Tidying Up with Marie Kondo (2019) s01e08 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, it's 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 KonMari Method is a means to realize your ideal life.
My clients this time, Angela and Alishia, are newlyweds.
They recently purchased a condo for their new home.
They are a lovely couple, but they are having trouble figuring out how they can turn their new home into a comfortable space for both of them.
Through tidying, I'm looking forward to helping them create a comfortable home.
- Hi! - Hi.
- Hello, I'm Marie.
- Angela.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Hi, I'm lida, Miss Marie's interpreter.
- Hi lida.
Nice to meet you.
Angela.
- We're very excited to have you here.
- Yes! - Alright, come on in.
- Thank you.
We do have a kitty cat.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Hi, Kitty! - Nice to meet you.
I'm Marie.
- Alishia.
Pleased to meet you.
- Hi, I'm lida, Miss Marie's interpreter.
- Nice to meet you, lida.
Alishia.
- Oh, you have two dogs! - Our puppies out there.
So the big one is London and the little one is Teddy, and you've met kitten, Earl.
I'm Angela, I'm a veterinarian.
I'm Alishia, I'm a flight attendant.
I was working a flight from Vegas to Atlanta, and she was my passenger and she was all like, "Hey, cute stuff.
" - I was like, "Hey, girl.
" - That's not how I remember it.
Oh, my gosh, really? I mean, it's close enough.
- That was, what, five years ago? - Mm-hmm.
Prior to Angela I was considered a nomad.
I feel like I literally grabbed her out of the sky and brought her down to earth.
Oh, yes.
We recently just got married last June.
- We've literally married - Married our lives together.
So, we are new homeowners.
About a month ago, we've closed escrow on our new place.
So, this is that first step into adulthood that we're We've heard so much about.
Just in these last couple of weeks, we've been moving and things are everywhere.
The transition has been semi-stressful.
- You know, it's - Very stressful.
Okay.
Very stressful.
That's why it's critical for us to get our space organized and live-in ready, because it's a new chapter.
You don't want to start the new chapter - disorganized or chaotic.
- With old stuff.
We want that easy breezy.
We want to be able to come into our space and definitely feel relaxed, you know? So how long has it been since you moved here? Uh, It's only been three weeks.
- We just moved here.
- Three weeks? Yes.
- Gosh, so you just moved in.
- Yes.
Wow.
So, as soon as I entered this room, it seems perfectly organized and tidy.
Is, is Do you really have a problem with tidying? - Oh, you'll see.
- Should we give you a little tour? Yes, please.
The struggle We call this the struggle room.
- I see.
I'm starting to see now.
- The good stuff.
Yeah.
Ninety percent of those are mine.
Those are mostly mine.
Here are the shoes.
- Clothes.
- Clothes.
Mostly mine.
Well Mine.
Mine, mine.
Ours, more winter stuff.
So how do you use this room right now? We don't.
We want this room to be kinda like the office slash guest space, slash closet.
Yes, there's a lot of cloudiness here in this room.
So we'll figure that out.
Don't fall on anything.
We tried to organize this space a little bit.
So how do you use this space? My pants and then - Those are my jeans on that side.
- Yeah.
Usually, we find ourselves in a closet battle.
For instance, we share belts, like belts and socks and accessories and things.
I'll ask her where the belts are, 'cause my belts that she doesn't wear are in a spot, so we have, like, separate belts and we have belts together.
The belts together get lost.
Although we've been together for so many years, we never got to organize.
We're gonna have clothes in both rooms.
You wanna put your shirt on over there, pants over here.
How do you want this to work? I've kinda just been grabbing the outfit together.
Like, I grab a shirt, come in here and grab some pants, and get dressed in the room.
- I'm just saying, you don't want - Some cohesiveness? - Yeah.
- I do, but I just I just want everything put away right now.
- It causes tension.
- It causes tension.
So the general impression that I got from your closet is that a lot of your things are mixed together and it's a little difficult to determine, oh, what's inside.
- Yeah.
- Yes.
Yes.
A tip on sharing closet space with a partner is to designate areas for each person.
For example, in this closet I can't reach the top rack, so I will choose to use the bottom rack.
By doing this, it is easy to see how much clothing you have.
Aw.
This is kind of our stress-free area.
We wanted to ensure we had a place in the house to kinda get away from all of the moving, and so we put this together first.
Okay.
You got it? So this is the only part where it's kind of like hers and mine.
Yeah, clothes are mine.
I feel like we organize things a little differently, like, she will put things in a different spot than me, and I think that's how we get kind of our wires crossed.
