Does ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ Really Work?

The premise of the KonMari Method, which many know as The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (AKA the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book), is pretty simple: Go through everything you own and keep what ‘sparks joy,’ discard what doesn’t.

You’re instructed to start out by hugging items close to your heart, to help you hone your sense of what brings joy and what doesn’t. Consider it Mr. Miyagi’s “wax on, wax off,” but for decluttering.

As I stared at a box of toothpicks, a roll of double-sided tape and a mini-mason jar of spare screws, I struggled to imagine who would look at these things and feel unbridled joy fill their hearts. “Toothpicks! Oh, blessed toothpicks! You keep my molars crumb-free!”

I was only about 10 pages into Marie Kondo’s follow-up to her best-selling book, this one called Spark Joy and considered a ‘masterclass’ in organizing, and I thought I’d found a major hole in her work.

Of course, this is a hole anybody who owns things other than gold bars and giggling unicorns would run into, and of course, Kondo covers that territory just a few pages later:

“A simple design that puts you at ease, a high degree of functionality that makes life simpler, a sense of righteousness, or the recognition that a possession is useful in our daily lives — these, too, indicate joy,” she explains.

It turns out, my sarcastic reaction to the toothpicks is exactly her solution for appreciating the joy that usefulness can bring.

“I have a secret for raising our joy level for things we know we need but that fail to excite us: Shower them with praise,” Kondo writes, giving examples like applauding a black slip for its “charming grace and elegance,” or telling a screwdriver it’s “strong, vigorous and cool to the touch.”

Kondo admits that the process is a little goofy and is meant to be lighthearted, but still. I couldn’t bring myself to sing the praises of those toothpicks. Or the tape.

However, she does make some very useful points, like:

• Tidy by category, not by room. That way you see everything you have in a certain area (say, office supplies), rather than tackling bits and pieces as you come across them.
• Follow the right order. Kondo recommends tidying in this order: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, sentimental items. It’s easy to immediately discern whether you like or dislike a piece of clothing, making it a great starting point to tackle a huge chunk of your stuff in no time. Leave sentimental items last, Kondo says, because they tend to slow you down as you wander down memory lane.
• Don’t worry about storage until the very end. As you declutter by category, it’s tempting to start piling items away into their neat new homes. The problem, however, is that you’re not looking at the bigger picture, and halfway through cleaning, your initially organized drawers will start to overflow and you’ll haphazardly throw an item where you normally wouldn’t, just because it’s the first empty space you’ve stumbled upon. Kondo suggests sorting your items into categories, omitting everything you don’t want, and once everything’s been sorted that way, THEN putting everything away in its new homes (and, of course, assess whether you need any other storage containers to get the job done).

Sure, some parts of the book are a little woo-woo or seem overly serious about tidying, but at its core, I can see why people became so obsessed with her method: It’s disciplined, and it simplifies the organizing process, giving you zero excuses to keep your clutter piles raging toward the ceiling.

I may not have followed Kondo’s rules to a tee, but it did inspire us to go through our entire apartment, filling five bags with items to donate, one of things to sell, and three bags of trash. We’re not done yet, but our apartment’s never looked better.

At this rate, I guess I better start seriously considering odes to my spare screws and household tools.