Marie Kondo’s famed book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has been on my list of books to read for a long time. The wait finally ended this week when I grabbed a copy, courtesy the local library.

The book is indeed wonderful. All the glowing reviews I had heard are absolutely correct.

I was skeptical at first. Let’s face it.

I am not a neat person.

Being organized and clutter free and neat is not on my Dream List.

Perhaps, never will.

And with an active preschooler, in a home-made Wonder Woman costume these days, chasing imaginary villains in the living room, neat or tidy definitely will be attributed to MAGIC! Or sorcery. Or helpful Elves. Maybe a Fairy Godmother!

[Confession: My preschooler is not untidy or incapable of cleaning. She simply possesses the ephemeral attention span of every curious four year old on the planet!]

Despite these misgivings, I tried the first step of decluttering- my clothes. It worked- the method of touching each item and questioning “Does it Spark Joy?“. I then moved on to T’s clothes, with T beside me: using a variation of the ‘spark joy’ technique. And voila! we made quick work of her clothes, thanks to my opinionated child’s quick and assertive decisions. I will admit, we regularly donate clothes she has outgrown. So, this step was not truly difficult; but the sense of joy and freshness was just as heady as when I did my stuff.

I am working my way slowly through the rest- accessories and shoes are done, supply closet is in progress. As the book states, the step by step decluttering is vital, as we can work our way up to the ‘hard-to-part’ stuff.

In review, I have to state: I loved the book. Simple prose, plenty of examples and personal anecdotes make this an excellent choice for all sorts of people; from domestic Gods and Goddesses to the Clueless rookies. I really enjoyed this book, and more importantly trying out the suggestions. I sure hope to post an update soon, once I’ve worked my way through our entire home.

To summarize: Practical, helpful and inspiring; this is a great book to read and apply!