Today we’ve invited Michell Domke, Ohio’s first KonMari Consultant, to explore authenticity and how we can channel, discover, and work within it during the tidying process. Michell’s currently based in Columbus and she fell in love with creating a life based on joy and wanted to support others in creating joyful lives.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Michell's KonMari story
• How Michell defines authenticity and how it influences her business and clients
• Correlations between lack of authenticity and clutter
• How the question "does it spark joy?" helps us choose what we love without judgement
• Why it's important to make choices based on the feeling and vision we are trying to achieve rather than logic
• Tips for those struggling to be confident in their own choices and decision making, including Jenn Davoust's Tune Into You Meditation podcast
• Why you may want to try not creating a "maybe" pile while you're tidying
• The one thing KonMari and authenticity have in common
• How to embrace what you have now

Michell's favorite tidying tip: "Organize last." Withhold the urge to buy before making choices about what to keep/let go

What sparks joy for Michell: Her clients.

To connect with Michell, visit www.michelldomke.com and on Instagram and Facebook.

Mention hearing Michell on Spark Joy in her contact form or on the phone and receive $25 off a virtual KonMari session or $50 off when you book an in person package of three or more sessions.

Gems:

• "Clutter really comes from that conflict between who we think we should be and who we actually are."
• "Authenticity means being true to yourself."
• "It's an active choice to choose what you love."
• "Accepting it into your life by choice, not by default, is really important."
• "Choosing a life of joy is really a radical idea, and it's also one that's worth pursuing."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Michell Domke.

Tidying up KonMari style is a one-time, special event that requires consistent effort and prioritization. It’s a project. A series of steps that need to be executed in an efficient series in order to shift behaviors you may have had all of your life. So, the less glamorous or obvious first step is to PLAN your tidying event before digging too deep.

So now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life.

Head over to Apple podcasts to subscribe and review the show, which helps us reach others along their tidying journeys.

To extend your tidying experience, you can join the Spark Joy Club!

Visit sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Join the Club” to become a member of the Spark Joy Community or join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Thanks for tuning in and we hope your day, sparks joy.

Joy Checks:

• Karin loves staycations so she can indulge in her passion for the hotel room aesthetic. Here are some great hotel rooms and ways you can incorporate these ideas in your own bedroom.
  Hotel Room Ideas to Use in Your Bedroom: The Contemporist

• Kristyn is excited that the The Tidy Home Joy Journal is an Amazon #1 best seller across multiple categories! It’s beginning to arrive in the homes of early buyers and the reviews are amazing, 5 Stars!

You can get yours by joining The Spark Joy Club today by heading over to our website, and clicking Join The Club!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• The question from listener Anne that prompted today’s show after listening to Episode 56: How 60 Hours of Tidying Lessons Changed One Single Mom's Life Forever

• The three factors that determine the length of time of your tidying event:

  • The size of your home
  • The volume of your clutter
  • The anticipated pace of your decision-making

• How a KonMari Consultant can help in this process as we discussed in Spark Joy Episode 49: Why Hire a KonMari Consultant?

• Factors that slow down, or speed up your tidying event

• How to make tidying a short-term priority in order to gain from the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up!

• Confronting your calendar to get your priorities and values in order

• The suggested length of time for each tidying appointment, the length of time in between tidying appointments, and the length of time the entire process should take according to our experience and best practices

• The benefit of a little urgency in the process. As we discussed in Spark Joy Ep 68 | Behind the Scenes: Netflix's "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" with Tricia Fidler and Jane Grodem something like a reality show can help move the process into overdrive!

• How the 5 D’s: delegate, delete, defer, delay, or diminish, we learned about in Ep 16 | Stress Free Holiday Joy with Amanda Jefferson can help you plan your tidying event

• What contributes to KonMari Fatigue and how to overcome it

Gems:
"The average American home has over 300,000 items."
"It can take anywhere from 15 to 30+ hours, but not all at once!"
"Make it a priority for the short-term in order to make true change in the long-term."
"Plan your work and work your plan!"
"This will require you to temporarily delegate, delete, defer, delay, or diminish some of the priorities filling up your calendar."
"KonMari Fatigue can reduce focus and limit your best ability Joy Check items."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Tricia Fidler is the consultant behind Heywood Park Collective, working with clients in San Diego and the San Francisco area. Jane Grodem is the founder of Spark Joy Bay Area, focusing her practice in the San Francisco bay area.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-Learning more about the Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo

-Karin and Kristyn reviewed the Netflix series on Spark Joy Episode 67 Review of Netflix's Tidying Up with Marie Kondo

-Jane and Tricia’s roles on the show as subject matter experts

-Tricia worked with the Tidying Up families featured in:

• Tidying With Toddlers, Episode 1
• Sparking Joy After a Loss, Episode 4
• Breaking Free from a Mountain of Stuff, Episode 6
• Empty Nesters, Episode 2

-Jane worked with Tidying Up families featured in:

• Empty Nesters, Episode 2
• Getting Ready for Baby, Episode 7

-Learn about the reports that Tricia and Jane completed to update Marie and show producers on tidying progress

-What stood out for Tricia and Jane watching Marie work with the families

-Some of the difference between the different cast families

-The most memorable part of the show for Tricia and Jane

Tricia’s favorite tidying tip: When doing your sentimental category, don’t feel pressured to give things up. Keep the things you love carefully. Tricia calls this the Art of Keeping.

Jane’s favorite tidying tip: When you are joy checking, you should be mindful that keeping things with confidence is a good and valid choice.

What Sparks Joy for Tricia: This work. It's such an honor to be able to practice KonMari. Also, travel! Tricia loves planning trips now that her home is tidy!

What Sparks Joy for Jane: The KonMari vision to “Organize the World” Jane is excited that so many people are learning about KonMari and sharing so many great photos and experiences on social media.

