Tim Gunn is a well known curmudgeon who has no problem trashing people. We haven’t covered him in years, but he’s had a long-standing feud with Anna Wintour and he has no problem stating the obvious about The Kardashians’ style and Kanye’s collection. All of that is understandable, we hate their fashion sense too, but he once even called Suri Cruise, who was four and a half at the time, a fashion victim! He was talking about the way her parents were dressing her, but as Kaiser pointed out it’s likely that Suri was picking some of her own stuff and the child was four! Anyway Tim recently made some choice comments about beloved organizer Marie Kondo. We’ve heard criticism of Marie’s approach to culling books before, a lot of book-lovers rankle at her suggestions to pare down personal libraries. However Tim went further, as he often does, to say that he’s declined interviews with her twice because he doesn’t like her methods. He also said it took him five viewings to get through her episode with the book-loving couple.
“I have been asked twice to conduct an interview with Marie Kondo … and I have twice declined,” [Tim Gunn] explained on the Wednesday, April 17, episode of the “One Way Ticket Show” podcast. “I’m not a believer. I don’t subscribe to her methods. This whole business about sparking joy? I mean, I have a huge number of books … Do they all spark joy? Roget’s Thesaurus does not spark joy. Am I going to get rid of it? No!”
“I watched three minutes of the first episode and thought, ‘I can’t take this any longer,’ but then friends and colleagues said, ‘You really should try it. It’s actually a good show.’ So I thought, well, I’m going to watch the one.”
“I scrolled and looked at the content. I’m going to watch the show with the two gay guys who are, each is a writer, and they have a ton of books and they want help getting rid of these books … it took four, five sessions to get through that episode,” Gunn shared. “I can only take so much of her! And I learned nothing that helped me with this whole process!”
[From US Magazine]
As I often mention, I’m a follower of Clutterbug and of Gretchen Rubin (she has a new book!), both of whom recommend practical organization strategies that work for you. Marie’s method is not for everyone and it’s got a bit of woo-woo to it, but that’s her thing. Even if you find her too extreme, you can use some of her suggestions to clean out and sort your stuff. You can consider what makes you happy and you don’t have to go all-in and have it be painful. Her point is that you should love your stuff. Leave it to Tim to trash her though. Kondo has this subtle way of shading people, I don’t think she’s all sunshine and roses, but she’s so well-meaning and everyone seems to love her. I’ve never heard a bad word about her before. On Jimmy Kimmel Live he asked the The Queer Eye guys if they would be interested in a crossover episode with Kondo and they were ecstatic about it. Tim doesn’t even want to interview her though!
These photos are of Marie Kondo and her husband at the Oscars so I’m thinking they bought the tickets. I remember Don Cheadle saying that it cost him $500 a ticket to attend the Oscars years ago. It can go up to $750 depending on your seat and it may be more than that now.
photos credit: WENN
I’m gonna get hammered for this but I kinda agree with Tim.
*runs and hides*
Same. I like my stuff.
I am just curious, why would you liking your stuff prevent you from liking Marie Kondo? I would think that unlike other Organizer gurus who have rules like don’t keep anything you haven’t worn in a year“ her „keep everything you love“ would work better for you.
That’s the thing though. If you like your stuff, then Marie Kondo says keep it. Keep it tidy and organised, but keep it.
Her method isn’t really about culling huge swathes of your possessions, it’s just that that’s what many people end up doing when they actually dedicate time to sorting through it all.
VintageS, I’m with Tim all the way on this, too. When I was a child, my very fastidious mother taught her three daughters about washing, hanging out laundry and folding it neatly in order to not only look after our clothing, but to also store it neatly and efficiently. I am such a nazi with the washing, hanging and folding. While I have a lot of stuff, it’s displayed nicely or put away neat;y. I know there are lots of people who are devotees of her methods, and that’s fine, but there are still lots of us who love their “stuff”. I don’t even buy much stuff anymore, but people who love me keep buying me nice things!
