Tidying Up with Marie Kondo – Full Review plus recommendations for better videos of the The Konmari Method

Tidying Up with Marie Kondo Netflix Trailer

You will either love or hate the Netflix production of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo”, where you get to see the Konmari method in action with 8 different families. This is the official trailer:

In every episode (under 45 min/each) you will get to see Marie Kondo demonstrating her Konmari method explained in her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up“.

• Episode 1: Tidying with Toddlers
• Episode 2: Empty Nesters
• Episode 3: The Downsizers
• Episode 4: Sparking Joy After a Loss
• Episode 5: From Students to Improvements
• Episode 6: Breaking Free from a Mountain of Stuff
• Episode 7: Making Room for Baby
• Episode 8: When 2 (messes) Become One

After hearing and reading SO MUCH about this, we decided to watch all the episodes and take notes 🙂 We are always excited to explore resources and new ideas.

I (Emilio) did write a very in-depth article about her book, the Konmari method, and how it compares with the method that we follow. Read the full article here.

Anything that creates a reaction is good!

Since Marie Kondo´s book became a best-seller, she has sold over 6 million of books around the world in many different countries. This proves that tidying and getting organized is a worldwide interest.

We totally agree with this. Why? Because since we published our first online course “How to Declutter and Organize Any Space” back in 2016, we have had a consistent amount of students enrolling every week. Right now there are 3346 students enrolled in our courses from 113 countries! Clutter is a worldwide problem. If you have clutter, you are not alone.

Marie Kondo has done a wonderful job of bringing awareness to the industry of Professional Organizing.

Many people love the Konmari method, and many others don’t like some of her ways of doing things. We believe that anything that creates a reaction is worth exploring 🙂

If you are curious about the topic of this show, we strongly recommend that you watch the 8 episodes (available on Netflix). You will learn a LOT for sure. Most likely there will be things that you don’t agree with, but if you keep an open mind and only take the stuff and ideas that can help you, most people can benefit from it.

If you have no problem with clutter, you feel great in your home, and you don’t need someone else to tell you how you can tidy your stuff, maybe this show is not for you. But… if you are reading this far, I bet you that you are at least curious about this… am I right? 🙂

A professional organizers’ opinion 

I (Emilio) want to share with you what we (as professional organizers) think about these episodes, the main takeaways, and the things that we thought were missing.

This is just our opinion, and we recommend you to watch the show with an open mind.

The first episode was our least favorite. To be honest, we almost gave up on watching the rest of the episodes. We were disappointed with the episode because it didn’t show the main steps of the process (as defined in her book) and it skipped important parts like paperwork (one of the most time-consuming parts of the decluttering process).

We decided to watch all the episodes doesn’t matter how we felt, and it was a good idea. The show got better after every episode and after watching the 8 episodes, we were able to see how the Konmari method was implemented in different environments, with different family situations, and different life events that we can all face during our lives.

These are some notes we took while watching the episodes:

Episode 1: Tidying with Toddlers

• Introducing herself to the house. This is something that you will see in every episode. Marie has a ceremony where she takes a few minutes to introduce herself to the house by kneeling on the floor. Sometimes she does it alone and sometimes she invites others to join her. Some people may think that this is weird. I like to see it as a ceremony that helps her get ready for the session, set her intention, and get into the right mindset.

• Spark Joy. This is the most known from Marie’s method. When she asks this question, she just wants to make sure that the items you keep will be relevant for your life moving forward. She doesn’t want to force you to let go, she just wants to make sure that you question everything in your home. 

• Saying thank you to items before letting them go. This practice could be also seen as weird. From my perspective, she is just practicing gratitude. There are so many studies out there that prove how powerful practicing gratitude can be. So when doing this process of deciding, I think that being grateful can help you to feel better and more confident. I also think that it’s an opportunity for closure. Because many items trigger emotions, saying thank you is a way for you to give yourself the permission that you need to let that item go. It can also be an opportunity for you to understand why you are having difficulties, and become aware.

