Thoughts on Marie Kondo and her organizing metholody

[christie]

I am all for being organized. I am also a proponent of "re-homing", donating, garage sale/consignment, recycling, and last-resort landfill. But I do have a bit of an issue with an item having to bring you "joy". A warm, functional pair of winter boots may not bring me joy but those boots are a necessity in my geographic location. I have no plans to remove them from my home and find a pair that brings me joy. Am I happy these boots keep my feet warm and dry - yes I am. But I would never claim they bring me joy.

[Use Less]

I'm with you, Christie. I think that "joy" thing may mean something a little different in Asian cultures than you & I are reading it.

As to useful items, I, too, am happy to have warm boots. But they're boots. I gave away a pair that were a little difficult to put on, and some that rubbed my frozen toe joint wrong. That is roughly the opposite philosophy: I handed off things that plain ol' hurt or annoyed me when I tried to use them

My coffee mugs are like that, too. There are a few that were gifts and a couple I chose for various reasons. If I only kept the "joy-giving" mugs, I quickly enough probably wouldn't have ANY, and then I'd be annoyed and unhappy. I did give away a couple. One didn't hold enough coffee, so it got cold too fast, or I had to go back to the pot too soon. Another had too narrow a base and was likely to tip. Like the ill-fitting boots.

I won't be watching her, and I'm fine with that. I have my own scheme, and I'm sticking to it. 

[Maura]

Yea, "joy" seems a bit far fetched when deciding to keep or let go of a pair of snow boots. But, think about people who keep all kinds of knick knacks and/or clothing they will never wear again. You need some kind of barometer.

Everyone knows you should purge, but she tells you how. Use it? Love it? My friend uses this method and has been able to let of of things, especially stuff she has been keeping for sentimental reasons but really does not have the room to store, as well as her closet. She is never going to work in a corporate office again, how many suits does one need? Be honest and purge your closets and drawers.

She did teach me how to fold underwear. She does give one permission to give away gifts that have no use.

[Skandi]

I read the 30 books bit.. No way, I like looking at full shelves of books they give me joy collectively! I'm not at all a hoarder in the house (other than books) I can't stand random collectables, but I have picked up two coffee sets and a tea set when we don't drink coffee and who wants their coffee or tea in a tiny little cup anyway? But, two came from my gran and one came from his gran both of which are now dead. I may remove the Royal Copenhagen one I got from my gran but it is the only tea set of course! The coffee set from her was one my Grandfather bought her from Japan while he was in the navy and they were courting, can't sell that (it's also very pretty)It annoys me having three unused sets but I can't bring myself to throw them out.
Same with all the glasses we got from his gran, Snaps, sherry, port, brandy, whisky, white wine, red wine, champagne and water glases... I mean when am I going to host a formal dinner that requires all of those?! But they all match and it seems a shame to split the set.

[Use Less]

Oh, BOOKS!! I hadn't heard that one. I love books. NO WAY. I have two beautiful bookshelves my Dad built into the corners of my living room. I counted just one shelf of the 24. 22 books on that ONE Some are mine, and some were my folks', but how I have them all organized looks so nice. Not every shelf is full, and a couple have family china pieces.
I am systematic about the paperbacks I pick up for pennies. The ones waiting are on the right side of a closed cupboard below the shelves. If I like the book well enough to read it again, I move it to the left. If I think I want to keep it long-term, I find a place on a shelf. If I have no further interest, it goes in the bag for the church resale shop.

[tenbusybees]

Boots themselves, no joy. Toasty toes, bliss!

So perhaps where the joy from an item comes from might be the better question asked.

I have watched a youtube video, not her new show, and honestly, she drives me kinda bonkers. Weirdly child-like. And that voice is just a bit too chirpy i think.

She's selling her method so it has to be over the top i guess.

[feather]

Marie Kondo, I've never heard of her.
I popped over to her website. She does pretty much the opposite of the feather way of sparking joy.
My way of sparking joy is to make a mess. DS's birthday is today, so we built a tower of power aids, with ribbons, and a boston cream cake on top, as a surprise for him. Three stories high and about 100 bottles of power aid. The more mess, the more joy in our house.

Welcome new person, christie, good to see new faces. When you have time, introduce yourself, maybe tell us a little about you, or maybe I missed that.

[Mari-in-IN]

Jan 17, 2019 18:26:16 GMT feather said:

Marie Kondo, I've never heard of her.
I popped over to her website. She does pretty much the opposite of the feather way of sparking joy.
My way of sparking joy is to make a mess. DS's birthday is today, so we built a tower of power aids, with ribbons, and a boston cream cake on top, as a surprise for him. Three stories high and about 100 bottles of power aid. The more mess, the more joy in our house.

