How Marie Kondo Helped Me Face My Biggest Home Organization Challenge

I was thrilled to learn that Marie Kondo herself (!) was available to help teach me tips for KonMari Method maintenance. We spent an afternoon together, targeting my biggest pain points. While it's doubtful my home will ever look quite as immaculate as hers (especially after a long work week), I walked away from the afternoon feeling empowered and inspired to maintain my space. Take a look at the video herself for her tips, and be sure to check out her now blog: blog.konmari.com/

[@jomama81ranch8]

When I was in Jr. High and all through HS, I cleaned an elderly neighbors home every Saturday morning. She was on oxygen 24/7 due to emphysema. The first thing I did in her house, was take a damp, white cloth and wipe down the tops of every door frame in her upstairs, every windowsill, and every baseboard, moving furniture like the sofa to get to the baseboard behind it. When I was finished... the white cloth was still immaculately white!! I then vacuumed, scrubbed the toilet by hand … which freaked me out at first, as at home we had never put our bare hands into our own toilet. let alone somebody else's house!!, I then swept and mopped the front porch/ entryway/ stairs, and then swept, mopped, and used a machine to polish her kitchen floor... which then looked like polished marble! This wonderful lady, who had always kept her house immaculate, once told me that when looking back on her life, she wished that she had spent more time with their only child while he was growing up, rather than being so particular in making sure her house was spotless! There is nothing wrong with this method of cleaning, and I love to organize and clean... but have never forgotten what Violette told me all those years ago. It is OK to let some things slide from time to time, and we shouldn't freak out over it!

[@meisjeViv]

I wholeheartedly agree with you - always having a spotless home shouldn't be your first priority, things like family and friends are much more important. That said, it takes so much less time and energy to just keep up with your living space when all your things have a place. Because when they have a space, it will only take between five and thirty minutes, depending on how large your space is and how long you have not used your time tidying, to put all your belongings in place, also making it much easier to clean the house, which I guess we all need to do sometimes even if it isn't our priority.

[@heartsockmonkey]

In my husband’s culture, the women have traditionally been praised and expected to keep immaculate homes. My mother-in-law has made comments to me about amazing women in her family who kept their homes like “museums”. Personally, I enjoy a neat and clean house. But I won’t drive myself or my kids crazy to get it. Statues and paintings live in museums - not real people.

[@scnurse]

Reading the closed captions while Marie is speaking Japanese sparks joy.

[@OHbabe574]

I read her books and love her ideas. I have no idea what she is saying but I could watch and listen to her forever

[@cassidygard]

Marie's voice is so calming! I read the book two years ago and it completely changed my life. I love the simplicity of asking myself it something "sparks joy." When it doesn't, I donate it. It keeps my space tidy and I literally get anxiety now when I'm in family member's houses and there is clutter. I think it's an older generation of people keeping everything like receipts. It's amazing now with technology the way you can streamline spaces so you don't have to store stuff. Amazing video!

[@amylisa4803]

Marie Kondo is like an angel

[@ilargia_]

marie kondo is the embodiment of a sparkle of joy

[@PriyankaUppal]

Marie is just the cutest human being on this planet. Her book Spark Joy forever changed my life for better! Just watching her talk is total spark joy..so relaxing!

[@diyraven]

I would LOVE to see Marie’s home.

[@afrikaasantiago652]

Imagine that images of her house were filtrated and it was the messiest house we've ever seen 😂😂

[@dthtr1]

@@afrikaasantiago652 No way, it's impossible 😊

[@mariachaernova7510]

An empty room?))))

[@tiatemjentzudir4998]

@@mariachaernova7510 😂

[@diyd.dfabulouspastel6645]

Me too

[@louisematlock2491]

This is just fabulous. I have read her books but it was lovely to see her and how elegant and interesting she is. Thank you.

