Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019) s01e03 Episode Script

1 - Ah! - She looks excited! I'm so excited because I love mess.
It's a never ending battle to fight the clutter.
Oh! I want things to be more simple.
I don't know how to fix it.
With the baby coming, it's gonna be more chaos.
Oh, my God! We have too much stuff! Hello, I'm Marie Kondo.
My mission is to spark joy in the world through cleaning.
Ching! Best-selling author and world-renowned tidying expert.
Marie Kondo is dedicated to inspiring the world to choose joy with the KonMari Method.
A feature of the KonMari Method is that you clean by item and not by location.
And we will always clean using the same categories.
First, is clothing.
I can't reach.
Next, is books.
Giving them a little shake and wake them up.
Then, paper.
I can't do the papers.
The largest category is komono.
Komono is kitchen, bathroom, and garage.
Everything miscellaneous.
Finally, sentimental items.
It's kinda hard to let it go, because I really like this one.
This is kinda hard.
I don't want to just, you know, dump it.
But I wanna be thoughtful about it.
From the moment she set foot in our house, she had this presence to her.
She wants to see this place turned around.
Marie brought a whole bunch of joy upon our home.
This is amazing.
You're so cute! I love you! You're so cute I love you, too.
These are, like, happy, happy tears.
Thank you for what you've brought to our home, really.
One, two, three.
Jail! Goodbye.
- One two, three, four, five six - Did you just say my name in vain? eight, nine, ten, eleven.
No! No! - I'll cost you 3 440.
- Four-forty.
We are the Mersiers.
Our nickname is The Fantastic Four.
Indeed.
And our son created that nickname because all of us are outgoing, - Mm-hmm.
- All of us are extremely silly and we're artsy as a family.
We We just go for it.
Whatever we're feeling, we just kinda do.
What do you guys think about making sure that we can hit the park - Yes.
- before it gets too dark? Does everybody have clothes for the park? - Do you know where they are? - No.
You know where they all are.
You know what I did? I went into my dressers, I took everything out to put it back in.
To find one pair of pants.
- I cannot find matching socks.
- Okay.
Well, freeze the game, 'cause I don't want anybody getting extra money.
Do not mess up my board 'cause you know I'm about to come back and win after No, I'm the one who's about to win! Moving from Michigan, we had to downsize coming from a four-story, four-bedroom house, now reduced down to a two-bedroom apartment.
Do you know where your pants are? - Yeah, I just got some out.
- But I need shorts.
- You only have one pair of shorts? - I have, like, three! In L.
A.
I'm starting a new adventure with my entire family.
We wanna take advantage of the opportunities here.
Back in Michigan, it could be sometimes one note.
- If you're a hair stylist - Mm-hmm.
that work is limited in Michigan.
If you are someone in music, - the jobs are limited.
- Indeed.
- Did you find your black shorts? - Um We're gonna miss the sunlight if we can't find 'em.
Real talk.
Mom, do you know where my matching jacket is? We've been living here for a year and a half now.
And I must say it hasn't felt like home.
I mean, we're doing the best we can because, you know, it's a smaller space than what we're used to.
But we feel stressed at home because of the clutter.
It's an unnecessary pressure and stress for them to live tight like this.
It's just this one big cycle of jumbled scatterbrain.
That's a big red flag.
I don't want to live like that.
So, I need help.
We need help.
When my family and I moved from Japan to the United States, we only brought things that truly sparked joy for us.
For the Mersier family, their new challenge is to downsize the things that they own, so it will fit in their new home.
It's so cute! Oh, wow! The look of American apartments is so cute.
Maybe it's the color.
Hello.
- Hi! Hello! - Hi, come on in! - Hi! - Nice to meet you! - Nice to meet you.
- I am Marie.
- Nice to meet you.
Douglas.
- Iida.
Nice to meet you.
- Katrina.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Goodness, it's so good to see you.
- Welcome.
Thank you! I see a lot of musical instruments already.
- Do you play - I'm a musician.
- Oh.
- I play upright, the guitar.
- I play my voice.
- Oh, really? She's a sing She's our singer.
- Wow.
