First there was the best-selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, then the Netflix series, “Tidying up with Marie Kondo” – and now, there’s the Kon Mari memes:
Just to clarify the above meme: apparently Marie Kondo has never said anything about only having 30 books. She doesn’t use numbers as a rule, rather it is about only keeping the items which “spark joy” for you. For some people that might be 3 books, for others 30, 300, or 3000 … 😉
I thought you’d have to be living under a rock to have missed this cultural phenomenon – however it’s strictly a “middle aged thing” according to Miss 22, who had no idea what I was talking about when I showed her the memes.
So how has one sugary sweet Japanese lady managed to create a tidying revolution, making a tidy sum in the process?
What’s So Great about Kon Mari?
With the Kon Mari method, the initial clean out is so life-changing you will never go back to your pigsty ways have to do a big clean out again. Supposedly.
I’ve been watching the show on Netflix, and the approach involves de-cluttering by category rather than room, in the following order: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous (think kitchen, bathroom, garage), and then you are ready to tackle the hardest category of all: sentimental.
You go through your house and pull out every item in a category before deciding what “sparks joy” and is worth keeping, and what to get rid of – and instead of casually flinging that stained and pilly old sweater into a garbage bag, you are meant to thank the item before reverently putting it aside.
Marie Kondo is particularly well known for her method of folding clothes, towels and the like, and her love of boxes to keep things organised. So far I’ve seen families swamped by “stuff”, a widow tearfully dealing with her late husband’s possessions, and a gay writer clinging to the hundreds of artworks and stories he wrote as a child. That’s a lot of mess!
Key Principles of the Kon Mari Method
I like some of the key principles which underlie the Kon Mari method, such as:
- Gratitude;
- Joy;
- Mindfulness; and
- Respect (for belongings).
If it seems almost like a religion, you’re not far wrong – it is heavily based in Shinto tradition.
While it’s interesting to see the mess other people live with (and compare it to your own), and the transformation of their homes, I take it all with a grain of salt. I wanted to check it out to see what all the fuss is about, and I may have – ahem – put a couple of tips into practice, but I don’t think I’ll ever be a bona fide card-carrying member of the Kon Mari club.
I mean, if you are only going to keep the items that “spark joy” – I don’t think any tea towel is ever gonna spark joy in my heart – and yet we need tea towels!
Anyways I got playing around with Imgflip and made up some of my own Kon Mari memes – hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them!
Are you tempted to join the Kon Mari club or do you think it’s all just a one minute wonder?