[@annahastholm]

Marie Kondos method started a in me a process that ended up to change my life, in positive! It was a start to a spiritual path, it is so much more than folding, and in my opinion, she knows it very well ♥️

[@hacun3jr]

Cringe 😂

[@sistasunshine1697]

Marie is a beautiful soul. Because of her i understand that its the small things that bring joy in this life❤❤❤

[@jaytamayo4694]

She is sooooo cute. Her personality makes my heart warm. The feeling of I wanna marry her. Crazy me! And she looks like Zhang Ziyi too.

[@wiggitywhacked]

I like how you put subtitles for the both of you. Appreciate that

[@dharmistastampwala4127]

I doing this in my own library and I am going through the whole process to find the right path and what I want for the best of my experience in i am putting like main star or main singer. Like k.k or rajesh khanna

[@dharmistastampwala4127]

I doing this in my own library and I am going through the whole process to find the right path and what I want for the best of my experience in i am putting like main star or main singer. Like k.k or rajesh khanna

[@BeccaL2016]

The fist thing first, stop buying! =)

[@dthtr1]

Yes, resist to black friday.

[@rilakkuma2875]

@@dthtr1 lol

[@bellevoor]

But....I need food???

[@BeccaL2016]

Isabelle Voor buy what you need.. yet it’s hard to do... I know that ...

[@patriciakelly69]

Marie makes you look at a whole lot of clutter differently. I read her book a couple of years ago and it just made sense. But watching the videos of people she’s helped to sort out their homes is inspirational. I’ve virtually cleared my house of stuff that I’ve had for years and kept thinking I might need it or it might fit me next year. Not now, it’s gone to hopefully some one who can use items donated. Last is family photos and I’m not looking forward to that task. But I now have a clear head and I know where stuff is that I want. I love the fact that it is not minimising stuff you love. You keep the colour in your home 🏡 and live around the things that she says spark ⚡️ Joy. Than you Marie. X

[@roselieber]

Patricia, the photos were the hardest part for me- put it off for a few months. Even tho they were in nice boxes I felt so much better when I finally did it- you'll feel really accomplished, lighter- it's so worth it. :-)

[@hippityhop812]

Love Marie Kondo and her show on Netflix is great!

[@philipmurray9796]

Marie sparks joy, will keep her!

[@love_agapi_m3976]

Literally I need that boxes method. Great tips. I am surrounded by them

[@RunwrightReads]

Love this. She is really amazing at what she does. The idea that you take the tags off immediately to accept the item in your life is one that causes me a little anxiety because for a while, I might hem and haw about whether I want to return it or not. That just seems like such a freeing exercise. Thank you for sharing this video.

[@roselieber]

Yes- and if the tags are still attached, even if you can't return them, you can get more money for them at consignment shops. I generally do that until I'm ready to wash and wear something, but then I used to own a consignment shop. ;-) I adore Marie and her books- I think that might be the only lesson I didn't pass.

[@Nashwan660]

Love the last bit -all your sparks joy items need a home! Wow😚

[@headachebaby]

I love how Marie thanked the pantry...it's so cute!

[@brightsunshine8260]

I love Marie Kondo, she has such a beautiful energy and way of looking at things!! ❤💕 ... But there's a tip missing in the list: "buy less stuff" (Edit: and I mean, not just the lovely woman in the video, but everyone who buys way too much and much more than one truly needs...)

[@whoisappie]

Bright Sunshine i now generally ask myself if something really sparks joy before i buy it

[@Eagle-gl7bq]

Bright Sunshine I think Marie said this point, in another way: aware of the quantity u have.

[@eyecandiiz]

Wow. I thought she knew a lot more English. Love you both. 💕. Glad you got some organization done.

[@aimandurrani2228]

Marie is such a ray of sunshine 🌞!!!

[@jaytee2642]

Oh my goodness, she's so sweet.❤ I have the audio version of Tidying Up, but of course it's narrated by someone else. She's amazing.

[@Missmercibeaucoup]

I'm in love with Marie Kondo 😍

[@mary-annz.reynolds7778]

I liked your video. FYI: it's difficult to read the words in yellow.

