The Konmari Effect

Marie Kondo, at first glance, looks like a petite Asian woman whose sweet smiles make you feel warm and homely, and then you realize this woman is an entrepreneur of a large global business and website owner with a bestselling book and a Netflix show to herself with a staggering net worth of 8 million dollars. How did she come to amass such fortune?

She is a rare example of a woman who profited from her passion, commodified it in such a unique way that multiple people, including A-list celebrities, are on a waiting list for her services. From appearing on Ellen to being listed as one of the 100 most influential people by the Times, Marie Kondo has made her passion for cleaning and organizing an immediate source of income.

Starting as a cleaning consultant (yes, that's a thing) at the age of 19 as a University student, her business grew and out of it, she started changing people's lives through her principles of organization. I came across the Konmari method (as her technique is called) on Youtube before she had blown up and proceeded to organize my closet in the same way and accordingly purging clothes that no longer "sparked joy." It made identifying my clothes much easier

Her website reads, "Our goal is to help more people tidy their spaces by choosing joy, and we are committed to developing the simplest and most effective tools to help you get there.”

And true to their words, many people have caught on with this cleaning bug making their lives more sorted with the viral technique which amounts to much more than just a fad. Ever since the millennial generation has caught up with minimalism as a lifestyle, the need to continually accumulate more and hoard belongings has received a setback, thereby focusing on a thriftier outlook.

The Konmari method has been encapsulated in Marie Kondo's book titled 'The life Changing magic of tidying up," and this lovely little book goes through several pages of rules for tidying and organizing things. Some laws that are given are to hold items not room by room but through the category in which you go through your belongings as a whole such as all your clothes, then books, and then miscellaneous items, etc.

The other rule which has even made it into memes is the idea of throwing away belongings that do not "spark joy," i.e., anything that you own just for the sake of it and not the genuine happiness that it gives you. This really could be applied to the ugly gifts you sometimes receive as showpieces that you're forced to place somewhere, relate much?

Her Netflix show which aired this year was also a global hit, and many influencers began to dig up their closets to imitate the similar lifestyle. She also explains how her idea of a healthy mindset through an organization is also derived from Shintoism.

The Konmari method has been very influential also sparking off a spate of reflective studies which have gathered some concerns and are against it such as the excessive time and energy expanding ritual of deciding what articles bring you joy including questioning the need to strip one's belongings bare to include only daily items and necessities although Marie Kondo believes that one should keep the things that comfort them so don't throw away your old cards just yet.

Overall, this powerful woman whose existence proves that stature is only a shallow perspective of the physical persona of a person and who determines that time and again agency is the only driving force to move things along and make your passion and interest your means of living and fame has rocked the world and its closets encouraging a freer and more transparent mind space owing to a better environment.

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