Great.
- Yeah.
So your whole family is in one band or? We look like it, huh? No, I'm not in a band.
I'm the hairstylist and I dress them all.
- Wardrobe.
- Wow.
- She makes sure we eat, you know? - Yeah.
- Let's start in… - Yeah.
We can go around.
All this is - the living room.
- Yeah.
- This is our multipurpose room.
- Yeah yeah yeah.
Mm-hmm.
- This is where we eat - Yeah yeah yeah.
we also watch movies, and we have a huge DVD collection.
Oh.
Is this for your music? Yeah.
- So cool! - Yeah.
It's cool.
So cool.
- This is our tight, tight kitchen.
- Yeah.
It's my favorite room not to be in.
Ay-ay-ay.
- This is what frustrates me, is - Yes.
I will come to get a glass, and it's like all of the seasoning are in there.
And it just looks cluttered to me, and it just I stay out.
And Dad doesn't cook at all.
Did you use to cook? No.
I had one accident trying to make oatmeal, and I was like - Not since then.
- I order a mean carry out though.
Go into the bedroom.
The bedroom.
So he takes this dresser and I just try to put my life in these six.
- Your underwear - Underwear, socks - and swimsuit stuff.
- Yeah yeah yeah.
Are you aware of where everything is? - Yes.
- She's the only one that's aware of everything.
We We ask her, "Look for a special shirt," I'll say "Where is it?" and she'll tell us.
Ah.
I'm sure it's a lot when you get asked all the time, right? Oh, my.
And they don't like my mood because sometimes I'm like Katrina bears a lot of the weight of keeping the house organized, and helping us to keep it organized, because we don't know where things are.
It's the real daily struggle.
I'll be home alone, and I'll just say, "Dang, where is this? I need this now.
" And I say, "Mm, texting Mom.
Gotta text Mom.
" And it will be to a certain point where I just spam her phone until she answers.
That's how much I depend on her.
Have you ever seen such a thing? Every day.
- I love a mess.
- Do you? - Yes.
- Yeah.
- Oh! - You know what? - This is so exciting for me.
- Is it? - Oh, I'm so glad.
I'm so glad.
- Yeah.
I'll let the kids show you their room.
- Oh - So! Okay, let's open these up to show you how embarrassing our clothes are up there.
- Terrible.
- Oh, not tall enough.
I got it.
Oh! Hey! I'm here for that.
He's good! It's Kayci's and it's Nolan's? Yeah.
The funny thing with this shelf, so I bought it and I said, "You take two shelves," he takes two shelves, and this can be what you guys use during the day.
Keep it neat.
" But they can't find anything.
So they'll pull everything down, it'll be all over - Wow.
- Yeah.
I think it would be best if they have a dresser of their own, too, eventually.
Yes.
The other half of the room, it is also cluttered.
There's no space.
It's hard for me to feel like this an actual home.
So they have so much in the room, because when I organize it, they don't keep it organized.
It's okay Mom.
It's 'cause 'Cause I keep trying.
You're trying hard, I know.
Yeah, like, she organizes our things, but we don't know how to keep them organized, so then when we mess it up it just hurts her, and it hurts me too, 'cause I feel bad after I mess it up, so I feel like I'm to blame 'cause I'm the mom and Mom is supposed to create the memories.
Mom is supposed to make home home.
I hold that near and dear and I own it.
It's my responsibility to do the laundry, go to the grocery store, wash dishes, cook, and I've got to clean the kids' room.
But I feel like I'm failing in that area.
Which is not okay with me.
I want to create a home that they will remember, you know? I want them to remember where they had peace of mind and they had a lot of love - and that's where their support came from.
- Mm-hmm.
- As they were growing up.
- Indeed.
- Sorry.
- We have to help, Mom.
Let's keep showing her the other rooms.
- Yeah.
It's okay.
- Mama! - I'm okay.
- Mama, Mama, Mama.
- I'm okay.
- Mama, Mama! It'll be okay.
It seems like Katrina manages all the family's belongings.
However, through the KonMari Method of tidying, I would like to teach the family how to be responsible with their belongings.
