The Marie Kondo Craze

A lot of us have caught the cleaning bug thanks to Netflix’s docuseries Tidying Up. The series follows tidying expert Marie Kondo as she travels around the US helping families and couples with tidying their homes.

Following the show’s airing, Australia went into a cleaning frenzy. Second-hand stores and charities overflowed with people’s discarded goods. eBay and Gumtree listings spiked. People were making trips to the tip and organizing their hard rubbish. And of course, Marie Kondo memes took over the internet. It became impossible to open Facebook and not see a photo of someone’s vertically folded clothes in their drawers.

Australia is definitely in a cleaning craze! But why? There has been dozens of books and shows about cleaning tips in the past. There are literally hundreds of different storage and tidying ideas available on Pinterest. There is also the common sense factor of “just keep your house clean”. Why then, has the Marie Kondo effect taken such a hold on us?

The answer is that Marie gives results! Marie believes that tidying is not something you have to do every day. This is very appealing to almost everyone because who wants to waste their time cleaning every day? Instead, Marie believes you only have to tidy your home ONCE in order to keep it clean. Sure, it is a BIG TIDY. Sure, it will take some time. But once completed, you (yes, you!) can keep your house clean and tidy because all you ever have to do is put things back where they belong.

Again, this sounds like common sense. Obviously putting things away keeps your house tidy, duh! But the difference with the KonMari method is that you must first find a place for every item in your home. That’s right, every single thing. And if you think you already have a place for everything in your home, then I have two words for you: junk drawer.

The KonMari method works by sorting through all of your belongings and only keeping items that “spark joy”. If an item does not make you happy, or has no purpose in your life, then you thank it for its time in your life and you let it go. The reason for this is to 1.) ensure you are only surrounded by things you love. And 2.) make it easier for you to give everything a place in your home.

Marie insists you must go through your entire house all at once in categories (not by room). For example, throw all your clothes into a pile and then begin sorting. Yes, all your clothes. Anything not in that pile gets binned (she’s pretty ruthless!) However, by doing things this way, and having all your items of the same type in one space you are able to get a clear understanding of how much you have (and how much you don’t need!)

The process can be daunting and you may get half way through and want to give up. But it is worth persevering! Once you are finished, and you are only surrounded by things that spark joy for you, you will feel much happier in your home. You will also notice how easy it is to keep the place clean and tidy.

If you are looking around your house thinking it is time to start tidying things up yourself but you do not know if you can tackle the task yourself, then why not call Canard Solutions? We can help.

Tidying Up is available on Netflix and Marie Kondo’s book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying” is available at Amazon.com