Their parting words of wisdom:
The three E’s: Empathy, Empowerment and Encouragement.
Empathy in your living environment goes a long way toward helping others in your home move toward interest in tidying their own things.
Empowering others is also a way to lead others to thinking about making positive choices.
And, Encouraging others to surround themselves with things that spark joy leads them to living their best lives.

To contact Tricia, visit: heywoodpark.com or on Instagram @heywoodpark_collective

To contact Jane, visit: sparkjoybayarea.com or on Instagram @sparkjoybayarea

Both Tricia and Jane have a special offer for Spark Joy listeners in honor of the Tidying up with Marie Kondo:

Tricia is offering 20% off her 20-hour package for residents of San Diego County package. Visit heywoodpark.com and use the code: newyearnewjoy

Jane is also offering a special 20% off a 20-hour package.
Visit sparkjoybayarea.com and mention the code: hearttrending

Gems:
-"We were really there to work with the cast families and to help the families with their homework in between visits with Marie."

-"Then language barriers and the cultural difference just seemed to fade away when Marie was interacting with the families."

-"The families actually did complete all the categories. Those parts just didn’t make it on the show."

-"We really felt it made us better consultants. It taught us more about staying focused on the process as well as the vision."

-"The emotional impact Marie made on the families was real. She’s just so calm and compassionate."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guests: Jane Grodem and Tricia Fidler.

“Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” officially premiered on Netflix New Year’s day. Millions are watching around the world. Tidying Up is taking over Netflix at the top of year and many are getting acquainted with KonMari and falling in love with Marie Kondo. We are very pleased with show and with the response!

Joy Checks:

• Karin's sleep tracker! Here are the apps she is using:
  AutoSleep and SleepWatch

• Kristyn's New Year resolution inspired by Episode 66: The Art of Manifesting and the Harmony Within with Laura Kessler- wake up at the same time every morning

SPOILER ALERT! We recommend you stop listening or reading and head over to Netflix to check out Tidying Up with Marie Kondo

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
An overview of "Tidying Up"

• The debut moment
• Feedback from viewers and fans
• What we learned about Marie Kondo

Our thoughts on what sparked joy about the show from our perspective and hopes for a Season 2

A review of episodes:

• Empty Nesters
• The Downsizers
• Sparking Joy After Loss
• From Students to Improvements

The reality of reality TV

Episode 25: KonMari Myths and Missteps

Episode 13: Does it spark joy?

How to tell if it's time to hire a professional to help you tidy up and find joy (see Spark Joy Episode 33: How to Become a KonMari Consultant)

Gems:

• "Marie Kondo has officially experienced, in America, the biggest pile of clutter ever," #mountwendy
• "You didn't get to your level of clutter overnight and it's not going to be resolved over night."
• "Everyone, now is going to be greeting and thanking and appreciating their home."
• "Maybe it will be launched on New Years day every year?!"
• "KonMari never says 'this is what should spark joy.' It's much more about how the spark of joy feels."
• "Please do not ever feel that you have to suffer in silence. There is help."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

In this episode, we attempt to uncover and put a price tag on the hidden costs associated with delaying your KonMari tidying event. Like many common lifestyle challenges (losing weight, getting out of debt, finding a new job) the longer you wait to get started, the more the issue compounds and slowly steals your joy. So it’s time to get real and talk about the physical and emotional costs associated with keeping clutter around.

Now we want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy Checks: Karin surprises her mom in Kansas City and Kristyn finds joy on the 606 running trail in Chicago.

We breakdown 17 costs associated with clutter:

• The cost of storing your clutter outside of your home

• The cost of not using everything that you've purchased

• The cost of having unutilized space within your home
  Clutter Cost Formula

• The cost of buying/renting a bigger home to accommodate things that don't spark joy

• The cost of the clutter damaging your home over time

Calendar clutter: time and energy
Refer to Ep 30 | Simply B Organized with Laurie Palau

• The cost of clutter getting in the way of you finding what you need

• The cost of clutter getting in the way of things you truly need to do
  Book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
  Refer to Episode 16 | Stress Free Holiday Joy with Amanda Jefferson

• The cost of negative thinking or self talk

• The cost of ignoring your own reality

• The cost of using shopping to cope
  Refer to Episode 31 | Shopaholic No More with Dr. April Benson

• The cost of linking your self worth to a certain type of collection of things or a particular lifestyle

• The cost of clutter that blocks your ability to execute certain physical activities

• The cost of clutter that limits your ability to make healthy choices
  Refer to Episode 3 Face Your Stuff with Dorothy The Organizer

• The cost of clutter that limits relationships and your quality of life with your friends and family

• The cost of clutter that prevents you from accessing information critical to uncovering the reality of your finances, preventing you from reaching true wealth/abundance
  Refer to Episode 6 Declutter Your Path to Wealth with Tess Wicks

• The cost of clutter that locks you into consumption patterns that lead you to having no choice in the type of job situation or career choice - even if it’s not ideal
  Refer to the the ChooseFI community

• The cost of clutter that prevents you from pursuing your life purpose/feeling fulfilled, understanding what true joy means to you

Don't worry, we end this episode on a joyful note! We discuss the many ways decluttering can pay you back to counter some of the clutter costs.

Gems:

"Having a storage locker is like going to visit your past mistakes."

"Your space itself is way more valuable than your stuff."

"Is this space honoring what's being stored within it?"

"Is this space supporting the ideal lifestyle that I desire?"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Are you terrified of the paper in your home?

Marie Kondo is known for her progressive stance on paper. As quoted from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up :
“My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.”

We understand that this may be uncomfortable for most people and, as always, we aren’t here to insist that you live a paper free life. But we definitely believe you can live a much more joyful life with a lot less paper.

In this episode we discuss the Paper Category, which is the third category within the KonaMari Method.

If you're just getting started with KonMari or need a refresher, we recommend you head over to Episode 1: KonMari 101 prior to listening to this episode.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin- I’m upgrading my medicine supply cabinet with some pretty new containers - A tidy home style upgrade!
Kristyn- I was featured on the ChooseFI podcast where I got to discuss my path to Financial Independence and its overlap with tidying.