So, we're gonna begin the tidying process from here, but there's something that I like to do before we begin.
I always like to introduce myself to the house.
Wow.
Okay, great.
- This is a very nice home.
- Thank you.
So, the first step is clothes.
- Okay.
- Alright.
Let's do that.
First, let's begin with making a big pile of all the clothes that you own.
Snuggy! Oh, my Ugh.
- You got a lot of clothes.
- Actually Yeah, he has way more than me.
No.
You always are like, "I don't have anything to wear.
" That's 'cause they're always dirty.
- All his stuff is out.
- We did it! Woof! How do you feel looking at your piles? Seeing that much for her, I'm definitely not setting her up to win at life.
He's 12, she's 11.
We could have started this at age five, just like you.
Not too late, never too late.
- Mm-hmm.
- That's it.
So from here, we'll be selecting the clothes that you want to keep and what you want to let go.
Only keep clothes that sparks joy for you.
- Yes.
- Clothes that you've decided to let go, thank it for all that it's been doing for you.
- Gratitude.
- Yeah.
- Gratitude is very important.
- Yeah.
Done so much good for me.
I thank you for that.
You know, your girl isn't gonna get rid of you.
How have I not worn you before? You give me so much joy.
Oh, my goodness! For kids, you guys don't have drawers, so I have something to recommend to you.
- Alright.
- Okay.
We're gonna create storage out of these shoe boxes, but it's only temporary for now.
In an empty box, stack them vertically like this.
- Oh.
- There we go.
- Wow.
- That's unbelievable.
So, you had put clothing racks in your room, right? Yes.
- You can put the box in there.
- Oh, that's amazing.
So then you can go ahead and buy a dresser or you know, you'll know exactly how much space you need.
With Marie coming to help us, this is the opportunity for me to learn how to organize and to downsize, so that I can finally make this place a home.
- Bye.
- I'll get that.
- Bye.
- We'll miss you.
'Til the next time.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
That was amazing! - Can she come back, please? - She blew my mind.
- I know, right? - My goodness.
Let's get busy with the homework.
Right.
We have to If you don't get your homework done, you won't be able to sleep.
- Think about it.
- You'd better finish.
Are these my goggles? Get out.
Swim.
It sounds like you guys are playing.
Come on now, do the right thing in there.
Oh, gosh, why did I do this to these shoes, too? What'd you do? - This.
- Bro! Oh, no.
But those are such good shoes.
The first Jordans.
No! How's it coming? Are you done? - Almost.
- This is my problem.
- You can't - Finish.
You owe it to yourselves to finish.
Y'all don't wanna do this tonight, do you? Nope.
I get frustrated from the clutter.
I would like for home to feel like home for them and I feel like it starts with me.
I do.
So I've ended up with doing their homework for them.
Being a mom is demanding.
I feel accountable for downsizing, how things are organized, so everyone's like, "Mom, where did you put my this? Mom, where did you put my that?" And they know, I like being able to say "It's here" because I know that in their mind it's jumbled, and I know that the one thing I want is peace of mind.
I want to give that to them.
But it bothers me slightly that they come to me wondering where is everything.
It's overwhelming.
So I want I want them to get that.
We look like we're best friends.
- Marie, hi! - Hi! Iida, hi! - Nice to see you.
- Good to see you.
Welcome, welcome.
I couldn't wait to see you today.
- It's raining so hard today.
- I know.
I wish I could control it.
Today's theme is miscellaneous items.
I'll pull it.
This category of miscellaneous items, there's a lot of different sub-categories within this big category.
The trick is to start with something that's easy for you.
You know, I can actually put this here, so we can see what we have.
- So bed linens for Kayci? - Yes.
But I wasn't quite sure if I was folding them properly.
As long as you're folding it upright like this, you've got it.
Folding fitted sheets seem to trouble many people.
Fitted sheets contain rubber bands inside, so you cannot fold the edges together.
But don't worry, take the sides towards the center, creating a rectangle.
Whichever way you choose to fold the sheets, when storing in drawers, if you store them standing upright, they will look neat.
