The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondō | Audiobook Review

This #1 New York Times best-selling guide to decluttering your home from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes readers step-by-step through her revolutionary KonMari Method for simplifying, organizing, and storing.
Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?
Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). 
With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.
From the Hardcover edition.

Why Did I Listen To This Book?

I listened to The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo becauseI got sucked into the hype. I love books about self help and organization and persona development and improvement. I saw some bloggers – namely Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner talking about KonMari on twitter and that’s when I was thinking about this book and like, I kept on thinking about it because I am a weirdo – to the point where I looked it up on amazon and decided to go the audiobook route and purchase a copy with my Audible credit. I listened to this book almost immediately because I am potentially moving in March and so, before I move, I want to parse down on a lot of things so that I do not have to take them with me when I move. Also, I really want to be more organized and tidy. If you could glimpse my life you would be like, ohhhh that packrat girl who looks perfectly normal!

What’s This Book All About?

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up is about putting your things in order which eventually leads to putting your life in order. She discusses how she’s always been into organizing and tidying – even as a child. This wasn’t weird to me, although, personally, I was not at all a tidy child. Anyways, she talks about her times discarding and then falling into organizing systems. Eventually, she goes on to detail the method that works for her and her clients – which is only keeping things in your life that spark joy and then having a place for all of those things. Sure – some of this sounds a little bit hokey – like touching everything and if they evoke joy keeping them, but friends, that works for me.

What Did I Learn From This Book?

What I got out of reading Marie Kondo’s book was that I have strong attachments to my things. I hang onto things other people gave me that I am not all that into, just because other people gave them to me. Kondo cautions against this, because you end up overwhelmed. I really thought this was a good look at how our stuff should not own us – but rather we should own our stuff. So, what this means is, once I have no use for something, it is okay to get rid of it. I truly do not need plastic bags in plastic bags in plastic bags under my sink. I do not need to feel bad about giving away a hoodie that I got on sale that no longer is to my taste, but that I hang onto because what if and also because OMG it was on sale. I do not need to hang onto books that I keep because they make me look smart or because oh I might read them someday maybe never. Like, I will admit, as a bookworm it is hard to listen to her say oh you only need one bookshelf and you should keep it in your closet. Um, what? But then I remember, that I do not have to follow this book lockstep and instead can just hang onto the pieces that work for me.

I will say that since listening to this book, I have generated one garbage bag of clothes to donate and one to discard. I have filled a box of books up to donate. I have actually taken 15 books out of my house to drop in the library donation box (with more to come when I feel less lazy). So, it does work if you are serious about parsing down your things, which I am. I want to move towards only having things that fulfill a utility for me or make me happy.

Would I Recommend The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up?

Yes, I would absolutely recommend Marie Kondo’s book. I think that KonMari is a great method for getting your things decluttered and your life in order. I will say that again, some of it sounds weird and hokey and out there. That’s okay. As you all know, you read books and you pick what works for your from those books. Read it with that caveat in mind. PS, I have begun the switch to folding my clothes so that they are

How’s The Narration?

Emily Woo Zeller narrates Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up. Her voice is very soothing and easy to listen to. This audiobook is actually really well produced. I found that the narration felt appropriate and not overdramatic or inappropriate or weird. This is the kind of audiobook that is easy to listen to if you want something maybe different from what you normally listen to (young adult books and history books whoo hoo). I really am glad I made the choice to read this book via audio.

Sum It Up With A GIF:

This book even talks about folding socks — I found that because I listened to it via audio – I had to google how to do the folding.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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