The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying

A Simple, Effective Way to Banish Clutter Forever

By: Marie Kondo

Narrated by: Lucy Scott

Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's Summary

Brought to you by Penguin

Live in a clean and clutter-free home forever with the life-changing KonMari Method - now a multi-million copy international best seller.

Transform your home into a permanently clear and clutter-free space with the incredible KonMari Method. Japan's expert declutterer and professional cleaner Marie Kondo will help you tidy your rooms once and for all with her inspirational step-by-step method. 

The key to successful tidying is to tackle your home in the correct order, to keep only the things you really love and to do it all at once - and quickly. After that for the rest of your life you need only to choose what to keep and what to discard. 

The KonMari Method will not just transform your space. Once you have your house in order, you will find that your whole life will change. You can feel more confident, you can become more successful, and you can have the energy and motivation to create the life you want. You will also have the courage to move on from the negative aspects of your life: you can recognise and finish a bad relationship; you can stop feeling anxious; you can finally lose weight. 

Marie Kondo's method is based on a 'once cleaned, never messy again' approach. If you think that such a thing is impossible, then you should definitely listen to this compelling audiobook. 

©2016 Marie Kondo (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks

Life-changing.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to a friend who has too many things and too little "life". The author is telling about "the life-changing magic of tidying up" and I feel like almost every adult needs to know more about it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was definitely the book I wanted to listen in one sitting as I wanted to follow all the advises as soon as possible!

Individual, but not easy to manage

Good book. Message is clear, but how one should clear should be very individual. It is quite a general view in the sense it cannot be applied by everyone. If one is living alone than it maybe fine, but if one lives with family or extended family, than it may not be ideal. Therefore it comes down to ones own discovery or path. I did benefit from reading the book.

Hiccups in reading

I enjoyed the content as much as i could but it has errors inside so some of the words get swallowed during reading.

Quick and to the point

Really good book for thinking about your surroundings, to make them work for you and to be in conflict or frustrated by items being misplaced. Makes me want to go home and feel some of the joy of cleaning up or even better, finding a place that is best for an item.

Very interesting and motivating book

I really enjoyed listening to this book, it helped me have a better perspective and method on how to start tidying my home.
One thing I disliked is the fact that she talks all the time about « discarding » things. I would prefer to donate or recycle if we can’t donate.

Life Changing. Will listen to over and over again.

Lucy Scott is an excellent narrater. I immensely enjoyed listening to this Audiobook, esp while decluttering. I like having it play in the background while I do it. Its motivating and always a refreshing review. I actually purchased and read the kindle book first then purchased the audiobook. I have completely abandaned reading it now and solely relisten to the audiobook. Worth every penny.

Felt like a self-assertive autobiography

I was looking forward to the hyped "domestic wisdom" of the book. I was however, disappointed after the first chapter. While the book starts you off with a very motivational chapter, it gets very repetitive and pushy right after that. I had to power through to finish the book infact because the material was beginning to sound so stretched out and unnecessarily lengthened. The narrator did an amazing job in every aspect, but the material *of* the book was intolerable due to the amount of boasting and self-assertion that was overbearingly repeated over and over again. All in all, I walked away with just two benefits: motivation to complete a decluttering process I had already started and a new way to fold and arrange clothes in drawers which I find to be aesthetically pleasing. If you wish to take tips and pointers, I would recommend one of the summaries available on Audible or hopping onto youtube for a quick search on decluttering the Marie Kondo way. You will get everything you need to know from either minus the boring stories, insufferable reptitiveness, and bragging.

Annoying, unethical author

I picked up this book from other books because I liked the narrator, however, I've felt like slapping the person behind the voice multiple times while listening due to how inconsiderate the author seems.
So far, the book seems to be celebrating waste, throwing away perfectly good items (not a mention of recycling/donating) to make space for... what? Most people aren't "drowning in stuff" as the book claims.
She even threw away her family's items and only stopped due to losing her family's trust, not because what she did was completely wrong and disrespectful.
Simplifying sounds good, but this book has yet to convince me that trashing good items can spark any amount of joy. I get irritated just hearing about it.
She never adresses the obvious concern "what if I actually need this? " "what if I'll regret not having it?", "what if my family will face financial hardships?".
Author's reply to any valid objection: "It'll be fine, just do it".

