Honestly, I think it also comes into contact with peoples’ cognitive dissonance with improving themselves. They’re not really arguing with Kondo; they’re arguing with their impression of what cleaning means.
Honestly, though, it’s nice to see her embrace the mess a bit. Different stages of life have different demands and I think people are really hoping and picturing some sort of meltdown, rather than a considered reevaluation of priorities.
My family’s found some good use in her stuff, but also, with a chronically ill partner and a neurodiverse kindergartener, there’s only so much that can be done.
Well but you see a woman made money off of selling books to people dealing with clutter so we should be mad at her. Did you know she also sells objects!? /s
Which is one reason I’ve never wanted to indulge in this particular luxury; if I have to do 90% of the work first, why pay someone else for the last 10%? I mean once everything is picked up and out of the way, sweeping and wiping are easy. And you can’t get someone to just do one room (i.e. the bathroom, which is actually a pain even without clutter).
Last time I moved, I put a high priority on having a daylight-facing window in the bathroom. There are plenty of things I don’t like about my place now, but getting full sun in the bathroom makes a difference.
(my apologies if your place is already set up as such!)
Oh, at least let it be stacks of 5 and 3 Wall Street Journals carefully annotated, and 10-gallon ceramic planters of re-cut IKEA catalogs (with maybe deep sea mineral nodules layered?)
[Camera shifts; behind them are multicolor square-sided blown-glass sampler jars with citrus wood sealers, each labeled with a meditational intent.]
How we beat clutter: 1) Fill the walls with Ikea ‘Billy’ cabinets with glass doors and shelves. 2) Fill the cabinets with books and memorabilia that would otherwise clutter-up the house. 3) Dust occasionally. Easy.
Thanks I ha…ve no idea what Billy cabinets are like to deal with.
Bunbain> full sun in the bathroom makes a difference.
Looking for a happy medium between the Solar Observatory scene in Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris and playing No Man’s Sky on the bidet (with wraparound monitors or AR gogs or something.)
Just came here to say that each time I skimmed BB’s front page today, I misread this as “Mario Kondo,” and now I’ve got Mario voicing Marie Kondo quotes in my head on a loop while I tidy up the house.
"It’s a-me, Mario! When you’re done playing, please file this cartridge back on the proper shelf, and put the console back inside the entertainment center”
Not hate, but there is general eye rolling and distaste about her from people like, well, me. In addition to saying the same stuff good housekeepers have always said, there’s always been a weird streak of moral judgement and privilege blindness in her “philosophy”. Like you’re a lesser person if you’re messy or don’t have all the free time and money to live in a tastefully decorated featureless white box. Like, you’re messy because you don’t understand joy, not because you have a real job, three kids and a husband who doesn’t pull his weight.
Self-help stuff is always a little preachy and it’s never original. I’m really over all of it, but she’s the one to make it big lately so much of this ire is directed at her.