[@Gabi-iw5um]

this video is perfection

[@marianacarlucci1212]

How come this video has less than 4 minutes? We need a whole hour! 😍😍😍😍

[@leticiabills5991]

Yes!!

[@kdhovis8665]

We have to subscribe to Netflix I guess.

[@GoodMedicine]

Haha!! Just a lil inspiration to kick our butts into gear I guess !! 😅 🤙🏼🌻

[@DaniDiva182]

There's 1000 other videos.

[@teleanusiteleanca6876]

Ahhhhh so lovely.... Marie Kondo speaking English is breathtaking! Love your book... which I stole it 😈

[@lauracanadasdelacruz3063]

Marie kondo seems like mary poppins somehow

[@mdmkoo]

Love Marie's voice!

[@pknf4855]

Is there someone else who watch it to see marie like me?

[@malouplata4483]

Can I adopt your way of being sparkly joy of organizing things? Thank you.. Love to meet you 😘👍🌸

[@kdhovis8665]

I didn't watch entire video but it seems this homeowner is shopping a lot. Tackling clutter includes slowing down what is coming in to your home.

[@Kat-n-Ollie]

KD Hovis she still has to declutter and then find a place for everything and put it back. We all shop too much which is why we have so much stuff.

[@sintia4397]

Her way of living is relate to a minimal style Perfectly

[@estermarmo2429]

Como é delicada a Marie!! Q graça!!

[@KmmBev]

I'm always amazed that people are ok just throwing things everywhere and don't live mindfully.

[@norapelamo5079]

Where is that leatherjacket from?

[@marikasun4498]

Lovely 🥰

[@aikofujita2420]

It was nice to listen to the Japanese! I live in Japan

[@manjiabanti]

But if we remove tag immediately we cannot return if need be

[@TheAuroraRed]

she teach me a lesson that how to organize is relate to organize my way of thought

[@MariaLopez-hc2nm]

I can't see the subtitles!

[@KR-qh5rs]

2:18 that cute look at the camera 😍

[@akas224]

how can she keep her skin so smooth?

[@voicetube]

Who else discovered Marie Kondo today and is now binge watching videos having to do with her and her organizational methods?

[@girvidotto5502]

que maravilha!!!

[@49lucky]

Yes I sell everything now tired of mess...

[@ninarosesalonsdethesvaisel2013]

Elle est pleine de douceur ce petit bout de femme. Elle a transformée notre façon de ranger. Tout devient facile après

[@edwarda.5013]

"There's a lot of stuff we get every single day>' Maybe you should first cut down on your hyper-consumerism.

[@Stangya888]

Exactly. It’s disgusting 🤢

[@juliahg9668]

"Expired" food is mostly still fine

[@kittykautz153]

Julia Hg I would definitely eat those spoon cookies!

[@Emerelle90]

Julia Hg sure, but the question is, would you even eat it? If ut already expired it probably means that nobody was interested in eating it. So you keep it for another year?

[@rinchhensherpa6972]

Haha i know right. Those are from Paris 😂 So what they are expired 😂😂😂

[@amygregg1658]

Exactly what I came here to say! Throwing out food just because it’s past it’s “best by” date is very wasteful.

[@dancenow1337]

Right, a McDonalds hamburger will also not change if you leave it out 10 years. Probably still as fine to eat then as on day 1. Or rather still as cancerous.

[@closingscenes]

Curious about her book after watching a few clips about her method. But I feel like these organizing tips are all common sense...

[@boatie627]

closingscenes sometimes common sense is not very common

[@sibelb4152]

