Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019) s01e06 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, 'cause I really like this one.
This is kinda hard.
I don't want to just, you know, dump it.
But I want to 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.
The tidying process provides a unique opportunity to understand what is most important in one's life.
In this episode, you will meet Aaron and Sehnita.
Join me as I help this family create an ideal home for their desired future.
Dada, could we go to Toys R Us? No, Ashton.
 We're getting rid of things not going out and getting more.
And being happy with how much we already have.
Okay.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Nice to meet you.
- I'm Marie.
- Nice to meet you.
Hi, very nice to meet you.
Aaron.
I have to try.
Hi, I'm lida, Miss Marie's interpreter.
Hi, lida.
Miss Marie's interpreter.
Nice to meet you.
And Natalia is two-and-a-half years old.
She's asleep.
She's taking a nap right now.
Oh, wow.
- My daughter is same, two years old.
- Oh, really? And one years old.
- You have a two- and a one-year-old? - Yes.
And you're organized? We have no excuse.
Alright.
We have no excuse.
I'm Sehnita.
I'm Aaron.
We're the Mattisons.
We've been married 17 years.
We met at the University of Michigan junior year.
- I think we just - End of junior year, start of senior year.
Started dating senior year, we basically decided we want a change of venue, the weather, time to get some better weather.
We drove out to Los Angeles and set up here.
What's going on, guys? We live with our two children.
We have a seven-and-a-half-year-old boy, Ashton and an almost three-year-old Natalia.
We're here and we love it, and we planning on being here a long time.
There's a thought, though, as our lives, we have so much love to give, we live in a wonderful home, we're part of a wonderful school district.
We have a lot of opportunity to bring another baby into this house, but the clutter, it just feels heavy.
It's just, you know, and overwhelming.
We have a major amount of cleaning that we need to undertake before we move forward.
This, yeah, this is the room we use the most.
Like, the kitchen, the living room.
Definitely a lot of time spent watching TV or, you know, playing.
Okay, so I see part of the problem.
Yeah, you're also seeing part of the problem.
You know, we've been in our house for seven years.
But it's a never ending battle to fight the clutter.
We have things, and those things end up taking a space in our house and it's They get spread around, just multiplies, and pretty soon our house is a chaotic mess.
If we have a space that opens up, pretty soon it'll get filled up.
- You fill up space, too.
- I do, I do.
It's gotta go somewhere.
And, look, there's an open spot! How about there? Yes.
I feel like the clutter is just it's like a big block now.
But added to it is it's so stressful to clean the house.
It's hard to think about doing anything else 'cause it always feels like, "No, I gotta go clean.
" So even when I'm relaxing, I should be cleaning.
- We have a fish on our table.
- We have a fish.
I don't why.
But there it is.
This is Natalia.
This is Miss Marie and Miss lida.
- Can you say hi? - Hi.
Hello.
- No.
She'll just sit here for a while.
- Not yet, not yet.
Well, this is Ashton's room in here.
Okay.
This is his nice, big closet.
- So these are his - Clothes.
Oh, pajamas? His pajamas, his, uh, shirts.
Aaron wandered in here and realized that I have taken over these three drawers.
They're awaiting your magic.
What is that? So, I was born in Pakistan.
So if we have Pakistani occasions, I have my shawls to take.
When's the last time you wore them? You know, I feel such a disconnect to my culture to begin with.
I don't have a big Indian-Pakistani community being here in Los Angeles.
So you know, that's a little piece of connection that I would like to hold onto.
This is our master.
We have lots of mess.
This one is Aaron's closet.
Yeah, these are more like my dress shirts, I go to work.
Um - Sehnita's clothes.
- And some books? This might be my little problem.
I have a hard time letting go of magazines.
This whole pile was in our bathroom.
I'd kind of hidden it from downstairs, brought it upstairs, hidden it up there.
Do you have any magazines left in the bathroom right now? Not in the bathroom.
I might have piles elsewhere.
I do think that Sehnita has a tendency to hold onto more things.
That's why working with Marie would be very helpful.
I can't do it by myself.
I can't make her do it.
- Those are mine.
Close that door.
- Wait, okay.
- Let me go to - Go ahead and close that door.
No.
Those aren't No.
You can close those.
- Let me try the next one.
- You can't throw those things.
I understand that I either hold onto things or I'm sentimental about things.
But we're not dying in here, like, they don't have to, like, airlift me out of this house 'cause there's no path out.
I'm workable! Oh, my goodness.
Look at this closet.
It's huge! Okay, so all of your dresses here.
I see.