I would recommend making this particular closet all of Alishia's clothes.
And then that way Angela could have the guest bedroom space.
Ultimately, that would be the simplest solution.
- Goody.
- Okay.
When tidying, each individual should be responsible for their own space.
This lessens the tension and increases their sense of trust and bonding.
The kitchen.
It could be better.
This has room for improvement definitely.
That's actually a problem area.
So do these items belong to the both of you, or does one person have more than the other? I would say maybe both.
The kitchen was kinda split.
- Yeah.
- Half is mine, half is hers.
We're definitely complete opposites when it comes to, like, organizing.
And it's frustrating.
We need help categorizing what stuff needs to go with what stuff.
I really feel that the presence of this home is so important.
You mentioned that this is your first home that you've purchased, so this is a very significant space.
So I would like to take this time to formally introduce myself to your home.
- Okay.
- Okay.
It's only been three weeks, right? - Yup.
- Yes.
If that's the case, I think it would be much better if you do this with me.
- Okay.
- Okay, let's do it.
Let's gather here in the middle.
Just tell your home your intention for it and your hopes for it.
She'll meditate for a while.
You guys left me.
How did you feel? Inspired.
Excited.
- Yeah.
- I just saw order.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Relaxed.
I hope you'll keep all the feelings that you felt in your heart as we go through the tidying, because tidying isn't just about organizing your home.
It's about creating a welcoming, inviting, positive environment into your home.
Yay! Take out every single, last piece of clothes.
Oh, lordy, help me! What's your anxiety level right now? We're gonna lose Marie in the pile.
Holy macaroni.
I told you you have more clothes than me.
I know I have more clothes than you.
I think we have it all.
We're gonna be going through these clothes piece be piece.
When you hold each item in your hands, ask if it sparks joy for you.
Okay.
I can do that.
We can just start right from the top.
Yes.
Yes, yes.
Yes, yes, yes.
And all of these yeses.
Angela, let's get started with your pile, then.
- Okay.
- Oh, Okay.
Clothes for me are just functional because I'm not very attached to material things.
So I don't have very many clothes in general just because I'm wearing scrubs four days out of the week.
I don't have dresses and shirts and pants and stuff like that.
I don't like to get dressed up too much.
Ask if it sparks joy for you.
I like it, but I really I don't wear it as often.
I can let you go.
You can be happy for somebody else.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
She let the Redskins go? Get out of my space! Goodness.
I pride myself on my eclecticness because I do wear a uniform, and so, I don't really get to wear my clothes too much, and I feel like even though I'm not wearing the clothes all the time it's still, like, an expression of my personality.
Right, how are we doing? Question: there's some things that I'm holding onto.
There's one dress in particular I wanted to show you.
This is actually the little dress.
My grandmother bought me this.
Ah! I love.
Isn't it so cute? I love it, it's lovely.
But it's also too small, so I just remember wanting it really bad, and she kinda gave me that look.
She was like, "Go try it on.
" So I go try it on and she goes, "Okay, you can have it.
" Are you very close to your grandmother? I was, she passed away in 2006.
This is probably, like close to the oldest thing in my closet.
The point of this process isn't to force yourself to eliminate things.
It's really to confirm how you feel about each and every item that you possess.
I'm just gonna look at you a little longer.
Just a little longer.
Marie helping us tackle the biggest challenge, which is our closet space and the actual organization is so refreshing.
I'm excited to put everything where it needs to be.
Bye, see you soon.
- See you soon.
Bye.
Okay, you ready to get this homework done? Where do I put my keep stuff? I love my clothes.
I know when it touches my body, I'm like, "Ooh!" I get it.
I get it.
So that, that feeling that she said that you should feel, that is that's joy.
I feel that with a lot of my items.
For instance, this particular dress, I was probably 16 or 17 when my grandmother purchased it.
But it was just that memory of being with her.
And my grandmother loved clothes, so we have that in common.
So It's kinda hard to let it go, 'cause I really like this one.
And I wear it all the time.
That's probably why it's faded, too.
But This just takes me back to a time with her and not really I mean I spent a lot of time with her, but I just want it Just I always remember I think I might cry now.
You okay? So you didn't just You okay? Aww It's okay.
- Hi! - Hi! - How are you? Hi.
- Oh my goodness gracious.
London, come on, let's go.
Let's go outside, honey.
Teddy, London, outside, let's go.
Go.
Git.
There you go.
How's it going? How was the homework? Um Well First things first, these items are the things that we've touched on and loved on and thanked, but they no longer serve a purpose for us, so we're actually in the process of donating.
