We Tried: Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
24 February 2023
Marie Kondo’s ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ has become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring people who would not normally live as minimalists to pare down their possessions and throw away bags of excess stuff. The book centers on Kondo’s particular method, called the KonMari Method, of radically decluttering your space.
While it may seem a rigid method for many, we tried it at home to see if the 5-step method is the easy trick to calm and organised living. Rather than true minimalism, Kondo’s philosophy advocates for owning things that are genuinely loved and ‘bring joy’ to you, their owner.
Read on to see the key 5 steps, and how it worked for us to really decide if Kondo’s method is right for you.
Step one of the process is to categorise your belongings into the following: Clothes first, then books, papers, miscellaneous, and lastly, mementos.
This part felt like the largest undertaking of the organizational project. It was overwhelming to see the number of belongings that were able to fit within my home. I split this part over the course of two days, starting with the biggest part being clothing, then on the second day worked through books, miscellaneous, and mementos. Being a very sentimental person made this aspect take even longer however, when able to take stock of belongings you realise that a lot has been sitting untouched for a very long time.
The second step is to subcategories all of your categories, for example, putting all your clothing in piles on the floor in subcategories; our split was defined into the following group:
The categorisation really helps to identify areas where you have too many items that you may not even remember you own. You are also able to, at this stage, weigh up how often each subcategory is visited.
The most important and memorable stage of Marie Kondo’s five steps is, of course to hold up each and every item and ask yourself, “does this item spark joy?” if spark joy doesn’t resonate with you, Kondo also uses the terms: ‘inspire joy’, ‘thrill of pleasure’, ‘speak to your heart’, ‘moves you’, and ‘love’. The use of emotion to determine the importance of your belongings may take a little longer, but it does give you a great sense of relief when you see all of the items that will be cleared from your home.
You are left with the belongings you have decided to keep categorised and subcategorised. In this step, you are just deciding where to put something or where you will be storing it. The only rule that is within this step is to store all items of the same type in the same place and not to scatter storage space.
If storage is a must in your home, but space is not abundant, why not shop for the Vispring ottoman base, you can find more information by contacting or visiting your nearest Vispring retailer; find them here.
In Japanese, the term is ikki ni or ‘in one go.’ The intention of this and the overall Marie Kondo 5-step routine is that if you tidy all in one go, you can dramatically change your mindset when it comes to living as a minimalist. While this process, for me, worked better over the course of a few days due to the amount of organisation needed, the overall steps were taken continuously. I would advise you to begin the process on a free weekend.
While it may seem a rigid method for many, we tried it at home to see if the 5-step method is the easy trick to calm and organised living. Rather than true minimalism, Kondo’s philosophy advocates for owning things that are genuinely loved and ‘bring joy’ to you, their owner.
Read on to see the key 5 steps, and how it worked for us to really decide if Kondo’s method is right for you.
STEP 1: CATEGORISE YOUR BELONGINGS
Step one of the process is to categorise your belongings into the following: Clothes first, then books, papers, miscellaneous, and lastly, mementos.
This part felt like the largest undertaking of the organizational project. It was overwhelming to see the number of belongings that were able to fit within my home. I split this part over the course of two days, starting with the biggest part being clothing, then on the second day worked through books, miscellaneous, and mementos. Being a very sentimental person made this aspect take even longer however, when able to take stock of belongings you realise that a lot has been sitting untouched for a very long time.
STEP 2: SUBCATEGORISE YOUR CATEGORIES
The second step is to subcategories all of your categories, for example, putting all your clothing in piles on the floor in subcategories; our split was defined into the following group:
- Tops (shirts, sweaters, etc.)
- Bottoms (pants, skirts, etc.)
- Clothes that should be hung, such as (jackets, coats, suits, etc.)
- Socks
- Underwear
- Occasion clothing (swimwear, activewear, etc.)
The categorisation really helps to identify areas where you have too many items that you may not even remember you own. You are also able to, at this stage, weigh up how often each subcategory is visited.
STEP 3: DOES IT SPARK JOY?
The most important and memorable stage of Marie Kondo’s five steps is, of course to hold up each and every item and ask yourself, “does this item spark joy?” if spark joy doesn’t resonate with you, Kondo also uses the terms: ‘inspire joy’, ‘thrill of pleasure’, ‘speak to your heart’, ‘moves you’, and ‘love’. The use of emotion to determine the importance of your belongings may take a little longer, but it does give you a great sense of relief when you see all of the items that will be cleared from your home.
STEP 4: ORGANISE WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT
You are left with the belongings you have decided to keep categorised and subcategorised. In this step, you are just deciding where to put something or where you will be storing it. The only rule that is within this step is to store all items of the same type in the same place and not to scatter storage space.
If storage is a must in your home, but space is not abundant, why not shop for the Vispring ottoman base, you can find more information by contacting or visiting your nearest Vispring retailer; find them here.
STEP 5: DO IT ALL IN ONE GO
In Japanese, the term is ikki ni or ‘in one go.’ The intention of this and the overall Marie Kondo 5-step routine is that if you tidy all in one go, you can dramatically change your mindset when it comes to living as a minimalist. While this process, for me, worked better over the course of a few days due to the amount of organisation needed, the overall steps were taken continuously. I would advise you to begin the process on a free weekend.