'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' - Marie Kondo

[FrancesHB]

Has anyone else read this? I did a search but couldn't find any previous threads.

Marie Kondo is a Japanese expert in tidying and decluttering and her book has been translated into English and is best selling. It's wonderfully eccentric and inspiring and in some ways rather a breath of fresh air compared to other books on the subject (have read 'em all and my house is still messy...).

She asks us to ask if an item brings us joy and if it doesn't we thank it and out it goes. A bit like fly lady 'you can't organise clutter', but in a less annoying and at times quite endearing way.

I wondered if any MNers had used her technique and if it helped them 'get their house in order'.

Gosh, not great typing there. But you get the gist. i have too many clothes and can still justify keeping some of them.

Thanks all, thats really good advice about not buying more and about why things look better in shops as they don't have all life's detritus cluttering them up - it sounds obvious now you said it Erin99. So why do I get sucked into buying the 'dream'?

Like, at Ikea the other day I had a really clear list of what I needed to buy (wrapping paper for upcoming birthdays, dish rack to replace rusty one, plastic step for potty training child) and I was doing so well until I got to the tills where they had a pile of these reduced to £30. Now I've seen them before, and liked them - although I really prefer the wider version in a playroom blog but know I have no space for them, so I bought them, built them and now they're in the middle of the living room as I have nowhere to put them... and they're actually really bloody heavy so not easy to move!

... in my mind's eye I'd beautifully organised magazines & stationery in them, but really, the magazines can be recycled & how much stationery does anyone need?

Lol, perhaps I should read the book a few more times! I like the look of Pinterest, so perhaps I'll try and look into that to get inspired - thanks Bertie. :)

In the book she does say it's not about minimalism as such, it's about finding your perfect tipping point (I think she calls it). If the magazines and stationery would bring you joy then why not have then? It might inspire you to start writing letters or journals or books or scrapbooking (with the magazines )

Ooh - loving this thread! Like many of you, I guess, I am an untidy person who loves tidiness but rarely achieves it.

I have the perfect reason for decluttering as we are moving house in a few weeks and I don't want to take things with me that I could happily get rid of.
I'm not an emotional hoarder at all - I have no problem chucking things out in theory. I'm just disorganised, a bit lazy and easily distracted!

About to get the book on my Kindle - sounds fab! Off to read full thread now...

Erin - can you repost that on our minimalism thread? It's such a perfect description of what I'm trying to achieve at home but not really been able to articulate, and it really resonates. Some rooms (lounge, our bedroom) have a lot of space and empty surfaces and we work hard to keep them that way as it is so calming being in them. I never go in the study because it's a tip and despair of our open plan kitchen/playroom!

I have been using the fding method for a few months and it is great. I also try to sort by category as much as possible as it dies help.

Am liking the book but haven't finished it yet. I just think the principles of it are so good. Having less stuff but really liking, respecting and looking after the things you do have really resonates with me. It's an attitude I would love to pass on to my dc too. Although they have fewer toys than some children I know, they still have a lot of things they never play with. If I take my belongings and possessions for granted, so will they.

Off to do the big clothes discard and tidy now . Bin bags at the ready!

New rule; I'm not allowed to enter the dc's rooms without leaving with something to bin / charity shop.

everton I dream of surfaces. We only have a small dining room table and tiny kitchen. As a result all my paperwork ends up in the kitchen so the dc's don't fling it around, so cooking is a PITA. It's an office / food preparation area .

I have two bin bags of clothes and 10 carrier bags of toys, books and household clutter to go to the charity shop this morning :)

Oooh everyone is doing so well!

I've not tackled clothes yet (bit of a mental block) but made a crack on with the "pile of papers", paying things, sorting things.

I think it does take a long time - we did a huge declutter before xmas, and again beginning of summer, but its a process isn't it? Our home is much more organised, and closer to "like being with like" in order to refine further.

I have found that having done the big things earlier in the year (books, toys, first round of clothes) its now easier to see surfaces, and tackle things like jewellery (few days ago) and papers. We can't get to "none" (HA! Children bring home 100 papers a day and create a hundred more!) but we had already instigaged a ONE PLACE policy for putting things "to do" and then working through it.

She speaks much sense. (ANd much rubbish too ;))

holmes - ours have fewer toys too, and I must admit as xmas approaches, and all the mn threads I do start to wonder if I'm doing my children a disservice, but money, ideology etc goes against it (although if I had a large house and large rooms I suspect I'd think differently?)

Yy to "much rubbish too." She comes across as very naive and sheltered from the realities of life with kids.

I'm going to implement as much as I can though because her method has really struck a chord with me... In the past I've always left stuff to get rid of later, and then by the time I'm ready to her rid of it, new stuff has arisen magically....

Make that three bin bags! I'm going to have to find a big charity shop.

