New Netflix series "Tidying Up".

[llmart]

I know it's based on a best selling book, but the few times I've picked the book up and scanned through it I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Now I've watched a few episodes of this show and it just makes me angry. So many people barely getting by in this country and the people they feature have so much crap it makes me sick to watch. All I can say is I could never feel sorry for these people if they get to their retirement years and have no money to live on. How wasteful they are to own so much clothing and shoes and whatever.

I just cannot relate, but then again I tend towards minimalism myself. Plus I'm a rabid conservationist/environmentalist.

Thoughts? Anyone else watch this yet?

[MontanaMama]

1. Haven't watched it.

But I read the books which I enjoyed. I think its wonderful that you don't have a pile of unwanted over-accumulation to go through. You are the exception!! Most Americans just have too much stuff. I do. I'm no hoarder but my basement is a disaster. It is my 2019 resolution to make it go away....I'll give some away, sell a few things and re-purpose others. So much of the clutter downstairs is from the deaths of my parents. I just didn't know what to do with much of what they left behind. I had a huge estate sale and there was lots left over. Some of it was of sentimental value...some was actually valuable. Now that some time has passed, I am ready to let those things go. It is a process.

[llmart]

2. You are so right that it's a process.

I got more serious about getting rid of stuff when my kids left home many years ago. I made them take whatever was theirs with them. That way the responsibility was on them to keep or discard. I've never really been very materialistic. It's just inanimate objects. People say things have sentimental value, but to me, memories are what keep a dead loved one alive in your heart, not the things. My parents were both dead by the time I was 22, plus they were poorer than church mice, so there was nothing much to pass on except old photos which I got and do cherish.

After years of continual purging and downsizing I can honestly say that there's never been anything I've gotten rid of that I have missed or am sorry I got rid of.

[MontanaMama]

3. Yup. The fact that

I can’t even tell you what most of the stuff is in my basement if proof that I won’t miss it when it’s gone. I’m ready and motivated to see it go to someone who wants or needs it.

[bdtrppr6]

4. my wife is currently binging it

and she's driving me nuts with the "gotta clean it out".

she does it every January, May and September, meaning we don't have that much stuff to get rid of, outside of old clothes the kid has outgrown and various papers etc.

this show is NOT helping. now she wants me to go through my record collection!

[TexasBushwhacker]

6. But if your record collection gives you joy

Which is one of the rules, then you should keep it. However, I lugged around my LPs for years after my last turn table died and no, I'm not a vinyl worshipping audiophile. I finally let them go.

[Squinch]

5. I just watched two episodes. The Japanese lady is very sweet, but I found myself yelling at the

t.v., "Just clean up your house, you idiots!!"

I think hoarding must be a much bigger problem in America than I thought. People are ridiculous.

No more "Tidying Up" for me.

[llmart]

7. Yes, that's the same reaction I sort of had.

The guy with the 200 pairs of sneakers that he's never worn and are disintegrating in the boxes was the last straw for me. That's borderline OCD if you ask me. Then he states he had or has $10,000 in debt. Gee, I wonder why? I'd say he has a problem.

I see a connection between hoarding and the void that so many of the people in our country experience in their lives because they haven't grasped the concept that buying and accumulating stuff is just a temporary high.

[Squinch]

8. Definitely. People with shopping problems are always filling a hole.

[hibbing]

9. I have watched 2 episodes

I did read her book. I think she has a strategy that is good, start with categories, not rooms. I think the difference between this show and hoarders is that the hoarders (in my opinion) have mental illness, and these people thus far seem "normal". I could not watch that after a few episodes. After going through my parents' house when they had to leave their house i have vowed to try to not have clutter. People who come to my house probably leave saying gosh, he lives like a Spartan. I am trying to only buy things i will use or that will spark joy.


Peace

[llmart]

11. Love your line about people who visit your house.

Ironically, people who visit my house that mostly has only basic, functional belongings usually comment on how inviting and homey my house is. I don't have the latest and greatest gadgets/electronics, etc. and don't even have cable, so when you enter my great room you immediately see the rabbit ears sitting on the floor! I do have a 42" flat screen TV that I bought eight years ago, but other than that, I don't own much of real value. I'm not much of a jewelry person either though I have a couple of pieces but don't think they are worth that much. I joke to my friends that if someone ever breaks in to try to steal something they'll turn around and start bringing stuff in that they've stolen from someone else because they feel sorry for whoever lives here

[hibbing]

13. Funny stuff :)

[AJT]

10. I have watched a few episodes. I admit, I have a lot of clothes and footwear.

I have refolded my clothes the way she demonstrated and find I can see all of the items rather than digging around for a certain tshirt or jeans. I am a pretty organized person and I don't hang on to things I don't care about, so I don't have much to get rid of.

[llmart]

12. Sounds like you have it all together.

When I was a younger woman I had more dress shoes and clothes, but I'm 70 and now retired and have bad feet, so there are very few shoes that fit me and I've donated all my office work clothes. I have a large walk in closet that's mostly empty.

I think I saw where Marie Kondo was going to be interviewed on Good Morning America yesterday, but I missed it. However, I thought she's really getting a lot of press now that she did the Netflix series. She really does seem like a very sweet person.

[hibbing]

14. I like her "Japaneseness"

I also almost cry when she greets the house. Stuff like wakening up books, just her whole vibe I really dig. I'm afraid Iin another year she'll have a product line of boxes or something at Walmart.


Peace

[llmart]

15. Oh, I never thought about that - the product line at Walmart.

Ugh, I hope not. I, too, loved her zenlike personality. I sure hope she doesn't get caught up in the commercialism.

[yellowdogintexas]

17. that is the one thing I want to watch: the clothes folding

I don't need to pick something up to have it give me joy. I just have to know it is in my house. Yes I have things which are not there to give me joy but they are useful.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. The show is almost unwatchable. She cant

Speak English so the translator is there. Ok for a translated book..but very off putting for TV. Filled with way to many long greetings when she visits over and over.

That said, like the way she folds clothes. Read book. She basically has only a couple good ideas.