So, I kinda wanna set the family up to win, so I need your advice on that, 'cause you leave your family, right? Do they maintain the way you have the home organized and everything? Yes, as a family, each person has a room that they're responsible for.
- But laundry, that's my forte - Right.
- I'm sure that's accumulating as we speak.
- Yes.
Oh, my goodness, yes.
So I was wondering, when I first met you, I noticed that a lot of the cleaning and tidying fell to you.
Do you think through this process that'll change? I think they'll be more proactive because they now have some clue of where their things are.
And instead of me doing it, I think, now I'll be able to just guide 'em, and not just me doing it.
You know, you're living together, so it's important for everyone to maintain their space and their belongings, but not only that, but to help each other as well.
Before Marie came, I wasn't setting my own self up to win as a mom.
I was doing too much.
Instead of being a homemaker, I'm a make-it-work-maker.
Do what you gotta do to make it work, be strong, be tough.
And that love is just dwindling down because no one person can do it all.
So, Marie's right.
We all need to work together, as a family.
- I like the idea of assigning everyone.
- Yeah.
It gives them a job that they're responsible for.
But I'm nervous about the organization of it, because they sort it and I helped with the organizing, so It's perfectly understandable for you to help and create their storage spaces, but I think it's important is that every time you remind them where everything is, so that they start to learn.
To make Yes.
I agree.
I'm going to adopt that, and I'm sure I won't have a problem.
They like teamwork, so, definitely.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- I want to load this bucket.
- Yes? - With everything we can.
- Mm-hmm.
Take it out there, so we can do it as a family.
Got it.
- I may get serious.
- Nolan! Kayci! Calm down.
Everybody come get one thing and we're done.
I got us in this hole, let me get us out of it.
I feel like this is my chance to redeem myself and to help the family.
So I'm excited.
- Yay.
- Bathroom's clear.
How are you guys feeling? Did you know all this was in there? Yeah.
I know you guys don't know where to find half this stuff.
This is the stuff you guys call me about.
- Yeah.
- So now that we can do this, I'll know exactly where it is, and more importantly, you'll know exactly where it is.
Okay.
I want to learn where I should put things, but at the same time I kind of, like my mom, having to know where everything is, because I don't have to think about it as much.
That's the procrastinator coming out in me.
Listen, you're gonna have to take care of these things and find a home for them.
- Do you even have all the pieces? - Yes.
- You have a knitting loom in here.
- Yes.
Oh, wait, I knew that.
Let me talk about our new lifestyle.
If you opened this and saw this in here, why not take this out and go put it in its home? Well, I didn't know to do that.
- So now - Now I do know.
- Let me ask you, does this have a home? - Yes.
- Where? - In my drawer.
At the end of this process, I want my children, my husband, and myself, I want our family to know how to organize, for the sake of having a home and not just a house.
- Douglas.
- I'm chilling.
- You can do whatever you want.
- Mm-hmm.
But, just know we've got some homework to do.
- Hey.
- Hey! So, when I came in, I was like, "What's going on here?" All this stuff is crazy.
That's trash.
This is all trash.
The box underneath is trash.
You can take out all of that trash, and the only reason I didn't, I love you so much, is because it was raining.
Alright.
Okay, thank you.
I'll talk to you later.
Duties in the house.
We all do cleaning.
We all try to manage, um - Ahem! - What? Dad doesn't clean? Dad doesn't do the bathroom.
Dad doesn't do the kitchen.
Not as much as you.
- Okay, hold on.
- That was Yeah, we do it way more.
I'll say this, you guys do do those areas more than me.
But I do cleaning when you guys are asleep, picking up your backpacks, picking up your socks, picking up your shoes, sweeping.
I like to think of that as straightening up.
Yeah.
I hear you.
Ah! - You flinched! - You guys working nicely in there? Yeah.
Let's get to work.
- I have get the mail, take out the trash.
- Write it down.
- Recycling.
- You get the mail? Yes, I do get the mail.
I'm laughing at you two.
These These just Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie! - It's a lie.
- Oh, my - I'm so excited about you helping.
- Yeah.
You can put these back.
No.
