The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
By Cheryl Maguire
“Does this spark joy?” I asked myself.
Cradling an apple spice candle in my hand, I sniffed the top of it.
The scent is gone probably from sitting in the attic for 15 years, I thought. It definitely isn’t sparking any joy.
I tossed it in the overflowing trash pile.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo had been a bestseller for 86 weeks when I first discovered it. That discovery led to a month-long marathon decluttering of my house. I emptied every drawer, closet, and bin, resulting in eleven donation bags and ten garbage bags.
A Neat Freak’s Confession
I consider myself a ‘neat freak,’ yet if I wrote a book about how I ‘clean up,’ it would end up in the clearance bin. My three children get annoyed with my habits. When they’re eating, I’m wiping away crumbs. Labeled bins hold their toys, clothes, and sports gear. If they don’t put things in the right place, they face my wrath.
When I first heard of Kondo’s book, I couldn’t understand how a book about such a dull topic sold so well. But as I read, I hung on every word. It was more captivating than the psychological thrillers I usually read. The deeper I went, the clearer the theme became: analyzing our relationship with material items.
The Illusion of Tidying
In the book, Kondo states, “Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved.” Even though everything I owned was neatly stacked or stored in bins, I rarely got rid of things. Like Kondo said, I was under the delusion of living clutter-free.
“You will never use spare buttons,” Kondo states.
She was right—I’d never sewed a button in my life, so why did I have a pile of them? I could no longer ignore the clutter.
“If you see a cord and wonder what it’s for, chances are you’ll never use it again,” Kondo says.
When I looked at my bag of unidentified cords, I realized I hadn’t used any of them since collecting them.
Why We Hold On
The book made me reflect on how I acquired each item and why I kept it. I realized my reasons fell into two patterns:
- Worrying I might need it in the future
- Feeling guilty about never using it
It was time to start step one in her book: “Discard all at once, intensely and completely.”
The Joy Test
Kondo’s process focuses on “what we want to keep, not what we want to get rid of.” She suggests holding each item and asking, “Does this spark joy?”
At first, the question seemed ridiculous, but I tried it anyway.
“If you only keep what sparks joy, you surround yourself with happiness,” Kondo says. This reorganization can transform your life and perspective.
For me, the biggest change came from discarding unused items and unworn clothes. Kondo calls this “the magic effect of tidying.”
She recommends saying, “Thank you for teaching me what doesn’t suit me.” This mindset helped me donate a red shirt with tags still on.
The Aftermath of Tidying
Kondo says that after tidying, “You can see clearly what you need and don’t need, and what you should and shouldn’t do.”
The process boosts confidence by forcing you to make decisions about possessions and confront past choices.
When I finished, I felt accomplished. Opening a drawer and finding a pen—without useless buttons—gave me pride in my decluttering.
I also experienced a life transformation. While cleaning, I found a book I wrote in fourth grade, a reminder of my love for writing. After ‘cleaning house,’ I pursued freelance writing, leading to publications in The New York Times, Parents Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and others.
As a stay-at-home mom, writing connected me to others and eased isolation.
Like Kondo says, I put my space in order—and it changed my life forever.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cheryl Maguire holds a Master of Counseling Psychology degree. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, Washington Post, Parents Magazine, AARP, Healthline, Your Teen Magazine, Good Life Family Magazine, and many others.
