Organizing Hacks from the Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo - Part 1

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video I’ll talk about Marie Kondo’s book the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and how if changed my philosophy about keeping stuff.  This is the first of a 2 part series. 

A couple of years ago, we had our basement finished.  Before renovation, it was about 3/4 storage.  Since I was decreasing that to about 1/4 storage, I really needed to get rid of some stuff.  And I was sort of frozen with overwhelmedness, so I picked up this book to give myself some inspiration.  And it worked!  Let me tell you my takeaways. 

The book was a true sensation for a couple of years when it was released.  I would recommend reading it— but here is the main and most important point of her system. You have to change your whole philosophy about the stuff that is in your life. 

So, I come from a family that, let’s say, KEEPS things.  Not hoarder-level keeping, but definitely not super healthy.  My parents keep different things. My mom has a penchant for serving platters and my dad keeps lots of scrap metal.  Finances were tight growing up, so the calculus has always been “will I ever need this?” Or, will I ever use this?”   According to Marie Kondo, that is the wrong question to ask.  That assumes keeping things is the default, resulting in this. The question she asks is “does this spark joy?” Which can be roughly translated into normal human speak as “do I like this?” So, instead the default becomes, choosing the things I like and only keeping that smaller exclusive pile of lovely things. You can see how this disrupts the normal decision pattern. Here’s an example, using my old calculus, I could conceive of a time that I would need 12 spatulas. If I were making multiple cakes — maybe with a Girl Scout troop?  It’s a possible scenario, but not a likely one considering I don’t really bake and it’s been 5 years since my daughter was in Girl Scouts.  The old question results in me keeping all 12 spatulas — just in case. The new question — does it spark joy — results in me keeping the 2 spatulas of different sizes that I like the best. Don’t even ask why I have 12 to begin with. 

Marie Kondo’s system has you pick up each object, hold it in your hand and ask the question.   Does this spark joy?  I’m not sure how much of this is required, but I do think it makes sense to focus on one object at a time and say, do I even like this?  Amazing how many things you have that you don’t even like. Like that pair of shoes that makes your feet hurt, but could possibly round out the right outfit — that doesn’t exist yet. Or the slightly broken sunglasses that you might just need if all of your others go missing.  Now, there are some things in your house that are simply utilitarian.  I’m not going to get sparks of joy from, say, my can opener. But I’ll tell you, it’s sort of amazing once you’ve gotten rid of all of the ones that don’t work well, how much you appreciate and like the can opener that you have chosen!

So, that is the main takeaway — and I’ll tell you, it has been transformative to the way I think about my belongings.  Now things have to meet a certain criteria in order to be “admitted to the club” otherwise, they don’t make it in!  Now, Marie Kondo has a whole system that I just chose not to follow.  It involves, and I kid you not, taking every item you own and putting them in a giant pile in your living room. That — is never going to happen.  She also has some downright voodoo stuff around sentient objects with feelings, which I just discarded out of hand.  But I did get 5 really good tips from her book, which I will share in my next video!  

Let me know what you think.  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!