The hit Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” is inspiring people to keep possessions that “spark joy,” and get rid of the rest.
So, maybe it’s no surprise that the show may also be sparking an increase in thrift store donations around the country.
Lately, it seems like everyone has been talking about the new series from Kondo, the Japanese organizing expert who first came on the scene with her 2014 best-selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”
Although resolving to clean up stuff is a typical New Year’s resolution, there is rarely something as motivating to kick-start the process as a reality makeover show that’s not about weird hoarders. Binge-watching a cheery woman in a flippy skirt who drives up to people’s ranch houses or apartments in a black van and patiently shows them how to deal with their baseball cards or sneaker collections is inspiring. (Reminder: The KonMari Method, as it is called, asks you to hold each possession and ask yourself whether it sparks joy, and if it doesn’t, thank it for its service and let it go.)
Kondo’s office issued a statement from her about the response to the Netflix show. “The fact that people have reacted with such speed is beyond anything I could have imagined and my wildest expectations! . . . It’s my sincere hope that the items at the donation centers will find new owners for whom they will truly spark joy.”
To start decluttering the Kondo way, you tackle your possessions by category rather than by room. Begin with clothes, then move on to books, then paper, then miscellaneous items, and last sentimental items. With each category, you make a large pile of your objects and hold them one at a time. As you hold the item, you ask yourself “Does this spark joy?”
If you feel joy, you keep the item. If you don’t, you thank the object and place it in your donation bin. Kondo admits the process is time-consuming, but humans have been keeping time for 5,000 to 6,000 years. What is a day — or a week, or a month — spent making your home a more pleasant place to live in the face of millennia?
The most revolutionary part of the KonMari method isn’t the joy or the gratitude or even the shift in how you view time. Kondo never pressures her clients to get rid of more than they want to or judges them on what sparks joy. She allows people to feel however they need to about their prized possessions and focuses her boundless energy on tidying what’s left.
