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5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't "Spark Joy" With Marie Kondo

Joe H. theBeijinger 2019-05-29




The Japanese tidying-up guru is taking the world by storm, but Joe Harvey of Beijing's first zero-waste store The Bulk House has a few issues with her method...


Have you heard of Marie Kondo?
Marie Kondo is a 34-year-old lady from Tokyo, Japan, who rose to fame through a book called
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. For the early adopters of the "less is more concept", she is pretty well known. However, it wasn't until recently that Marie's fame exploded after Netflix released a series called Tidying Up With Marie Kondo.


The premise of the show is simple: the loveliest little lady called Marie enters a home, gets really excited that it is a complete mess, does this strange "hello home" ritual which everyone except herself finds awkward and then uses her method called The KonMari Method™ to help then throw everything out by piling it into rubbish bags and putting them outside.  

Now, I can tell already, you are getting me wrong. You think I'm not into this decluttering thing and that I don't like Marie Kondo. Quite the contrary! I think the message she is spreading is GREAT! I really like Marie Kondo, she's like a sister from another mister.


Hoarding and over-consumption is an increasingly big problem throughout the world. They contribute to relationship problems; people feeling overwhelmed and stressed; debt; and in some extreme cases, people being evicted from their homes.

For these reasons, I find it so important that the information going out into the world as solutions to these big problems are the best they can possibly be.


However, I have been left wondering why Marie has so many customers and why people are so excited by her methods. They aren't revolutionary and a lot them aren't good, and I would go as far to say that a number of points in her methods are just plain bad advice.

What she is attempting is great and we need about another 100 Marie Kondo's in the world, her methods are missing an awful lot. Here are five reasons why you
SHOULDN'T spark joy with Marie Kondo...

1) "Does it spark joy?" is the wrong question

#badadvice

#alotmissing

Marie Kondo's method involves holding an object, and kind of cuddling it, and then asking, "Does this spark joy?" And, if your body does this...


... then you keep the item.

There are much more helpful and better questions we should be asking ourselves. Marie's method (sorry, I mean The KonMari Method™) is too simple to be used on the complex problem that too many people are now facing, those being:
over-consumption and hoarding.


Here is a list of better questions to ask and not ask yourself when decluttering your home ONCE AND FOR ALL!


  1. Do I use this item on a regular enough basis? To help with that, use the 90:90 rule. You can ask yourself: "Have I used it in the last 90 days? and Will I use it in the next 90 days?" If the answer is "No." Put it to one side.

  2. Am I just keeping it "for in case?" Don't grip tightly living a life of just-in-cases and what-ifs. Release that item, let it go to be loved by another person who will love it more than you currently do. Open up space in your home and your mind so that you spend more time doing, being and creating rather than hoarding, worrying and consuming.

  3. How many [insert item here] do I really need? Really need. Really. Probably far less than you currently own.


2) Sitting around and greeting the house is strange advice


3) Folding clothes is bad advice
Although the coat hanger was invented in the 1800s (supposedly by Thomas Jefferson, #funfact) it still works today! Recent technology has not killed it off just yet. I'm not sure when clothes folding was invented, but that's neither here nor there. Folding clothes is a nightmare. There is a better way, and it goes like this...

  1. When the wash finishes, shake wrinkles out of clothing.

  2. Stick a hanger inside and hang it up to dry.

  3. Once dry, hang in wardrobe.



Or...

  1. Politely ask ayi to do the above.


This saves time on ironing. It also saves time on folding clothes. And looking for clothes.


4. Saying thank you to the things you no longer want is strange advice


5. "Discarding things" is a bad habit

#savetheplanet

That's a lot of "didn't spark joy"


We at THE BULK HOUSE are working towards ridding the world of waste both in regards to things and time. There is very little information on Tidying Up With Marie Kondo about what to do with all the items you no longer want. Having people pile them into plastic bags and throw them outside is not what should be done!

Instead, once you have all the things you want to get out of your home, get some boxes out and line them up against a wall, write on them:

  1. Sell.

  2. Give away, in this order:
            1. To friend or family.
            2. In a sharing group or sharing website. If you live in Beijing, you can join The Bulk House's Reduce to Relive groups by adding this WeChat ID:
    THE_BULK_HOUSE_1
            3. Via a charity clothing auction: keep an eye on some of the popular Beijing publications for when these will be on. Just search
    Charity Clothing Auction Beijing to find more info. It is organized by a Kiwi called Rebecca.
            4. Via
    Live With Less, a swap event that takes place a few times a year in Sanlitun. Keep an eye on some of the popular Beijing publications for when these will be on.
            5. Give to your ayi (optional, needs some considering)

  3. Donate to charity. Two local charities we love are:
            1. Roundabout (roundaboutchina.com)
            2. Migrant Children's Foundation (mcfchina.org)

  4. Upcycle. Arrange for the item to be sent to, or picked up by, an upcycling organization.

  5. Recycle.


If you feel overwhelmed when you look at the mess in your home, take an age to get ready as you can never find what you need, or perhaps if you are already quite tidy, but you would like it to be just a little bit better, then we hope that this article was of some help to you. And, maybe if we do our job right, we might even "spark joy."


This is an abridged and edited version of an article which originally appeared on The Bulk House official WeChat account. You can read it in full here. If you're looking for new ways to reduce your footprint, you can visit The Bulk House Store here: thebeijinger.com/directory/bulk-house.

Want more? Joe Harvey also has a bone to pick with WeChat. Read more about that, right here.



Photos: Dwell, The Bulk House, Netflix, Giphy, wsj.com, make-room.net, tenor.com, buzzfeed.com, bustle.com, giphy.com, dribbble.com



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