She has certain philosophies, and also certain aspects to her method that are not common or default ways of tidying organizing. I read the book and appreciate having learned them, even though I'm not sure they warranted a whole book. Read it a few years ago, this is what I remember. In terms of methods, she goes from category to category instead of room to room as people usually do. So for example, gather all of your clothes from everywhere in your home - closets, entryway, basement, everywhere, put them in one pile so you can mentally gather how much you have, then the criteria is not e.g. "have I worn it in last 6 months" or anything like that, is it "does this item spark joy?". Simple as that, yes or no. And you must hold it in your hands while you decide this. You can't just visually pass over the rack or the drawer, you must do it individually and physically for each item. Another question in addition to spark joy, is "is this item something I want to take with me into my future life that I am now envisioning for myself?" Of course you have to have done that meditation on life as its own task prior. You do other categories the same way: books, papers, miscellaneous, sentimental, etc. She does offer various concrete tips on organizing these categories. It should be common sense, but it is actually quite different from the default way we usually see organizing. Her method is to cull the space to only those items that spark joy, THEN organize those (which becomes effortless, a matter of only a few shoeboxes here and there). Whereas people often take their house full of stuff they don't want and go buy all sorts of organizing caddies and doodads, just adding to their piles of stuff and never successfully tackling the problem. The end goal of her method is to essentially take the work out of everyday/weekly time-consuming "tidying", and let your culled and properly homed belongings basically do the tidying for you. To allow people to escape the cycle of constantly trying to tidy too much stuff that never can be, at least easily, or for very long. I do recommend the book, even if it is perhaps a bit repetitive at times it is a quick read and I think the information is worth it. She has an interesting Shinto-based perspective to material items, granting them a certain reverence. While I don't share it completely, it was interesting to learn about. And aspects of it I did take with me. E.g. while culling belongings, those things that are hard to get rid of, she has tips on the thought process to help with that. E.g. to thank the object for how it has served you, for what it has taught you, for the love it represents if it happens to be a gift from someone else, etc. And the central theme of only owning belongings you truly love and appreciate is of course the main thing I took away. Even if you were to empty your space more than you like, what you have done is make room for things you truly love to come into the space. It's a quick read, and offers an interesting perspective that is indeed new to most people. If your library has it I definitely recommend it.

[@susanswinskey8573]

Hard to read the light printed captions.

[@vivihlocutora7111]

Muito bom...só queria que tivesse legenda Português*(Brasil

[@nuruls.azzahra5384]

sow inspiring

[@pinktaeyang8190]

I love the video but I cannot read the yellow subs 🙁

[@user-pu3og7rl7x]

かたずけにたいする愛を感じました🌹🌸😌💞素晴らしいですね😃わくわくします。

[@iamakari7666]

久しぶりに見たら海外進出しとったわ‼︎

[@meru7591]

We need Marie to organise a house without storage options.

[@nida8516]

Marie Kondo is a fairy

[@honorthelegend1]

Tag off wait, it may have to go bsck

[@berthaz2583]

Wish they had show the open pantry to see what it looks like in the end.

[@cristianesilvagomes6720]

O vida queria saber inglês desse momento

[@lr6765]

Lo he necesito saber, yo tengo estantes, no cajones ....

[@johanridia4619]

marie gonna cry seing my room

[@haaadiiil.dz.0975]

راني وحدي وقيل؟

[@leilalila2130]

قرات كتابك حقا رائع نحن العرب و الحمدلله لا نعاني من الكركبة

[@hanahana-iy2cn]

هم عندهم ملابس كثيرة حسيت أني فقيرة 😭

[@joygernautm6641]

Who the hell keeps make up on a white bedspread😂. I kind of had a feeling that that “catchall area” was set up for the video segment

[@joc2550]

I see marie kondo as a disney princess idk why hahaha maybe bec she likes to clean up 😄😅

[@dicasdatania]

CANAL DICAS DA TANIA BRASILEIRA SUPER INSCRITA NO SEU CANAL E MEU SUPER LIKE É SEMPRE AMO SEU TRABALHO FÃ NUMERO 1

[@akirakairo943]

روعه

[@idamaya3398]

One reason its hard to be tidy Living with a lot of people that is so sloppy and lazy 🙄

[@booklover4330]

People with big families can still make their homes relatively tidy. If you have kids, or siblings living in the house, it's good to start them young, putting dirty clothes in hampers (make a game out of it), help fold their laundry, instead of just doing it yourself. Have days where everyone does chores (sweep, vacuum, mop, do dishes, et cetra). It's better when everyone joins in. While a clean house is nice, it should also be a lively home, a little bit of clutter isn't necessarily a bad thing. Depending on how young the kids are, get colorful boxes for specific toys. (For instance put cars, trains and the like in one box, put stuff like legos and other block toys in another box, put barbies, dolls and the like in another box, et cetra. Easier for kids to get to the toys that they want to play with, so that way they aren't throwing everything out from the toy box. (Again depending on how old the kids are).