That's great.
Okay.
- I'd love to see the rest.
- Great.
Okay.
I was wondering, what did you do with the dress that your grandmother gave you? I still have it.
It's just next to the bed.
I knew I was gonna go through the changes in my mind and in my body, especially with my clothes, because I do I love my clothes.
But I have to learn to extract the memory from an item.
That dress brings up my grandmother, and I guess it's just more of a sad place because she's no longer here.
I am gonna donate or give away or if anyone wants it.
It's healthy to revisit and to remember, and obviously I want a part of my grandmother to be in my home, but there are a lot of different things that could remind me of her.
A question I had, what is the best way to fold the hoodies, because they get so bulky and I feel like it doesn't remain folded.
So there are two ways to store hoodies.
You can store them in drawers or you can pile them together.
If you were storing them in drawers, aim for that rectangle in the middle, fold towards the center tuck the hood in and roll into thirds, so you can file them vertically - in the drawer if you like.
- Okay.
And then, what is the best way to fold undergarments? I consider bras very important for women, so I like to file them in a way that really, truly sparks joy.
Bras are special items for women.
So let's store them with VIP treatment.
When storing bras, arrange them in a way where you don't smoosh the cups.
It'll spark joy if you arrange them in a way that creates a color gradient.
Let's fold the cupless bras.
Fold it in half and tuck in the straps.
They can be stored in this way.
For soft cup bras.
Fold it in half, tuck in the straps, then roll it up for a refreshing way to store it.
When storing bras, if you put them in boxes, it'll look more organized.
Okay.
Just a little quick peek.
And most importantly, shoes.
What happened to those? The shoes are still mixed.
What we are trying to figure out is if it'll be easier to leave in the shoe box or to take the shoes out.
I will make this my homework and think about it.
So okay, leave that up to me.
Don't worry too much about the storage solution.
So today I'd like to move onto the miscellaneous items and I recommend tackling the kitchen.
Okay.
Just take everything out, even the tupperwares, everything out, and just go through them and ask yourself if you see any items that don't belong to your life ahead, that you don't necessarily feel like it should be a part of your life going forward.
Okay.
Now Some spices.
Um, we have some pantry items.
Oh, I see.
If there are any expired items, this is a great opportunity to toss them.
Oh, for sure.
The main tip on organizing the pantry is to categorize food items.
For example, the drinks category such as coffee and tea.
Cereals and snacks.
Pasta, flour, and other carbohydrates.
And finally canned foods.
For small items such as snacks, if you put them in boxes it'll be easier to access and it'll look more organized.
By storing your food like this, it will make it easy to keep track of the quantity of food you have.
Next time I'm here, I will have solutions for you in terms of storage for all your miscellaneous items.
- See you next week.
- Next time.
Thank you guys.
Bye bye.
- Bye! - Bye-bye.
Okay.
- We have more homework to do.
- More homework.
Oh, goodness.
It's about to go down.
- Soy sauce.
- Soy.
This is disgusting.
Throw it away.
Why? - Oh! - Why, Alishia? Don't why me.
We don't eat ketchup.
Is there ketchup in the refrigerator? Yes, there is.
You know what, ketchup? You don't bring me joy anymore.
Oh, my gosh.
Uh-oh.
Don't even look.
What is that? Gravy? Turkey gravy, slow cooker.
There you go.
You've got turkey gravy from 2015! I feel like you've been holding onto that turkey gravy just to be spiteful.
- We need to figure out - Stop sliding that.
- Ugh - Pick it up.
Put it in the back.
I don't reach.
Oh, my goodness.
Short people.
Angela and I have a disconnect on where do we put these items.
Her access is different from my access.
Basic access is height.
We have a lot of cabinet space where I can put stuff higher and reach things, but she does more of the cooking, so it needs to be where she can reach it.
Unless she doesn't want me to touch it.
And then I just put it really high.
Like my things.
"Don't touch my stuff, Alishia.
" Have you gone through these glasses? Yeah.
They don't look like you went through 'em.
Don't sort my things, sort your things, 'kay? Oh, those are fighting words! "Don't sort my things, hmm hmm hmm.
" Meow! We disagree on.
- Organization.
- where things should go and how things should be done.
If I had to give you an example of what type of person I think Angela is, she will put a blender in the linen closet.
Why is this here? "Well, all the electronics are in there.
" So in her mind it makes sense.
And then in mine I'm like, "No.
" It made sense at the time and so I did it.
You can get rid of those pink ones.
What about these dirty yellow ones? You're sorting my stuff again.
Jesus, let go of it.
