Tag / mariekondo

by Oriana

Marie Kondo Floods Thrift Stores with Unwanted Items

Photo courtesy of the herald-dispatch

The reality TV show on Netflix “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” has taken the world by storm since it first aired in January 2019. This minimalist home improvement show has revolutionized the tidying up game, and all of a sudden everyone has begun cleaning out their homes of anything unwanted. In the show, Kondo stresses only keeping items that “spark joy”, which entails for a lot of stuff to be thrown out or donated.  Although this sounds great for the person cleaning out their home, it’s not so great from thrift store employees, who are suddenly being hit by a colossal wave of donations.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Goodwill Industries International Inc., which operates used-goods stores across the U.S. and Canada, said January donations rose by more than 32% in Washington, 22% in Houston, 20% in Roanoke, Va., and 16% in Grand Rapids, Mich,” which is right around the time the show first aired. Donations are obviously a huge part of a thrift stores business, but recently the surplus of donations has been too much for the workers to handle. It is their job to sort through all of the donations that the store receives and they are also finding that a lot of the donations contain items that are inappropriate or unsellable. Some stores have even asked people to hold off on donations so that they can get through the backlog.  

If we don’t want them, and thrift stores don’t always want them, then what are we supposed to do with our unwanted items? Kondo is now proposing a new step to the decluttering method which, according to her, “encourages reflection on waste and action when it comes to reducing, reusing, recycling and respecting.” Instead of asking if something sparks joy when you are getting rid of it, you must ask if it will spark joy when you are purchasing it. Many times, people just buy things that they don’t really want or need, which is the reason they end up with so much junk in their homes in the first place.

For more on this, check out Rachel Pannett and Rhiannon Hoyle’s article “Marie Kondo Isn’t Sparking Joy for Thrift Stores”, Wall Street Journal (Mark 6, 2019). https://www.wsj.com/articles/marie-kondo-persuaded-you-to-jettison-your-junk-thrift-stores-sayenough-11551889124?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=2

by Oriana

3 Tips for Organizing Your Home According to Marie Kondo

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Keeping our houses tidy is essential for progress, peace of mind, and happiness. Clutter often builds up over time and it can be difficult to deal with when we have been so used to it for so long. Here are some tips from best-selling author and world-renowned tidying expert Marie Kondo on how to organize your home.

1. Organize by category rather than by location

Stop thinking about organization as something that has to be done a room at a time. Instead categorize your mess by: clothing, books, papers, “Komono” (kitchen, bathroom, garage, miscellaneous), and sentimental items. If you clean up by location, there’s a chance that you won’t realize that you have different places for things such as pens, batteries, appliances, candles, and more. By organizing by category, you will make specific locations for these items in your home rather than having some in every room of your house. If this gets overwhelming, you can even simplify it further and do smaller categories at a time. For example, if you are having a hard time organizing your clothes, start with just your trousers. You will find that this method will streamline your tidying keep your items organized for longer.

2. Determine which items “spark joy”

One rule that Marie always shares with her clients is that they must only keep items that “spark joy”. By this she means, physically pick up the item in your hands and determine how it makes you feel. If it makes you happy then it is something that you should keep. If not, you would probably be better off donating it or throwing it away. We all have the issue of keeping items around for so long because we feel like it could serve us a purpose in the future, but end up never using them. Holding on to these items ends up being more of a heavy burden rather than a tool. Everything in your household should be something that sparks joy, and only you can decide that.

3. Get it all done at once

Rather than tidying a little bit a day, it is better to just do it all at once and get it over with for good. You will never finish in this way because other things will always come up and clutter will pile up in other places. You are probably not going to get it all done in one day, but the quicker you get it all done, the easier it will be to keep your house organized. Marie Kondo says “Tidy a little a day and you’ll be tidying forever.”

Photo courtesy of Netflix

Watch Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix to see Marie help people declutter their homes and choose joy using the KonMari method. This show reveals the life-changing practice of tidying up, as Marie completely changes her clients’ lives in surprising and emotional ways.

SPONSORED BY NETFLIX