Marie Kondo - Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: The Book Collection: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy

The other day I woke up to find my neck and shoulders frozen stiff. I could not even get out of bed and had to call an ambulance. Although the cause was not clear, I had spent the previous day at a clients house, looking into the cupboard above the closet and moving heavy furniture. As I had not done anything else, the conclusion was that I had tidied too much. I must be the only patient to ever have too much tidying written on her medical record. Even so, as I lay in bed slowly regaining motion in my neck, 90 percent of my thoughts were about tidying. This experience made me appreciate the ability to look up into cupboards.

I wrote this book because I wanted to share the magic of tidying. The deep emotions in my heart when sending off things that have fulfilled their purpose, emotions much like those experienced at a graduation; the thrill I feel at the click of fate, when something finds where it is meant to be; and, best of all, the fresh, pure air that fills a room after it has been put in orderthese are the things that make an ordinary day, with no special event, that much brighter.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who supported me in writing this book when all I am really capable of is tidyingMr. Takahashi of Sunmark Publishing, my family, all my possessions, my home. I pray that through the magic of tidying more people will be able to experience the joy and contentment of living surrounded by the things they love.

Marie KonMari Kondo

When I tell people that my profession is teaching others how to tidy, I am usually met with looks of astonishment. Can you actually make money doing that? is their first question. This is almost always followed by, Do people need lessons in tidying?

Its true that while instructors and schools offer courses in everything from cooking and how to wear a kimono to yoga and Zen meditation, youll be hard-pressed to find classes on how to tidy. The general assumption, in Japan at least, is that tidying doesnt need to be taught but rather is picked up naturally. Cooking skills and recipes are passed down as family traditions from grandmother to mother to daughter, yet one never hears of anyone passing on the family secrets of tidying, even within the same household.

Think back to your own childhood. Im sure most of us have been scolded for not tidying up our rooms, but how many of our parents consciously taught us how to tidy as part of our upbringing? Our parents demanded that we clean up our rooms, but they, too, had never been trained in how to do that. When it comes to tidying, we are all self-taught.

Instruction in tidying is neglected not only in the home but also at school. When we think back to our home economics classes, most of us remember making hamburgers or learning how to use a sewing machine to make an apron, but compared to cooking and sewing, surprisingly little time is devoted to the subject of tidying. Even if it is included in a textbook, that section is either just read in class, or worse, assigned for reading at home so that students can skip ahead to more popular topics, such as food and health. Consequently, even the extremely rare home economics graduates who have formally studied tidying cant do it.

Food, clothing, and shelter are the most basic human needs, so you would think that where we live would be considered just as important as what we eat and what we wear. Yet in most societies tidying, the job that keeps a home livable, is completely disregarded because of the misconception that the ability to tidy is acquired through experience and therefore doesnt require training.

Do people who have been tidying for more years than others tidy better? The answer is no. Twenty-five percent of my students are women in their fifties, and the majority of them have been homemakers for close to thirty years, which makes them veterans at this job. But do they tidy better than women in their twenties? The opposite is true. Many of them have spent so many years applying erroneous conventional approaches that their homes overflow with unnecessary items and they struggle to keep clutter under control with ineffective storage methods. How can they be expected to know how to tidy when they have never studied it properly?

If you, too, dont know how to tidy, dont be discouraged. Now is the time to learn. By studying and applying the KonMari Method presented in this book, you can escape the vicious cycle of clutter.

I clean up when I realize how untidy my place is, but once Im done, its not long before its a mess again. This is a common complaint, and the standard response touted by magazine advice columns is, Dont try tidying your entire house all at once. Youll just rebound. Make a habit of doing a little at a time. I first stumbled across this refrain when I was five. As the middle child of three children, I was raised with a great deal of freedom. My mother was busy taking care of my newborn younger sister, and my brother, who was two years older than me, was always glued to the TV playing video games. Consequently, I spent most of my time at home on my own.

My favorite pastime was reading home and lifestyle magazines. My mother subscribed to ESSEa magazine with features on interior decorating, cleaning tips, and product reviews. As soon as it was delivered, I would snatch it from the mailbox before my mother even knew it had arrived, rip open the envelope, and immerse myself in the contents. On my way home from school, I liked to stop at the bookstore and browse through Orange Page, a popular Japanese food magazine. I wasnt actually able to read all the words, but these magazines, with their photos of scrumptious dishes, amazing tips for removing stains and grease, and penny-saving ideas, were as fascinating for me as game guides were for my brother. I would fold the corner of a page that caught my interest and dream of trying out the tip described.

I also made up a variety of my own solitary games. For example, after reading a feature on saving money, I immediately launched into a power-saving game that involved roaming about the house and unplugging things that werent in use, even though I knew nothing about electric meters. In response to another feature, I filled plastic bottles with water and put them in the toilet tank in a solo water-saving contest. Articles on storage inspired me to convert milk cartons into dividers for my drawers and make a letter rack by stacking empty video cases between two pieces of furniture. At school, while other kids were playing dodge ball or skipping, Id slip away to rearrange the bookshelves in our classroom, or check the contents of the mop cupboard, all the while muttering about the poor storage methods. If only there were an S-hook, it would be so much easier to use.

But there was one problem that seemed unsolvable. No matter how much I tidied, it wasnt long before every space was a mess again. The milk carton dividers in my desk drawer soon overflowed with pens. The rack made from video cases was soon so crammed with letters and papers that it crumpled to the floor. With cooking or sewing, practice makes perfect, but even though tidying is also housework, I never seemed to improve no matter how often I did itnowhere stayed tidy for long.

It cant be helped, I consoled myself. Rebound comes with the territory. If I tackle the job all at once, Ill just get discouraged. I had read this in many articles about tidying and assumed it was true. If I had a time machine now, Id go back and tell myself, Thats wrong. If you use the right approach, youll never rebound.