Marie Kondo’s “Japanese decluttering books” The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up (and the new followup, Spark Joy) have taken the world by storm. The books detail the author’s philosophy about organizing and decluttering, and give step-by-step instructions for decluttering one’s home. Kondo calls her specific steps the “KonMari Method” and promises it will change your life. Thousands of people say it has, but there are plenty of skeptics as well.

In Episode 22 of the Edit Your Life podcast, we share our reactions — both positive and negative — to Marie Kondo’s decluttering method, and offer our own recommendations.

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If you’re not seeing the Soundcloud player, you can listen to Episode 22 directly on Soundcloud.

Links to things we mentioned during the podcast:

• Minimalist Parenting
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
• Spark Joy by Marie Kondo (her follow-up book)
• Marie Kondo was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2015
• The Origin Story of Marie Kondo’s Decluttering Empire (The New Yorker)
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up — With Kids (New York Times Motherlode blog)
• The Real Reasons Marie Kondo’s Life Changing Magic Doesn’t Work for Parents (Washington Post)
• Is It Possible To Declutter When You Have Kids? See Why Minimalist Expert Marie Kondo Says Yes (Pop Sugar)
• This Is How Minimalism Can Go Very, Very Wrong (Verily)
• Stuff, Junk & Things (Meagan and Sarah discuss the Konmari method this week as well on The Mom Hour podcast)
• Decluttering tips from 5 top organization experts: Which is best for you? (More on Konmari from Liz & Kristen on the Spawned podcast)

Let’s talk.

What do you think of the Konmari method? Life-changing? Weird? Both? Tell us using the #EditYourLifeShow hashtag, or post a comment on the Edit Your Life Facebook page. 

Catch up on past episodes

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