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Marie Kondo

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Hardcover – October 14, 2014

by Marie Kondō (Author)

24,986 ratings

Part of: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (2 Books)

in Zen Philosophy

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#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.

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From the Publisher

marie kondo;tidying up;new year new you;girl wash your face;kondo method;the home edit;organzied


	TIDYING UP WITH MARIE KONDO	SPARK JOY	LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC JOURNAL	THE LIFE-CHANGING MANGA OF TIDYING UP	KIKI & JAX
More reads to spark joy on your bookshelf!	A beautifully packaged box set of the books that inspired Netflix’s Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.	An illustrated master class on the art of organizing and tidying up.	A gratitude journal to help you reflect on what sparked joy in your life today.	A graphic novel that will teach you the KonMari Method.	A picture book about the life-changing magic of friendship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Ms. Kondo delivers her tidy manifesto like a kind of Zen nanny, both hortatory and animistic.”—The New York Times

“A literal how-to-heave-ho, and I recommend it for anyone who struggles with the material excess of living in a privileged society. (Thanks to Ms. Kondo, I kiss my old socks goodbye.) . . . To show you how serious my respect for Ms. Kondo is: if I ever get a tattoo, it will say, Spark Joy!”—Jamie Lee Curtis, Time

“This book lives up to its title: it will change your life.”—B.J. Novak, People

“This book is a cult. A totally reasonable, scary cult that works, doesn’t kill people (a bonus), but does drastically change your life. In this case — for the better.”—BuzzFeed

“The most organized woman in the world.”—PureWow

“The Japanese expert’s ode to decluttering is simple and easy to follow.”—Vogue

“Her voice . . . is by turns stern and enchanted, like a fairy godmother for socks.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Reading it, you glimpse a glittering mental freedom from the unread/uncrafted/unworn, buyer’s remorse, the nervous eyeing of real estate listings. Life’s overwhelm, conquered.”—The Atlantic

“All hail the new decluttering queen Marie Kondo, whose mess-busting bestseller has prompted a craze for tidying in homes across the world . . . one proper clear out is all you need for the rest of your life.”—Good Housekeeping (UK)

“How could this pocket-sized book, which has already sold over 2 million copies and sits firmly atop the New York Times Best Seller list, make such a big promise? Here's the short answer: Because it's legit. . . . Kondo's method really can change your life — if you let it.”—Today

“Kondo challenges you to ask yourself whether each object you have is achieving a purpose. Is it propelling you forward or holding you in the past?”—USA Today

“A brief and bracing practical guide to tidying up your home.”—Financial Times

“[It is] enough to salute Kondo for her recognition of something quietly profound: that mess is often about unhappiness, and that the right kind of tidying can be a kind of psychotherapy for the home as well as for the people in it . . . Its strength is its simplicity.”—The London Times

Product details

Publisher : Ten Speed Press; 1st edition (October 14, 2014)
Language: : English
Hardcover : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1607747308
ISBN-13 : 978-1607747307
Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
Dimensions : 5.2 x 0.9 x 7.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Zen Philosophy (Books)
- #1 in Feng Shui (Books)
- #4 in Home Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating

Customer Reviews:
24,986 ratings

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4 star		14%
3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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NewYorker

Do not waste your money!

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

Here's what the book says: touch every item in your home and if you "love it" then keep it. If you don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling of love, throw it away. There. Now you don't have to read it. Seriously, de-cluttering and organizing can have a huge positive impact on life. But the way this book approaches the topic is so silly and juvenile that I don't understand why it's a best seller. People: use your common sense and toss the things you don't use that are cluttering up your life. Ok?

1,299 people found this helpful

Helpful

Laura I.