So, half of these dresses I can't wear right now, but I don't want to give up on getting to my goal weight, so I don't want to let go of these yet.
These shorts don't fit me, but I can't get rid of them.
Look at these shoes.
These are another one of those pairs that I can't get rid of.
I don't think I've ever seen her wear them.
These are maternity clothes.
We were part of our goal of wanting to clear our house is we would like to add a third baby.
And it feels like if we can't get our house clean, you know, maybe we shouldn't go down that path.
I just know that if we have this much junk right now, like, if we were to have a third, it would only get worse from here.
- Welcome.
- Here it is.
I think some of the things that we need a little help with in the garage are clothes.
All these clothes you've kept, you never let any of them go? Not any of Ashton's clothes, not any of Natalia's clothes.
These are just suitcases.
And these suitcases have suitcases in them.
So I think we need help minimizing a little.
I feel like You know, he's saying we should get rid of them, I think we need to take more family trips.
- Not all.
- To make use of them.
Trivial Pursuit.
- Two of two.
- We need them both.
Whole different experience.
We actually have three.
One's inside.
And we also have kids toys over there.
So your kids, they don't play with those toys? - No.
- Not right now.
If we can get this whole garage organized more, then they'll be in a place where they can access them easier.
Once you do your magic.
I want to clean up my stuff, but I feel like I'm not getting there.
So, for me what I've really wrapped my head around in my life is if I'm not doing the things that I need to do, then, you know, go seek out experts that can help you make the change that you need.
This KonMari Method is not a simple method to clean your house.
Mm-hmm.
You mentioned my magic.
I'm sorry to say that I don't use any magic.
Only you can do that.
But at the same time, I have seen many of my clients transform their lives because in their heart of hearts, they were ready to prepare to change their life.
I want to, she wants to, we want to put in the hard work.
And that's where I think we're just looking for the guidance.
Thank you so much.
I'm so honored and thankful to hear you say that.
We're ready to declutter the home because we foresee staying here for, you know, the next 20 years maybe.
So, there's nothing that is going to force us to go through our stuff, except for something like this.
I'm so excited.
- Good morning! - Hi! Good morning! Good to see you.
Good morning.
- Hi.
Good morning.
- Hi, good morning.
There's Natalia to greet you.
She had a slight run-in with the dog this morning so she's recovering.
- Do you want to go to the other room? - Yes.
So today, we'll tackle clothes.
Oh, my gosh.
This mountain of things.
So from here, you're gonna be going through every single piece, piece by piece.
I feel very overwhelmed.
It does feel overwhelming.
Let's take a deep breath of air.
Stretch.
When you feel stuck while tidying, try and change the air.
Simply opening the windows will be effective, but there are other ways as well.
Create a sound that has a great vibration.
Light a candle.
Spray an aromatic room spray.
Lighting some incense is also an option.
By creating smoke, it'll purify the room.
Of course, you can do these every day and not just when tidying.
I use these methods to purify my home every day.
So my advice is go with something that's very easy for you to make a decision on, something that you'd know right away.
You know, it's like it's hard to understand my feelings because, you know, there's some things where I'm like, "No, this doesn't spark joy in me.
" It fits me and that's And so it's practical, so I'm glad it fits me.
But, no I'm not happy I have to wear you.
But I do understand because of my height.
You have no idea what a nightmare it is for me to find clothes that fit me because I'm so short, in that sense.
And small.
But, in a sense, I will just recommend picking out clothes that fit you right now that you're comfortable with and decide from there.
This I wear.
This I wear.
And it sparks joy for you? - Yeah.
- Okay.
Instead of just basing it on whether you wear it or not, think about, "Do I really need this piece?" "Is it necessary for my life?" My problem with clothing and feeling the joy, it's hard because it's that idea that you don't let go of things if it's functional.
Like, you don't wear cocktail dresses all the time, but if you have a cocktail party, you don't want to buy a new one each time either.
- Yes, Aaron, you're doing very well.
- You're doing great.
- Very calm.
- Aren't you the best? - Don't the teachers like you? - Don't get angry.
Aaron and I are different.
I'm funny, she's not.
- My friends think I'm funny.
- Your friends think you're funny.
Um, yes, maybe Aaron's, like, quick to want to you know, be like, "Okay, I gotta clear my space," and maybe I slow him down to be like, "Wait a minute, I want you to really think, like, are you getting rid of anything that might be important to you?" And for me, he's going to help me be like, "Alright, come on, you don't need to hold onto those things.
That's just more things we have to clean up.
" - Thank you, bye bye.
- Thank you so much.
-Bye.
-Bye! A lot to do.
