Tidying Up With Marie Kondo premiered on New Year's Day 2019, and Netflix subscribers everywhere
excitedly tuned in to the new series all about decluttering your home and changing your life.
The show was an instant hit, to say the least.
Here's everything you need to know about Tidying Up.
Not just anyone can host their own hit Netflix show, so how did Marie Kondo get to that point?
It actually started with Kondo's 2014 book, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up: The
Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which encourages readers to find joy in decluttering
and organizing their home.
After Kondo published the book, it didn't take long for the KonMari method to gain traction,
and people all over the world started trying to "spark joy" by straightening up their homes.
If you've watched Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, then you know how much of an impact Marie
Kondo has made on the families and homes she's visited.
But how did those people get to be on the show?
Netflix had to work their way through hundreds of applications to get to a top 45 before
narrowing it down to eight families that made up the show's first season.
Kondo herself actually shared the original casting call to her Facebook page back in
December 2017, and the post got hundreds of likes.
So, even before the show was formally announced, it was obviously something people wanted in
on.
"We have too much stuff, it's official."
As intense as that sounds, it also makes sense.
Who wouldn't want a professional and world-renowned organizer to help them sort through their
home?
It sounds like a dream, albeit a competitive one.
In Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, Kondo manages to take cluttered homes and turn them into
living spaces worthy of Pinterest.
It's almost like magic, but the spark doesn't fade when Kondo and the cameras leave.
In fact, Good Morning America actually reached out to several of the families from the show
to see if they were able to maintain the organizational systems they had set up with Kondo.
One of the homeowners, Margie Hodges, told GMA that tidying up refreshed her life in
the best way:
"I was thinking of how much money people spend on a vacation to get away from it all, but
if you want to make a life-altering change, rather than a week in Mexico, where you come
home and have it all to deal with still, to have your house organized like I did, it's
life-altering...The whole house feels a little lighter."
GMA spoke to three families in total, and, while the first season of Tidying Up With
Marie Kondo featured eight episodes with eight different clients, it still seems clear that
Kondo's method works long-term.
Marie Kondo is originally from Japan, but she currently lives in Los Angeles, although
she didn't move to the United States until she was an adult.
You might expect that she may have had some trouble with the cultural barriers between
her and the clients on the show, but, as Kondo told HelloGiggles, it seems as though tidying
up is the same in every language.
"When I first started professionally tidying, I assumed there would be more differences
in how people tidied based on where they're from.
But in reality, the differences have been much less than I expected.
The issues people encounter through tidying are the same, no matter where you live."
The art of organizing your home is universal, according to Kondo, and that's pretty amazing.
However, that doesn't mean Kondo didn't take note of certain cultural differences while
working on the show.
She told Vulture:
"[Americans] are more likely to take large, drastic actions, and Japanese people often
get so caught up in thinking about things that they get stuck."
As Japanese is Marie Kondo's first language, the show made use of a translator, interpreter
Marie Iida, to help Kondo speak with the clients.
While language barriers are inevitable, one client said that it really wasn't an issue.
Margie Hodges told Vulture:
"After the first hour, we were fine.
She seemed comfortable; I was comfortable.
I did have to stop and laugh at the way we're smiling at each other over organizing."
Additionally, those extra moments spent with Kondo and the translator might have been helpful
in the long run.
Bianca Barnes-Williams, showrunner for Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, told Vulture:
"It takes longer, but the families say the longer they work with her, the more they understand
what she's saying."
With Kondo's joyful spirit, who wouldn't want more time with the professional organizer,
language barrier or not?
While Marie Kondo's entire method might be focused on throwing out things that no longer
bring you joy, that doesn't mean she's forceful about it.
"You know what, ketchup, you don't bring me joy anymore."
"Oh my gosh."
"Uh oh.
Don't even look."
Behind the scenes of homeowner Margie's episode, which featured the widow sorting through her
late husband's belongings, Kondo was helpful while Margie went through the items, and the
organizer made sure her client felt comfortable every step of the way.
"I understand.
Let's shift the rules for you, Margie."
"I think that would make me feel comfortable."
According to showrunner Bianca Barnes-Williams, Kondo has never really forced a client to
get rid of something.
Because Kondo is aware that there might be some items that are harder to part with, she
doesn't push clients to say goodbye to possessions, even though organizing and throwing things
out is kind of her specialty.
When it comes to her personal life, Marie Kondo is fairly private, posting photos of
her adorable daughters to Instagram only occasionally and staying quiet about her home life.
But it turns out the organizational guru actually prefers to mix business with pleasure, as
her husband, Takumi Kawahara, served as executive producer for the premiere season of Tidying
Up With Marie Kondo.
He's also credited as Kondo's manager and photographer.
Kondo clearly likes to keep things in the family, and who could blame her?
In an interview with Good Housekeeping in 2016, Kondo revealed that Kawahara shared
her appreciation for all things tidy:
"He was able to clean and be very organized even before he read my book, but it was certainly
even more pronounced after he read my book.
He became even more efficient.