Let go.
- You are real judgy today.
- Well.
These are actually, like, seeing glasses.
These are not for style.
Why don't you just put them all in there? You have a problem with wanting to put things in different places.
One of the things that Marie made very clear is that even though you have different ideas, like items need to be together here.
So once we sift through that a little more, with time, I think we'll be good.
- Hi! - Hello! - Hi.
- Come on in.
- Come on in, welcome, welcome, welcome.
- Hi.
- Come on in.
- Nice to see you.
Wow.
You guys brought gifts.
Yes, many of them.
- Let's get right into it.
- Yeah.
- What's our next dilemma? - Shoes.
When storing all these shoes, try to imagine what a store display would look like.
So just keep the similar colors together, same types of shoes together.
- So the shoe boxes.
- Can we keep the shoe boxes? - Yeah.
So like that, right? - Right.
So we could just put the shoe box here and then the shoes on top.
The only thing about this shelf are the heels.
I actually have the same rack in my closet, too and that's always been my problem that I have.
Oh, snap! Look at that! Even these you can fit and it won't fall through.
Okay.
Wow.
You solved that problem so fast.
For me in my house, I tend to use pretty postcards or things that spark joy for me.
Oh, nice, okay.
I can do that.
What should we move onto now? I'd like to continue with the lesson on komono.
Yes.
So I don't know what to do with our dog items 'cause they are in multiple places.
Let's take a look.
Oh, they're getting excited.
"That's my stuff!" So we have three fur babies.
- Welcome to our family.
- Right.
Um, untraditional, but traditional at the same time.
We're like the Brady Bunch.
It was really important finding a space that they could We could all co-habitate together.
Um, so the balconies are really nice 'cause they can go outside on the balconies and kinda get that airspace.
It's important that we get the space together for them, too.
Oh, yes.
'Cause as you can see, they're up in everything.
Oh, yes.
So what's in here? What's in this basket? So, they have a lot of toys and I want them to be able to get them.
But I also want the toys out the way.
I don't know how she found all these balls.
Well, granted at our last place, we lived next to a tennis court.
Can you select how many tennis balls you need? - One.
- Just one? She wants her tennis balls.
I would say more than that because sometimes at the park they get nasty and we don't want to bring it home.
- Two? - Three.
Mhm.
- Three tennis balls.
-Three, okay.
You definitely use these for walks, right? - The leashes.
- Yes.
And so we have We just need to put it somewhere.
So for the kitten and doggie supplies, I think using this whole section for their items would be best.
Just hanging them right here and putting the leash will help identify this section.
When tidying pet supplies, it's important to create a space for them.
Here's a tip for storing pet items.
For example, you can put toys here.
This is a toy.
Leashes go here.
Grooming and food supplies here.
If you divide the space, it'll look more tidy.
For dogs, you take them on a walk every day so you can put leashes on a hook and put them on the wall.
I never got a chance to use a leash like this because I only had eel-like fish as pets when I was little.
You want to go to the master bath? - Let's take a look.
- Sure.
The bathroom is kind of a mixed-use space.
Angela is a groomaholic.
So for instance, hairbrushes, shampoos, conditioners The woman is insane.
My bathroom needs to be organized.
- I need to be an arm reach away from - She uses so many products.
my brush and my gel and my hair lotion.
"I need contact solution, I need this, I need that, I need "I'm like, "Oh.
" I don't want anything on the bathroom counter.
I like cohesiveness and she just likes accessibility.
So these items here, Angela uses these daily.
- Hmm.
- Along with these, daily.
And then we have the makeup brushes and lipsticks.
Oh, more hair stuff.
Oh, that's like my hair stuff.
So, the point here for storage in the bathroom is to section it off with smaller boxes and utilize the space that way.
- Game changer! - We need a lot of those.
Yes.
- Let's stack them.
- Game changer! - I'm never gonna throw away a box again.
- Yeah, it makes sense now.
As soon as she put that little box in there, it all just came full circle.
I was like, "Ah!" - I like that.
- Yeah.
Okay.
We're moving on.
Now with the bathroom, even though we're in the same drawer we're still separated.
That way, it's not messy.
You know, it's You still have your little bit of space.
You want me to take something for you? Thank you.
The cool part has definitely been organizing, um, as opposed to kinda letting go of things.
Since all of our stuff was together, I think, you know, we blended, but now that we have our designated spaces but we still have our communal things, everything else is just gonna fall into place.
So we are going all drinkware here, all food items here, - and dishes are staying there.
- Yeah.
We work well together when we have a clear path.