I have an expensive camera I never use. I have no plans for using it either, I have no time to sell it, and nobody to give it to. Looking at it makes me regret it's sitting there collecting dust.
According to this book I should drop it in the trash by all means, and the book insists over and over I should absolutely immediately do this. Except that's a garbage idea.
The camera occupies next to no space, and I don't need the extra space throwing it will generate. I will feel perfectly ok keeping it for the next 50 years in case I need it. On the other hand, if I throw it away I will spend the next 50 years feeling like a wasteful retard.
It's one thing to remove useless items, and another to be a minimalist freak who thinks their home should look like a hotel. That image alone is so undesireable I want to slap the voice.

Love it

I have listened to it like 3 times now and is amazing, completely in love.

A lot of useful tips

There are a lot of useful tips and some totally inapplicable things like "keep your clothes in drawers" (a lot of people have shelves in their closets, not drawers).

Bland, sterile and utterly joyless. The book equivalent of boil in the bag rice.

Hideous. The woman has found a way of monetising her neurosis and I helped her do it. Don’t give her any more money for godssake, she’ll only write more books. I’ve no idea why I even went there but I did. I’ve taken one for the team so you don’t need to. Just get some decent storage and stop buying shite and you’ll be just fine.

Sexist, elitist drivel.

Written from the perspective of someone with deeply outdated opinions on gender and no experience of ever being poor, the ‘method’ is the exclusive plaything of those that can simply replace anything that is thrown away.

Capped off with some pseudoscientific nonsense about the dietary benefits of diarrhoea.

This book is more suited to being a stuffy Victorian manual for good housewives written by a hateful misogynist rather than the modern age.

Wouldn’t recommend unless you have a fetish for condescension.

She recommends storing carrots standing upright in the fridge.

My wife insisted that I listen to the audiobook. In fact, rather then getting a birthday present for her this year, I bought this and listened to it.
Undoubtedly the most difficult birthday present (or present of any kind) that I’ve “gifted”.

It’s not all bad. To store things in boxes and to fold towels so that they don’t hang over the shelf edge makes sense.
But most of her advice is stupid. It just gets worse and worse. And then when you think it can’t get any worse, she recommends storing carrots standing upright in the fridge!!!

As for disposing of everything (including clothes) that does not “fill you with joy”... If I did that I’d be arrested for public exposure when I walk the children to school.

read it at last!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying to be better than the print version?

Bought the book weeks ago but it took me getting it on Audible to get me started. Finished it in two days and have since filled my car with old clothes and books - home already looks and feels better - looking forward to carrying on decluttering tomorrow.

Wonderful

How wonderful to now have Marie Kondo on audible. It enables a refresh for my memory at any time. This makes me happy as does being tidy.

Amazing

Don't hesitate to buy this book. I feel so much lighter after putting my life in order. Definitely one of the most important books I've read to date. There is also an app that helps take you through the entire process. Good luck!

Very disappointed

It's the first book that I've ever returned- it's not credible in my mind, when the author started conversing with inanimate objects and projecting personalities onto them, objects such as her socks and handbags I knew that I was listening to the delusional ramblings of an obsessive- save yourself the pain and avoid this one

Not what I expected

I have wanted to read this book for a few years and after the popularity of the new Netflix show I thought I would finally take the plunge.
Unlike her show the book seems to be a little more unforgiving and a very strict in ideologies. As a creative I found it very difficult and a little too practical way of living, bordering on obsessive tidying - for example emptying your handbag every night.
I believe it very much could be life changing for some people, especially those who are looking for the kind of home you see in magazines, but it’s just not for me.
I will however still be looking if something sparks joy!

Useful tips, worth a read

Good tips on how to focus on genuinely clearing clutter and reassessing the value and sentiment we place on so many things we feel we can't part with, but are ultimately deadweight to our lives and homes. I disliked the use of 'throw it away' that she stressed so much - please recycle and drop off at charity shops as and where you can!! It's also originally a Japanese book so has some text specific to them but not too much. I've already started to Marie Kondo my house so it must've sparked something!!!

If you were interested in the book you will love it!

If like me you have heard of the Kon Marie method of tidying and getting your house in order, then you will really enjoy this book. Of course the author has become world famous and some of the methods may seem a little strange, but I certainly loved every minute of this beautifully narrated book.