Simply Organized’s opinion on the Netflix series “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” – The Summary

Unless you live under a rock or don’t watch TV, you’ve heard about Marie Kondo. She is a Japanese organizing consultant who wrote the New York Times best seller “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. She now has an eight episode series on Netflix.

I’ve been a professional organizer in Atlanta, Georgia for over 8 years and helped thousands of clients. I’m a generalist; which means I help most types of both residential and business clients going through major life changes or just too busy to tackle it on their own.

Since her book came out a few years ago, I have a few clients who asked my opinion about the “Konmari method” and if the instructions Marie Kondo gives may work for them. I read her book and thought it was a very interesting yet very different way to organize than most organizers have been teaching our clients. I always encourage my clients to read her book and or I will tell them what she recommends and see if they want to try it.

Very early in the process, most of my clients say they feel a bit too overwhelmed to pile all of their clothing in the middle of the floor. I understand why Marie has her clients do this and also why it can be so overwhelming.

I’m going to walk you through each of the eight episodes and give you my thoughts. I’ll discuss our similarities and differences as well as how I would handle the same type of client. If you would like my help at any time (even if you do not live in Georgia), please contact me: Heather@simplyorganizedyou.com or 404-825-2105.

 

I want to start by sharing an abbreviated version of the Marie Kondo method with you. She organizes by item category instead of by the space. The five categories she lists are:

1. Clothing
2. Books
3. Paper
4. Komono (kitchen, garage, bathroom and miscellaneous)
5. Sentimental

Most of the Netflix episodes take each client through a 4-6 week period. She starts on Day 1 by taking a tour of the home, talking to the clients and then taking a moment of silence to thank the home. Day 1 always starts with clothing. She asks the clients to take every single piece of clothing in the entire home and “make a mountain” by piling it in one place (bed or floor). She then asks the client to hold each piece of clothing to see if it “sparks joy”. If it does, they can keep it, if it does not, then they thank the clothing and then get rid of it. Marie then shows them how to fold the clothes they keep to make them fit into drawers or boxes neatly.

After Marie explains the process, she leaves the client. 8-9 days later, she returns to check on their process and teach them another step. Most episodes skip steps 2 books & 3 paper and move straight to Komono. This step is the kitchen, garage, bathrooms and miscellaneous. She uses smaller cardboard boxes to compartmentalize kept items in kitchen drawers and clear bins for larger “like” items in other areas like the garage. She leaves the clients again for another 14-17 days.

The sentimental step 5 is left for last so the clients have had a chance to “sharpen their decision making skills”. Marie gave a few tips about only keeping items that “spark joy” and storing photos in albums or boxes.

Most of the clients have completed the work after 30-46 days. They all are very appreciative of Marie’s help and say that she changed their lives.

 

 

How Simply Organized and Marie Kondo’s methods are similar:

1. We both want to help our clients live a simpler, less stressful life.
2. We recommend every item has a home.
3. We suggest you put all like items together.
4. We know the space may seem worse in the middle of the organizing project.
5. We like to nest items like bags inside of each other.
6. We like to put sentimental items into a decorative box to display.
7. We realize most of our clients are overwhelmed and anxious.
8. We want our clients to cherish their belongings.
9. We tell clients to focus on what they want to keep instead of the items they may get rid of.

How Simply Organized and Marie Kondo’s methods differ:

1. I work with my clients the entire time – they usually don’t want to do this by themselves.
2. I usually only work with one family member at a time. I would like to see more families working together.
3. I organize by the space and we complete it before moving on.
4. I usually finish a space in one session.
5. I take any items my clients don’t want to charity or schedule a pick up for them.
6. I do not make large piles of clients clothing or other items.
7. I do a lot more spatial planning with my clients (find homes for their items).
8. I have my clients set goals so we can work on steps and a time line to achieve their goals.

I’ll be posting more blogs giving you my perspective on each episode. Please follow along here or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/simplyorganizedyou.