Structure

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is structured like a how-to manual in that author Marie Kondo describes the KonMari Method of organization and tidying up in step-by-step detail. She provides some personal background explaining how she became interested in neatness and cleaning as a young school girl. She was able to take the interest and eventually form her own neatness consultancy. She has made helping other people remove clutter from their homes and literally transform their lives.

There are five main sections: 1) Why can’t I keep my house in order? 2) Finish discarding first. 3) Tidying by category works like magic; 4) Storing your things to make your life shine. 5) The magic of tidying dramatically transforms your life.

In the first section she describes the clutter that people live with and how it is a barrier to living a full and satisfying life. The second section covers sorting...