I was, uh, putting 'em out for drying.
I'm not gonna dry the clean dishes with those towels - 'cause those are not clean.
- Got it.
I feel guilty about Katrina having the majority of the housework.
That's one of the reasons why I've been trying to be more active, you know, with the cleaning and the chores and the duties.
I can organize certain things that I feel confident in, but certain things I just don't feel confident in just yet.
I left you this space.
You can keep sitting 'em right there.
I didn't wanna do that.
You can sit that right there.
What did you wanna do, Dad? Yeah, it doesn't even matter.
How do you want me to grab 'em, and dry 'em? No, no, no, that's fine.
I'm thankful to get help from my family.
Even though they're still, I think, a long way to go, I feel like my family is off to a good start.
Hi, hello.
- It's Marie.
Hi! - Hi! Marie and Marie! - Hi! - It's been too long.
- Too long.
- We've missed you.
We're gonna work together on the In the kitchen.
- Together.
I'm okay.
- Yes.
Douglas, I'd love for you to work on sentimental items, the last category.
I know that all the steps that you've gone through was very, very difficult.
All throughout, you've sharpened your decision-making skills, so you should be confident in your ability to go through your sentimental items.
Alright, I'll start pulling the things out to start the process.
Thank you.
- Alright.
- Good luck.
Right.
Good luck, I need it.
- Good luck to you.
- Wish me luck.
Right.
- I'm nervous.
- Good luck.
She's scared.
So, the items that are sentimental, we're going to try to categorize those for each individual.
So if you come across something that you know that's Mom's, put it in Mom's sentimental pile.
- Alright? - Yeah.
No.
Thank you.
Something smells good.
American trash bags are amazing! It smells so good.
American garbage bags smell nice.
This cabinet is ridiculous.
It's hard to reach.
Going forward, let's try to keep things that we don't use as frequently in hard-to-reach places like that.
When using kitchen cabinets, in the area that is easily accessible, store items that are used often such as plates, glasses, and mugs.
On the top shelf, store items that are used less often, such as seasonal plates, and plates for guests.
Paper plates and straws are also items that are used less often.
These types of items can become easily accessible if stored in a box.
- Maybe a little bit more safe.
- Thank you.
This one? Yeah, Nolan just decided to keep it.
It was a sippy cup his godmother bought for him and it's engraved.
- Yeah.
- And we asked him, "Will you drink out of it?" He's like "Yes, yes.
" And we're like We can put it with your trophies or in the kitchen.
He said, "Put it in the kitchen.
Put it in the kitchen.
" Okay, so let's make this a decoration for the kitchen.
- We'll decide a nice place for it later.
- Okay.
I love the way she doesn't make any of the family members feel bad about what they wanna keep, or what they don't.
I mean, I'm learning.
That's very important when you're tidying, to respect each other.
Having a family of my own and being a mother, and I think that the things in our house and all the family members in a home kind of function the same way.
We each play a role and we only have a limited amount of space - and we all need each other.
- That's true.
It's so true.
I understand.
Thank you.
Thank you.
This process that Marie's helping us with is uncovering layers, not justto material things, but, like, the layers between our dynamic with our family.
Mom, she's been the one that has been trying to keep us all together and keep us organized, and, so, now that we have this tidying method, I feel like we really need to keep it up.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know? Not just for her, but for ourselves, you know? Before, I had the wrong mentality to not want to engage and help, and even not see the value of learning something like this.
But, now, I realize the responsibility should not be on Mom.
It should be on the family, the members of that house.
I'm gonna be the laundry champion.
You gonna be able to sort it, too? I'll assist you with sorting, so I can learn.
- Mm-hmm? - Gonna be a laundry champion.
Alright.
Stay on top of it.
I didn't realize the pressure of having to do everything until I actually did it.
So now I do want to help with that a lot more.
I am working on organizing more of my studio equipment that was under the printer area.
So all of your items pretty much fit in your closet now.
Yeah.
Lot of hard work, you're doing a great job.
Thank you.
Nolan and Kayci, , they're doing a terrific job.
I'm literally looking at their shelves and how they're organizing.