• Here are a couple of upcoming Netflix series to look forward to:
  Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
  Playing with Fire

• News about the KonMari App

• Hear listener Sharon’s email question about the paper category, which inspired today’s show.

• Review our episode on the importance of tidying by category:
  Episode 9: Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake

• Learn about Delete, Delegate, Diminish, Defer:
  Episode 16: Stress Free Holiday Joy with Amanda Jefferson

• Find all the manuals you’ll ever need:
  Manuals Online

• Review our discussion on keeping paper and other clutter categories under control for the long-term: Episode 41: How to maintain a Tidy Home Post Konmari

• Learn about shredding services:
  Shredding Services at Staples
  Shredding Services at Office Depot
  Identity Theft Protection Stamps

• Kristyn's favorite paper storage solution:
  Locking File Chest

• Learn about scanning options:
  Cam Card
  Cam Scanner
  Artkive App
  Google Drive
  Evernote
  DropBox

• How to get off mailing lists:
  Catalog Choice
  DMA Choice
  Hear about DMA choice on: Episode 8: Make Bold Moves with The Traveling Organizer Holly Southerland
  Opt Out Prescreen
  PaperKarma App

Gems:
“My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.”

"Paper is really not that scary and completing the category has the potential to free up so much space in your mind and home."

"When thinking about the paper you have stored now, how often have you needed to get something out of your paper storage?"

"What necessary documents do you have that are available in another format?"

"Keep paper where you will use it."

"I have an amount of paper that I’ve deemed reasonable to the point where I can sift through it easily, so it doesn’t require a lot of micro-organizing and labels, and again, additional attention."

"My square footage is valuable and I don’t want to waste precious activity space on something that has a limited amount of joy like the paper I’m required to keep."

" We promise you’ll be amazed by how little paper you actually need in your life."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

As the KonMari philosophy has become more and more mainstream, blog posts, magazine articles and videos have come out viewing KonMari through a critical and challenging lens.

These perspectives are sometimes based on misunderstandings or misreadings of Konmari concepts and sometimes these misinterpretations occur as missteps while practicing KonMari.

In this episode, we will discuss our thoughts on these myths and provide some practical tips on how to avoid falling into these missteps.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

Joy Checks!
What is Sparking Joy for Kristyn today: a very cute For the Love of Tidy branded onesie for her niece who is due any day now.

What is Sparking Joy for Karin today: restoring an antique wooden doll bed for her niece’s birthday

• Learn about some common KonMari myths:

1. Konmari equals minimalism/minimalism is KonMari

2. Konmari is a selfish activity, fundamentally concerned only with material possession

3. KonMari encourages to you to throw out everything you own to the point where you are either left with nothing or you need to immediately buy new things

• Learn about some common KonMari missteps:

1. Skipping the step where you envision your ideal lifestyle and living environment

2. Forgetting to honor and acknowledge items for their usefulness especially when you are letting them go

3. Not completing all the categories

4. Thinking about storage and organization before the sorting is completed

5. Being overly concerned with the clutter of other people

• See what Marie Kondo’s home really looks like:
  Correction: It has come to our attention that the original article and photograph listed here was a parody article written for April Fool's Day and NOT a house tour of Marie Kondo's apartment. Photographs of Marie Kondo's home have not been made publicly available. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

• Read about what some critics say about the KonMari Method:
  Why Decluttering Guru Marie Kondo is Wrong
  Why I Absolutely Refuse to KonMari My Life
  Does It Spark Joy is the Wrong Decluttering Question
  The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*

• Review the importance of the vision statement in Spark Joy Episodes:
  Episode 1 KonMari 101
  Episode 5 The KonMari Lifestyle

• Our advice to a listener who asks how to address categories when you have items within a category in hard to get to places. Does not being able to completely sort by category mean you are not doing KonMari correctly?

Gems:

“There’s no right number of things a person should have.”

“You can keep ALL of the shoes!”

“Time is the most important commodity as opposed to things.”

“You’re saying goodbye in a respectful way and you’re putting a positive message out there.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Before you continue, if you’re just starting your tidying journey, or in need of a refresher on how categories work in the KonMari Method, listen to Spark Joy Episode 1: KonMari 101 and Episode 9: Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin: The Serene Home was featured in Oprah.com!

Kristyn: For the Love of Tidy is tidying up its virtual home! New website launch (with special surprises) coming very soon.

• Komono Subcategories:

  • CDs, DVDs
  • Skin care products
  • Makeup and perfume
  • Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.)
  • Electrical equipment and appliances
  • Household equipment (writing materials, sewing kits, linens)
  • Household supplies (medicine, detergent, tissues)
  • Linens
  • Kitchen items
  • Emergency supplies
  • Hobbies
  • Gifts
  • Seasonal items
  • Home decor/furniture

• Spark Joy listener Lisa submits a question about Komono and craft spaces

• We help you answer the tough questions:

  • What if I need this someday?
  • Can I keep this as a backup?
  • What if I need this in an emergency?

• The importance of grounding our miscellaneous item decisions in the vision of our ideal life and living environment

• We review how to handle the nuances Komono category with care (while keeping your sanity!). For example:

• Small items

• Mixed bins of items

• The "mess”

• Kid’s stuff

• Sentimental items (see Spark Joy Episode 55 for more on digitizing your sentimental items)

Gems:
"Miscellaneous items play a super important role in everyones life. They are sometimes the supporting character in everything that we do."

"It might be time to put a hobby in the past, as it may not be something you see as part of your vision moving forward."

"It's important to keep like items together to understand the extent of your active supplies and materials vs. materials you are just stockpiling."

"Unlike clothing books and paper, Komono category is so broad and everyone will have different subcategories in their miscellaneous."

"If everything is important, nothing is important."