• Giving unwanted items a new life. Most of the episodes don’t really talk about how to deal with unwanted items. And a lot of times people say “throw that away”, or “garbage” when referring to things that are still in good condition. In a video that I have included below, you will see that she mentions the importance of selling and donating your unwanted items, and not disposing of things that are still usable.

Episode 2: Empty Nesters

• One of the things that we loved most from this episode was to see the husband’s transformation. At the beginning of the process, you could tell from his body language and attitude that he wasn’t interested in this process, that he was doing it only for his wife. Happy wife, happy life. But after a few sessions, it was pretty amazing to see how he changed, and how much he valued the process at the end. 

• I loved when Marie Kondo introduced herself to the house and the entire family knelt on the ground together.  Having the entire family closing their eyes and setting the intention together is very powerful!

• When facing the clothes pile, she had a LOT of work to do! From our experience, many people cannot find the time, strength, and focus to do such a big task on their own. We felt that Marie Kondo gave them a quick lesson, but then she left all the mess behind for her to tackle on her own. If it’s an emotional process, having help is very helpful.

Episode 3: The Downsizers

• We really liked this episode. It’s such a nice family of 4. Parents are very young and all the members are involved in the process of making the most of their new small apartment.

• Great to see how family dynamics can influence how everybody participates. In this case, all the organizing and household chores fell on the mom, because she was the only one who knew where everything was. It’s very liberating for her to be able to create systems that everybody understands and can participate in.

• This episode also shows how important it is to respect each other’s treasures.

Episode 4: Sparking Joy After a Loss 

• This episode starts with a clear definition of the “why” (why she is doing this process) and the lifestyle that she wants to live. This is such an important step that needs to happen before getting started with the tidying process. 

• It’s all about keeping what you love, not being forced to let go.

• She defined this process as therapeutic. When you are dealing with your belongings, you are also facing your life, your emotions, the decisions you made… physical items can trigger a lot of emotions, and you need the time, space, and support to cope with them.

• There were a couple of things that we did notice from this episode. She was having a hard time dealing with her husband’s clothes, and we sensed that she didn’t get enough emotional help. We also sensed her being ready to tackle her husband’s clothes, but she was “forced” to follow the order and do books instead of emotional items. In this case, we would have changed the order for sure.

Episode 5: From Students to Improvements

• We loved this couple so much! They were very sweet, loving, and supportive of each other.

• This episode also does a really good job of finding “why” they are doing this, and having them both on the same page.

• In this episode, you can see how much one person relates to clothes, and how much the other relates to books. Deciding what stays and what goes is more difficult with the things that you value most. This is why Marie insists on doing sentimental items last.

Episode 6: Breaking Free from a Mountain of Stuff 

• This episode shows how much tension can be created due to clutter and disorganization. Once family dynamics have formed and stayed for a long time, being able to find a way to change them can be very difficult. Having an external person acting as a mediator is essential to be able to move forward. That’s one of the biggest reasons why people hire professional organizers.

• It’s not magic! She was asking Marie to do her magic, and her response was that there is no magic, you need to be ready for change and you have to do the hard work.

• She is having a very hard time with her clothes. She doesn’t want to let go of clothes that don’t fit her. She is concerned that she will need to spend money in the future to replace them. That she may need them. This wasn’t addressed in the episode, but we sensed that she was “hoping” to fit in those clothes again. Most likely she was feeling a lot of pressure when going through her clothes because they were reminding her of her current size. If she can get back in shape, she may be able to fit again in them! In this case, we always recommend not to let them go, but not to keep them in the space that you use every day. Maybe storing them somewhere else, using labels, and dating them can be a good step. You can go back and revisit those clothes in the future and you will be aware of how much time has passed. This way, they are not taking important space in your closet.

• As we were watching the episode, especially when doing the garage, it was very clear to us that more communication between the couple was needed. There was too much tension, and there wasn’t a clear common vision. She was referring to “This place is going to get in shape”, but “in shape” can mean something very different to each of them.

• It’s so important to involve children in the process, especially when going through toys.