The homework is now go through our clothes, sort through the things we That don't spark joy, move them out.
This is what happens when you first start going through the process.
I do still feel stuck in the Like having Being in the limbo of having clothes that I need to hold onto.
But when you say, "Have to hold onto," what do you mean have to hold? Why do you have to hold onto 'em? Like, you can just easily say, "This sparks joy, this doesn't spark joy.
" There's a certain amount of things that I, yeah, honestly when I take a step back and I look at some of the stuff I have Like, okay, do I want to hold onto this because You can't let go of that! See, this is why I can't show you things.
With Sehnita and I, I would love better communication dealing with items in our house because sometimes it feels like she automatically goes and says, "No, we should keep it.
" That's a lot of stuff.
We're gonna be here 'til midnight.
- Not me.
Nope.
- We are going to be here till midnight.
I was gonna go downstairs and play video games with Ashton.
Goodbye.
Folding clothes is so much fun! About folding baby clothes, here's how to fold baby onesies.
First, fold in half vertically, tuck in the sleeves, fold it in half, and then fold into thirds.
Like this, when it is folded into a square, you are finished.
Next, how to fold socks.
Place one on top of the other and just fold them in half, making them very compact.
How to fold underwear.
Fold the bottom up.
Next fold it in half, and then in half again.
That's my blue jeans here.
This is gonna be my sweaters here.
I think I'm getting close to getting my stuff gone through.
I feel good, um Isn't that great? He feels good.
I am finding it really challenging to go through my clothes because even things I like don't fit well, so I'm not willing to let go of all those things.
I just realized I'm on camera and I didn't put on makeup.
Hmm.
Alright, so I'm gonna end this video.
- Hey, Sehnita.
- Yeah? - Marie's here.
- Oh, okay.
- Hi, good morning.
- Good morning.
- Good to see you again.
- Good to see you.
- Morning, good to see you.
- Sehnita's just upstairs doing some work.
These are all the clothes we'll be getting rid of.
So this is a mixture of Sehnita's and mine.
- That's wonderful.
- Yes.
And she's in Ashton's room.
Ooh.
- Good morning, hi! - Hi, Marie.
How are you? Good to see you.
- Good morning.
- Good morning, how are you? I'm feverishly trying to go through these, uh, scarves and you're here at a perfect time 'cause I was like I don't know if I know how to fold them.
Oh, but you did it just right.
- Nearly there.
- Okay.
Okay, so first I would make sure that the fringe is rolled inside.
Okay.
This way you'll protect the fringes and you'll avoid any unwanted wrinkles.
And then if they're different sizes, like, I was trying to do this one and it was a little bit bigger, so do I try to get it this size? So you can just categorize by size if that's the case.
I'm sure you have other bigger scarves as well, so just keep those together.
Well I'm I like this method because honestly, um, it was so hard when I was stacking them to know what color was in there, which one to get, so I probably didn't use them as much as I wanted to because I couldn't see them.
This applies to every storage space, but when you open the drawer and you can immediately see what's inside, it's really useful.
It is so useful.
It was a lot of work.
It was a lot of work to go through all of our clothes, um, but we're ready for the next challenge.
We have ten boxes of books, four or five boxes of magazines.
Something that I do is to wake them up first.
Books that have been stored in boxes for a long time are sleeping.
They would like some waking up.
Yes.
They're all sleepy.
And once we've woken them up take each book, one by one, and ask yourself, "Is this something that I would like to bring with me" into the future?" Books are a part of my identity.
I mean, I do really value them and I value them being in our house.
It will be very hard for me to get rid of them.
- Bye! - Thank you so much.
It just feels like those are people's works.
Just to, like, kinda just dump them in a trash heap It doesn't feel good to me.
Think you're gonna use this or you have the internet? You got the internet.
- Don't you think? - Can it be in a maybe pile? Where's your maybe pile? Here.
I definitely understand Sehnita seeing certain items and struggling with it as far as looking and saying, you know, "Does it bring me joy or does it bring me guilt for getting rid of it?" Because even if she said it's okay to let it go, she'll have second thoughts.
- Let's get rid of 'em.
- No, I'm going No, I'm not gonna get rid We can't get rid of them.
We're going to give them for the other baby.
Why are you whispering to me? Because I'm trying not to yell.
Because we're definitely on, uh, different pages about saving books for a potential third.
I don't want to, at this point, get rid of everything just to have to go buy them again next year.
That doesn't make sense to me.
That doesn't make fiscal sense to me.
Like, with her I'd have to make her feel okay that I'm not just going to get rid of things that she wants because I know there is still this fear in her mind that every stage she's concerned that I'm going to move things out that she's going to regret losing.