Welcome new person, christie , good to see new faces. When you have time, introduce yourself, maybe tell us a little about you, or maybe I missed that.

 I have been thinking the same thing...  Welcome christie!  Would love to hear a little bit about you - of course if you do feel like sharing...
~Mari

[susannah]

Articles - and praises - of the KonMari method seems to be everywhere online lately. If I have to name any sort of philosophy, I guess I tilt more toward the William Morris quote “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Because I can think of a lot of things in my house that are useful but I can't honestly say they spark joy. I'm looking at YOU, just about everything in my broom closet. Don't worry, you guys - you're safe here.

Or maybe I just don't get it. I'll admit having very idly read a bit about this method, but after 60 years on this planet I know what works for me. Any my home doesn't seem to be cluttered, it doesn't drive me crazy - in fact, I look around and it makes me happy, happy, happy. What I do works for me, for us - and I say this despite being married to a person with some strong pack rat tendencies. 

feather, I totally get the joy from making a mess thing. I'm planning on turning the grandkids loose with another "excavating kit" this weekend. It'll drive their father nuts, but as I always tell him - chill out, it's MY house, my mess, my cleaning. This'll bring joy to the grandchildren which will spread to all of us as we share in their excitement. And then I'll use those very useful but not necessarily joy sparking items that live in the broom closet to bring a tiny bit more order to the house.

[susannah]

I was thinking about the bringing joy criteria again this morning. Honestly, I don't think there are a lot of things in my home that I would describe as bringing me joy - besides a few pieces of priceless artwork created by my grandchildren. I'm going to sum it all up by saying this: it's not the "stuff" in my home that brings me joy, it's the people.

Again, I realize that I haven't really dove into this method so I am the furthest thing from an expert on it. My comment is simply about the criteria that an item must "spark joy" in order to be a keeper.

[Maura]

Skandi, you can use those glasses or tea sets to create an art piece. High shelves, small light to accent cuts. Better than stored in a box.

As for books, I like to keep books about my hobbies. I use them as a reference source. Otherwise, there is the public library.

[krisinmi]

I read Marie Kondo's book a few years ago and really don't quite understand why so many people think her method is the cat's meow. To me, like a lot of you mentioned, I have a lot of things that don't really create joy/excitement in me but yet they are so useful and/or needed for my lifestyle that I wouldn't dream of getting rid of them. Things like: canning/preserving equipment, reference books (I don't think I'll ever convert to reading everything electronically), seasonal sports equipment that may or may not actually get used every year depending on weather and schedules, gardening equipment. . .

Now as far as items that I don't consider 'tools' for my daily life, my philosophy isn't so much "does this item bring me joy?" as it is "does this item annoy me when I see it?"

[Use Less]

A couple friends have gone into Marie K.'s ideas whole-hog. It bothers me more than it should: their lives, their stuff But I have been thinking about what it is that gets to me, and I have some ideas.

I don't like the idea that my friends "of a certain age" seem to be closing so many doors or abandoning so many interests. Choosing between or going more deeply into something is one thing, but giving up (on art, music, books, or a once-treasured collection) is quite another.

I don't see why people think they need to get everything done, out, or in good order for their kids' sake. It has been a chore to deal with our parents' stuff, no two ways. And though I can't call it an advantage, in the long run it's good the self-serving and manipulative character of the most-difficult sib was more clearly revealed, so we can protect ourselves. When I moved "home" suddenly, having claptrap to sort and Dad's many boxes of papers to check before recycling was therapeutic for me. It gave me something to do besides stew over my troubles. I found amusing and endearing things that helped me get used to them both being gone, too.

I think I am getting more like my Dad. In good ways. Weeks before he passed on, he was still talking about getting pizza and doing some repairs together once he felt a little better. (He couldn't swallow solids after a while, and was confined to a hospital bed for his last few weeks.) I want to be ready to do and go until, like him, I literally can't. Giving away, selling or throwing out SO much feels like closing the doors way too soon .

The Dylan Thomas' poem line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" has always sounded right to me. 

[christie]

Once the "Marie craze" is over, I wonder how many (former) followers will regret their actions and spend (again) to replace item(s)? Though I have read thrift shops et al are the current beneficiaries these days.

[Deleted]

I have seen her as well, meh. She actually never does any of the work! Most of the people on her channel have too much stuff. I could motivate people, go empty out their closet and leave. I have a black dress for funerals, it brings me no joy, but, I need it.