"What in your home is in such abundance that it's not really feeling important, even though it is a 'must keep' or 'must have'?"

"Miscellaneous items often include things that lean more utility than joyful."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

If you are just starting out, or want a refresher on how categories work in the KonMari Method, listen to: Episode 1: KonMari 101 and: Episode 9: Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake These two episodes of the Spark Joy podcast will give you the background you need, in addition to reading Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up , to tackle the books category.

Books are special and cherished items for many people, but there’s no denying the fact that physical books can take up a lot of room. Plus, in many cases, once the book is read, the actual book is placed on a shelf and is never used or read again. How can you approach books in such a way that honors the contents, respects the value and importance of books but also enables you to surround yourself with only the things that spark joy?

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin: I practiced KonMari gift giving for my 5th wedding anniversary! I got my husband a returnable gift, in case it doesn't bring him joy...and it's something that is designed to honor books, which totally bring him joy!

Kristyn: I was invited to The Jam TV morning show in Chicago to talk about the KonMari paper category.
Tips from For the Love of Tidy on How to Cut Down Paper

• Book Subcategories:
  -General Books
  -Practical Books
  -Visual Books
  -Religious Books
  -Sentimental Books

• How to sort books you have already read.

• How to sort books you haven't started or started, but haven't finished

• The challenges involved in letting go of books:
  -Our attachments to books
  -Our desire to honor the contents of books
  -Our attraction to the beauty of books as objects
  -Concerns about discarding them properly
  --Listen to Spark Joy Episode 21 on this issue: Book Review: The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

• Options for disposing of books properly:
  -donations
  -selling
  -recycle

• Summer Brennan's blog post on the challenges of letting go of books: On the Heartbreaking Difficulty of Getting Rid of Books

Gems:
“Do I really need to take all these books down from their shelves?”

“You should use subcategories to view each book in relationship to other similar books, but remember you are evaluating each book on its own merits.”

“The goal is not to overwhelm you with the piling part of KonMari…”

“Who are you keeping these books for?”

“It’s important to honor your books with joy, keep them visible, especially those that are being kept to read 'someday.'”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

We’re so happy to celebrate the one year anniversary of Spark Joy! To thank our faithful listeners, we're also launching a special giveaway that will run through November 13, 2018.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy Checks: Spark Joy podcast has been downloaded over a quarter million times!

• The history of Spark Joy podcast

• Our big giveaway 12 lucky Spark Joy listeners have a chance to win a SIGNED copy of Marie Kondo's book Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up!

To enter visit http://www.sparkjoypodcast.com/itunes for instructions on how to leave us a star rating and written review. After you've submitted your review, send an email to contact@sparkjoypodcast.com with your screen name to be eligible to win.

• The difference between Marie Kondo's books: The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

• Five of our top reviews on iTunes

Contest runs from September 4 - November 13, 2018. Winners will be announced during our Best of 2018 show on November 27, 2018.

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Kay "Ideaignitor" Richardson describes herself as an ordinary girl from South Florida, but her career has been anything but ordinary.

Kay built her first successful businesses in her 20's as an ergonomics consultant and occupational therapist. As a self proclaimed shy person, Kay realized that success was not about just being good about something, she knew she would have to do more than just good, she had to learn to overcome her fears and learn to promote herself with confidence.

She’s the owner of Clients Who Say Yes as a coach and trainer and hosts the Five Minutes to Fearless podcast. She’s also the author of the book, What a Woman’s Gotta Do.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-How Kay made the transition from an occupational therapist and ergonomics consultant to business marketing and client development coaching.

-The shyness that Kay experienced in her early life.. and how she has been able to overcome it and now is able to speak in front of hundreds of people!

-Real life stories about overcoming fear by reaching back into their past.

-Practical steps to moving past fear in order to becoming more successful in your business.

-How to address our tendency to second-guess ourselves.

-Kay’s ergonomic tips!

• You must a good ergonomic adjustable chair.
• Red light-green light method
• Don’t have your monitor too high
• Always try to be hands free, especially with your phone.

-Kay’s ergonomic chart! Get the great chart Kay spoke about here:
Kay’s Ergonomic Chart

-Listen to Kay’s podcast: Five Minutes to Fearless on Apple

-Read Kay’s book: What a Woman’s Gotta Do

What sparks joy for Kay today:
“Having the opportunity to help individuals with really simple tips to work through their fears so they can tidy up their homes…and their space can be awesome! Working with entrepreneurs who are ready to step into it and not allow fear to interfere with making their way into the world. And my two handsome men!”

Final words of wisdom:
“Wake up and take action!”

You can reach Kay at: Clients Who Say Yes

She's on Instagram at: Ideaignator on Instagram and on FaceBook: Ideas to Income on Facebook

Kay has a special offer, just for Spark Joy listeners! She is providing a free coaching consultation by emailing her with the subject line: Spark Joy Podcast Moving Past the Fear here: Kay’s Coaching Offer

Gems
“The more you grow the more you will come back to (fear.) But if you have an idea about where it comes from the more you will be able to change the story.”

“That bold move to transform everything that’s there and create something new.”

“Are you not feeling good enough or worthy or capable of making this happen?”

“There are things in our pasts that are keeping us from being who we are meant to be.”

“What will make them say “Yes” to you?”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Kay Ideaignator Richardson.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-Hearing about Amisha's work in politics and the creation of the Ballot Box initiative that she founded: Think Act Vote in Dazed

-The amazing story of Amisha’s life changing events that made such a difference in her world view and motivation to make a difference.

-How she has found courage to grow her community and her work as an activist.

-The Framework of how to put your values into action: (?!X)

• Think: Vision
• Act
• Vote: Support

-Watch Amisha’s Ted X Oxbridge talk: Ted X Oxbridge

-Listen to her podcast: The Future is Beautiful podcast on Apple

-Learn about her community: The Future is Beautiful Community

-Take a look at Amisha’s books: The Future is Beautiful Books

-The common theme within the stories of the guests she interviews on her podcast: it’s courage!