Life-changing book - best $10 I've ever spent EVER

Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2017

Verified Purchase

I'm somewhat of a self-help book addict. I was browsing Pinterest one day and stumbled upon the "konmari method" and was intrigued, so I bought this book for kindle and read it in about an hour. I always thought I was a very organized person (because everything I owned had a designated, labelled place and my house was always super clean), but after reading this book I realized I was nothing more than a skilled hoarder. I locked myself in my house for 6 straight weeks (seriously, only came out for absolute necessary obligations and appointments) and decluttered the ever-living hell out of my house. The only thing that slowed me down was waiting for every Tuesday to roll around when the big donation truck would come and haul off all my unwanted items, or waiting for every Monday for the trash collection. I probably discarded well over 100 bags of clutter in that 6 weeks and earned over $400 selling the big-ticket items via social media, which I used to make my house prettier. I also donated an entire trunk full of books, CDs, and DVDs to my local library. My home's available storage used to be completely maxed out, and now I have empty drawers everywhere! I also have no less than 40 completely empty plastic storage bins in my garage that were previously full of clutter (and the storage bins are the next thing that will be sold!). Reading this book was life-changing. While I didn't follow it to the T (I do not thank my socks for their service every day LOL), it is the best feeling in the world to look around a room and realize you love every single item in said room. I no longer feel weighed down by "stuff". I still have a few odds and ends to finish up in my house, but I'm about 90% done at this point and loving it. I never knew getting rid of things could be so addicting. I also never thought I was the kind of person who could ever throw away a photo, but by the time I got to the sentimental items category, I discarded an entire garbage can full of photos without hesitation and it felt great!

1,966 people found this helpful

Helpful

Marc P.

A good book that perhaps is too comprehensive in some areas and neglects others

Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

First, this book has done for me what I wanted it to do: it’s helping me get rid of junk, albeit not quite in the way the author wants me to do it, but progress is progress, right?

I will say the book is somewhat repetitive and it makes the same point over and over (you have too much clutter and you’re keeping it for the wrong reasons); this might be a cold, hard, necessary teaching method to break the habit of keeping clutter, so I won’t dwell on that. On the other hand though, in areas where I wanted more detail, such as the steps she provides to actually do “decluttering”, or “tidying” as the author calls it, I found I wanted more detail. While clothing (for example) is well covered, entire categories of typical American “stuff” are left out, such as cupboards, kitchen tools, towels/linens, sporting goods, major electronic and computer gear, and the garage (and the myriad of categories of stuff found in there). There is absolutely no mention of a garage. The book, to me, is aimed heavily towards a female audience, and I’m not saying that in a sexist way. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s just a missed opportunity to be more inclusive; men have stuff too, and the vast majority (not scientifically measured, just my impression) of the examples in the book are aimed at the types of belongings women *typically* own, again please don’t take this the wrong way. Most of the client examples the author mentions are women, with perhaps only two male clients I can remember. This is only notable to the extent that many pages are spent discussing organizing purses and none spent on organizing screwdrivers. I own zero purses but lots and lots of screwdrivers (along with other tools), and they badly need organizing. But I think I’ll be able to apply the technique to my garage as well as my closet. So for any of you out there who also own screwdrivers and they are in need of organization, perhaps you’ll be in the same boat as me, wondering why your tool collection was never even mentioned.

I would like the author to focus more on suggesting *donating* the items she so desperately wants us to discard. She gives good reasons for not giving your old stuff to your family, but surely there’s a better home for unwanted clothing than the trash. I’ve made it a point to donate mine. Perhaps this type of thinking will make it into the second edition.

Finally, as the author is from Japan, some of the cited mystical benefits of “tidying up” may register as goofy to Americans. Thanking your belongings for a job well done, as she suggests, is a form of consideration which may not resonate. But this is a matter of personal preference and posture; it certainly can’t hurt but I feel all but the most committed American readers may find it a bit campy.

In any case, I did get rid of a lot of stuff on my first round, and indeed it felt good to do so. I’ve got a long way to go, but at least the author has given me a rational framework for examining an item and deciding “should it stay or should it go”. More is going than ever before.

607 people found this helpful

Helpful

D. Fisher, Retired Engineer

I'm Sitting Down At My Computer and Starting to Write...

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

If this the criteria to be a NYT bestseller then I should make bank! I'm am engineer and found this book to be useless. I mean, seriously? Throw out everything that doesn't bring me joy? That's the answer? Well, no joke. We all know that we have too much stuff and should part with it all. I thought that if I had to read one more time how the author was positively an organizational genius at age 15, I would throw that book...which didn't bring me joy...into the trash. As for making my socks and purse happy, my socks are all cozily snugged up together by color...I am an engineer, after all...and my purse feels it is its honored duty to protect its precious traveling companions...the wallet, the inhalor, etc... 24/7.

