Book Review: Spark Joy

Book: Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class to the Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Source: Library

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

From reading Spark Joy, I learned that Marie Kondo's tidying methods includes decluttering in categories starting with clothes followed by books and so on until the last thing is sentimental items. You are supposed to keep items if they give you that spark of joy. Full disclosure, I did not declutter my books or DVDs/Blu-rays. A few months ago, I donated a bunch of books. So, the books I currently have (albeit an extremely large amount) are ones that I will either be reading or are my favorites. As for paring down my DVDs/Blu-rays, that so was not going to happen. I love watching my movies and TV shows, so I left them where they were. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I probably have as many DVDs/Blu-rays as I do books. Hey, don't we all have things we really like.  

After undergoing Marie Kondo's way of tidying up, my place is very organized and it feels more light and airy. My bedroom is just the way I wanted it. And once I pared down my clothes, I found I had a lot more room. From there it was so easy to organize my clothes as well as put away my out of season clothes. I no longer had clothes lying around (due to me not having any room to store them). I have another disclosure, I did not fold my clothes the way she suggested. My clothes are folded and look great, which I think is the important thing.

I have to say for the most part, her cleaning method did work for me. I got rid of so much stuff that I was holding on to from old formal dresses to kitchen utensils I never use. I now have less useless knick-knacks taking up space and I was able to find more room to store and display my collectables.

This book had a lot of good information and interesting tips such as having a pending box for taking care of paper work (bills, messages, etc.) that require immediate attention. I also thought decluttering by category was interesting because usually when I declutter I go from one area or room to the next. But tackling my items by category made it easy to sort through everything.

I think what I find so interesting about Marie Kondo's method is that it's actually really simple (aside from the folding). The way the book is written, it's easy to follow without being bogged down by complicated techniques. It gives the reader all the information needed to get started plus she shares information about what her clients learned from tidying and about her own desire to tidy. The illustrations are also easy to follow while the artwork (see below) adds a bit of whimsy to the book.

I have seen where some have said they are not interested in trying Marie Kondo's method because they don't want to get rid of everything. Honesty, I did not get rid all of my stuff, only the things I no longer wanted or needed. The author even makes a point of saying "keep what you love in confidence". Because to me, it makes no sense to get rid of everything, you would end up being miserable. The whole point of this method is to find joy in what you have and where you live.

I found Marie Kondo's enthusiasm about tidying and organizing to be very motivating. In the past, I have read other organizing books but for some reason those methods never quite worked. The Marie Kondo way of tidy may not work for everyone but I'm pleasantly surprised it worked for me.