-How we can move toward a beautiful future during this time of turmoil.

What sparks joy for Amisha today:
"A re-love of healthy eating! Feeling that I’m really nourishing myself."

Final words of wisdom:
"Don’t let anyone tell you there’s anything you can’t do, the more people I talk to and the more stories I hear, the more I realize that a lot of the limitations that we face are our own, but we really can find our courage and we really can find beauty in the world.”

Amisha has a special offer for our listeners.
She will provide a complementary intuitive therapy consultation by contacting her on her website here: Amisha.co.uk and be sure to mention you heard her on the Spark Joy podcast.

You can find Amisha at The Future is Beautiful and at Amisha.co.uk

She’s also at The Future is beautiful on Instagram: The Future is Beautiful on Instagram and Facebook: The Future is Beautiful on Facebook

Gems

“When we connect to our hearts and minds, and what unites us, our innate goodness and beauty, we find so much possibility, so much opportunity. This is the revolution.”

“I had become very academic, and I had become very hands on, volunteering but I wasn’t making things for myself anymore. I wasn’t doing things that were a pure expression of who I was.”

“It’s been messy along the way. The process of finding courage and the process of using trauma and tragedy to grow and give is not an easy one.”

“Most of us just want a world where we can feel safe where our children can thrive and where we have resources. That’s our common thread.”

“I think that we have to take one bit at a time and to not feel that we have to take it on all at once or that all of it is our responsibility.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Amisha Ghadiali.

The KonMari Method is a practice that you can definitely apply to your home independently without the help of others. For those of you who were able to KonMari their space on their own based on the techniques that Marie Kondo outlines in The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, which was published in 2014, Congratulations!

That brings us to this: if it’s possible to tidy up on your own, why isn’t everyone already living clutter free life of joy?

In this episode, we discuss hiring a KonMari Consultant. Why, and when, it might be the right choice for making a great success of your tidying festival.

If you're just getting started with KonMari or need a refresher, we recommend you head over to Episode 1: KonMari 101 prior to listening to this episode.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin- My client this week had a baby today! This family had just moved from an apartment to a new home under an accelerated time frame. We KonMari’ed their things prior to the move and we worked this week on organization in their new home. And, today she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!

Kristyn- I’m in the middle of a radio tour to be followed by presenting the KonMari method to 24 libraries throughout the Chicago area. For dates and times, check out the For The Love of Tidy events page: For The Love of Tidy Events Page

-Learn why getting and staying organized can be learned. Even if you have never been an organized person, KonMari is a life changing skill that can be learned and applied.

-Marie Kondo’s quote regarding learning how to tidy in Cosmopolitan Magazine Cleaning Celebrity Marie Kondo Thinks We Should Learn How to Tidy in School:
“One thing that I do think about is perhaps including tidying in education. Not necessarily that it should just be part of education, but it's really about creating a place where everybody knows how to clean. And so that could be in schools — or, of course, it could also be taught at home. But one thing is that in Japan, most schools have home economics as a class. And so to add more cleaning and more tidying and organizing tips into these home economic classes.”

-When it may be time to hire a KonMari consultant

• Analysis Paralysis
• Stutter Stepping
• Joy is just not clicking into place

-A refresher on how NOT tidying could be costing you money:
Spark Joy Podcast Ep 37 | The True Cost of Clutter

-Some of the things our clients say to us about how hard it is to reach out for help.

-The one thing we hear from almost all our clients. P.S. It’s never true!

-The misnomers clients hold onto that hold them back from taking the step toward hiring a KonMari Consultant.

-The benefits of hiring a KonMari Consultant:

• Accountability
• Physical and emotional support
• Project and time management
• Customized guidance and tools
• Real time, objective feedback
• Resources
• Expertise and experience that extends beyond the realm of organization

-The different types of services available from a KonMari consultant:

• Initial, free of charge phone consults
• In person consultations:
  • Individual sessions
  • Consulting packages
• Virtual consulting
• Workshops and presentations

-Here’s Kristyn’s Services page:
For The Love of Tidy Services

-Here’s Karin’s Services page:
The Serene Home Services Page

-How to find a consultant in your area:
KonMari Certified Consultants

Gems:
“I actually am a firm believer that it's just about whether you do or don't know the ways that you can declutter. It's not genetic.”

"There’s a societal norm that assumes we should all be able to keep our homes tidy-that it's just part of being an adult."

"Why isn’t everyone already living a clutter free life of joy?

"The good news is there are tons of information out there to help you change your story."

“Isn’t this the messy home you have ever seen?”

“I know I should be able to do this myself, but I have accepted that I just can’t.”

"If you’ve gathered information about KonMari from any and everywhere and you’re still looking for the best way for you to finish this journey once and for all, consider reaching out to a certified KonMari Consultant."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Jessica is a retired psychotherapist, life and business coach, author of two popular books and international speaker and trainer.

She shares her Front Seat Life methodology all around the country in her super sassy and entertaining manner.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-Learn how the Myers Briggs can teach you about your behavior patterns, both good and not-so-good.

-Hear about her work in her two (so far!) books:

• Don’t Do Things You Suck At
• Living Life in the Front Seat

-Learn the three tiers of Jessica’s coaching work:

• Who are You?
• Where are you Going?
• How are you going to Get There?

-Understand the 3-S’s to getting yourself and your life settled around you

• System
• Structure
• Singular Focus

-Find out about the personality types of the Myers Briggs Scale and how you can you use this information to make better choices: Myers Briggs Scale

-Hear about the 4 people in your car and how they influence your behaviors

• The Front Seat Driver
• The Copilot
• The Drunk Uncle
• The Baby in the Back Seat

-Jessica shares the importance of journaling. And, you learn more about her journal here:
Be Unapologetically Who You Are: A Journal from Jessica Butts

What sparks joy for Jessica today:
Jessica is excited about going back out into the dating world.
Good luck, Jessica!!