I, unfortunately, learned some great lessons about parting with too much stuff 8 months ago when my hoarder mother passed away. I bought 120 large trash bags and with a determined ruthlessness, I tossed out 3 tons of trash. Boxed up new stuff for donation. Held estate sales for things of value...which Ms. Kondo does not seem to address very well. I thought that I would gain some insight from this book about purging my own messy house. I don't want to do to my kids what mother did to me. However, this book was no help. As someone else suggested, don't waste your time reading the entire book. Just read the sentences in boldface print. Honestly, that's all that should have been printed but there wouldn't be much money in selling a brochure.

465 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Killer Robot from the future

Let me save you time and money

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Throw away what you don’t need or love. When you use something, put it back where it belongs afterwards. There, in 2 lines I have told you all the advice this book has to offer. Honestly don’t waste your money, it’s a con.

421 people found this helpful

DOES THIS BOOK SPARK JOY?

Reviewed in India on August 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

The writer asks us to hold each item in our possession in our hands and ask this question - Does it spark joy? If it doesn't, then discard it.
I bought this book on several recommendations. But I should have asked myself if the thought of reading it sparks joy before buying it. This is the biggest take-away from this book. Now I find myself asking this question whenever I go shopping. If the thought of eating it, wearing it, doing it, doesn't spark joy, it's time for reflection.

And that's it. The rest of the book is minutiae of how to discard and store things according to the Kon-Marie method which the writer invented which reads like a self-praising professor who gives boring lectures on how his past students did extremely well due to his teaching methods and how other teachers aren't that good or effective.

The irony is that this book is for hoarders but hoarders would never pick up this book. Or even if they pick it up, they would just pick it up to hoard it and not to read it. Or to read it and never follow through it. And if you are thinking of gifting it to someone you think has a hoarding problem, forget it. Hoarding is a psychological issue and unless the person navigates and cleans rubbish off their mental recesses, reading this book is just another dump in the ocean of mental junk.

The gist of the book:
- Take up cleaning the whole house (or universe) at one go! This probably won't work if you live in a joint family with your kids and parents and parents-in-law because you'll have to spare a week or two for it- on your own without interruption.
- Discard anything that doesn't spark joy. (Alas, I have bought things when I was younger and stupider and I have no spare monies to buy them again.) But this book maybe the one to go.
- Sort things by category, not by location. Example, if you are sorting the clothes, then sort ALL the clothes in your house at once, not just in one cupboard. (This is great, but I have all my stuff in their exact location already)
- Then the rest of the book is about how to store items in a cupboard (for which if you follow the book, you might need new cupboards with more drawers and clothes that don't wrinkle), how to clean the bathroom, how to arrange things in the kitchen, how to sort papers and documents and books, how to let go of gifts you do not use, etc. etc. etc. etc. till you get bored of reading the book about cleaning and decide to get rid of boredom by watching a movie and the idea of cleaning goes out of your brain and into the same vacuum of universe you were trying to clean.
(P.S. I read the whole book)

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR:
- People who already follow a routine cleanup of their stuff. For example, I have decided I'm only going to keep a certain number of clothes in my cupboard. I buy clothes ONLY when they get worn out or stop fitting. I do not buy clothes every Diwali or even for any close family member's wedding. Anything unused for 5 years has to go.
- People who are quite organized or like organizing tactics like DIY storage solutions. This book is against storage solutions and instead focuses on discarding.
- People suffering from some form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders- we guys are already doing great at cleaning. No need to bend ourselves double and ruin our lives over it by reading one more book on it.
- People looking for an idea on minimalist living. This book is not about minimalism. I thought it was so - going by the white cover with the word 'Japan' on it. But that is why we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover and people by their home-organizing techniques.

RECOMMENDED FOR:
- People who like window shopping.
- People who go shopping whenever there is a 'sale'.
- People who 'have to have' something when they see something on a store window.
- People who have a hard time discarding things out of guilt or any sentimental value.
- People who have other people (usually mothers or wives or domestic help) to clean and organize things for them.
- People who have overflowing wardrobes and bookshelves.
- People whose lives are out of order (in existential crisis of some sort).

So I held this book in my hand after reading it and asked myself - Does this book spark joy?
Hell no.

It is a very easy read, but like a boring chemistry textbook unless you are really interested in the subject.
[I bought a paperback copy of the book. The font and binding are good.]

