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“It was fun. A challenge. Especially how get concepts that are very Japanese across, such as all things having a soul. I was sure people would think she was crazy. And yes, I do Kondo my clothes…” Cathy Hirano, Translator
With over 13,000 reviews on Amazon, Marie Kondo can truly say she has changed the world!
From the Introduction:
I started reading home and lifestyle magazines when I was five, and it was this that first inspired me, from the age of 15, to undertake a serious study of tidying that led to my development of the KonMari Method (based on a combination of my first and last names). I am now a consultant and spend most of my days visiting homes and offices, giving hands-on advice to people who find it difficult to tidy but suffer rebounds, or who want to tidy but don’t know where to start.
The number of things my clients have discarded, from clothes and undergarments to photos, pans, magazine clippings, and make up samples, easily exceeds 1 million items. This is no exaggeration. I have assisted individual clients who have thrown out two hundred 45-liter garbage bags in one go.
From my exploration of the art of organizing and my experience helping messy people become tidy, there is one thing I can say with confidence. A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and prospective. It is life transforming. I mean it. Here are just a few of the testimonies I receive on a daily basis from former clients.
After your course, I quit my job and launched my own business doing something I had dreamed of doing ever since I was a child.
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Your course taught me to see what I really need and what I don’t. So I got a divorce. Now I feel much happier.
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Someone I have been wanting to get in touch with recently contacted me.
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I’m delighted to report that since cleaning up at my apartment, I have been able to really increase my sales.
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My husband and I are getting along much better.
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I’m amazed to find that just throwing things away has changed me so much.
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I finally succeeded in losing 10 pounds.
My clients always sound so happy, and the results show that tidying has changed their way of thinking and their approach to life. In fact, it has changed their future. Why? This question is addressed in more detail throughout the book, but basically, when you put your house in order, you put your affairs in your past. As a result, you can see quite clearly what you need in life and what you don’t, what you should and shouldn’t do.
About the Author: Marie Kondo is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (also a best seller in Japan, Germany, and the UK) and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2015. She is the founder of the KonMari Method.
About the Translator: Cathy Hirano lives in Shikoku, Japan and has translated a variety of books including best-selling authors Marie Kondo and Nahoko Uehashi.