Final words of wisdom:
“Figure out your side of the net.”

Gems
“I was so ridiculously uninspired.”

“Our circumstances change but our personality doesn’t change.”

“There are four people in the car and each one represents a different part of your personality.”

“The first step of any change is awareness.”

“Go travel by yourself!”

“Be unapologetically who you are”

Take Jessica’s quiz here:
Front Seat Life Personality Assessment

You can reach Jessica at: www.jessicabutts.com
On FB at: Front Seat Life
On Instagram at: Front Seat Life

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jessica Butts.

For Sarah, it all started on the road as a world-traveling performer in hit Broadway musicals, where the only constant was her thoughtfully compartmentalized suitcase.

In 2014, Sarah teamed-up with handy hubby, Nick, to create beautiful spaces full-time at Nestrs a professional organizing, design, and handyman company.

Sarah and her husband are Airbnb Superhosts and their work has been featured on the HGTV television series, Beach Flip.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Why enthusiasm is so important for a small business owner working with clients.

• How Sarah went from theatre to professional organizing.

• Learn about the intersection between the work of organizing and work in doing renovations

• When you should do DIY, Do It Yourself, and when it’s between to leave it to the professionals.

• Learn about a great DIY project that will make a huge impact.

• What it was like to do a very cool beach project on BeachFlip, the HGTV show. Here is their episode: Sarah and Nick on BeachFlip

To connect with Sarah, visit Nestrs.com
Follow her on instagram at: @nestrs
and Facebook at: The Nestrs

Sarah's favorite tidying tip: “Think up! There’s a lot of under utilized space up high that you can make use of and maximize your space.”

What sparks joy for Sarah: Sarah and her husband have a new renovation project in Ohio that she is looking forward to diving into!

Final words of wisdom: “Being organized is so important. It saves us time, it saves us money, it keeps our stress and anxiety levels under control. And, it can be fun and creative.”

Gems:

“Is the time spent doing a project enjoyable for you?”

“We were there sometimes until midnight demo’ing a space. And there would be times when I just wanted to cry.”

"When you work together, it's important to have a way to deal with the stress and tension that will inevitably come up."

“We both love transforming spaces and helping people achieve what they want in their homes.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Sarah Karakaian.

Have you ever considered what it would be like to travel the country in an Airstream, living an RV life of joy?

Today’s guest is Brenda Massei. Brenda is a fellow certified KonMari Consultant who has been blogging since 2010 about her family’s Airstream living adventures across Illinois, Tennessee and, Wisconsin. She currently lives in Southeast Wisconsin surrounded by cornfields and soybeans and launched her KonMari business, Zen Tidy, in 2017.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• The moment Brenda decided to sell her home and start a long adventure with her family and how KonMari influenced that transition

• How Brenda was well prepared for this major lifestyle change because of her family's previous travel experiences

• How Brenda's love of national and state parks influenced the necessary items her family brought on the road

• The realities and challenges of RV living, especially with kids (hint: it's not always as joyful as it looks on Instagram)

• How Brenda's family embraces the lack of privacy in an RV by exploring the outdoors

• How Brenda cleans her RV and manages her children's toys and collectables

• Brenda's new "fixed" home Wisconsin that she built with her husband over 5-6 months

• The one thing that Brenda missed when she didn't have a traditional home

Brenda's favorite tidying tip: Get a library card.

What sparks joy for Brenda: Growing her own garden.

To connect with Brenda, visit www.zentidyhome.com and follow her on instagram at @zentidy.

Gems:

"The things you really love at home that provide new experiences for you, you don't need to bring any of that along because every day is a new experience."

"Definitely think necessity before you think anything else."

"If you can get through a day with a little bit less..why not try another."

"Just go for it...you can learn on the road."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Brenda Massei.

Are you terrified of the paper in your home?

Marie Kondo is known for her progressive stance on paper. As quoted from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up :
“My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.”

We understand that this may be uncomfortable for most people and, as always, we aren’t here to insist that you live a paper free life. But we definitely believe you can live a much more joyful life with a lot less paper.

In this episode we discuss the Paper Category, which is the third category within the KonaMari Method.

If you're just getting started with KonMari or need a refresher, we recommend you head over to Episode 1: KonMari 101 prior to listening to this episode.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

Joy Checks:
Karin- I’m upgrading my medicine supply cabinet with some pretty new containers - A tidy home style upgrade!
Kristyn- I was featured on the ChooseFI podcast where I got to discuss my path to Financial Independence and its overlap with tidying.

• Here are a couple of upcoming Netflix series to look forward to:
  Tidying Up with Marie Kondo
  Playing with Fire

• News about the KonMari App

• Hear listener Sharon’s email question about the paper category, which inspired today’s show.

• Review our episode on the importance of tidying by category:
  Episode 9: Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake

• Learn about Delete, Delegate, Diminish, Defer:
  Episode 16: Stress Free Holiday Joy with Amanda Jefferson

• Find all the manuals you’ll ever need:
  Manuals Online

• Review our discussion on keeping paper and other clutter categories under control for the long-term: Episode 41: How to maintain a Tidy Home Post Konmari

• Learn about shredding services:
  Shredding Services at Staples
  Shredding Services at Office Depot
  Identity Theft Protection Stamps

• Kristyn's favorite paper storage solution:
  Locking File Chest

• Learn about scanning options:
  Cam Card
  Cam Scanner
  Artkive App
  Google Drive
  Evernote
  DropBox

• How to get off mailing lists:
  Catalog Choice
  DMA Choice
  Hear about DMA choice on: Episode 8: Make Bold Moves with The Traveling Organizer Holly Southerland
  Opt Out Prescreen
  PaperKarma App

Gems:
“My basic principle for sorting papers is to throw them all away.”

"Paper is really not that scary and completing the category has the potential to free up so much space in your mind and home."

