What is KonMari?

Heard a lot about Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method of tidying up, but still not got round to finding out what KonMari is? Here’s a list of the key things you need to know about KonMari.

What is the KonMari Method?

Marie Kondo first published her best-selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up in 2014. 

Marie and her book sparked a global cultural phenomenon. 

In 2017 Marie published a follow up book, Spark Joy, an illustrated guide to the Japanese art of tidying.

This book did rather well too. 

Now in 2019 Marie Kondo is the star  of her own Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

The series follows Marie and her trusty interpreter as she helps one U.S family after another to declutter their lives and their homes and as a result spark joy! 

It’s all very inspirational. 

Marie’s method has been dubbed the KonMari method. 

But what exactly is the KonMari Method? 

Is it for everyone?

Does it really have the power to ‘spark joy’ in your life?

So what actually is the KonMari Method?

KonMari is an incredibly method for radically decluttering your home. 

It isn’t for the fainthearted. 

But it is for those who are ready to radically overhaul their living space because they hope it will radically change their lives for the better. 

It’s also rather beautiful that Marie Kondo believes that her KonMari Method can change so many areas of your life beyond having a tidy home. 

She believes a tidy home can help with your health and wellbeing. 

Read on to find out the key elements of the method.

Key facts about KonMari

1. Discarding stuff

The first thing to note is that the title of Marie’s first book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is a little misleading. 

The book could easily be renamed, ‘The Life Changing Magic of Getting Rid of Stuff’. 

Because the focus isn’t on tidying up all the stuff you have. 

The focus is actually on getting rid of stuff that you don’t want, need, like or use. 

In fact, as far as KonMari is concerned, the more stuff you get rid of, the better. 

Because the less stuff you have, the easier it is to keep your home tidy. 

So, I guess the title of the book kind of works in the end 😉 

2. Changing your mindset

The aim is that by following the KonMari Method of discarding and then tidying, you will change your attitude to keeping your home tidy. 

This way your home will stay tidy once and for all. 

Forever. 

Yes… for… ever! 

No more weekly, monthly or annually getting your declutter on. 

With KonMari it is JOB DONE. 

3.  Visualisation

Starting on your KonMari journey to tidying your home means starting off visualising the life that you want to live. 

You can break down this visualisation of your future better life into all the elements you want to improve, remove or introduce into your life.  

This then gives you the inspiration to carry out the job of tidying and changing your life. 

4. Focus on what to keep

This is a biggie. 

When decluttering we often focus on what to throw away. 

But Marie Kondo asks us to focus on what to keep. 

She asks us to hold each thing in our hands and and to ask ourselves 

Does it spark joy?

If the answer is, “yes”, then you keep it. 

But if the answer is, “no”, then discard it. 

Simple, but oh my there can be some grey areas. 

5. Do it all at once

Now this is the possible deal breaker for many of us. 

The KonMari Method is very focused on you doing the job all at once. 

No small bursts of decluttering and tidying. 

The idea behind this is that you overhaul your home and your mindset in one fell swoop, so you need never return to your old cluttered home, cluttered mind ways. 

The massive upside of this is that by doing it in one fell swoop you are removing future chores for years to come. 

So you can see why it’s desirable. 

But the big question is, can you find the time? 

6. It’s storage lite

Contrary to a lot of decluttering methods, Marie Kondo is not keen on filling your home with 101 storage solutions. 

She’s very much of the attitude that storing stuff away only gives and illusion of clutter having been dealt with. 

And I have to say, that does make total sense. 

So Marie suggests you edit and get rid of stuff before you even think about the storage you have and the storage you might need. 

Once you get to the storage stage, KonMari is all about ‘ultimate simplicity’ of storage. 

Marie gives guidelines about what should and shouldn’t be stored together. 

She’s also very much anti-stacks of stuff. 

I have to say she’s right on that score. 

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve stacked a neat pile of T-Shirts or jumpers, only for them to look a mess again within a week. 

7. Folding is essential 

Well with clothing it is. 

Marie is very specific about the way that you fold your clothes. 

You will fold clothes like you’ve never folded clothes before. 

The folding ties in with the avoidance of stacks of clothes. 

The Marie Kondo folding method allows you to store things in a much more accessible way. 

 

8. Tidy by category

Now this is a real biggie. 

Hands up who declutters their wardrobe and then pops out of season clothes and clothes they’re hanging on to just in case into another room or the attic or basement?

My hand is up about as high as it can go here. 

But no. 

This is not the way to deal with decluttering and tidying your stuff. 

Marie prescribes dealing with things by category rather than location. 

So if you’re going to focus on clothing, then focus on ALL the clothing in the home. 

Your clothing, your other half’s clothing, the kid/s’ clothing… all of it.

At the same time. 

The idea is that it gives you true focus and keeps you from simply moving stuff around. 

9. The categories have an order

Marie Kondo is very specific about the order in which you go through the process of discarding and organising your home. This is the order:

• Clothing
• Books
• Papers
• Miscellany
• Mementos 

She breaks down the categories into sub-categories as well. 

There is a real logic to this. 

I for one totally understand why the mementos come last. 

Because I can totally get lost in a whirlwind of nostalgia that has me totally losing focus during a declutter. 

So there you have it. A simple guide to the KonMari Method. 

There’s a whole array of KonMari guides and how-tos online. But if you’re really keen to give KonMari a go, I wholeheartedly suggest you by the original book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. 

Shop

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up | Amazon

Not quite sure that KonMari is for you? 

But still want to make a start decluttering your home?

Fear not, I’ve got a whole bunch of decluttering posts in the Organise & Declutter section. 

Some of the best loved posts include:

15 Things to get rid of now to declutter fast

12 Benefits of decluttering your home

The best way to declutter your home fast – a simple decluttering hack that works!

Pin to save: