Decluttering guru Marie Kondo reveals how her obsession with tidying sparked a nervous breakdown before her 'magic' methods inspired millions the world over

  • Japanese guru has sold 4.8 million books about her quirky tidying method
  • Her method involves looking at every object and asking if it brings us joy 
  • Says her tidying obsession caused her to collapse as a teenager

By HELEN CROYDON FOR MAILONLINE

Published: | Updated:

She has spent a year at the top of the New York Times bestseller list, sold 4.8 million copies of her book worldwide and has a cult following in Japan, Germany, Russia, France, Brazil and more.

Yet Marie Kondo, the guru behind the so-called 'magic tidying' method says that as a teenager she had an obsession with clearing up and couldn't control herself throwing things away.

In an interview with The Times' Saturday Magazine she revealed how her compulsion stemmed from a failure to be able to tidy up and she wanted to rectify it.

Scroll down for video 

Marie Kondo has built a global empire thanks to her unique advice about tidying and clutter clearing

Marie Kondo has built a global empire thanks to her unique advice about tidying and clutter clearing

Marie Kondo with her husband, Takumi Kawahara at the TIME 100 Gala in New York last year

Marie Kondo with her husband, Takumi Kawahara at the TIME 100 Gala in New York last year

'As far as anything else went - cleaning, washing, sewing - I could do it. The only thing I couldn't do was tidying up.

'At school, while other kids were playing dodge ball or skipping. I’d slip away to arrange the bookshelves in our classroom, or check the contents of the mop cupboard … I had begun to see my things and even my house as an adversary that I had to beat,' she is quoted as saying.

The 30-year old who has now made an empire over her quirky advice to treat animate objects as if they have a soul, revealed how one day, aged 16, the stress from her compulsion to throw things away made her fall unconscious.

'I walked into my room with the rubbish bag in my hand. And I looked at my room, and felt that I wanted to throw out everything in it. That was the climax of my stress, and at that moment I collapsed unconscious.'

Marie Kondo gives folding lesson to a teenager in America for her Japanese TV show

Marie Kondo gives folding lesson to a teenager in America for her Japanese TV show

When she finally came around two hours later, the idea for her so-called KonMari tidying method was born: 'I stood up and in my mind came the words "Look at things more carefully". I don’t know if it was an actual voice, or a feeling that came from myself. 

'I believe it was the god of tidying...That was the moment when I had my inspiration.' She told the magazine.

THE KON MARI RULES 

1. Store everything similar in one place

2. Have a place for everything, however small and insignificant it seems

3. Ask 'does it spark joy'? When you handle the item. If not, get rid of it

4. Let go of guilt- the item has now served its purpose for you, so let it go, with gratitude

5. Don't pass things onto family or friends- it means things stay in your orbit.

6. Stack vertically, never horizontally

7. Don't buy extra storage- get rid of enough so your possessions fit what you have

8. Don't tidy 'little and often.' Do it all at once, and maintain 

She made the revelations in an interview to mark the publication of her new book Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide To The Japanese Art Of Tidying. 

The book centres on her simple advice to look at all your possessions, and in turn hold each one up to the light and ask: 'Does this spark joy?'

If the answer is yes, you should carefully fold it, assign it a storage slot and even personally praise it. If the answer is no then the object should be thanked and apologised to, and even stroked, before being thrown away.

In her book Kondo - who always wears white - includes examples of her own dedications to items she has chosen to keep. In one passage describing her appreciation for a screwdriver she writes:

'Dear old screwdriver, I may not use you much, but when I need you, why, you’re a genius. Thanks to you, I put this shelf together in no time. You saved my fingernails, too. I would have ruined them if I had used them to turn the screws. And what a design! Strong, vigorous and cool to the touch, with a modern air that makes you really stand out.'

Her hordes of followers worldwide claim that her tidying method has helped them think more clearly and given them inspiration to change jobs and even lose weight.

She made her name with her first book, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying which is based on her idea that all items should be treated as it they have souls. 

Kondo has since been named one of Time's 100 most influential people alongside Angela Merkel, Pope Francis and Kim Jong Un.

