Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is truly AMAZING!! It makes you think of the "stuff" that you have in a totally different mindset. And I recommend this book to EVERYONE. I want to preface this review to say that I have lived in Japan for the last 4 years and still am. What pisses me off about the bad reviews about this book is mostly cultural. First, Japanese houses are TINY and most Japanese apartments are even smaller. They are also nothing like American houses. The bathrooms have the shower/tub toilet and sink in one open wet room. When she speaks about taking everything out of the bathroom so it doesn't get slimy it's because it will in a day. Most places do not have central air. So when she speaks of must and mildew it's a real thing. Anything stored will smell within a few weeks.The complaining about the anamorphisizing of objects, just stop. You know nothing of Japan and its people. They appreciate and respect everything, people, pets, children, flowers trees and their hard earned things and they really don't believe in wasting anything. You aren't gonna burn in hell if you hug your favorite 20 year old threadbare sweater before you get rid of it. And you don't have to talk to your socks. But by God it will change how you feel about the things you truly treasure. I will say I agree that tidying one time and being done forever is not realistic for a family with kids. When she wrote it she was a singleton in Tokyo. She now is married with a baby so let's wait and see what changes in the next 3 years and she writes Konmari for kids. But From the minute I was done reading this book I started clearing time to start "tidying". After spending 7 hours going through every single item of clothing I owned, I had the closet of my dreams and a wardrobe that I love. After a month I finished tidying every category with the exception of CDs which need to be downloaded and pictures which are now organized by year but need to be put in binders and make year books for the digital pics. Now that my house is TOTALLY organized, including my husband jumping on the bandwagon and doing all of his stuff, even he says our house is amazing. And he tells people all the time how remarkable the change is. And truly, our house wasn't that bad before. As for the kiddos. No, she doesn't really address toys and the never ending purge of outgrown clothes but I put a system in place to address all of this. The toys get rotates out every few months. And the junk gets pitched and the classics stay. All the clothes I saved from the 6 year old is organized in plastic storage drawers by size and season. The 2 year old has a basket for outgrow clothes and when full, they get bagged and given to friends who want then. The 6 year old has an out grown basket and when it's full I go through it and either put it in the storage drawers or its trashed or donated depending on wear. Simple. To sum up, buy the book. If there are things that don't apply, don't do them. But the mindset of keeping what you love and getting rid of the rest is the key to happiness. I'm a KONVERT!!!