Jaclyn’s Review: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
written by Marie Kondo
published by Ten Speed Press, 2014

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, Target, Walmart, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads

Did I enjoy this book? Like many others, I am convinced that I own too much “stuff” and need to purge my house of excess. I want to declutter and simplify my life. While I subscribe to a number of blogs on this topic, I thought I should read one of the most talked about books on this subject. This book was incredibly painful to read. The author repeats herself constantly and rambles incessantly. This book could have been one simple blog post, it did not warrant an entire book. While I appreciated her idealistic approach to decluttering, I found it to be nearly impossible to implement. She adamantly states (many times) that you should not declutter in small increments, but set aside the appropriate amount of time and do everything at once. There is no way this is achievable. She even admits that this takes most of her clients 6 months to do. I also disagreed with the fact that she insists you should not put things away based on how/where you use them–it would drive me crazy if I kept my coffee mugs on the opposite side of the kitchen from my coffee pot! She also insists that women should unpack and repack their purses each day. When I am rushing 3 kids out the door at 8:00 a.m., the last thing I want to do is remember to repack my purse!

I did get a handful of great pieces of advice from this book though. I struggle to let go of items I purchased but did not use, especially if they cost a great deal of money. The author suggests “thanking” that item for teaching you a lesson–perhaps what something is worth, how you want to spend your money, or what kind of clothing looks right on your body. Then you can discard it, knowing that it served a purpose–maybe not the purpose you intended, but a purpose nonetheless. Same thing with gifts you’ve received. The purpose of the gift is the joy in giving/receiving it not the actual item itself. So if you don’t want/need it, feel free to discard it knowing that the purpose has already been served.

Finally, I wish the book covered more of what to do with the items being discarded. I have a hard time throwing away perfectly good items simply because I am not using them anymore. Trash is trash, but if an item can be used, it would be better to donate it somewhere.

Would I recommend it? Nope! There are much better blog posts out there that cover this exact topic. Save yourself some time and find those. I love the author’s suggestion for vertical folding, but you can easily find demonstrations of this on Pinterest. There is absolutely no reason to read this book.
 

 

About the book – from Goodreads: 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 best seller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home – and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

 

 

 

* This post contains affiliate links.

** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on November 21, 2019.