As well as celebrating seeing her book published in 21 countries Kondo - who has 46,000 followers on Instagram, with 24,000 posts made under the KonMari hashtag - is celebrating the birth of her daughter Satsuki in July. 

But she is self-deprecating about her achievements, saying: 'I call myself a crazy tidying fanatic'.  

HOW MARIE KONDO CHANGED ONE WOMAN'S LIFE... 

Flic Everett said her office has become a place of calm since she applied Marie Kondo's method

Flic Everett said her office has become a place of calm since she applied Marie Kondo's method

Writer Flic Everett, 45, from Bath, used Marie Kondo's method to transform her flat. She says:

I have never been a tidy person. My tendency is to stockpile accidentally and when it comes to getting rid of all the stuff I've accumulated over the years, a little voice dogs me, whispering 'You might lose weight again,' 'That was a gift, you can't chuck it out' and 'It might come in useful one day.' 

This is why I was so excited to discover Marie Kondo and her book The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying. 

Her view is that it's impossible to be free to live your life when you're penned in by clutter – old clothes you don't like, books you've read and forgotten, ornaments that were a gift, which have only earned their place in your home through guilt... all of them, she says, need to go.

But it's not just a case of having a bit of a clear-out and then keeping at it 'little and often'. According to the Kon Mari method, this is doomed, and all the clutter will creep back in. She's right – I have held six-monthly 'clear outs' for the last 25 years, and I am no less cluttered than when I began.

Her view, instead, is that 'The root of the problem lies in the mind.' Master your approach to mess, she says, and you'll stay tidy forever.

The Kon Mari manifesto insists that this is done in a certain way. 'Start by discarding. Then organise your space thoroughly, completely, in one go. Tidy once and properly.'

For me, this is terrifying. My usual method is do a bit of bedroom, get bored, move to the kitchen, head to bathroom, give up and go for a drink, but according to Kon Mari, I must gather everything of the same type into one place, dump it all on the floor, then go through it in order: tops, bottoms, things that hang up, bags, shoes and jewellery. 

Flic's hoard of second hand books were a source of constant guilt before she applied Marie Kondo's method
Flic finds her tidy office is far more conducive to work

Flic's hoard of second hand books were a source of constant guilt before she applied Marie Kondo's method

'All hoarding is simply attachment to the past or fear of the future.' in her mindful, minimal way, Kondo insists that we live in the present, only keeping those things that 'spark joy' right now. 

It takes several hours, but I end up with four enormous bin bags filled with clothes I once couldn't imagine getting rid of. The best part, however, is Kon Mari's storage rules for the clothes I have kept.

Flic copies Kon Mari's own vertical folding technique which has clutter clearers in a frenzy of excitement

Flic copies Kon Mari's own vertical folding technique which has clutter clearers in a frenzy of excitement

The big mistake everyone makes, she warns, is storing horizontally, in piles. I have always attempted to do this, and found that after looking for just one jumper, everything is spilled and chaotic. I can never see what I have, and can never find anything in the morning.

The Kon Mari way is to have a place for everything - and stack vertically. Everything must be folded into a rectangle, and stored on its side in neat rows. 

Finally, I have a chest of drawers filled with cavernous space and several serried rows of colourful clothes. Even my exploding undies drawer is stacked with neatly rolled tights and folded over socks. (Never ball them, says Kondo, it's too untidy.) And my handbags are stacked one inside another; a trick that saves an extraordinary amount of shelf space.  

A week on, my chest of drawers is still a sparkling temple to vertical stacking, my getting-dressed time has been cut by around 75 per cent, and I can actually see the books I love whenever I go into my office.

It takes me two minutes to find something to wear each day now, and my office induces a calm feeling, which it never did before. There are books I'm dying to read, and looking at them sparks a sense of anticipation, rather than regret and guilt.

It's early days, I know, but unlike every other tidying advice I've ever read, Kon Mari gets to the heart of the problem. It's not the tidying itself that matters, it's how you tidy. And yes, she has changed my life. 

Most watched News videos

Comments 42

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.