• This process is not about letting go of things. It’s about keeping only what sparks joy. It also mentions the importance of the balance between space and stuff. The end goal is to keep what you like and need and to make sure that you can have easy access to these things.

• This process has brought them closer together.  She says: “there is some mental space that has been cleared out during this process”. This shows the strong connection that exists between physical and mental clutter.

Episode 7: Making Room for Baby

• This episode shows great communication between the couple. They both define a very clear vision. Very inspiring!

• You are facing your past and all the emotions that you experienced while going through your belongings. That’s why this process can be so draining emotionally and mentally speaking.

• In this episode, we both felt that he wasn’t relating to the “spark joy” question. This moment is when he finds the old mailbox of the house. They have a new one, but he was keeping this one, and he was having a hard time deciding. When Marie asked him “does this spark joy” you could see that he wasn’t relating to the question. He then explained why this mailbox meant so much to him, then Marie asked him “Does this item belong in your life moving forward?”, and that was a way better question that he could understand, and finally permit himself to let it go because he has a new one that serves the purpose. This is a great example of how items can trigger past emotions, and how important, and therapeutic, it is allowing for some time and closure.

• Another great moment was when he faced all his shoes (over 160 pairs). We all knew that sneakers would be a very difficult and sentimental category to face. He admitted that he had over $10.000 in credit card debt. He admitted that most of those shoes were still brand new. He always admired Athletes so much. By buying sneakers he felt better. There is always a deep reason why we do what we do. When facing difficult items (like sneakers for him), we are facing a LOT of emotions that we need to deal with. You may need time and space. He wasn’t ready at the beginning to deal with them, but after doing the process in other areas of his house, he then felt more confident and strong to face his sneakers and all the emotions that came with them. Great job!

• By the end of the episode, they were both saying how this process made them stronger and how much more free time they now have! Bravo!

Episode 8: When 2 (messes) Become One

• This lovely couple is on the same page. They moved together into the same home and they want to start a new chapter of their lives together and organized.

• It’s very important to understand how you use your space now, what you like, and what you don’t like. This will help you understand what to improve and how.

• This episode shows the importance of creating your own space, especially when sharing a space with a person that organizes differently than you. They say: “Everything got a lot better when we designated our own spaces. It promoted our individuality.” “We gained a deeper respect for each other’s belongings”.

• Clothes are a very emotional category to one of them. When diving deeper into the feelings, we discover that she was very close to her grandmother, she loved clothes, and clothes remind her of her grandma. That’s why she is so attached to clothes.

• They defined this process as therapeutic. “It was therapeutic and allowed us to know each other better. It’s a lifestyle change!”

Something better than the Netflix Show

I have done a little research online and I found these 2 episodes that Marie Kondo did in New York City.

Honestly, I think that they did a way better job of showing the actual process. I find these videos more natural and real. They also do a way better job of explaining the different steps of the process.

Tidy Up with KonMari – Episode 1 in New York City with Gina Kruger (28 min)

Tidy Up with KonMari – Episode 2 in New York City with Emily Newhouse (28 min)

We all have different motivations in life, but we all need to have a home, a home that facilitates the lifestyle that we want to live. When our home is not serving us due to clutter, disorganization, chaos… this will impact our lives profoundly. 

Shows like this one are great tools to help you question what you have, why you have it, and how you can make your home better.

It’s great to see so many people motivated to watch these episodes, read her books, and comment about her method. Like any other resource, you will find good stuff and stuff that you don’t like. Take what you can use and let go of the rest 🙂

From our professional perspective, this is a great tool to use with any individual or family who may feel inspired to get started with the tidying process. It doesn’t matter how you get there, or what tools you use. What matters is that you reach your desired destination.

Please let us know what you think about this blog and let us know how your tidying process go.

And remember that we are here if you need help. 

P.S. Did you know that we created an 8 part mini-series called Judie’s Story? You will see us helping Judie declutter and organize her entire apartment. Then, we have included 4 bonus episodes where we dive into time management, personal finances, and the maintenance piece that comes after this process. You can watch the trailer below.

Judie’s Story

Watch for Free!  On our Academy  /   Watch on Youtube