Well @Anastasia my goal sometimes is to walk down the street but if someone seems distressed in front of me I will stop and address the situation. If I’m into filming my walks and broadcast them, then I edit the distressing bit out of it and focus on the walking in the street. I think it’s just really bad TV by accident.
EDIT: this was for Anastasia below….
I have not read her book or seen the show, but a few years ago a friend summarized her approach for me. You have permission to get rid of everything and anything. It doesn’t matter if it was a gift, belonged to your great granny, or cost a fortune. I like that part, but the joy thing …
Me too!
Marie Kondo annoys me and it annoys me that you cannot say that to anyone. People look at you as if you said you enjoyed torturing rabbits.
On the serious side: some people in the episodes I managed to watch seem to have real issues and she seemed incredibly mind-bogglingly oblivious to it.
I’ll hide with you.
I don’t think she’s oblivious to it, I think she’s just there to do one job: help them approach their disorganized lives differently.
No, Slowsnow! Do not hide! Stand tall, loud and proud with us! I don’t know if her show is on down here, but I’ve seen a couple of interviews with her and her interpreter, and that was enough to annoy the bejaysus out of me. Then I saw a segment with one of her Australian “tutors” of her method. She wasn’t a good advert for this Kondo Krap, because she didn’t explain anything at all well, and wasn’t even able to properly demonstrate how to fold the t-shirt in front of her. I think a lot of people have been sucked in.
I know what you mean about her show. I watched only the first episode because the people made me uncomfortable. I felt like I was intruding into their dysfunction and it was not at all relaxing or enjoyable to watch. I don’t mind her, though, I think her shtick is to remain somewhat oblivious. She needs to get the job done and then detach. I couldn’t help but feel the couple in that first episode went back to their old ways almost as soon as the de-cluttering honeymoon was over.
I get what he’s saying. Sparking joy (or not) is just too black and white.
I just can’t with the sparking joy thing.
That said, her method of throwing everything into a pile on the floor really help me purge clothes I’ve had for 10 plus years.
Agreed.
The whole sparking joy thing bugs me. There’s already so many people that expect their lives to look like a movie or book and expect to just be that main character and who can’t accept that life is overall pretty mundane at times. Nothing wrong with looking for adventure, but when you’re never satisfied with life as it is, it becomes problematic. And I feel like that’s the kind of person it’s geared towards. Does my garbage can spark joy? Nope. Still necessary.
Ultimately… I don’t know. There’s something about her that’s just so sterile and calculated that bothers me. She doesn’t feel like a ‘normal’ person. “Tear printed film off packages that you don’t want to see, such as deodorizers and detergents. By eliminating excess visual information that doesn’t inspire joy you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable.” – like that. That’s so weird to me. I’ve never been bothered by a label (especially containing SAFETY INFO!) on it. Tuck it in a cabinet or something, but my goodness if your cleaning products are too jarring, that’s concerning.
I’ll be curious how intact her home will be once her kids are in school and in extra curricular constantly on the go.
I mean, like a lot of things I’m sure it’s fine if you’re playing fast and loose with the definition. But I also don’t think it’s probably helping anyone who’s not already part of the choir if that makes sense. The main issue isn’t that we refuse to throw things out – it’s that we buy too much stuff to begin with.
Agreed with everything you said and find it slightly worrisome that people get so hung up about her and her very very debatable motto.
I don’t see what’s weird about making containers more aesthetically pleasing? There’s a store called The Container Store specifically dedicated to selling sleek, simple containers for items people don’t want to keep in the original packaging (for instance, I keep my cereal in a clear container that keeps it fresh longer instead of in the box), so it’s not really that strange or sterile. A lot of people like their pantries organized in that way, it looks cleaner and more organized.
