138 - Why the Magic Art of Tidying Up Doesn't Work for American Women

I’m sharing what I like, don't like and why I think that this book doesn't work for American women.

Talk about a controversial statement, I know, but I think "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" does not work for the majority of American women. Marie and I approach organizing differently based on our ages and countries of origin./p>

There a few things that I do like about Marie's book.

1. I love that she has brought the discussion of clutter and organizing to the attention of the media and people around the world.
2. I like the idea behind her method of sparking joy. “If it doesn't spark joy that you should get rid of it.”
3. I also love that Marie champions that idea that organization is a teachable and learnable skill.

Yes, yes, YES! That is what I have been saying for years, that it doesn't matter if you're not organized now, you can learn to be organized.

{To really understand why this book doesn’t work for American women read the whole post or listen to the podcast where I dive deep into the differences between an American house and a Japanese house and our cultural differences.}

 

What works for Marie but I have not seen as easily implementable for Americans are the following five things.

 

#1 Marie says you should tidy all at once and be done.

Immediately that rubbed me the wrong way, which is why I had such a hard time with her book. Having helped so many women organize their whole homes and organized my own I know, it took me three years to get organized. Knowing how hard American women try to be organized and the quantity of items to be organized I knew it was not that easy. You can't just wave a magic wand, do it once and it's all done.

#2 Marie consistently brings up this idea of perfectionism, the perfect system and that you can reach perfection.

I do not think that you can reach perfection. I'm not there, I actually get bored when I get anywhere close to being super productive. I create all these alternative projects I can do to make my life a little bit more cluttered. I don't want to live in a perfect minimalistic, 100% efficient life. I don't agree that you can actually even achieve a perfect life.  

#3 Is the topic of paper organization.

This is the hot button that originally rubbed me the wrong way when reading Marie’s book. The first time I read her book, I stopped reading after the one and a half pages about how to organize paper, which basically said just get rid of all of it.

I about had a heart failure.

So when I re-read the book last week, and I read all the way through I realized that towards the end of the book she does tell you how to organize paper, a little bit. But she still sticks with the idea that almost all paper should be thrown away and that there are only three files that you should have.

Files.

Not filing systems.

 

Files.

 

Three envelopes or three files of paper, TOTAL.

 

#4 Marie glosses over photos and memories.

Her suggestion to go through your photos one by one and make decisions, would take at least a year for most of the Americans that I know. It is definitely not something you can tidy all at once and be done in a day or two. Furthermore, most Americans have a hard time deciding which photos are good to keep and which ones can be let go.

Don’t believe me? What do you do with your school pictures after you put one in a family frame and hand them out to friends and family members? If you are like most Americans you store the rest in the school envelope and “save” them. Who know, we might “need” them. And they cost good money. See – we need help.

And lastly, #5 Marie explains how she empties her purse every single day.

Her wallet, train ticket, etc all come out of her purse and are stored in different places in her home. Then she puts the purse in a bag and puts it up on the shelf of her closet. There is no way that I could empty out my purse and refill my purse every day.

I am so grateful that the "Magic Art of Tidying Up" has become such a popular book and has brought this whole idea of organizing and decluttering to the forefront of the media. It has opened up the discussion for people around the world to really take a look at the stuff that they have saved and think about the kind of a life that they want to live.

However, if you are an American and you have read this book and you've made great progress in your master closet, but then you haven't made much more progress in the rest of your house, you're doing just fine.

 

So what does work for American women? The 100 Day Home Organization Challenge is the perfect match for your American home. Registration just opened for the January 2 kick off. Join today!