Fundamentally speaking, we're in the same groove."
Marie Kondo fans have surely noticed the Netflix star's ever-present style, which includes
a signature color: She always wears white.
Whether it's a shirt, a jacket, or a sweater, Kondo makes sure to incorporate white into
her wardrobe at all times.
She told The New Yorker:
"It is part of my brand, my image color.
It is easy to recognize me."
As the color white is often associated with cleanliness, this makes perfect sense.
And those who have watched the show can attest to the fact that seeing Kondo on screen in
her white clothing definitely brings a sense of calm, even if she's surrounded by piles
of clothes taller than she is.
It's no secret that Tidying Up With Marie Kondo has been a huge success for both Netflix
and Kondo herself, but the star's own net worth, around $8 million, is still somewhat
startling.
It is important to note that Kondo's income doesn't come from the show alone.
Along with publishing multiple best-selling books, she speaks at events and owns her own
company.
"Our products will help you complete your tidying journey and live your ideal life."
Tidying Up With Marie Kondo has been a huge hit, and the show is certified fresh on Rotten
Tomatoes, which is quite an admirable feat for a reality show.
Kondo's method and joy for tidying up, as well as her obvious love of helping people,
have certainly struck a chord with audiences, and her bank account is reaping the rewards.
The KonMari method of "sparking joy" and thanking items you give away for what they've done
for you might seem odd to some people, and Kondo herself is aware of this fact.
Speaking to Vulture, Kondo explained that, while filming, there were a few clients who
didn't entirely understand the need to talk to an item of clothing or old book.
She said:
"Some people on the show questioned why they would thank an inanimate object for its service.
This was a revelation.
I know now that I must explain some aspects of my work more clearly."
But thanking items you no longer want or need is all part of her method.
According to her website, it's fairly simple:
"Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark
joy.
Thank them for their service, then let them go."
"Gratitude."
"Gratitude is very important."
As confusing or strange as it may sound, it's appeared to work for the clients on the show
and for the millions of fans and followers Kondo has amassed.
Marie Kondo hasn't been immune to drama since her rise to fame, and it's her folding method
that's come under fire.
As viewers can see on her show, Kondo has her clients fold items in their drawers upright,
so as to create more space and make it easier for them to see everything.
However, fellow professional organizer Linda Koopersmith told People that the folding method
was actually her idea, not Kondo's.
"My name is Linda Koopersmith, and I invented the upright folding technique."
"I was a single mom living in a one-bedroom apartment with my daughter, sharing our room,
and she was always going through her drawers and messing them up.
That's when I created the fold, and that was out of need to come up with a solution so
when she opened her drawers, she could see everything at a bird's eye view."
Koopersmith also noted that she'd shared the folding method both on YouTube and on the
show Clean House.
Of course, folding clothes upright is just one mere facet of the KonMari method, and
Kondo likely isn't too concerned with these accusations.
After Tidying Up With Marie Kondo hit Netflix, and more and more viewers began using the
KonMari method in their own homes, there was a bit of confusion.
Because Kondo told clients to throw out the books that no longer brought them joy, some
took it to mean that Kondo wanted everyone to throw away all of their books, and outrage,
of course, followed.
Twitter practically blew up when users thought about the idea of having to throw out all
of their books, but, the thing is, that's not what Kondo meant.
"It just feels like, those are people's works.
Just to, like, kinda, like, dump them in a trash heap, it doesn't feel good to me."
Speaking to IndieWire, Kondo confirmed that you don't have to throw out all your books
to follow her method.
In fact, she said that if books were precious to you, you should keep them.
"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 clearly so important in
your life."
It should come as no shock that the popular Netflix reality TV series has been up for
multiple awards.
For her work on Tidying Up, Marie Kondo won a Shorty Award in the House & Home category
in May 2019, beating out five other finalists including Hermione Chantal, a popular YouTuber
with over 400,000 subscribers.
On top of that, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and its star were nominated for three 2019
Critics' Choice Real TV Awards.
The show was nominated for both the Lifestyle Show: Home & Garden and Structured Show categories,
while Kondo herself was nominated for Female Star of the Year.
Clearly, 2019 has been a big year for Kondo, and, with her successful show, it doesn't
seem like she's going anywhere anytime soon.
The world may now know Marie Kondo as a superstar on and off the screen, but before Tidying
Up With Marie Kondo premiered, there was someone who predicted that Kondo would get all the
success she now has.
Back in 2010, Kondo won first prize in a publishing training course in Japan, and one of the judges
of the competition said he could see big things in Kondo's future.
Tomohiro Takahashi said:
"She's going to be on TV and become famous...I felt a mysterious energy around her that I
had never experienced around other people."
Now, given Kondo's success, that quote seems nearly prophetic in its accuracy.
Kondo has taken the world by storm, first with her books and now with her hit TV show,
and everyone can't help but fall in love with her charming personality.
Tidying Up With Marie Kondo is a smash hit and for good reason.
No one has ever made organizing your closet as fun and joyful as Kondo has.
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