I’m a first-time homeowner and I deeply appreciate her sentiment to make your home a space you WANT to be in — that brings you peace and doesn’t make your mind feel tense and cluttered. It has nothing to do at all with being unhappy with your life — in fact, it’s about creating a home that makes you feel satisfied with the “mundane,” like having an organized sock drawer.
The sterile and calculated part: part of that is simply that she’s reflecting her Japanese culture, and we’re looking at it from the perspective of our country’s culture.
Come on now, it’s been repeated ad nauseum that the ‘spark joy’ thing doesn’t apply to necessary stuff like garlic pressers and toilet brushes. It just reeks of xenophobia when people cling to fake confusion about what “this Asian lady” is saying.
Funny you should mention garlic presses. My garlic press actually does bring me joy, every time I use it! Because I have a really nice one. 😉
Almost all of my stuff is either thrifted or inherited. Some of it’s pretty nice, and some of it is cheap Daiso crap. I always try to consider “will I love this?” when shopping. (I also rarely shop because I have Enough Stuff.)
I think Kondo is the latest trend, and that eventually people will tend to reach a level of balance that works for them. The impulse to clean out is good. (The impulse to then go buy a bunch of organizer products seems rather silly to me – you just cleaned out!)
I don’t think it really comes down to Japan vs the US (tho living spaces there are smaller overall). I just think that some people really aren’t that attached to their stuff, and others are.
She looks lovely in her Oscar dress!
I looked at my husband the other day and all he sparked was annoyance. I’m probably keeping him, though.
I’m an intensely cluttered person, so not only do I not follow her methods, I don’t have any desire to.
That being said, I do think about what sparks joy in me, especially for the most mundane things. Williams Sonoma has the most beautiful handles on their kitchen tools, so I only buy those because I really like how they they feel in my hand when I’m using them. I have running socks that spark a lot of joy because I love their color. I try to only buy stuff that I love, even if it’s just a garlic press or a spatula.
First, I love the dress!!! Second, I love Tim Gunn, but famous people have to be careful when criticizing other famous people because it can come off looking like jealousy.
As for Kondo, no one has to follow every one of her points exactly. Take what you want and leave the rest. That’s all there is to it. Personally, I love her clothes folding suggestions; it’s worked great for me. Plus, after lugging bag after bag of my parents’ books, I can safely say that I hate physical books.
Agreed. The whole sparking joy thing irritates me.
Kondo isn’t doing anything new, it is just another organization trend. It actually really annoys me when someone refers to something as the KonMari method because it is pretty much all recycled methods from other organizational trends. What people call her sock folding method is the same way my grandmother taught my mom to fold socks decades ago and I’m guessing that is how my great-grandmother taught my grandmother how to fold socks.
Yes! And the Japanese have been keeping rolled up items of clothing in drawers for ages, and many westerners too…!
count me as well. I’ve been doing what we call “spring cleaning” for generations in my family and tide up a house is a daily task actually: is not even a f king science and not something to make such a big deal about. Of course there are extreme cases of accumulators and people with mental issues that need help, but for the rest of us normal people is just about plain and simple being lazy. I’m not mad that she’s found her niche and makes money out of it, go figure there’s room for everybody making a living, but I’m particularly irritated by what I perceive as her fake persona. ANd all that joy stupid thing. Just get your house in order, humans have been doing it for centuries without needing someone to tell you how.
(Some of her ideas are based on religious concepts, such as even inanimate objects have feelings or souls.) In any event, her folding (to create just one layer of items, so you can instantly see if the reddish orange sweater or the orangish red sweater looks better with the skirt you’ve picked out) seems a nice ideal. And a minimal wardrobe of clothes you love is another nice ideal. Appeals to me but hard to do.