288 people found this helpful

Alex

Addressing some common concerns...

Reviewed in Canada on May 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

After reading the one star reviews of this book out of morbid curiosity, it seems there are three main complaints people have, and I'd like to address them as the basis of my review:

1) "I can't get over how she anthropomorphizes socks, treating them as if they have feelings and need to rest. This woman is out of her mind!"

Some people seem to be very hung up on the metaphors in this book. When Marie Kondo talks about socks (and other objects) working hard all day and requiring a proper rest when they’re put away, she doesn’t mean this literally. The point of all the anthropomorphizing in the book is to encourage you to think about your belongings differently and treat them with respect. For example, it’s easy to throw clothes on the floor of your bedroom or stuff them in a drawer thoughtlessly, but if you pause to consider what your clothes actually do for you and the value they bring to your everyday life, you’re far more likely to treat them with care and put them neatly back where they belong. Marie Kondo wants you to be grateful to your possessions, not for the sake of your possessions, but for your own!

2) "She doesn't explain how to deal with [specific category of items]. This book is worthless!"

One of the primary tenets of the Konmari method is the belief that only YOU can decide which things to keep and which to throw away. Your own feelings, desires, and values are the litmus test for each item. Which belongings do you want to surround yourself with? Which belongings bring value to your life? Marie Kondo can’t answer these questions for you, and that’s the point! The book encourages you to take responsibility for your possessions, and, through the “celebration” of tidying, take control of them too. If you want/need some additional instruction on the tidying and storing process, I’d recommend her second book, Spark Joy, which breaks the broad categories mentioned in this book into more manageable sub-categories, and has more in-depth tips for storing items once you’ve decided what to keep.

3) "It's far too difficult to pull everything from one category out of storage all at once. I don't have time to do something like that!"

If you’re looking for a “quick fix” to your clutter problem, one where you can go at it Saturday morning and finish by Sunday evening, this is not the book for you. From her descriptions of past clients, it could take up to a year for someone to completely tidy their home, depending on the number of items they own and the difficulty they have in recognizing which items “spark joy”. As a single woman living in a one-bedroom condo with not many belongings to begin with, it may only take me a few weeks, but if you’ve got a two-story house and family of four, you’d better prepare to be in this for the long haul. Of course, the reward for this massive investment of time and effort is the Konmari guarantee that you will have finished tidying once and for all, and your house will never return to its original cluttered state!

I don’t know if this book has changed my life yet (I’m still in the process of tidying up!) but it has absolutely changed my mindset and my relationship to my belongings. It’s had enough of an effect on me that I’ll gladly proselytize about it to anyone who will listen! Check it out!

242 people found this helpful

joss40

Bonkers!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

Hello socks, good job today, let me roll you up and stand you vertically in my drawer. New clothes? Be sure to cut the umbilical cord from the shop (aka the price tag) so that they truly belong. Kitchen utensils rattling around in a drawer? Use a shoe box lid, shoe box lids are great for almost anything. Handbags, empty out every night and let them rest, they derserve a break. Stand everything vertically, oh sorry did I already mention that. Roll your tights up and stand them vertically in a swirl , much like the socks I mention fifty pages ago oh yes and don’t forget, bin everything and recycle nothing. Throw it all away, you don’t need it. Terrible book, that doesn’t quite describe how bad it is, you almost have to buy it to believe it!

66 people found this helpful

Musicfan

De-cluttering Guru

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

I was both delighted and maddened by this book: delighted by very clear and practical instructions on how to go about de-cluttering, and maddened by the author's approach towards inanimate objects (thanking your handbag for its service, for instance, and allowing it to rest). However, I still give the book five stars because the de-cluttering advice actually works! I was in the middle of clearing out drawers and cupboards when I started reading the book and tried to apply some of Marie's advice straight away. I found the question 'Does this object spark joy?' as good a way as any to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. The book has stayed with me and I am trying to keep to Marie's principles. There is real satisfaction in knowing where everything is. The other thing I would say is that house lay-out and attitudes towards possessions may be different in Marie's native Japan, and not every idea may work in smaller properties in Britain. However, overall this is a wonderful book which puts you back in control of your own living space and I know I will refer to it again in the future to keep me on the right track.

163 people found this helpful

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