"When thinking about the paper you have stored now, how often have you needed to get something out of your paper storage?"

"What necessary documents do you have that are available in another format?"

"Keep paper where you will use it."

"I have an amount of paper that I’ve deemed reasonable to the point where I can sift through it easily, so it doesn’t require a lot of micro-organizing and labels, and again, additional attention."

"My square footage is valuable and I don’t want to waste precious activity space on something that has a limited amount of joy like the paper I’m required to keep."

" We promise you’ll be amazed by how little paper you actually need in your life."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

In this episode we'll explore the maintenance aspect of the tidying process and reassure you that permanently tidy home is not only a possibility, but certainly attainable with some hard work upfront.

Note: We recommend you listen to this episode if you're at the tail end or end of your KonMari tidying journey. We're providing these recommendations with the assumption that you’ve completed tidying across all categories. This is when the magic of maintaining the lifestyle truly shines!

If you're just getting started with KonMari or need a refresher, we recommend you head over to Episode 1: KonMari 101 prior to listening to this episode.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy Checks: Karin prepares for an upcoming long weekend in PA and Kristyn's parents enjoy visiting her new tidy apartment in Chicago.

• We answer five common questions associated with maintaining a tidy lifestyle:

1. My KonMari event is complete. What now?
   Ref: Episode 5: The KonMari Lifestyle

2. What should you do when your home feels cluttered all of a sudden and you feel like you’ve relapsed?
   Ref: Episode 39: Closet Joy Part II: Build Your Capsule Wardrobe

3. How do I handle items I come across that, over time, seem to be losing their joy value?

4. What do you do when things are crossing the threshold of your home and they don’t have a designated place rest?
   Ref: Episide 31: Shopaholic No More

5. How often should I joy check?

• We conclude this episode with five tips that will help you get back to KonMari basics:

1. Recall and reconsider the vision of your ideal life and express appreciation for items that no longer serve your vision and send them on to their next life.

2. Reset your home to zero by setting everything back into place and make adjustments as needed

3. Consider whether the items you love and use are stored in their best permanent home

4. Ensure your shopping decision making criteria isn’t conflicting with your ability to handle any influx of new clutter

5. Joy check as needed or desired based on the natural life cycle of items in your home

Gems:

"Celebrate and appreciate the joy that surrounds you and the vision of your ideal lifestyle."

"We hope that post-konmari, you're able to happily allow family and friends to enjoy each other and create happy memories.

"The reality is, things in your home will get out of order KonMari or no KonMari."

"Rebound is the state where things without a designated storage place begin to crowd your home all over again."

"Establish a pattern of expressing appreciation as you finish using or wearing an item."

"KonMari is a method or approach or mental model that you can always fall back on in times of transition."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home

You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Today’s episode of Spark Joy is Part one of a three part series dedicated to closet joy. We’ll talk to three guests who are revolutionizing the way we view fashion and style.

Dr. Jessica Louie is an entrepreneur, critical care pharmacist, and assistant professor. She is the founder and CEO of Petite Style Script and Find Your Script.

With a broad background of experiences, she centers her focus on sparking joy and inspiring confidence in life.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Jessica became interested in KonMari and then went on to start Petite Style Script

-Along with fashion, Jessica is an advocate for pharmacists with her blog and website at: Find Your Script

-She found that focusing on fashion helped her convey her confidence and her competence in her field.

-Learn how Jessica went through the KonMari process and how the process was key in helping her discover her calling in both fashion and advocacy.

-Jessica’s take on capsule wardrobes and how she has made it work for her.
The work that she does in

-Her focus on using the clothing items you have more effectively and adding in your own personality to the decision making process.

-How Jessica sees the role of KonMari in developing a sense of style that brings you joy!

Gems:

“There were times when I just laughed out loud in my car while listening to Marie Kondo because it resonated so much with me.”

"I wanted to hold myself accountable for my shopping going forward.”

"I wanted other to own clothing that they love and that they invest in quality pieces because it’s really about quality over quantity.”

"This isn’t minimalism, I don’t talk about any definitive number of items to own.”

“I focus on people who are re-building their wardrobes after KonMari or after a major transition.”

Jessica’s favorite tidying tip: “Learning how to fold. It seems very simple but getting your clothes off your hangers and learning how to appreciate and fold them properly really makes a big difference, I think!”

What sparks joy for Jessica: “A canvas painting of New York City that is up on my kitchen wall exactly where I can see it. It brings make great memories of visiting New York and is very inspirational.”

To connect with Jessica visit Petite Style Script

Jessica is on Facebook at Petite Style Script on Facebook

Jessica's Twitter: P Style Script on Twitter

Here is Jessica’s info on Seasonal Capsule Wardrobes: Seasonal Capsule Wardrobes

On Jessica’s blog she offers capsule wardrobe style tips and a free kit for starting your own capsule wardrobe: Capsule Wardrobe Starter Kit

Each season Jessica conducts a virtual Capsule Wardrobe Challenge: Spring Capsule Wardrobe Challenge

And, Jessica is becoming a Certified KonMari Consultant. Yay, Jessica! Jessica’s KonMari Page

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jessica Louie.

In this episode, we attempt to uncover and put a price tag on the hidden costs associated with delaying your KonMari tidying event. Like many common lifestyle challenges (losing weight, getting out of debt, finding a new job) the longer you wait to get started, the more the issue compounds and slowly steals your joy. So it’s time to get real and talk about the physical and emotional costs associated with keeping clutter around.

Now we want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy Checks: Karin surprises her mom in Kansas City and Kristyn finds joy on the 606 running trail in Chicago.

