Tidying Up with Marie Kondo

In 2011 when Marie Kondo introduced her first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, her approach to streamlining personal belongings and discarding the superfluous quickly caught fire. Apparently, there were quite a few of us out there whose lives needed change by tidying. 

Five years later, Kondo has returned with Spark Joy, a companion to her first book and a step-by-step guide to uncluttering the home. While Tidying Up introduced us to the macro view of her minimalist method, Spark Joy patiently walks us through the exact steps needed to unclutter our lives. Take a look at a few of her ideas below, and let us know: have you tried Marie Kondo’s approach? How did it go? And if not, would you?

1. Find your joy. When looking to declutter, keep only what brings you joy. Let go of any items that you may have once loved, but that have now outlived their usefulness.

2. Visualize your ideal home. To start, Kondo recommends indulging your wildest fantasy. What kind of place you want your home to be? A calm, quiet space to reflect? A warm hub of friendship and family? Find a picture that represents your perfect environment, and keep it in mind as you work towards decluttering.

3. Tidy by category. As opposed to tidying by room, as many of us do, Kondo recommends going by category (clothes, kitchen, sentimental items, etc.), so that you can truly see what you own in each area.

4. Finish discarding first. Before you begin sorting, storing, and putting away, be sure to complete your purge so that you can better see what you have and decide how to best to organize.

5. Be brave. “Even if you fail, don’t worry—your house won’t blow up,” Kondo assures. So if you’re dreaming of a neater, less cluttered space, don’t be afraid to start streamlining today.

Photographs by Natsuno Ichigo, courtesy of Ten Speed Press.