, this book really blew up, resulting in a sequel, Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, a Netflix tv show, and a cult following.
Marie Kondo posits an interesting way of tidying and organizing any space: KonMari. This methodology has a set of unique rules that must be strictly adhered to for the best chance of success. The first step is clothing. 1) Gather all of your clothing together in one place. 2) Go through each item individually, holding it and considering its use. 3) Ask yourself if each item sparks joy within you. 4) If it does, keep the item. 5) If not, decide whether to throw the item away, donate it, or give it to a family member.
This process of evaluating happiness is then repeated for clothes, books, papers, komono- garage, bathroom, kitchen- and, finally, sentimental items. According to Kondo, if you follow this process step by step, you will successfully declutter your space and keep your place neat and organized.
I was originally drawn towards this method of tidying due to Kondo's insistence that the KonMari method is not minimalism. While the goal is to get rid of things that do not cause happiness, the goal is not to get rid of everything. On the Netflix show, we see KonMari used to great success on varying levels of stuff. One family feels the need to get rid of almost everything. One couple keeps boxes upon boxes of Christmas decor. KonMari is about getting rid of unnecessary items- surplus. That is an idea that I can easily subscribe to.
While the book was repetitive, the tv show was much better. In fact, I would skip the book entirely and watch the Netflix show. The visuals help greatly and seeing tiny, bubbly Kondo try to tackle large messes is immensely entertaining. I recently purged my room and have yet to miss a single item I got rid of. Take the plunge. You'll thank yourself later.
Marie Kondo posits an interesting way of tidying and organizing any space: KonMari. This methodology has a set of unique rules that must be strictly adhered to for the best chance of success. The first step is clothing. 1) Gather all of your clothing together in one place. 2) Go through each item individually, holding it and considering its use. 3) Ask yourself if each item sparks joy within you. 4) If it does, keep the item. 5) If not, decide whether to throw the item away, donate it, or give it to a family member.
This process of evaluating happiness is then repeated for clothes, books, papers, komono- garage, bathroom, kitchen- and, finally, sentimental items. According to Kondo, if you follow this process step by step, you will successfully declutter your space and keep your place neat and organized.
I was originally drawn towards this method of tidying due to Kondo's insistence that the KonMari method is not minimalism. While the goal is to get rid of things that do not cause happiness, the goal is not to get rid of everything. On the Netflix show, we see KonMari used to great success on varying levels of stuff. One family feels the need to get rid of almost everything. One couple keeps boxes upon boxes of Christmas decor. KonMari is about getting rid of unnecessary items- surplus. That is an idea that I can easily subscribe to.
While the book was repetitive, the tv show was much better. In fact, I would skip the book entirely and watch the Netflix show. The visuals help greatly and seeing tiny, bubbly Kondo try to tackle large messes is immensely entertaining. I recently purged my room and have yet to miss a single item I got rid of. Take the plunge. You'll thank yourself later.
Comments
Post a Comment