“Throw out what doesn’t bring me joy? Like the vacuum cleaner and the dust mop? And all the other cleaning supplies and tools?

If you have unused multiple vacuums and dust mops then, yes. Cleaning supplies and tools would still need to be organized. Mainly the “spark joy” part is used for clothing, accessories and sentimental items.

“And my unpaid bills and the jury summons? My old textbooks might not bring me joy but I occasionally need one of them. How about various digestive remedies I sometimes need? No joy there, just need. Dictionary? Spare trash bags?””

Unpaid paid bills need to be paid, so no. If you are aware, which you aren’t, Kondo’s system also organizes papers. She never says to throwaway important documents, just documents that are no longer relevant or will not be used in the foreseeable future. If you never use the dictionary – that is never open it – then give it away. Spare trash bags are most likely to be deemed a necessary item so they go under the sink or wherever you store them, but that storage place needs to be organized as well.

“This ‘expert’ clearly does not live in our world.”

She has done an entire Netflix series helping organize houses in America, from their living room to their garages. She’s done three bedroom apartments to two story houses with two cars and multiple kids, primarily in the state of California. I suggest to watch an episode or two.

“And anyone who would ‘tidy up’ someone else’s shelves needs to learn a thing or two about boundaries.”

She doesn’t actually tidy up the place of living but simply gives her system in stages, one lesson per visit over a month or two, letting her clients do the work. In the manga version of her book she clearly states he only assists during the lesson and then leaves. The people she helps requested her service so she isn’t an un-welcomed guest.

This ‘expert’ clearly does not live in our world.

And anyone who would ‘tidy up’ someone else’s shelves needs to learn a thing or two about boundaries.

If you work in various industries, you have a near-infinite supply of workout shirts of sufficient quality to last several years.

It’s recently gotten the point that they’re giving away novelty dress socks too, so now I have too many of them as well.

The show itself is underwhelming because quickly it becomes repetitive in a very non-creative way; but the producers went all out on the whole “diversity & inclusivity” when casting the couples.

Sure, they do, if they are mature adults. But, maybe not right away… 🙂

Her Wikipedia entry quotes this epiphany:
“Kondo says that she has been interested in organizing since childhood.[4] In junior school, Kondo ran into the classroom to tidy up bookshelves while her classmates were playing in physical education class. Whenever there was nomination for class roles, she did not seek to be the class representative or the pet feeder. Instead, she yearned to be the bookshelf manager to continue to tidy up books. She said she experienced a breakthrough in organizing one day, “I was obsessed with what I could throw away. One day, I had a kind of nervous breakdown and fainted. I was unconscious for two hours. When I came to, I heard a mysterious voice, like some god of tidying telling me to look at my things more closely. And I realized my mistake: I was only looking for things to throw out. What I should be doing is finding the things I want to keep. Identifying the things that make you happy: that is the work of tidying.”[6]

She spent five years as an attendant maiden at a Shinto shrine.[6] She founded her organizing consulting business when she was 19 and a sociology student at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University.[7]”

Still I think the core of what is outline in the Marie Kondo fairy moves the game to a new & better level. I can’t spread my object-love too thin … but I don’t want pull a sour-grapes trip on the thinnings, either.

[Thinnings, as in being taught early that you plant extra seeds in the row, and then you thin the nice, little babies to a good & healthy spacing, for success.]