Yup - when I twigged how young she must be, I did think, "well yes, I had an immaculate house THEN..." I do like some of the ideas though :)

Coupled with Flyladys "Bin/charity it now, not later" attitude to stuff rather than "ebay it sometime" has really helped get things OUT of my house.

I so relate to the idea of bin/charity now versus ebay later. I recently offloaded all of my maternity clothes for free on a local selling site. From deciding to list them to the house being free of them took 2 hours. I had been planning to eBay them but they were sat at the top of the stairs for 3 months going nowhere. I'm trying hard to put a value on empty space so it becomes a trade off between money to be made on eBay versus the cost of keeping the space cluttered. I feel so much happier now that corner is empty, and I see the lady who took the clothes in our village wearing them and seeing them being used makes me happy. Big win all round even if there's no money in my Paypal account!

I gave up on e-bay a couple of years ago, think it was when they changed the postage guidelines.

There's a few things I might list on gumtree because I'm broke and even a tenner would help, but it is a faff .

My house was fairly tidy when the dc's were small and still had naps. It's impossible to clear up when they rampaging under my feet all weekend.

Oh its magic, isn't it everton? I decided on the trade off being worth it a while a couple of years ago wtih kids clothes - and just passed them on if I knew someone, or THAT day to the charity shop/charity bin if not.

We took a whole ton of toys/pushchairs etc to a childrens charity store once, and often now put on my facebook, "anyone want x today?" (kitchen table recently ;)) and its so lovely to have it actually gone within a few hours.

I used to store "to ebay" but then its a while before you do it, a while to sort it and a while to wait for auction and then faff at the end. While we're in the process of decluttering its worth not-ebaying just to have it OUT.

I used to think "Oh, but its worth x," or "but I'd get x for it" whereas now I've been fully converted I just get excited and do a happy dance each time something goes. Seeing the space is just so worth it. (Even if the space is just a drawer or half a shelf it all counts.)

I think excess stuff takes up mental space, as does "to do sometime" tasks. I had a huge declutter of "crafts" I'd actually not done since I had the kids.... and its a weight off my mind. I used to go into the study and in the back of my mind was all these tasks to do.... now they're gone its ace!

I'm trying to action tasks/projects/ideas or pass them on (similar idea to passing on books that haven't yet been read) on the basis its then not hanging over us and then gives us mental space for other things.

It's lovely finding a fellow convertee, everton (and others) :) It's hard to share the excitement with normal people without looking a bit strange.

We HAVE done gumtree occasionally - put it on for lower than it would usually go for so it goes quickly. Usually if its a "thing" and its easier for someone to collect it than for us to take to the tip (spare desk we had).

I'm not for smaller items at the mo (clothes/shoes/books) and trying to think of it as blessing others (flylady) or charity giving or something....

Once we're all declutted and there's only the odd object, life is all sorted and we're sitting in a clear lounge drinking perppemint tea, it will be ok to ebay/gumtree the odd thing as it will fit with the new life! For now, I just need out!

letting go of the 'need' to ebay was massive for me and released a massive blockage of stuff from my hallway.

It just became another "to do" that I didn't do and it made me feel bad. It feels excellent taking stuff to charity shop.

Stripybanana - I don't think it's doing the dc a disservice at all. Imo, the more they have, the less they appreciate what they've got. The only toy we've got tons of is Lego because it really does get played with a lot and I love it too .

Well... I've done the discarding bit with the clothes and shoes and have done pretty well, I think. Rewarding myself with an early lunch before I start putting stuff away.

I've already put my socks and tights away though - all folded and standing up in rows like she says . I love how she gets upset at the thought of socks and tights not being able to rest properly if they are balled up or stretched .

I love how she gets upset at the thought of socks and tights not being able to rest properly if they are balled up or stretched
^ this is on my mental "are you kidding, it's never going to happen" list

I so wish I could kid myself that the state of my house was down to DS and if only he weren't cluttering the place up I would be living in a house as bright and shiny and neat as a new pin...

I'm with you with the lego. I really want the simpsons lego for christmas. Its overpriced and its purely because its the simpsons..... but I really want to do it!!!

My 6 year old will be getting lego....

THe socks and tights was funny :) AS was the idea of things being happier if they have a home to return to. Bless her. I havent tried the folding/rolling though. I think I don't believe in her premise so its harder to put into practice... I ought to try it though shouldn't I?!

My socks are all unballed and look very happy in their drawer :)

I know it's mental ! But part of my problem, I think, is that I don't properly value and look after the stuff I already have. So I buy more because I want to have nice things, when actually I already have nice things - they are just stuffed in drawers looking unloved.

As I was taking stuff out, touching it, uncrumpling it etc, I did sometimes find myself thinking 'Aww I really like that/those'. Usually I'm in such a hurry that I don't really pay my stuff much attention. I think I might be getting a bit too into this .

Grin holmes, my moment I mentioned above was when I thought the pens in my bedroom ought to live downstairs in the jar, "with their friends."