[Woodpecker]

I'm doing my best to clean out and give away or toss things! Certain things, I cannot throw away. I still have all the special BD cards, mother's day, from my children. I kept a beautiful black coat of my mom's. It's a swing coat, all black with sequence on the bodice. I do wear that

Then there's a lot of things, that over the years our friend and neighbor gave us. He gave me his sister's egg warmer, a pair of tiny green shoes from WW1 era. He was a well known gentleman in our village. His ice boat was still in our garage when we moved in. Oh the stories he told about ice boating on our creek will never be forgotten. He gave us his first Ice boat silver plate for winning a race.

Things like I mentioned above will never be tossed away, they all bring me joy, in one way or another.

[viggie]

I found the book to be good motivation when I was simplifying and downsizing over the last couple years and that helped me get to where I wanted to be. I didn't do everything any one author or approach suggested, but they each helped me re-evaluate why I was keeping things and how I was organizing. I did lots of little things that added up like switch to multi use kitchen appliances (my instantpot replaced a rice cooker, pressure cooker, crockpot, yogurt maker, and steamer), got down to a capsule wardrobe, only kept a shelf and a half of reference books and switched to kindle books for everything else, etc. My home feels lighter, there's so little to clean, and I'm not spending on things I don't need anymore which has helped improve my finances.

[christie]

Local paper today had an article about how donations had increased at Goodwill/consignment shops due to Marie Kondo. Goodwill rep noted that the quality of donations has improved.

[mollymckee]

I don't get the joy thing either. I guess most of us live a different kind of life than she does. We cook, craft, garden, have animals,,and many other things city dwellers don't do. All the things we we for ourselves take tools of some kind. They don't necessarily bring us joy, but not having them makes life for us harder. We have lots of books, we like them. We have things that give us joy, pictures of our family, friends art work, family antiques. I am giving things to the kids I think they would like, now. I don't feel like I have to get rid of things so my kids won't have to. I did my grandparents houses and my parents, if everything is here when I die they can do what they want with the stuff. Since three of the four live in rural areas and the forth lives in suburbia, they all live much like we do. Most of it they can use.

[Maura]

I thought there were 3 option. Does it bring you joy? Keep it. Do you use it? Keep it. And then there's the third pile.

I like her idea of bringing everything into the open instead of one thing at a time. Empty your closet then sort. Empty cupboards then sort. Just get it done.

[christie]

When I organize, I also end up with a pile that needs to be put somewhere else in the house. Shouldn't have been where it was or no longer makes sense to keep it where it was.

For items that still have useful life, I ask family then friends if they can use/need the item. Now this isn't always the quickest way to get the items out of the house but I am a firm believer of taking care of friends and family first. The few times I've had items on a garage sale (held at a relative/friend's house for better traffic), I price to sell. Making a bit of cash is nice but more important for the items to *not* come back lol.. Some items end up on the "free" table and I usually will accept a reasonable offer.

Which now reminds me I have a pile of stuff one of the upstairs bedrooms that needs to go. But not today, it is too cold and most places are closed anyway.

[Woodpecker]

Since the weather is so nasty, makes it a perfect day to clean things out! I started on the pie safe today. There’s a top shelf & an open space below. It took me over an hour to clean out the top shelf. We don’t put pie in there😋 just things like packing tape, fishing twine, miscellaneous junk. I got a full brown paper grocery bag, full of junk. It sure feels good. I tend to look things over too hard...it takes quite a while just for one shelf. Geez...There was barely anything we use in there!

[lindy]

I've read a couple, and if I find them I'll post 'em, commentaries about the "spark joy" phrase, which in Japanese is more about inner satisfaction or pleasure in your belongings. There are other schools of thought too.
My kitchen utensils do not spark joy, they are necessary tools in my life. My kitchen utensils,when sorted and stored in a way that makes them easy to find - that "sparks" satisfaction in me. In order to get them sorted I did have to do some weeding. Even after the weeding I kept some utensils I'll never use - a nearly worn to a nub wooden spoon my mother brought new when she emigrated,and a knife my father used to use to sharpen his knives. Every time I touch either of those tools I think of my parents and that "sparks joy" in me.
I have used her clothes folding methods for socks, underwear and tshirts mostly. Done her way I reduced the space needed for pretty much all of them by half - and I can take out one without disturbing the rest. Now there's more room for pants and tops,which I prefer to hang, and space out a bit. I even use a couple shoe boxes to act as dividers (and as I write this I remember that my mother did the same...decades earlier.
I don't follow her ideas about books. I do thin out my collection regularly,always have, but I still have more than 700 in my apartment, most on the book shelves,some on a side table and on the night stands in my bedroom. I use them, some more than others of course, but they all need to stay. The ones I thin out are the books I didn't enjoy, or no longer enjoy or need for one reason or another. I do read books on devices too,because that's handy,especially when travelling,but I'm still a real book person.