Final check for the books, I guess.
Sehnita's just doing a one last review of the books in here.
Um, I thought they were all boxed.
I said, "Hey I'm gonna take these to the garage.
" She was like, "I want one more look.
" So, so close.
I guess this is the final stage.
Uh-oh, she's got a pile of books she's holding onto.
Oh, Sehni.
Marie's here with boxes.
- Hello.
- Hello! Can I help? - It's fine.
- You're fine? Hi, good to see you again.
Hello, how are you? So good to see you.
The deeper we get into this, it's really difficult to do.
But I will say, little by little, walking into open spaces has been Like, you feel it.
You feel so much better.
And you know who's loving it the most? Mazzie the cat.
She is loving the open spaces.
She's pouncing here and there and I want to feel the joy that cat is feeling.
- So, books, pretty much done, I see? - Yes.
We finished up the books.
It was tough, but like magazines, she actually got rid of a lot of magazines.
You might have thought that was a simple task for me to get my magazines out, but they were there for a few days, weeks.
Well done.
Our focus going forward is all the miscellaneous items.
The garage and also the children's toys.
So for toys, gather them all together at once.
You will be going through them as parents and deciding how often do they get used, but I'm sure your kids have a particular attachment to certain toys, so this is where you want to engage the kids and work together with them as well.
Really encourage them to thank each item that they're letting go.
When tidying kids' toys, take out all the toys first.
If you have more than one child, create a separate pile for each.
For example, these are brother's, these are sister's, and here are shared toys.
Have your children choose the toys that spark joy.
However, all toys may spark joy for them.
So ask them to rank the toys.
When it comes to storing toys, it is important to divide the space clearly.
For example, this box is for him, these boxes are for both, and one box is for her.
When you store shared items, you can keep them according to category.
Here are the toys for physical play.
And here are stuffed animals.
These can be stored like this.
Thank you.
Bye.
- Bye! - Bye, see you later.
See you later! Okay, let's work.
Toys.
Toys are everywhere.
The toys, we have so many toys.
Do you like your toys all piled up, Natalia? - Yep.
- Happy birthday! We got this for you.
I'm ready to get rid of a lot of it.
For Sehnita, the toys are tied to emotional sentiment with people who gave us particular toys, the toys being attached to memories from when Ashton and Natalia played with them.
Ashton wanted this case.
Like, wanted when he was, like, four years old? - Natalia probably wants it.
- You're killing me.
I would like to keep the Transformer types.
I think they're kinda neat.
- Um - But they don't really play with them.
Yeah, but I do.
Hey, Natalia, why's there a mess on the floor? I 'Cause I wanted to give it away! - You want to give all that away? - Yeah.
So you were going through your toys and making a pile of things you don't want? Uh, no, I want it.
Can you pick out one toy that you don't really play with anymore? Hmm, ah! Alright, and that's how you start.
And everyone else is setting up for a nice, somewhat lazy Sunday, but Mom and Dad are gonna get off the couch and get up to work again.
Not right now! But, dear! The garage is a mini version of our house.
It has anything and everything in it.
What about all these, like, pots? Some of those pots are gonna go, some are going to have our succulents put into it.
Are we doing this right now? I'm just looking at this beauty.
It is pretty, isn't it? I was being facetious.
Sorry.
I walk into it and I'm like, "I don't know where to start.
" Bikes.
We can't really get rid of any of them because if we do have the third, they're going to want it.
These two boxes are from the move, so we've been in this house for seven years, we haven't unpacked those.
But if we have the space for it why can't we just keep it? Oh, Natalia's going to be mad at you about this.
I don't want to get to the point of throwing my hands up and saying, "We're just gonna live in a pigsty.
" But Sehnita's having a hard time letting go of a lot of things.
She needs to commit.
From zero to five years old, it's hard to give give that up.
What he says is, "We don't need this.
" And then I stop, "Well, no, I do," or, "I do want it.
" This is our garage and the only thing of tools is one little shelf.
- There's no garage stuff in here.
- Wait, honestly - It's like toys and clothes and - Yes, so? Put it into perspective.
One thing for tools, the rest is everything else.
You're making me the bad guy for I don't know what.
I definitely feel like I'm being guilted into getting rid of things.
I don't think that's what it's about.
So if I go back to, "Oh, no, I wanna keep that thing," why isn't it a very clear, like, "Okay, sure.
" I'm not gonna feel bad about that.
I'm sorry.
So when you try to tell me I don't let go of things, I don't like that.
You have got to stop, otherwise we're never gonna get through this.
I'm at a loss.
