Tidy House, Joyful Life: The Marie Kondo Way

Can a tidy house transform your life? Marie Kondo, author of bestselling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying and “most organized woman in the world”, argues that it does. With her signature KonMari Method of extreme tidying, Kondo claims you can “spark joy” and “feel your whole life brighten” by banishing clutter. Recently I delved into her technique firsthand in an experiment to transform my house into a haven of joy.

Some people are natural administrators. They derive satisfaction from ticking boxes and arranging papers just so. I am not one of them.

The mere thought of administrative process sets my stomach churning. Just last weekend I spent two hours searching for a receipt in my home office. The wretched piece of paper eventually surfaced among a massive pile of documents sitting in a To be Filed box hidden in the cupboard.

The box is my deep dark home management secret. This is the place in our house where paper goes to be buried and forgotten. That is, until the occasional need arises for a particular item. Then we assemble a full search party to undertake the thankless task of wading through it all.

Confessions of a closet clutterer

Some of you may be surprised to learn of my secret life of clutter. On the surface, I appear to be an organized, effective and functioning adult person. And for the most part, I am. Like many women, I routinely juggle multiple demands of home, work and personal life: our house is clean, my work projects get delivered on time, and I always remember birthdays.

But when it comes to the nitty-gritty of household administration, it’s more of a hate-hate relationship. I practically break out into hives when faced with anything resembling filing, documenting, form filling, scanning, printing or posting — and I resent the originators of this paperwork for burdening me it all.

My experiment with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying begins

The truth lies hidden out of sight, behind the office cupboard door. Here you will find a monstrous collection of paperwork lurking in the shadows: receipts, bills, invoices, official documents…all stuffed away in a year’s worth of administrative mess.

I just can’t bear the thought of wasting the precious little time left after work, or at the weekend, to contend with the thankless task of administration. So in recent years, as the burden of it all became too much to manage, I took the path of least resistance — and avoided it altogether.

My file folder quietly grew into two file folders. Then two file folders multiplied into ten. Once there were too many folders to track, I grouped them into a large bag, until eventually this evolved into today’s paperwork mess.

Out of site, out of mind goes the logic. But is it really?

Extreme tidying solution

As I was contemplating this question, shoulder-deep in stacks of paper last weekend looking for the rogue receipt, I looked up and saw Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying staring down at me from the bookshelf.

Like millions of other closet administration-phobes and undercover (or not so undercover) clutterers, I bought Kondo’s book last year, driven in part by curiosity but also in part by a strong desire to bring some sense of order to our home life.

Tidying can transform your life…(and) once you have experienced the powerful impact of a perfectly ordered space, you, too, will never return to clutter – Marie Kondo

I was fascinated by Kondo’s extreme solution to get a handle on clutter. Especially her premise that a tidy house, and its beloved belongings, can “spark joy”. It all seems like a nice marketing gimmick. But is there substance to this professional homemaker’s philosophy?

A tidy challenge

From her perch atop the bookshelf, Kondo seemed to taunt me in her kind, but gentle, manner. Just look at yourself, I could hear her say as she looked down at me sitting in the mess. Does this lifestyle bring you joy? What purpose do these papers serve in your life?

I got to thinking about the cumulative number of hours I have lost over the years to this hide-and-seek game with random files. Do I really need to hang onto the full credit card statement from April of last year? Why am I saving that old application form for a member group that I will probably never join?

Tidying the Marie Kondo way

Sitting amidst that paper I realized this clutter is eating up more hours than it would take to tackle it in the first place. Even worse, this mess is causing unnecessary anxiety every time I approach an overstuffed closet or cupboard. Enough is enough, I decided. I took Kondo’s book off the shelf and dove into her world of extreme tidiness.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying is a light read, both entertaining and deceivingly simple. But Kondo’s philosophy got me fundamentally rethinking our relationship with stuff. Not to mention a new consideration for the feelings of my socks.

I may never share Kondo’s borderline obsessive-compulsive passion for folding shirts and arranging a home according to Japanese-inspired minimalist principles. But I do appreciate her insight into compulsive human behaviour around our possessions. On a deeper level, her book triggers reflection into how clutter affects our well-being and a sincere reckoning with why we hold on.

Can letting go of unnecessary stuff actually transform your life? For me, the answer remains to be seen. I have embarked on the early stages of KonMari-izing my house. Her “sushi roll” tights alone are enough to convince me it’s worth a try. The official experiment starts at the end of May with Kondo’s first recommended category of clutter: clothing. More to come shortly!

More on the KonMari Method

• Konmari Organize the World Official website
• Marie Kondo shares her story with Talks at Google
• Folding shirts and socks the KonMari way as seen on The Ellen Show

Are you a clutter collector? What’s your secret administration solution? Have you tried the KonMari Method or other tidying techniques in your house?