[@DaniDiva182]

She'll be a powerhouse once she hits puberty... :-)

[@mervea9071]

Marie sweety girl 🌹❤️ sempatik

[@djurdjicaivkovic36]

I nide that Marie Kondo in mi house🤔

[@RockPhonic]

I wonder how much she charges for moving some books around? She must be making quite a bit of cash. There's loads of youtube videos of her helping people tidy up. Those flights from Japan aren't free.

[@amalamal-ge5tr]

Mary Poppins des temps modernes 😍😍

[@gayemarianesfox2405]

Marie is cute as a button. This stuff just seems like common sense to me though.

[@desertrose00]

i find it so weird when westerners oohhh aahhh on eastern philosophies... stuff that we easterners think as very basic. LOL

[@Zrfhjrfjjcvhj]

Really?? She first became famous in Japan because most Japanese have way too much stuff. This is not East or West thing, but a modern social issue.

[@maggierose97]

A good book on the minimalist lifestyle was written by a Japanese man living in Japan. He had too much stufg that he thought he needed or would eventually use. Got rid of most of it. Book is Goodbye, Things. They have too much stuff for the same reasons we do. Very relatable book.

[@senornegro2601]

If she stop buying

[@ariadne1683]

This woman is living like there is no tomorrow... Seeing all of this stuff, cartons and packages, the old food in the kitchen she will throw away, all that plastic and so on...honestly it makes me angry. I would like my children to live their live on a healthy and sustainable planet...and people like this are drenching it in waste and play a part in contributing to it =(

[@pedrohenriquelopes6495]

Jesus what are you saying ??

[@GoodMedicine]

@@pedrohenriquelopes6495 😂😂😂

[@GoodMedicine]

O Dear, I get your point +Ba Nana But I guess I've seen *aLOT* WORSE .. I'm a zero-waster consumer as much as possible, so I understand 101% of what you're saying. But I think gosh if that ladyisputting herself on the spot, clearing clutter with Marie Kondo , etc. Then she is doing MORE than 90% of the folks that live in the same (or worse) scenario. That's just my opinion tho. I believe the lady hosts a vlog (or something?) which reviews merchandise ???

[@TheAuroraRed]

somehow less is more

[@farihanasir8606]

Quran will teach you a simple yet effective organizing tip ... *Remove whatever is Excess* This rule will prevent you from . wasting hours on watching organizing videos greed for collecting stuff Increase charity Declutter your house Increase visual calmness 🌷

[@rinchhensherpa6972]

Those are from Paris 😂😂😂 But expired 🤦

[@ms.chelleg2068]

Japanese sounds funny 🤭

[@thelastbloomer9419]

The translation was light color not easy to read ,it would be better if it was black and also dub her boice

[@nursen2106]

one doesn't see that much. just little shots here and there. that kind of curated filming - I don't like that, when it actually is about sharing knowledge or sort of documentary. it shouldn't look that much like an art film or an advertising clip. this could have been very helpful and isnpiring, but it's not. yes, I read her books few years ago. and until now, none of this videos or series ever came close, to what I have learned from the books. I only wanted to have a chance to see the details of the end results, she described. what a pitty.

[@paraskevidimoraga5960]

Why all the people she helps are non-Asian? Literally, I don't think it needs much brain to declutter and tidy your home, I can think all these ideas by myself.

[@mas8844]

A little bit frustrated...I thought she could speak fluent English....

[@PHAD-tc2ic]

Disingenuous American acting out.

[@hacun3jr]

Cringe

[@DaniDiva182]

Watching this is making my IQ go down. The "box in box method"?? ffs.