I can't believe they did it without me.
You just feel so proud.
Our life is finally coming together.
That's how That's how I feel.
The kids are doing great.
You're doing great, I'm trying to keep the energy high.
- We're gonna get through this.
- Awesome.
I'm definitely getting instant gratification.
For one, I have the entire Fantastic Four doing it with me.
This is looking pretty good, guys.
I came around to check on everybody and I saw the most amazing thing.
- What'd you see, Mom? - Everybody had everything folded.
- They had it lined up, standing.
- Especially me.
Nice and neat on its own, socks, underwear, - shorts, anything that was difficult.
- Especially me.
- They had it all.
Dad.
- I had it.
He had it all in a file system.
I could cry.
Like, my family is becoming a family.
My family is growing, my kids are doing their own thing.
My kids know how to take care of their resources.
New day, new joy! Whoo-hoo! Marie brought a whole bunch of joy upon our home.
I think my mom is way less stressed out.
I can see it in her face, I can see it in her movement.
She lifted the weight off my mom's shoulders.
A lot of weight.
Because now me and my sister can do things by ourselves without asking her.
Where you gonna put those to dry? Uh, I'll lay a towel out, or I'll just dry 'em.
You know where to get the towels from? I do know where to get the towels from.
You know where to put the towels back? - I know where to put the towels back.
- Okay, just checking.
I trust you.
I trust you.
 I trust you.
This method has helped us to grow up.
I know for sure me.
I'm saying us, but I'm saying me.
I'm growing up here.
- You're growing up.
- Yeah.
I'm looking forward to this.
Everyone in the family has worked very hard.
Hello! - Oh, hi! - Hi! - Hi, Kayci.
- Hi, Marie.
- So good to see you! - Good to see you! This place looks so lovely.
It's so lovely.
We are so tired.
But so happy! - Much different.
- This is amazing.
- It's beautiful.
- That's how we feel.
- Really proud.
- It was because of you.
- May I see the living room? - Yes.
So, Marie, this room is now much, much larger right? It really transformed! Oh, the feeling around this TV is just so different from before.
- It's nice and clean.
- Much different.
Oh, and look at those musical instruments.
- Joy.
All around.
- Beautiful there.
- You wanna see the kitchen? - Let's go.
Right this way.
Yeah, you can come.
- I'm gonna wash my hands.
- I need a tour.
Oh, my God! - This is incredible! - That's how I feel.
I started making my decisions confidently.
Found my joy.
It felt so good in here, I even came in here and made a salad for everybody.
I never come in here.
Mom's been doing a great job.
She's been working really hard.
- Phenomenal job, Katrina.
- Thank you.
- It was well worth it.
- A lot more space.
Feels great.
My husband picked up the dry cleaning and did the laundry and folded it.
- Helpful! - That was so helpful.
Alright, Nolan, Kayci, come show Miss Marie your room! Oh, how lovely! Well done! I was really happy about the dressers and them being able to utilize them.
- You guys worked so hard, I am so - We did.
- We wanted to make you proud.
- It's been a journey.
And I think about to when you first arrived, and not only was the home all over the place, - our lives were all over the place.
- Yeah.
See, the biggest thing for us was that we didn't have the ability to know how to declutter, how to tidy.
But now, we have the ability to continue to help the the kids to learn it, and they've learned it at this early age.
And, so, that was very important to me.
This house is finally a home.
I feel joy and I feel peace being here.
- Thank you so much.
- Amazing job, thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
- I feel proud.
- Yeah.
I thought that moving here and living in this space was something I just had to take.
- Something I had to go through.
- Deal with.
Deal with.
- Safe travels to you.
Safe travels.
- Alright, take care.
See you, thank you very much! Bye.
You put your mind to it, something you had no idea how to do, something that - bossed you for so long like it had me.
- Indeed.
And now, you can move anywhere and make it a home.
You just learned a life skill.
- You Your kids know a life skill.
- I can't wait to - You're able to pass that on.
- Yeah.
Indeed.
It just It feels great.
It feels so great.
As long as we're together I know we can do anything As long as we're together We can make it through anything No matter what, you got me