The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

by Marie Kondo

Ten Speed Press     2014

224 pages     Self-help

Audio Book

My daughter's best friend is a house organizer and cleaner. My daughter is not. Besides that, she has two pre-schoolers. One evening her house organizer friend was trying to help her tidy up, and my daughter told her: "Really I never learned how to clean. We were all taught how to clean up for the cleaning lady." Ouch!

Everyone has been talking about The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. You've heard about it, haven't you. I decided to give it a try.

I listened to The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up in the car on a long car ride Tuesday. Like many people of my age bracket, there is a huge accumulation of stuff that comes from having lived as long as I have. I have been trying to start the process of "tidying up" by working to get rid of 3 things every day. Well, listening to Marie Kondo, I realized that my method was not the appropriate way to do the job. Kondo has a very specific method and works to advise people about their tidying up habits. She teaches a method that she assures the reader is foolproof.

As I drove, I thought about where I would begin putting this book into practice. I thought about my messy office, my messy sewing room, my messy closet. I mused that Kondo's method might work for me.  It was when she started to tell me the precise fashion in which to fold t-shirts in order to make them happy that I turned off the book in disgust. As one Goodreads reviewer said, "She is 'batshit' crazy."

 I do need to start liberating the things in my house, but these are things—inanimate objects—they do not have feelings!!! At the same time, I realize that this is a system that works well for a lot of people. And Kondo guarantees that if you use her system, you will get control of your house and your stuff.

Oh—and one more thing. Kondo began tidying up when she was 5-years-old. Wait a minute! This is the only child I have ever known that tidies up at age 5. If she had been my kid, I would have taken her to the psychologist for treatment for OCD! As it is, she has made a whole career of tidying up.

Meena Duerson from the Today show tried the method. Here is her report on what happened in her life.