Can Marie Kondo Save Us From Clutter?.
SMERCONISH: If you are one of the many people fighting a losing battle with clutter help is on the way. I'm not talking really about hoarders, I'm meaning the many more of us with just too much stuff. Here's some of the pictures already sent in by some of you this hour. What's going on in your house? It piles up in garages, fills our closets, but often we are unwilling or scared to let go of those keep sakes. Enter the self proclaimed guru of spiritual decluttering, and bestselling author Marie Kondo who host "Tidying Up With Marie Kondo" on Netflix. Her KonMari ethos is simple, if an item sparks joy, it's a keeper, if not, give it away or throw it away. Kondo's books have been popular for years but since her series debuted on new year's day, she seems to have tapped into the clean living zeitgeist maybe too well. There are reports that thrift stores are being overwhelmed by a deluge of donations. By the way I have been an early disciple of KonMari. Haven't fully pulled it off but been doing it before it went mainstream. Joining me, organizing and lifestyle consultant Patty Morrissey, one of the KonMari experts certified outside of Japan. She's been called a Jedi level KonMari practitioner, and Jenny Eclair is also with us. She's a comedian and author from the U.K. you wrote this piece in the "Independent," "A Marie Kondo session led me to a glorious teenage hoard of beer mats, false beards and locks of hair." Patty, give me the cliff notes version. What does it mean to go KonMari?</s>PATTY MORRISSEY, CERTIFIED KONMARI CONSULTANT: KonMari is a comprehensive tidying method where you go through your entire home starting with clothes, then books, then paper, then kimono, which is miscellaneous, and then you end with sentimental objects. And by doing so you not only clear your home but you also clear your life.</s>SMERCONISH: And categories matter, not location, right? It's not like, oh, I'll go to the bedroom, then I'll do the garage, then I'll do the attic?</s>MORRISSEY: That's right. Things are scattered all over our home. And so when we gather them altogether, we get to see exactly how much we have. And it becomes that much easier to make decisions.</s>SMERCONISH: I happen to have the book with me. So I'll use it as my prop, I would if this were one of the many books in my home, I'd say, hmm, Marie Kondo's book, does this give me joy and then I would decide whether I'm keeping or discarding?</s>MORRISSEY: That's right. You handling the object is very important, holding it up to your heart, and taking that moment of silence. We receive so many messages from advertisers and social media about what's important and that this is a process of introspection, of taking that moment and asking yourself, what do I care about? What matters to me?</s>SMERCONISH: Jenny the books are going to be among many problems for you in going full KonMari, I know from reading your piece in the independent.</s>JENNY ECLAIR, COMEDIAN AND AUTHOR: Yes. Yes. Well, the thing is Marie has said 30 books which I think is a bit of a tight limit. And for a woman who wants us to cut down on the number of books we keep, she is writing a number of her own, I mean, I'm not sure how many Kondo books we should keep. I've written myself four novels and I'm not throwing any of those away. I'm very opened to the process. I have gone semi Kondo as I call it in my house. I've managed one drawer which now closes. But I think with the many of us who have gone a bit Kondo, you get distracted by what you find on the way. But let me -- for a serious point first, I think that one of the reasons why this has swept around the world, I mean, this is a global phenomenon now. You've got it. We got it. We're all catching it off each other. It's an epidemic. And I think it's because we are all living in chaos. Particular in Britain we've got this awful Brexit dilemma going on, nobody knows where we stand, everyone is very anxious, and I think that by taking charge of what's in your -- what we call a knicker (ph) drawer, it can help you have some sense of order in the rest of your life. So I am -- I do approve some of the Kondo things but my daughter was kondo'ing. And she did a big picture of her heap of clothes. And she had, you know, all the stuff she was discarding on the photograph. I thought, well, I bought you that. What do you mean you are throwing that away? I bought you that last birthday. So the danger of that -- there's a danger of</s>MORRISSEY: Jenny, I have faith in you.</s>SMERCONISH: It sounds like a great -- it sounds like a great -- it sounds like a great time capsule and, Patty Morrissey, by the way, Adam, run some of the images that have come in while I've been on air so that people see the need for KonMari techniques from my tweeter -- oh, boy, look at that closet, holy smokes.</s>SMERCONISH: Patty the hardest category is the memento category. What am I supposed to do? We have four kids. They've all done art projects. All the art projects are in our attic. Am I supposed to throw those out?</s>MORRISSEY: It's -- you have to build up to it. So the fact that Jenny stumbled upon her box of mementos in the first day we don't deal with that until the very end. And gratitude is really the key in letting things go. So by the time you get up there, you really know what you want to keep and what you don't. I just went with my daughter and looked through her homework with her. And we immediately throw things away and we just thank the piece of paper for helping her practice her math problems. We thank the strokes on the paper for helping her practicing her technique. And we chose a few pieces that are worth keeping. And then we just let -- we let the rest go with a lot of gratitude.</s>SMERCONISH: Jenny, you have a sugar cube -- you have a sugar cube from the cafe where you used to go and meet boys.</s>ECLAIR: Yes.</s>SMERCONISH: Now I guess you're going to have to KonMari that sugar cube and thank it.</s>ECLAIR: Never, never ever -- that sugar cube will go to my grave.</s>MORRISSEY: Jenny, what I recommend you do you is that you store it somewhere that has a place of honor. These things that are important to you put them in a place that's not locked up and hidden away. I was just working with a client and she saved something from her mother who had passed away and she said to me, "I guess that's kind of embarrassing. Maybe I should just tuck it away in the back of the closet." And I said, "No, let's honor it." And we put it on a tray and we gave it a prominent place in her home. And I told her to go get a picture of her mother.</s>ECLAIR: I'm going to make a shrine --</s>MORRISSEY: Yes, make a shrine.</s>ECLAIR: -- make a shrine to my 15 year old narcissism. But there are things like as you know -- you mentioned somebody whose mother had died, in this book, my teenage stuff, is a detention slip that was signed by my father. You know, I got in trouble at school for not wearing a hat. I decided his signature, I couldn't throw that away I don't think. I'm not there yet.</s>SMERCONISH: I agree. Totally --</s>SMERCONISH: That bring -- that brings you joy. But that brings you joy. You would pick up that detention slip and you would say, this brings me joy. This is a keeper. Ladies, thank you. I love this conversation.</s>MORRISSEY: Thank you.</s>ECLAIR: Pleasure.</s>SMERCONISH: Thank you. Still to come, your best and worst tweets and Facebook comments and it's your last chance to vote on today's survey question. "Should public service be required of young Americans? Go vote.