With three kids, one dog, and enough stuff to fill a suburban house, I quickly became a convert to the KonMari method of organization, or “tidying” as founder Marie Kondo puts it. Her simple and direct way of weeding through all the stuff we have accumulated over the years has revolutionized the way I, and many others, keep our homes in order.
And now that the long awaited KonMari app has arrived, I had to see if it is as amazing as her first book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing was for me.
Related: The KonMari Method: Does it work for families?
The new KonMari App is essentially a companion app to to her first book, acting as a sort of check list of items that need to be organized. I appreciate that it forces me to work in the order that Marie Kondo recommends: Clothing, books, paper, kimono (miscellaneous items), and, finally, sentimental items–a structure that readers of the book will quickly recognize.
But what I really like is how the app helps me work through the different subgroups in each category so that I don’t forget anything. This is especially useful in a category like “kimono” which includes everything from stationery supplies to medicine, hobby supplies, kitchen items, and linen and towels. Let’s face it: I rarely have a huge chunk of time to dedicate to cleaning without my kids interrupting, so being able to refer back to the app to see where I left off is terrific. You can also receive push notifications to keep you moving forward if you need a little nudge–or shut them off if you find them annoying.
I’m not as fond of the single “before/after” photo the accompanies each major category, maybe because several of the categories are so huge, there’s no way to take one shot that captures its entirety. Perhaps future updates will allow for multiple photos to be stored so that I can look back and really feel good about my progress. I’m also not entirely sold on the “social” aspect of the app which allows me to follow how other users are doing in their journey to a cleaner home. It just doesn’t feel all that necessary or useful to me, though others may feel differently.
Please note that the app is a bit buggy right now, though the most recent update has done a lot to keep it from crashing on my phone. And if there’s one thing I know that Marie Kondo will do, it will be to insist that her app sparks joy, not frustration, so I suspect that many of the issues will be ironed out in the near future.
Maria Kondo’s KonMari app for tidying your home is currently only available for iOS although plans are in the works for Android users.