I am hugely into minimalism and acquiring junk actually gives me anxiety. And while I can align myself with Marie Kondo’s goal, I also think the praise of her approach is ridiculous. Yes, she seems like she is a sweet woman but i can separate that from her advice which is just a big meaningless, nothing burger. If you are into being a minimalist, it’s not hard to separate out what is necessary to your life and what isn’t. If you aren’t a minimalist, telling someone to get rid of everything that doesn’t spark joy, is not exactly effective guidance, especially since if you are a hoarder, there is usually some sort of joy or psychological need that is being filled by your stuff, even if it is an unhealthy need. So the joyless stuff becomes a smaller pile than what it ought to be. And it doesn’t address at all the most important thing: changing your buying habits going forward! Under the Kondo approach, I can see people getting rid of a lot of old junk that doesn’t spark joy, only to use it as an excuse to run out and buy a whole bunch of new things they believe do spark joy.
Yes! Thank you. I agree with him too. I can only take so much Kondo until I have to run through my house and Liberace it up!
I’m with you!
That is hardly shade! Judge Kara Brown would be much displeased.
I miss shade court sooooo much. *sad face*
Really miss him on Project Runway!!!
cannot wait for the new project he has coming up with Heidi Klum.
I miss him too.
And Kondo just always seems to me like one of those creepy new robots.
Well, he’s not lying. She’s cute and engaging but aside from the way she folds clothes (which honestly I don’t think would work for everyone) she doesn’t really provide new information.
I love Tim Gunn, but he’s wrong about Marie Kondo.
He has mis-understood the ‘spark joy’ attitude completely. I like Tim Gunn, and agree with Wilma he’s not right about Marie Kondo
And my undergarment drawers, my sock drawer and my closet have remained clutter-free for 7 weeks and counting based on her folding method. That’s a record, folks! (I’m 65 in two months, so have been messy for much longer than not, and am still thrilled!).
@Surly Gale good going you awesome person. I am happy for you 😀 ( I mean it)
Marie Kondo has actually brought clutter back into my life. I realized my surroundings were to minimalist to ‘spark joy’ so I have added more personality and am displaying more of the things I love. She’s about keeping what you want to keep because it’s useful or makes you happy, because so much of the stuff we own is not useful and bogs us down. Still, love Tim Gunn and regularly mutter ‘make it work’ to myself when sewing.
I mean, it’s hard to spark joy in someone who’s joyless!
Tim has a history of depression, no?
Jules: I have no idea. If he does, I feel bad about my comment.
Agreed! I think the problem people have with her is they take her too seriously and literally, like EVERYTHING MUST SPARK JOY when actually it’s more, hm, do I really still love this sweater that makes me feel frumpy af? I actually bought MORE stuff after using her method in my wardrobe a bit because I realized I had no colours or prints anymore and I love those! My wardrobe is a lot more fun now, more vintage and less frumpy lumpy lol. Marie rocks if you take her with a grain if salt! 😃
I really feel like people are deliberately obtuse about the “sparking joy” idea. It doesn’t mean every item needs to make you want to sing and dance about it. It means the items that you keep in your home should be meaningful or useful and be something that you want to take with you into your future. Don’t have stuff just for the sake of having stuff — be purposeful about it.
Marie NEVER encourages people to get rid of things that they feel strongly about keeping. It’s more like “You have a huge collection of x? Let me help you find a better way to display or organize it so that it will give you more happiness instead of being locked away in your closet.”
^^^ upvote
Thank you, I think some people aren’t getting what she is saying.
I still love Tim 4 ever.
Far be it for me to assume that everyone knows how to tidy up but the whole Sparking Joy/usefulness is beyond schematic. There are many ways that may be good reasons to keep things and they are not all functional or sentimental. His example was interesting. I believe everyone should have a dictionary in a house as principle. I write and I look up words a lot on the internet but I find it super important to have that spine looking at me. The reason is neither usefulness or joy.
Also, the program was super off to me (as it seemed to be for Gunn) and I think that may be the issue because of course space is connected with social issues, stability and the family structure. So the program breezed by these issues with the inane “spark issue” motto (and any motto becomes ridiculous with time) and became boring (purposeless) and inapt to tackle real issues as Queer Eye does.
