crow6e098's profile picture

crow6e098's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 50%

It was good but I think I don't need to read it cover to cover

This book was ok, but mostly weird.

I am a messy person, so when I saw this at the library I picked it up, thinking there might be some life-changing strategy. I'd heard of KonMari before, albeit through Ali Wong's comedy (and it is oddly similar to my twitter handle).

Broadly speaking, the KonMari method is to keep only those things that inspire feelings of joy and discard the rest. There's a weird bit of personification in thanking things before discarding, but I recognize that acknowledging that things had a use before letting them go is useful (though I won't be sprinkling purification salt on things from exes or stuffed animals before donating/discarding). Given librarian tendencies, I shudder at the idea of discarding books I haven't read or felt meh about and keeping only favorites, but that's not for everyone I suppose.

Folding suggestions are great, take the feng-shui inspired bits with a grain of (purified) salt, and if you find this useful, great! I just found it kind of odd at times.
informative slow-paced

This is Kondo's follow up to her mega hit The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. If you haven't read the first one, Kondo's main advice is to discard anything in your home that doesn't give you joy. Her belief is that by paring down our possessions to only the things that we truly love - ridiculous and unusable or not - we can find true happiness and our life's path. Sound dramatic? Well, it is a little bit.returnreturnI don't buy into everything that she says but I have been working hard on de-cluttering for years, and these books fit right into this mindset. What I liked about this companion piece is that it has illustrated guides on the "proper" way to store all sorts of things... and those guides work! I recently got a new bureau and put clothes in it, but was disappointed because it wasn't holding quite as much as I had hoped it would. By taking everything out, getting rid of what didn't spark joy, and properly folding things, I combined three drawers into one, which allowed me to pull clothes out of my over-stuffed closet and store in the bureau. Even better, I can see absolutely every piece of clothing that I own, which has never happened.returnreturnIf you already own the first one, there's no need to buy this one. Get it from the library! Much of the text is the same but there are a few more helpful stories from challenges she faced with different clients. The true gems are the illustrated guides, but once you get the formula right, you can fold anything without the guide.

I love listening to theses books on my way to and from work to get me motivated
tofubun's profile picture

tofubun's review

3.0

 late to the party -- while i know the konmari method of 'spark joy' i've never delved deeper than that. been decluttering a lot lately so thought i would check it out. i really enjoy konmari's approach to keeping tidy and organised without extreme minimalism and her emphasis on having spaces in your home that bring you joy. i feel like this approach works really well for me personally as i need tidiness but also love to fill my home with things that make me happy.
informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

sir_luke_schande's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 14%

It was very repetitive and the second half is more of a tutorial. 
informative reflective fast-paced
informative inspiring relaxing