HER Netflix series and books about tidying up made her a decluttering guru for millions around the world. Now Marie Kondo says her services are more in demand than ever due to the pandemic.

She’s a professional tidier?

If you haven’t yet caught her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, or read her best-seller, The Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up, then all you need to know in a nutshell is that the Japanese 35-year-old has a cult-like following for her dedication to the art of tidying. Described as an "organising consultant", she declares her "goal is to help more people live a life that sparks joy”.

Tidying can “spark joy”?

Millions of people have bought her books and tuned into her series in the hope that this is the case. Ms Kondo, it seems, became “enchanted with organising” in childhood and has transformed this passion into a career, with one of her main tenets: "Keep only those things that speak to the heart, and discard items that no longer spark joy. Thank them for their service - then let them go.”

What are her other strategies?

She says that while “most tidying methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever”, her “KonMari Method™” encourages tidying by category – not by location – beginning with clothes, then moving on to books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and, finally, sentimental items”.

And it’s not just about having a clear out?

Ms Kondo says it’s also about mindfulness: “People around the world have been drawn to this philosophy not only due to its effectiveness, but also because it places great importance on being mindful, introspective and forward-looking”, and she believes that if you properly tidy your home once, “you’ll never have to do it again”.

The pandemic has played a part?

Ms Kondo said she has seen a rise in people wanting to tidy as they spent more time in their homes due to lockdown and as a result, she began an ‘eight-week tidy challenge’, guiding people through step-by-step tasks on her website”. 

Now?

Ms Kondo has also launched a consultancy side of her business. Would-be consultants attend a “Consultant Certification Course”, which involves tidying your own home, practicing tidying for at least 30 hours and helping a client complete the method, completing a final exam and then an interview. The process can take more than a year.

There are ‘tidying festivals’?

Tidying festivals are where you blitz the “KonMari Method™” from start to finish. Ms Kondo said: “Tidying in this way can dramatically change your mindset. A true tidying festival can take several weeks. I’ve had some clients who took months to complete theirs, though I don’t advise stretching it out that long if you can avoid it.”

There’s a new show afoot?

The tidying guru is working on “Tidy My Town” with Netflix, due to air later this year, where she helps organise a small US town “deserving of joy and change".