I mean, I think your dictionary example still applies to Marie’s idea. You find a dictionary important and valuable to have in your home, so you should keep it. The “spark joy” motto perhaps doesn’t delve into that specifically, but the general intent is still the same. If it’s important to you for whatever reason, she wants you to have it in your home and displayed in a way that makes you happy.
I do understand your point about social issues linked to space. There’s also the fact that one needs to be comfortable in the fact that they can buy something again if they get rid of it and later change their mind, which isn’t so for people who don’t have much money. I think it’s literally just a show about organization, though. I don’t think it has to tackle social issues to hold value — home makeover shows don’t consider that not everyone has a budget to similarly renovate their home; cooking shows aren’t sensitive to the fact that not everyone can afford fresh produce every week; and so on and so forth. I don’t think every show needs to be responsible for covering every angle, and I say this as someone who is very involved in activism and social issues.
@Case Agreed on your point about it being a show about organisation. That’s true and I think it is truly her calling and she can be quite touching sometimes.
However, in terms of a TV show, it really made me feel anxious or bored sometimes. It’s always the same structure – so you know what to expect – and she is too disconnected to make it more than just look at people with cluttered homes. Meanwhile some issues do appear once in a while and remain unaddressed.
Exactly. Some people seem to interpret ‘spark joy’ as ‘it makes me joyous just to look at it’ when it’s more like ‘this item is a positive in my life’.
Compared to most home organisers, Kondo is really lax about keeping stuff. Most of them want you to get rid of all the stuff you don’t really like or use AND THEN start making really tough choices with the stuff you actually like and love. Kondo only encourages the former.
It might even be a shades of meaning thing upon translation.
I agree, Case. She even clarifies in an episode that it isn’t just about getting rid of stuff, it is about figuring out what you want to bring with you to into the future. The defensive reactions from many people, including Gunn, are very interesting.
Lol gotta love Tim Gunn. I actually like Kondo’s method, though I haven’t seen her show. Maybe she is annoying in person, who knows.
I read her book when it first came out and her method helped me tremendously to purge and then organize.
I felt the “sparking joy” was more of a cultural translation but the term helped to assess my emotions when I was handling and deciding what to keep or donate especially with some family treasures passed down to me. I had a lot of stuff packed that ‘felt’ important at the time but that feeling was lost when unpacked years later……i was good that some things needed a new home that would appreciate them.
I also read her book a year ago and I felt a lot of relief at kind of being given permission to get rid of some old stuff that I’d been saving because my mom gave it to me etc… I’m easily guilt tripped so I was even hanging on to stuff my ex had left in my closet even though he made no attempts to come back for it lol.
After using the method I also bought more fun clothes because my wardrobe was seriously lacking in “joy”. To each his own but I think people immediately jump into defensiveness about their stuff when she isn’t really trying to force you to throw anything away at all. Also there’s a cultural disconnect in the sense that Japanese apartments are soooo tiny compared to western homes, to us the limiting of stuff can come across as really extreme, when actually many people in Japan don’t even have the option to store so much junk or fill a whole garage with Christmas lights that don’t even work 🙂
Exactly….@ everything you just said. 👆🏻 And I’m super close to getting rid of my mom’s crappy old Christmas lights 😬. It’s a mission.
Describing her approach as “woo-woo” seems a little unfair. Marie Kondo’s religious beliefs are Shinto and those faiths assign spirit and idea to objects as well as living creatures. What we see in the show is a practiced form of that. Whether we feel the religious integrity is maintained through capitalist exploitation of her work is another debate, but there’s method to her management. Her approach is to connect people to their spaces, whether utilitarian or sentimental, and that’s not an entirely bad idea since we often divorce ourselves from the psychological aspect of clutter in order to manage it. It may not work for everyone, but saying her approach boils down to “it sparks joy” alone is a little reductive.
