Based on the glowing reviews of "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" from fans and critics alike,
it's safe to say that 2019 is going to be the year of KonMari.
Here's what you need to know about the woman responsible for sparking joy across the globe.
A lifelong love affair
In a 2019 interview, Marie Kondo revealed that she's been obsessed with tidying since
she was a child.
Her mother can certainly vouch for that, telling CBS Sunday Morning that she once came home
from vacation to find Kondo had done away with two-thirds of her wardrobe!
By age 15, Kondo had devoted much of her free time to tidying, but according to the tidying
expert, her urge to organize took a toll on her mental health.
The author revealed that constantly searching for items to discard became so overwhelming
that she once passed out, leading her parents to ban her from tidying.
It was this experience that led her to develop the now-famous KonMari method, which urges
people to focus on what they want to keep, rather than what they want to throw away.
Entrepreneur extraordinaire
Marie Kondo didn't waste any time turning her lifelong passion for tidying into a viable
way to make a living.
As a student of sociology at Tokyo Woman's Christian University, Kondo established herself
as an organization consultant among her peers, and it wasn't long before her Tokyo-based
consulting business became so popular that Kondo had to wait-list potential clients.
"There’s a lot of messy people out there, huh?"
Her rising popularity inspired Kondo to write a helpful guide for those clients-to-be who
wanted to learn more about her KonMari Method.
The organizational guru wrote the book in just three months, and The Life-Changing Magic
of Tidying Up was published in December 2010.
"I know, that title needs to be decluttered right there.
That’s a crazy title for someone trying to get rid of clutter."
The meaning of everything
Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up saw decent sales after its release,
but its popularity skyrocketed in March 2011 after a 9.1 magnitude earthquake hit northeast
of Tokyo, causing a devastating tsunami.
Kondo’s editor, Tomohiro Takahashi, explained how the unfortunate catastrophe helped propel
the tidying expert to fame by forcing people to reexamine what truly brought them joy,
saying in an interview:
"The Japanese people suddenly had to ask themselves what was important in their lives.
What was the true value of sentimental items?
What was the meaning of the items they'd lost?
What was the meaning of life?"
Made for TV
Marie Kondo’s editor revealed to The New Yorker that even though Kondo was virtually
unknown outside of her consulting business, he knew she was destined for stardom the moment
he met her, saying:
"[I thought to myself,] 'She's going to be on TV and become famous."
Obviously, his instincts were spot-on.
After writing her first book, Kondo became a TV regular in Japan.
And once The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up became a staple in American bookstores,
Kondo soon became an international self-help superstar.
A super supportive hubby
If saving us all from becoming full-on hoarders becomes too great a burden to bear, it’s
comforting to know Marie Kondo has a shoulder to lean on in her husband, Takumi Kawahara.
Married in 2012, Kawahara and Kondo have been husband and wife throughout the tidying expert’s
whirlwind journey of becoming a world-famous-celebrity.
According to Good Housekeeping, once the KonMari Method surged in popularity, Kawahara left
his job as a sales support specialist to work as his wife's manager and now serves as CEO
of KonMari media.
Never gonna give you up
Getting rid of items that don’t spark joy is easier said than done, even when it comes
to that box of random cables you have stored away somewhere.
"This is insane.
This is a cable for I don’t know what.
And this is my old MacBook that I just... don’t want anyone to find."
If an item holds any sort of sentimental value, it can be especially hard to give it up.
Even Marie Kondo has fallen victim to the trap of nostalgia!
In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo revealed that she can’t bring herself
to throw away an old, green T-shirt she received at a 2005 expo, even though it sticks out
like a sore thumb among the rest of her ultra-chic wardrobe.
In a 2016 interview, the author admitted to holding on to a second sentimental item; a
small, stuffed seal.
Kondo said,
“It was a gift from my father, and even though I’m an adult, it’s something I
can’t part with!”
You can keep your books
As impossible as it may seem, the lovable tidying guru has managed to spark anger among
quite a few people.
In The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the author writes that she likes to keep her
book collection to “30 volumes and under.”
Some bibliophiles have taken Kondo’s words personally, assuming the tidying expert wants
them to shrink their collection to just 30 books, as well.
But that’s simply not the case.
Kondo explained to IndieWire that she’d never suggest for book lovers to throw away
their prized collections, saying:
"If the image of someone getting rid of books or having only a few books makes you angry,
that should tell you how passionate you are about books, what's so clearly important in
your life.
That in itself is a very important benefit of this process."
Sparking joy
A cornerstone of the KonMari Method is keeping only the items that spark joy for you.
But what exactly is that spark of joy supposed to feel like?
According to Marie Kondo, your body will have an immediate reaction to items that spark
joy, a feeling the tidying expert describes with her trademark chime.
In fall 2018, Kondo took to her blog to reveal the items that spark the most joy for her,
listing cozy socks, notebooks, and crystals as some of her favorites.
Kondo also urged readers to take time to make a list of their own, writing:
"Identifying the tiny details that spark joy will add a little more magic in your day."
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