Let's get to it, let's chop chop.
Big, big.
Small, small.
The common goal was this is our home, and we want it to be ease for both of us.
- We like straws.
- Boxes.
Bam.
High five.
Mm.
We want to be able to move maneuver without, you know, restrictions.
Now it's like all the things that we love sparks that ding! - The what? - Ding! That's like my favorite thing, like Ding! It's all Alishia's stuff that has to move.
You just seem so excited about that.
I want a little corner, that's all, to call my own.
- This is your corner.
- Yeah, it's my corner now.
Our biggest headache was her getting her closet in order and then me getting my closet in order.
And so once we got things separated we can kind of do our own thing.
I've taken my things out of the dresser, so this is gonna be all Angela's items.
Aren't you happy? You get your own space.
I'm so excited to have some space.
Things had to get worse first before we started to really understand what the process was about, knowing that, you know, we are doing this journey together, but we do have an individual journey that we need to take before we kinda get together and tackle the things that we co-own.
I am exhausted from a hard day's work.
Alishia, she's determined to get this shelf in order.
The bickering is It's slowly on the decline.
I love her more.
- Do ya? - I do.
I didn't think that was possible.
You'd be surprised what a little organization could do.
So obviously our wedding book, wedding gift book, remember? I think we kind of actually started organizing in the same - you know, the same fashion now as well.
- Mm-hmm.
Marie is gonna be so excited.
I hope she likes it.
Everybody's knocked out.
Marie's here.
- Hi! - Hi, Marie! How are you? Good to see you.
Welcome.
Hi! Good to see you.
- How are you? - Good, how are you? - Good, good.
- Good.
- More boxes.
- I know! We ran out.
Ready to see what we've done? Yes, absolutely.
Let's go.
- Our space now - It's like a welcome home.
- Oh yeah.
- Like, you did it.
There's no roadblocks, I know where everything is, it's perfect.
Mhm.
Things you eat with.
Oh, look how neat it looks.
I remember at first, the biggest task was, I don't organize like she does.
- Right.
- And vice versa.
And now we kinda see eye to eye on Everything is right here.
Right, and it makes sense to be right there.
- Yeah, common ground on organization.
- Yeah.
- Ready to move on? - Yeah.
That second room, we kept the door shut because we didn't want to see all that stuff.
Goodness gracious.
This is amazing.
Now we can actually Walk in there.
I leave the door open now 'cause I like looking at the space.
Look how well you've used the space.
Now you know where everything is.
- Oh, yeah.
- It's easy to find.
I'm excited for people to come and see this.
"Look what I did.
" We did a good job, Honey.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
We're a couple, we're together, we share a lot of things together, but everything got a lot better when we designated our own spaces.
Look how neat and simple it looks when you open the closet.
- I love it.
- It's amazing.
We don't really have to struggle through the other person's things to get to our own.
To just kinda have that individuality has kinda made a world of difference.
That was the biggest transformation, I think.
So going through the process took care of a lot of those little blips and stresses.
It's also, like, soothing to open the drawer because you know it's in order.
We've gained a deeper respect for each other's belongings and we really got to learn a lot about each other in that process as well, and see why that item brings them joy.
So, it was really therapeutic in our relationship as far as just getting to know each other a little bit better.
We're so grateful for you to come in and just show us something we thought we possessed within ourselves, but we just didn't know how to exert it.
You gave us the tools that we needed to really put things together.
I think when we first came in and we welcomed the home and we really wanted to envision the space, I think we're coming to that point where - this is how we wanted the space to be.
- Oh, yeah.
- You guys get an A+.
- Nice.
Congratulations, you've graduated the KonMari Method of tidying! Thank you.
Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you.
- My gosh.
- It's so exciting! - I know! - High five.
Yes.
We did it.
We are ambassadors of Marie Kondo.
Like look, this'll change your life.
- Seriously.
- And it's not just about organization, - it's really a lifestyle change.
- Oh, yeah.
Um, and it really is therapeutic - and it'll change things in your life.
- Oh, yeah.
- Thank you! - Thank you so much.
Much! - Thank you so much.
- Thank you.
Have a good day, guys.
- Bye! - We'll keep you posted.
She didn't just come by, she came in and she, like, left her stamp.
- Her aura's around the house.
- Definitely.
- We really appreciate you.
- We appreciate Yeah.
Thank you so much for just changing how we view our items, how we view our clothes, how we view our animals.
Like, there's just a different level of appreciation that we have for - everything in the home now.
- Everything.
This is home This is home When I'm with you As long as we're together This is home This is home When I'm with you As long as we're together