@Veronia S. good point!
I personally think the “it sparks joy” tagline might annoy people because a lot of us might be quite tired of the whole “wellness/schmellness Live love laugh” and the shebang.
Marie`s religious beliefs (which are awesome) don`t even come up in the conversation because when people are put off by the branding they just run.
Yes, you do have a point: I cannot stand one more program about lifestyle and bettering your crappy life and that might be what annoys me. She seems super into very important and interesting beliefs and then it’s just another show about going into peoples homes and provide them with – sorry – super basic stuff that mothers used to teach us or sheer common sense should instils in us were we not too stressed.
Totally agree with you @Veronica S.. I second everything you said. In fact when i read the term, I cringed. It was poorly done. It’s very condescending. This gossip site is supposed to be “woke” and progressive yet a lot of commenters here in this article smacks of racism as well. Western culture is not the bestest, no. 1 culture – there are other cultures out there and we should be genuinely respectful. Emphasis on the genuine. From the start those who attack Marie Kondo refuse to see that the “spark joy” thing is not literal. Its also in her book that you keep a can opener – because its important and you use it. In the first comments, someone said that the Marie Knodo method won’t work for them because they like their stuff. Immediately. somebody replied that – that is exactly a part of the method – you keep things you like. Then of course, the next comment only reinforces the previous comment – as if the other reply was not there. Was it not read or understood? I understand personal preferences – you either like her or you don’t but look closely in your justifications for not liking her because it really stinks of bigotry and dabs of racism. For the record – I’m not a Marie Kondo fan because I’m not big on organization and I’m comfortable in my mess.
So you not being a fan is ok and not bigotry?
Do not see your point at all. For the record, Kondo never mentions her religious beliefs in the TV show.
If anything I agree with a lot of people here that she is not saying anything new.
Moreover, she is totally selling and packaging her beliefs in order to make money – which is debatable too, especially because she gives a personal name to something that seems to be, like you say, more cultural than anything else.
You can not be a bigot and still exercise critical judgement.
Also: people’s spaces and organisation are super visceral for anybody (you even mention your own tendency towards a messy space – we cannot help ourselves). So the person who says she likes her stuff, obviously means that she keeps something that doesn’t ‘spark joy’ in the case it does at some point. What’s the problem with that?
Love your insights, Veronica S. Your posts always make me think a little deeper!
I find Marie annoying, I’m glad I wrote that.
Well I love my Thesaurus and had a difficult time taking it to the resale Friends of the Library, but I did it! Books are a pain to move, hard to read as you age (backlit Kindle) and take a lot of space. I read Marie’s book (borrowed from the library) and was actually already doing a lot of her suggestions. It always amazes me when people can take old ideas and spin them to make a fortune: gold mine, treasure, riches — thank you thesaurus.com 😉
PS — I adore her dress!
Marie and her work is fine. I think it`s great if people find something useful in her methods.
I started following her on Instagram (because I was hoping to like her) and unfollowed in 2 days because I found her posts annoying and the photos of the homes that were reorganized – to be honest it was hard for me to tell which was the “before” and which was the “after”.
In conclusion – just not my cup of tea, but if it works for someone else, go for it.
P.S. it`s commendable that Marie is trying to make cleaning cool, so I´ll definitely give her that.
I like how the de-clutter people all have books to shill…….
@Nikki haha yeah.
But you could always buy it digital though…
I really don’t understand this book criticism levied against Marie Kondo. It’s not like she took a gun to anyone’s head and told them to go full-on Fahrenheit 451 and burn their books. She just said that if you have a bunch of books and not all of them spark joy, consider culling the collection. I watched the whole season of Marie Kondo and I never once found her pushy or aggressive in her methods; if someone needed to modify something–like the widow who was cleaning out all of her deceased husband’s belongings–Marie was more than accommodating. I like Tim, but I think he’s being quite dramatic in his criticisms of someone who is IMO completely innocuous.
