Book Review: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying UP

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying, Marie Kondo

Review by Ben

Kondo’s book is, rather unsurprisingly, about tidying. Kondo dissects what we think tidying is and how living in a tidy space can be beneficial to us. The book introduced us to the ‘KonMari’ method asking us to commit yourself to tidying, imagining your ideal lifestyle, whilst discarding items thanking them for their purpose, keeping items that spark joy and tidy by category and not by location.

After working out the tone of the book the next step was to try it. I adopted this system in my office space, and I found it worked to my advantage. I made me ask myself, “Do I need this towering pile of dusty books on my desk?” The answer, “no, no I do not, but it does look studious, but no”. Following Kondo’s KonMari method I realised that said leaning tower of books was in fact a distraction to my work disrupting the desk space needed for my more pressing daily tasks.

This method was great to follow and understand! Kondo’s personal narrative weaving throughout helped me grasp the ideas. Having spent the majority of the last 4 years living out of large rucksacks moving from various (and questionable) student housing, it was somewhat comforting to get to grips with tidying and owning a space. The book’s writing style makes the system very easy to adopt.

The best thing about this book is its rethinking of space and spatial relationships! It got to grips with what ‘tidying’ is, and can be. It allows deep thinking and personal reflection. However, a small criticism would be that the KonMari method could be explained in greater clarity. A minor criticism however for a great book.

I would recommend this book mostly to students, as sometimes living in student accommodation/housing can feel unhomely, and a tad depressing especially if like me you ever spot a rat in the kitchen. Following this book, Kondo lets you take ownership of a space which is surprisingly liberating! Work efficiency increases as does your free time.

As I draw this review to an end, a word of advice - don’t be fooled by the idea of ‘tidying’ as a concept we all know how to do. As are most things in life, tidying is a skill and can be learnt.