The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

By: Marie Kondo

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles? Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list).With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house "spark joy" (and which don't), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home-and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

©2014 Marie Kondo (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Ms. Kondo delivers her tidy manifesto like a kind of Zen nanny, both hortatory and animistic." (The New York Times)

"Narrator Emily Woo Zeller captures the voice of author Marie Kondo so perfectly that it's as if the Japanese de-cluttering guru is speaking in person." (AudioFile)

Has a lot of worthy advice; not perfect

Short story, good book with a lot of worthy advice, not perfect. If you are not into the "healy feely" style of language she uses, try to reduce it what she means: Take care of your stuff, don't keep it unless it's genuinely important to you emotionally or otherwise, and anything you own must have a place in your home to be put away in.

Lots of good info here, and many ideas for better maintaining an organized home. She has good ideas on how to store what you do keep, and is mostly right about getting rid of things you don't love or need for some reason. I think I could have done with the abbreviated version personally. I don't need to know how anal retentive about tidying she was as a kid, or how many rolls of toilet paper one of her clients had stored. I think a better title for the book would have included the word "overhaul" instead of "tidy" as it seems more appropriate to what Kondo advocates. Her ideas on paperwork include throwing out all manuals because you can ask the clerk at the store where you bought the item how do use it. That might work for some things, and certainly you don't need to keep every manual, but it's hard to ask the clerk when you bought it from Amazon, and if you need the info right away you're screwed unless you have access to a computer and can find it online. I got the feeling from what she was saying that she herself is not very technical. Sometimes it felt like she was talking with authority about certain areas (like technology) that she actually had no idea about. And her concept of "just buy it again" if you find out you needed it after throwing it away, or if you forget things from a seminar after throwing away the info you brought home from it, just go to another seminar makes me think she's never lived on a budget.

She also talks to clothing and speaks of it as if it were a living being which is a real eye roller for me. I agree that you should treat your clothing and belongings with respect if you want the material to last, but literally saying "thank you" to your shoes every day... not happening. It will make any genealogist weep to read how aggressively she advocates throwing out letters, photos, and other paperwork... She says you should take all photos out of their albums to sort them, and again I disagree. The order of photo's can be important and will be lost if removed from the albums, and if you have old family photos, they may be fragile could be damaged if removed from the album.

She may enjoy living in a spartan house full of empty space, but that's not what makes everyone happy, and she seems to have no plan for people who are not just like her. Maybe that's ok, and those people will have to find another book to help them, but you should know that going in. Personally, I love going into my Mother-in-law's house which is full of interesting things everywhere you look, dragons and baskets hanging from the ceiling, old photo's embedded in the knotholes, even a lovingly displayed old ape skull she rescued from a box in someone's archaeological storage. I believe from her book that Kondo would have most of that scraped away into recycling or the trash which would destroy the ambiance of the home for anyone who likes to have their things out on display.

Worth a listen on fast forward

2 or 3 very good tips ballooned to fill a book. Quite repetitive but there are some worthwhile ideas for confronting and eliminating the clutter.

From the heart of a "hopeless" pack rat

I grew up in a home that was more than cluttered, it was full! I have fought for 20 years, since I let my parents home, to become the neat freak that I always felt was trapped somewhere inside me, but no matter how much I throw out, it always grows back quickly. I thank Ms Kondo for the enlightenment her book has brought me. I have just finished reading it and am excitedly anticipating the new way of living that I know will come now. Absolutely fascinating! I've always known this somehow but was never able to put it to practical use. But I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the beginning of a fabulously new way of thinking.
Do not be put off by Ms Kondo's approach of treating inanimate objects as living things; just listen anyway and allow the way of thinking to meld with your own and you can then sift out the incredible nuggets of wisdom she brings to light.
I'm going to listen to the entire book again now before beginning.

I started tidying and feel I have right mind

The information is given with authors journey to that point, conclusion. So it is not rote info but rather experiential. She gives lots of stories as examples and explain action. She has a passion for the well being of the home and her client and focuses on harmonizing the two. I feel I will be better able to keep my spaces organized and harmonious.

I highly recommend! Will listen again and again

I thurilly enjoyed this book on Audible. I learned so much, while driving in my car listening. After listening to segments, I have some of the minset of being tidy, and without even trying, I apply what I listen to, to my possesions and living enviroment. Thank you so much!

Truly life changing!

I love love love this book! Before I even finished it, I got rid of seven trash bags of clothes, a sewing machine and other obvious things in my home that did not spark joy in only two days. And it was so easy. I now know how to tidy and keep only those things that I love and need. I can't wait to get to the rest of the house. I feel more peaceful and centered already. What an amazing book. And the narration by Ms. Zeller was wonderful.

Great Book. I've listened multiple times.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, there's a lot of good information in this book. If you just listen and apply the suggestions, you will get your home in order.

What other book might you compare The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up to and why?

Stuff by Randy O. Frost and Gail Stekeete was another really good book. The stories in this book really makes one think.

How could the performance have been better?

I could not stand listening to this narrator. I needed to listen to this book several times and dreaded the fact that I had to hear the narrator again. I seriously considered buying the Kindle version and listening to the robotic computer voice instead.

What insight do you think you’ll apply from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up?

Taking everything out and seeing whether it sparks joy.

Definitely different than I expected.

While many of her ideas inspire me to unclutter; I found my mouth agape at such sections where she tells you to tear the page out of a book rather than keep it because you like certain parts.

Well, life changing!

I really like her teachings, the narrators voice is cold and unimpressed but soon you get used to it.
I was surprised by how much she shares about herself and upbringing. It built common ground. Marie Kondo at the end defines herself as lazy and forgetful, which I identify and thought this is why I can’t get organized. I read the book in one sit. Then purchased the audio to listen as I declutter and organize my things. Wonderful and useful advice all the way. Thank you Marie. Next on my list will be Joy at work.

This was a great book on organizing

The voice was not a great match for me, but other then that I liked it. I have listened to and read other books on organizing but this was the best. I especially liked the wrap up of the book. I will listen to it again, but this time I will take notes on paper.