The more I think about it, the more I just get upset.
I get that I have a strong personality.
I thought the whole process is, hey, you talk, you share, you share your thoughts, your feelings You You lay it all out there.
Well, I feel like laying it all out there only makes it worse.
Maybe it's just a cultural difference.
Maybe it's just different styles and methods.
And if that's the case, I can't change someone else either.
I'm looking to change.
I'm open to change.
I wanted to go through this process.
And This was my step forward, and I'm not looking to go backwards.
So this place is gonna get into shape no matter what.
And that's just how it is.
What's a matter? Huh? This has been a pretty challenging and nerve-racking process for us to go through together.
But now I realize Aaron and I do not need a lot of things to be happy, and I think that's part of what has drawn us to each other.
And to be able to come together in this process and re-establish that idea, you know, us in our family, like, we don't need a lot of things, and that's been interesting because of all of the things that we were surrounded by.
I think we were forgetting that.
You want tea? Yes.
What time d'you go to bed last night? Four, four-thirty.
So what were you doing? Like, why am I holding onto a seven-dollar shirt I got really cheap that doesn't really fit? It's kind of putting it in perspective.
I don't need to hold onto this.
Every single one of us should be examining the things we have and deciding if we need it or not.
I really just had this feeling like I'm ready to let go, and to take control of the things that are in my house.
Are these garbage? Those shoes? Yes.
I guess I'll just get rid of 'em.
You served me well, shoes.
These things that are just taking up space in your own house, you gotta give it up.
Does it bring you joy? - Now, if it's nostalgia, the story - Not really.
Okay, well then I mean, thank you! It feels good to sort of move this out of the Yeah, out of the garage, sort of move it out of our house and then to a better home.
It is exhausting.
I really do feel extremely exhausted and we're not even at a halfway point yet.
Very overwhelmed.
So it's Friday.
A couple days since we had the mass chaos of dumping out a lot of things.
Yeah! This, I think we need to get a vase from outside.
- I don't That can, those - It can go? Then I'll throw this stuff out.
Great.
I'll be back.
You got a little excited about that! She's doing a lot, she's giving away a lot.
I'm very proud of her, so I just wanted to give her those kudos.
Good job.
Still cuckoo.
I mean, kudos.
Lots of kudos.
Now I feel we're on the same level.
Same place.
You'll never be at my level.
Hi! How are you? How are you? It's good to see you.
Good to see you again.
- Hi.
- Hi.
What's the occasion? So beautiful! Our last visit.
I had to dress up.
We can show you the guest bedroom.
Yes, definitely.
Beforehand I had to put blinders on to the clutter.
So now, it's just it's night and day.
Oh, my gosh! - It's all clear.
- Look at this room.
All those cardboard boxes are gone? - Gone.
- Yes, a lot of moving around.
I love this house.
I love being here.
I love spending time here.
This process of looking at what's in our life makes it so that we're not gonna take the items we have for granted, that we're not going to just bring more things into the household.
I love this dining room table.
It's beautiful.
- You can see it now! - Yes.
There's some mental space that has been cleared up through this process and it was something that I've needed for a very long time, so it feels very good.
You go right ahead.
Wow.
The way we approach our house feels vastly different and sort of the way we're trying to live our lives feels vastly different.
- Wow! - Amazing.
It's actually a very deep and meaningful change that we can carry with us going forward.
And it felt good to feel like if it's not bringing joy, I can just go ahead and let it go, I don't have to keep putting it back.
Let go.
It's easy.
If we have a third, we can do this now, because before it just felt like, "I'm gonna put the bassinet on a pile of, like, junk and papers," but now I feel very good that they would be well taken care of.
Like the other two.
You can actually see from one end to the next.
Look at this place! How everything that was in here! - Oh, my goodness! - We can park a car now.
I am speechless.
Aww! My method of tidying really helps you not just clean the surface of your home, but to really consider how you want to live and what kind of relationship you want have with your family, with your friends, and all the things that surround you.
So I'm really happy and honored that you really absorbed that.
This process, some ways, has highlighted our opposite natures.
At the same time, it did sort of help us better understand each other, but also to work together in a meaningful way.
It was kinda nice because this is a great foundation to launch into the next stage.
- Thank you for bringing your magic to us.
- Thank you! Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Bye, thank you very much.
Bye! - Can you say bye again? - Goodbye! Bye! - Bye.
- So cute! - Say bye.
- Bye, Marie! Bye, Miss Marie Kondo! Bye, Miss Marie Kondo! Yeah, bye-bye.
I will always be A home to come to A home to come to A home to come to A home to come to