I have no problem with Marie but I always wonder why things like her book are even sought after or valued. A lot of this just seems obvious, and I don’t get why people “need help” with something like cleaning. It’s as if people are lazy/uninspired and need a crutch. I think all this self-help stuff leads to a lack of self-sufficiency. People could argue the opposite, obviously, but I guess I just think people should find their own way of doing things and commit to it when it’s something as straightforward as cleaning.
Well I’m not a fan either. I have a huge closet and I have clothes in many sizes. About 5 years ago I started gaining weight and couldn’t figure out why for a bit. My husband pressured me to get rid of most of my clothes, saying I couldn’t fit them again. After a near 45 pound weight gain over 3 years I realized it was meds. I weaned myself and it took months to get my energy and metabolism back. I’ve lost almost 30 pounds and am determined to lose the last 15. Today I’m wearing one of my favorite skirts. I’m so glad I didn’t purge my clothes. My clothes are classic silhouettes: tweed pencil skirts, wool skirts, silk blouses, cotton button downs etc. They will never look dated. I have clothes from more than 25 years ago when I met my husband.
I love my books too. As long as they are dusted and fit on my shelves I’m good. I just loaned my college freshman daughter an old copy of Auden that my mother gave me when I was in college. Glad I kept all my books.
x1000
100% agree, also sounds like we both have excellent taste – Wardrobes 4 Lyfe!!
TIM GUNN IS TRUE TO HIMSELF!
I applaud him for not being a sell-out.
He did not say ANYTHING bad about Marie Kondo – he just said he’s not into it! He’s allowed to have an opinion.
I held Marie Kondo’s book close to my heart, stroked it fondly….it sparked no joy, so I donated it to goodwill. Best decluttering move ever!!
Lol!
Any well organized person could throw tons of great ideas into it. There is just nothing there. I could get super innovative and creative organizing ideas I’ve never thought of more easily on pinterest for gosh sakes! And every show is the same. No unique tips or methods, or anything. I admit I did watch a few but it was at a weak moment when I was sick/bored. Was empty entertainment for an afternoon, I guess.
I’m with Tim. I am not a big fan of her or her show.
I watched 10 minutes of one episode. Pass. It’s not shade to say something isn’t for you.
I’m annoyed by how many people use her spiel to justify a sort of consumerist bulimia: having bought a bunch of stuff, they use her method to justify throwing it out instead of using it.
Second hand stores have experienced a glut of donations; more than they can resell. Excess second hand goods, especially clothes, are shipped in bulk to third world countries for cheap resale, thereby damaging local industry/craftsmanship. All so the Kongo fans can go shopping again for new ‘minimalist’ stuff.
Err… isn’t it a good thing for people in the Third World to have access to cheap clothing that would have been thrown away regardless? Not everyone there could afford to buy from local craftsmen anyway.
I came here to say that I am a Clutterbug fan too! I love her practicality but sh$t still happens approach. I also love Do It On a Dime, Catherine is a ray of sunshine.
I love her and her methods have helped me get organized. My house still has plenty of stuff, it’s just not spilling out and getting on my nerves.
#TeamTim
Marie Kondo’s approach makes a lot of sense if you’re raising a family of four in a 750 square foot Tokyo apartment, but has far less applicability to North American McMansions or even regular homes. There are plenty of other, more appropriate and useful organizing strategies and gurus that you can find, Clutterbug among them (I have one of her books too). I also recommend CleanMySpace, How to Get Your Sh!t Together, and DoItOnADime, all from YouTube. They’re not the instagrammable fakeys that so many on Youtube can be. They’re real, their advice is useful, and it applies to the kinds of lives we lead in North America (even if one is from Ireland).
Come on Celebitchy. His job is to critique! He didn’t say she was a horrible person. He just didn’t like her show or believe in what she is selling. That isn’t trash talk.