January 29, 2019

By Janice Simon, The Organized Auntie

“Adam wants you to know that he went through his books and figured out which ones sparked joy,” my friend Carol reported. Adam, my nephew by choice, and his parents were decluttering their home on a cool weekend in January.

When you’re a professional organizer, your nieces and nephews (and your friends, family, co-workers….) have a tendency to report in about their decluttering, and I am quick to dole out the compliments and imaginary gold stars for their efforts.

I’ve been issuing many words of encouragement lately since several of my friends are busy decluttering and tidying their homes, and it had nothing to do with the New Year or resolutions. All it took was watching a few episodes of Marie Kondo’s new Tidying Up series on Netflix, and before they knew it, my friends looking at their stuff and asking “Does this spark joy?”

Based on her best-selling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo visits families and couples who are buried in clutter and helps them downsize their possessions.

The series is even credited for a recent national upsurge in donations to charities, surpassing the usual amounts of donations at the beginning of a new year. The show even sparked Social Media “outrage” from devout bibliophiles about downsizing books.

Kondo, an adorable, eager sprite who loves to tidy, encourages families to downsize using her KonMari process. She organizes by category – clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous) and sentimental items. When tackling each category, pile all of the like items in one pile and go through each one. If it sparks joy, you keep it. If it doesn’t spark joy, you thank it and put it aside for donation. Kondo also folds clothes into tiny rectangles you can line up like soldiers in drawers or storage boxes.

Why is the show such a huge draw? Unlike the Hoarders and Buried: Alive shows which features people with serious hoarding issues, Kondo is visiting average families with typical household clutter, and that makes it more doable and realistic to viewers. As a cheerleader of tidying, Kondo gets a little excited about the messes she encounters. She’s encouraging and positive too.

Kondo encourages all family members to participate in tidying up, easing the workload most women bear at home. The show also highlights America’s obsession with shopping and certain Prime membership boxes.

As a professional organizer, I’m always being asked about what I think of Marie Kondo and her KonMari method. Here’s my take: If a method, a tip, or an organizational and productivity process works for you, then do it. If it doesn’t work for you, then don’t do it, and find another way. No organizational system is perfect, and you can pull out the pieces you can use. Do what works for you.

If piling all of your clothes into one massive pile is overwhelming, then go section by section in your closet. For example, go through all of your t-shirts. Again, you have to do what works for you.

Obviously, not all paperwork you have to keep sparks joy, but it may keep you of the IRS’s bad graces. It just shows you that joy has to be found in different places.