Marie Kondo’s 6 Basic Rules of Tidying

Maybe you think you already know everything about order… and you may be right. However, there’s so much information on the topic that it can be complicated to establish a method. We want to make it easy for you. Therefore, we decided to share Marie Kondo’s six basic rules of tidying so that you can organize your home in the blink of an eye.

We promise you that, if you follow the advice of one of the greatest experts in the world, you’ll have a tidier home with much more space.

Marie Kondo’s six basic rules of tidying

1. Order is a long-term commitment

It’s all about integrating these routines into your way of life, changing your habits, and falling in love with “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up“, like Marie Kondo herself. It’ll be no good to put your home in order today if it’ll be a chaotic mess tomorrow.

2. Dream of the life you want

Believe it or not, visualizing the life you want helps you achieve your goals.

One of Marie Kondo’s basic rules of tidying is that, before you start organizing your home, take a few minutes to imagine the life you want. Be as specific as you can and don’t skimp on detailing how each of the spaces will look like once you complete your goal.

This is one way to stay motivated. Also, it will make it a lot easier to carry this out in your own home.

3. Start throwing things away

One of the basic rules of order that this Japanese guru teaches is that you must learn to get rid of all the unnecessary things you have. And we’re not saying this just because of what you have stored in your closets or kitchen pantry. This also works on a mental level.

The KonMari method invites you to take out everything you have before you start organizing. Once you do this, you’ll be surprised by the number of things you have!

This is the only way for you to become aware of everything that you no longer use and that you can recycle, give away, or throw out.

4. Order by category, not location

This is one of the most important rules because, usually, people don’t follow it. When it comes to organizing your house, do you do it room by room and feel like you’ll never finish?

For the Japanese, people need to tidy by types of objects, not location. For example, you can tidy the food then your clothes and, finally, your books.

In addition to this being the fastest way to order, it’s also the most effective, as it forces you to finish once you start.

5. Order for organization

Although the recommendation is to order by categories, the method invites you not to do it randomly. Instead, do so in a specific order – clothes, books, papers, komono (this is the term used to refer to various objects), and sentimental objects.

One more thing – Marie Kondo advises you not to have more than 30 books. Also, you should take out the photos from your albums and only keep the ones you like the most. Yes, we know this seems very difficult to do. But she assures you can!

6. Joy is the key to everything

The philosophy that Marie Kondo wants to transmit with these six basic rules of tidying is for you to feel at peace with the world and with yourself. This is why she suggests that you ask yourself about the joy each of the objects you have brings you.

This is essential to avoid unnecessary purchases and for you to have a home that’s truly in line with your tastes and needs.