‘Tidying Up With Marie Kondo’: How the Organizer’s Technique Helped Me

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
Opinion
Denise Crew/Netflix

I don’t know how much joy it sparked, but Tidying Up With Marie Kondo definitely fired up my winter cleaning.

Like so many, I was inspired to overhaul my apartment by the how-to series built around Kondo and her home-organizing bestseller The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Luckily, I am far from the semi-hoarders Kondo aids on the show, but there was a linen closet that needed to be tamed.

So, per Marie’s methods, I dragged all of the mismatched sheet sets and towels into the hall, decided which ones needed to go — a part of her philosophy is picking up items in your home and only keeping them if they “spark joy” when held — and ditched them at a GreenDrop donation center. Unlike Marie, however, I did not say “thank you” to any of them because A) they’re inanimate objects and B) we weren’t on speaking terms anyway.

After that, it was time to restock the empty shelves in an orderly manner, and this is where Marie’s love of containers came in handy. Two big baskets from HomeGoods became storage for reunited sheets and pillowcases; towels were folded and piled up by color; and miscellaneous items like first-aid supplies and my Chihuahua’s sweaters went into small gift boxes I had saved from Christmas.

I have no idea how long this new neatness will last, but the plan is to get my entire place done by the time Netflix drops Season 2 sometime in the future. Because honestly, the kitchen cabinets are not looking too happy these days.

Tidying Up With Marie, Kondo, Season 1, Available Now, Netflix