Let’s be real for a second. Most of us are drowning in stuff. It’s not just the junk drawer or that one chair in the bedroom that somehow becomes a mountain of "once-worn" jeans. It’s the mental weight of it all. Back in 2014, when Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up first hit the US market, it felt like a fever dream. Suddenly, everyone was talking about "sparking joy" and thanking their socks for their service. It sounded a bit out there.
But here we are, over a decade since the KonMari method went global, and the core philosophy hasn't just survived—it’s actually become more relevant as our digital and physical lives get noisier.
The psychology behind the spark
There is a massive difference between "cleaning up" and "tidying." Cleaning is about dirt; tidying is about your relationship with your belongings. When Marie Kondo introduced the world to the idea of holding an object and asking if it "sparks joy" (tokimeku), she wasn't just giving us a cute catchphrase. She was forcing us to confront the "why" behind our clutter.
Most of us keep things out of guilt or fear. Guilt because it was an expensive gift from an aunt we don't see often, or fear that we might need that specific HDMI cable from 2008 one day. Kondo’s method flips the script. Instead of looking for what to throw away, you look for what to keep. It’s a subtle shift in perspective, but it changes everything. Research in environmental psychology, such as the 2011 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, shows that multiple visual stimuli (clutter) compete for the brain's attention, literally taxing our cognitive functions.
When you thin out the herd, you aren't just gaining shelf space. You’re gaining bandwidth.
Why you probably failed at tidying before
Most people approach tidying room by room. You do the kitchen on Saturday, the living room on Sunday. By next Friday, the kitchen is a mess again. Kondo argues this is the fatal flaw. You have to tidy by category.
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Start with clothes. Then books. Then papers. Then komono (miscellaneous). Finally, sentimental items.
There’s a logic to this. Sentimental items are the hardest. If you start with old photos, you’ll spend three hours crying over a 4th-grade field trip picture and get nothing done. By starting with socks, you’re essentially "training" your joy-sensing muscle. It’s like going to the gym for your decision-making skills.
The order matters because it builds momentum.
The life changing magic of tidying up and the "Great Discard"
One of the most controversial parts of the book was the instruction to discard first, and discard thoroughly. You can’t organize your way out of having too much stuff. No amount of IKEA bins or clever closet dividers will fix a fundamental surplus. Honestly, some of us just have too many things for the square footage we live in.
People often get stuck on the "thanking" part. It feels weird to tell a t-shirt "thank you for teaching me that I don't actually like neon yellow." But it serves a psychological purpose. It provides closure. It’s a way to let go of the guilt of "wasting" money. If the item taught you what you don't like, it served a purpose. Its job is done. You can let it go now.
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The Book "Problem"
Remember when the internet lost its mind because Kondo suggested keeping only about 30 books? People acted like she was advocating for a literal book burning. In reality, she was asking people to consider which books they actually loved versus which ones they kept to look smart or out of a vague sense of obligation.
If a book has been sitting on your shelf unread for five years, it's not a book; it's a decorative brick.
Real talk: It’s not about minimalism
Minimalism is often about having as little as possible. The KonMari method is different. If you have 500 vintage teapots and every single one of them makes your heart skip a beat, keep them. The goal is a home filled only with things that contribute to your happiness.
It’s about intentionality.
I’ve seen people go through this process and realize their clutter was actually a physical manifestation of their anxiety about the future. Others realize they were holding onto a version of themselves—the "aspirational self" who knits or goes camping—that doesn't actually exist in their daily life. Letting go of the "fantasy self" stuff is incredibly freeing.
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Applying the method in a digital world
Even though the original book focused on physical items, the principles apply to our digital lives too. Our phones are the new junk drawers.
- Unsubscribe ruthlessly. If an email list hasn't "sparked joy" or provided value in a month, kill it.
- Desktop purge. Your computer's desktop shouldn't look like a digital explosion.
- The Photo Trap. We take thousands of photos we never look at. Keeping only the best ones makes those memories more accessible.
Does it actually stick?
Critics often say the KonMari method is unsustainable. And sure, if you treat it as a one-time magic trick and then go back to mindlessly buying things on sale, the clutter will return. The "magic" isn't in the folding technique—though the upright folding method is objectively superior for seeing what you actually own. The magic is in the mindset shift. Once you get used to the feeling of only being surrounded by things you love, the "standard" for what enters your home becomes much higher.
You stop buying "fine for now" items. You wait for the things that actually matter.
Practical steps for your own tidying marathon
If you're ready to actually do this, don't just skim. Commit. It’s called a "festival" for a reason—it’s supposed to be a big, one-time event that resets your environment.
- Set a deadline. Don't let this drag on for six months. Aim for a few weeks or a couple of intense weekends.
- Pull everything out. If you're doing clothes, every single piece of clothing must be in one pile on the bed. The sheer volume of the pile is usually enough to trigger the "I have too much" realization.
- Trust your gut. Don't overthink it. If you have to convince yourself why you should keep something, you probably shouldn't.
- Handle every object. You can't just look at it in the closet. You have to hold it. Your body usually knows before your brain does.
- Forget about "someday." Someday is not a day of the week.
Once you’ve finished the discard phase, find a "home" for every single item you kept. Clutter happens when things don't have a specific place to live. When everything has a home, cleaning up takes five minutes because you aren't "deciding" where things go; you're just putting them back.
The real transformation isn't the clean house. It’s the clarity of mind that comes when you stop managing "stuff" and start living your life. You'll find you have more energy, more focus, and a strange sense of peace that you didn't think was possible just from organizing a linen closet.
Go grab a trash bag. Start with the socks. You’ll see.