Book Review - The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

One of my new year's resolutions was to write 12 book reviews this year. The plan was to average one review per month, but as you can see, it's the end of March, and this is my first book review. I've been reading lots of books; I just haven't been writing about them. (I guess I'm still like my elementary and middle school self - the bookworm who didn't like writing book reports.)

My first review of the year is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. This book has taken the world by storm with its simple method of de-cluttering. Called the Kon-Mari method, the book advocates sorting belongings by category, holding each one individually, and deciding whether or not it "sparks joy". Readers are instructed to keep the joy inspiring items. Everything else should be thanked for its service and then bid goodbye.

I got the book because I had too much stuff. I had been carrying around boxes from move to move to move that somehow never got unpacked. I would often dream of my apartment catching on fire and burning to the ground to give myself a fresh start (while I and the cats were safely away and the blanket my late grandfather made for me somehow in the trunk of my car). When my apartment got flooded last year and half my belongings were destroyed, I was, very temporarily, annoyed that the flood didn't get the other half as well. Clearly, I had a problem, and it needed a solution.


I don't know what I exactly expected from the book. The book asserts that going through the process once is all that's necessary, and then the clutter problem will be conquered permanently. It promises a serene and tranquil living space, and that this living space will translate to good things in other areas of life - weight loss, better jobs, better relationships, etc. In short, unicorns frolicking in my living room while making friends with my anthropomorphized furniture.

I have a hard time with the concept of possessions sparking joy. I value things for their usefulness. A frying pan is a frying pan. So I modified it slightly and decided that something sparks joy if my life is better with that item than without it. I also ignored the constant anthropomorphization of inanimate objects. I don't think my socks have feelings.

With that concept in place, I began. The project is broken down into five categories: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, and sentimental items, and they're to be done in that order. The idea is to gather everything in the whole house of a given category all in one spot and attack the category at once.

I started with clothes, and it was pretty easy. I don't have a lot of clothes to begin with because it's not really a priority for me. Even so, I managed to give away a box full to Goodwill. I got rid of my turtlenecks. I hadn't worn them in forever, and I had been hanging onto them in the hopes that someday I might move back home. I thanked them for keeping me warm at work in frigid San Francisco and sent them on their way. There's not much call for them in Phoenix. I gave away jeans I hadn't been able to wear for years that I had been keeping in the hope of someday fitting back into them. I got rid of all the socks that didn't have partners.

The book recommends a folding method where, instead of stacking clothes in drawers, they're placed in the drawers vertically. I found the description in the book incomprehensible, but more spatially-minded people have made illustrated guides, and once I saw some videos, it made sense. I mostly followed the guidelines, but I still hang my shirts and pants in the closet. My dresser isn't big enough to hold them. The book recommends against buying commercial storage solutions, but my folded clothes wouldn't stay in the vertical position by themselves, so I bought some drawer dividers. They were money well spent.

Next up was books. Although I read a lot, I don't own many books. They're heavy to move, expensive, and take up a lot of space. I do most of my reading either in e-book form or I'll check things out from the library. I still managed to part with half of my books without feeling any loss. I decided that videos and DVDs fit into this category, so I took care of them here instead of with the miscellaneous stuff.

Energized by my early successes, I moved on. Because my papers and miscellaneous things were all jumbled together, I decided to attack both categories at once instead of separating them out and dealing with them individually. It took me 3 days, but I made huge progress. I had several Rubbermaid bins full of random disorganized junk that I had been carting from place to place every time I moved. I stored them in my closet and under my bed.

After going through them, I got rid of a very large portion of my belongings. I had things I didn't remember owning. It felt freeing. My apartment felt buoyant and light. I wouldn't have been surprised at this point if the aforementioned unicorns actually had started frolicking.

I didn't have much in the way of sentimental items - a few photo albums and awards and a quilt or two. I did, during the great purge, find my mission call (the letter I received informing me where and when I would be performing my missionary service), which I thought I had lost 10 years ago. That was a nice find. I packed my sentimental items away in one of the now-emptied plastic bins.

I also gave away some furniture I wasn't using - a video cabinet, an end table, and a shoe rack.

In all, I ended up throwing away 11 bags of trash, donating 2 carloads of stuff to Goodwill, donating several old cell phones to a domestic violence shelter, donating several pairs of old eyeglasses to the Lion's Club, selling unused jewelry to a jewelry store, and selling stacks of books to the used book store. I stacked the emptied plastic bins inside one another in the back of my closet. I'll use them as moving boxes for my next move - they're sturdier than cardboard.

I made about $50 on books and $25 on jewelry. If, by some miracle, I earn enough money to make itemizing my taxes make sense this year, I'll get a few hundred more dollars in tax write-offs. And I've stopped dreaming about everything bursting into flames.

However, I think I overdid it in places. On several occasions since I did this project, I ended up needing something I gave away a week previously. I gave away a measuring tape because I had two - and then the one I kept broke. Etc. I probably spent all of my book and jewelry earnings on replacing stuff I ended up needing.

Also, the laws of thermodynamics didn't get repealed as a result of the project. My desk still gets cluttered, the dishes still need to be done, and the cats still shed on the floor. The dryer still eats socks, so I once again have a pile of partnerless foot coverings. In short, I have not been liberated from housework.

I'm glad I did it, since it is nice to be free of all the stuff I didn't need, but I think the promise of the book is oversold. The Kon-Mari method isn't a cure-all or the one true way of organizing one's living space. I haven't lost any weight, I haven't found a boyfriend, and while I got a new job, I don't think it was because I did a little spring cleaning. I do, however, love the folding method. It was worth it just for that.

My final act as part of the project will be to get rid of the book itself. Thank you, now goodbye.