#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The book that sparked a revolution and inspired the hit Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: the original guide to decluttering your home once and for all.
ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE—CNN
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 bestseller will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
Some of Kondo’s ideas are a bit woo-woo: I just can’t bring myself to verbally thank my possessions—like my socks…my socks!—for their “hard work.” I don’t agree with everything Kondo touts (her section on books made my heart hurt, I personally think it’s stupid to throw away pay stubs when they can be required for a tax return, and there is no way in hell I’m emptying out my purse in its entirety every night), but I really like her philosophy of decluttering, storing, and organizing most other possessions, particularly clothing. The structure of her process is great and actually is really similar to how my mom taught me to clean my room years ago.
All that being said, I feel that this book did not need to be a book. It could easily have been a long-form article. If you’re interested in the Kondo method, I’d suggest instead reading one of the many reviews/articles summing up her method. One of my favourite bloggers, Anne Bogel, has written a post explaining Kondo’s process as well as one highlighting some more tips six months later.
