Get Your House In Order! Tidying Guru Marie Kondo is Now On Udemy

Best-selling author and organizing expert Marie Kondo has launched her first Udemy course, “Tidy Up Your Home: The KonMari Method,” and there are no more excuses for having unwanted clutter in your life. Kondo has become an international phenomenon since introducing her KonMari method, “a way of life and a state of mind that encourages cherishing the things that spark joy in people’s lives.”

We were privileged to spend some time with Kondo and ask her what’s in the new course and why fans will find plenty to learn even if they’ve read her books.

Tell us a little bit about why you decided to create an online course and why chose to host it on Udemy?
After we published “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” I had lot of great responses, but I wanted to further elaborate on concepts that were difficult to explain in writing. Through an online course, I can directly communicate energy using my voice. After looking at many platforms, I decided Udemy was trustworthy and that we could build great partnership.

What can you achieve through an online course that isn’t possible in other formats? (and hey, at least it’s not another book to clutter up the shelf!)
Since the topic is tidying up, it’s important to demonstrate how to fold, how to store things, how to organize your storage—these are all visual elements I couldn’t fully cover in a book. 

What were your goals and expectations when you started out to create this course? Who is the target student?
We didn’t have a specific number of students in mind, but currently our team mission is to organize the world, so we’re hoping that, through this course, we can help as many people as possible finish tidying and live a life that sparks joy. It doesn’t matter if they’ve read the book or not because I cover everything, starting with the basics.

What’s different about teaching an online course vs. one of your books or seminars? How did you have to adapt your material?
One of the great things about online course is how much content you can include. This course includes 50 different lectures and follows a specific order for tidying so students can clearly understand the complete system.

Books, of course, are meant to be read, so I include storytelling and examples of clients I’ve worked with and my own life story. The online course, on the other hand, is more about practical tips for tidying delivered as if I’m right there with students and they can tidy along with me. My seminars are only an hour long, so I can only convey the essence of my method. There’s no limit online, so I can get into the nitty-gritty details.

What are the most important things you want students to learn from this course?
That it isn’t just about tidying and organizing your house; it’s about adopting a mindset. As I say in my method, people need to find out what is most important to them and sparks joy in their lives.

What sparks joy for you?
That’s difficult to answer because tidying really is what sparks my joy! I’m excited about what we’ve been doing as team to deliver the tidying mindset to more people across the world. Other than spending time with family, tidying is what sparks the most joy in my life.

What’s the connection between your method, being organized, and the content you share in your newsletter from inspiring, accomplished experts like Gretchen Rubin, Adam Grant, Tim Ferris, and Angela Duckworth?
What I do, tidying, is a physical activity, but what really matters is using your mind to hone in on what’s really important to you. I follow people working in psychology and sociology because they’re also engaged in helping people identify what’s important and using that for improvement.

People should ask themselves this question: Is my home tidy? If you don’t answer yes or you’re not sure what sparks joy in your life, you should try this method. It clears your mind and heart when you learn to make decisions that spark joy, and I want as many as possible to learn about that.

What’s the difference between tidying and cleaning?
The difference lies in the object of the activity. Tidying is for things; cleaning is for dirtiness. When you’re cleaning, you’re trying to remove what builds up from nature, and you have to do it regularly. Tidying is about things you can take control of, such as items you bought but haven’t thrown away. A room doesn’t store things by itself; you need to take action. And tidying is something you should do all at once.