We breakdown 17 costs associated with clutter:

• The cost of storing your clutter outside of your home

• The cost of not using everything that you've purchased

• The cost of having unutilized space within your home
  Clutter Cost Formula

• The cost of buying/renting a bigger home to accommodate things that don't spark joy

• The cost of the clutter damaging your home over time

Calendar clutter: time and energy
Refer to Ep 30 | Simply B Organized with Laurie Palau

• The cost of clutter getting in the way of you finding what you need

• The cost of clutter getting in the way of things you truly need to do
  Book: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
  Refer to Episode 16 | Stress Free Holiday Joy with Amanda Jefferson

• The cost of negative thinking or self talk

• The cost of ignoring your own reality

• The cost of using shopping to cope
  Refer to Episode 31 | Shopaholic No More with Dr. April Benson

• The cost of linking your self worth to a certain type of collection of things or a particular lifestyle

• The cost of clutter that blocks your ability to execute certain physical activities

• The cost of clutter that limits your ability to make healthy choices
  Refer to Episode 3 Face Your Stuff with Dorothy The Organizer

• The cost of clutter that limits relationships and your quality of life with your friends and family

• The cost of clutter that prevents you from accessing information critical to uncovering the reality of your finances, preventing you from reaching true wealth/abundance
  Refer to Episode 6 Declutter Your Path to Wealth with Tess Wicks

• The cost of clutter that locks you into consumption patterns that lead you to having no choice in the type of job situation or career choice - even if it’s not ideal
  Refer to the the ChooseFI community

• The cost of clutter that prevents you from pursuing your life purpose/feeling fulfilled, understanding what true joy means to you

Don't worry, we end this episode on a joyful note! We discuss the many ways decluttering can pay you back to counter some of the clutter costs.

Gems:

"Having a storage locker is like going to visit your past mistakes."

"Your space itself is way more valuable than your stuff."

"Is this space honoring what's being stored within it?"

"Is this space supporting the ideal lifestyle that I desire?"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Sheena Yap Chan is a blogger, podcaster, consultant, author and speaker whose sole purpose, drive and passion is to help build women’s self confidence from the ground up.

She currently inspires women everyday through her podcast called The Tao of Self Confidence where she interviews various women about their inner journey to self-confidence.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Sheena made the decision to launch her platform, The Tao of Self Confidence

-Some of the amazing stories of women who have overcome great obstacles to achieve their goals shared on Sheen’s podcast The Tao of Self Confidence Podcast

-The common traits of women with high self-confidence.

-How the process of visualization helps grow self-confidence.

-How Sheena’s adventures living on the beach for two years gave her an appreciation for a simpler, more meaningful life.

-How limiting herself to wearing only three colors has made a huge difference in the things Sheena’s focuses on.

Gems:

"I never felt there were enough platforms to celebrate women.”

"They all have a huge purpose. A purpose that is bigger than them.”

"Learning to figure out things along the way. As women, we can do that.”

"Having that mindset of abundance. You’ll attract more things into your life."

"Surrounding yourself with great people…will give you feedback on what you can improve on."

"How do I see myself if I were this confident person?”

Sheena’s favorite tidying tip: “I wear just three colors to make my life a lot easier. It helps me focus on other, more important things.”

What sparks joy for Sheena: My podcast! I love helping women…and if I can help one person, I have done my job. It’s all worth it if someone out there hears it and thinks, “If its possible for one person, its possible for me.”

Parting words of wisdom: Behind every great woman is herself. You are what creates success.

To connect with Sheena Yap Chan visit The Tao of Self Confidence
Facebook at Sheena Y. Chan
Twitter The Tao of SC on Twitter
Sheena's YouTube Channel:The Tao of Self Confidence on YouTube

Also, check out her podcast atThe Tao of Self Confidence Podcast

Sheena is offering free self talk tape for Spark Joy listeners on her website - Building Self Confidence

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Sheena Yap Chan.

Our guest, Alaia Williams takes her clients from stuck, stalled and struggling with overwhelm and helps them get to a place where they can run their business with a greater sense of calm, clarity and confidence. Alaia started her professional life as a professional organizer and this has informed her work as an organizer of business systems.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Alaia accidentally stumbled upon entrepreneurship when she realized she needed to confront mental clutter that manifested as physical clutter

• How working with her first organizing client taught Alaia how to lead with empathy when organizing both closets and businesses

• Why our shared personal decluttering experience best prepare us to relate and help clients grow

• The impact the recession and feedback from existing clients had on the direction of her business offerings

• The similarities between being attached to your physical clutter versus attachment to your business

• The importance of taking time (even a few minutes) to plan every day

• The five essential systems that every small business needs

• Alaia's podcast -One Organized Business

• Why even if you aren't "born" organized, you can learn how to be organized with practice

• How tiny steps and habit change is the key to lasting change

• How Alaia was introduced to minimalism when studying the quaker culture, which sparked her continuous quest to live more simply across all areas of her life

• The benefits of small space living and outsourcing tasks that don't spark joy

Gems:

• "If we don't take time to plan, we walk through every day with our blinders on."

• "You can spend your entire day marketing and still not make any progress."

• "The business side is not that different from the personal."

• "Yesterday was better than today. Today's better than tomorrow."

• "A small space with good storage is all I need."

• "Anything that doesn't bring you joy that you can delegate...do it."

• "Just make the space around you feel good."

• "Do one tiny thing to move yourself forward."

Alaia's favorite tidying tip: Start where you are and start with something small.

What sparks joy for Alaia: Simplifying things and keeping everything in her life as simple and harmonious as possible; Having joyful work relationships.

Parting words of wisdom: Don't beat yourself up and start where you are right now.

To connect with Alaia Williams visit www.alaiawilliams.com and follow her on Facebook, Instagram (@oneorganizedbusiness) and Twitter (@alaiawilliams). Also, check out her podcast and At the Helm women's conference

Alaia is offering a free guide to Spark Joy listeners: How to Organize Your Home Office for Maximum Productivity

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Alaia Williams.

Our guest this week is Stephanie Seferian of Mama Minimalist.

Stephanie lives just outside of Boston with her husband and two daughters.
She podcasts and blogs weekly about how the themes of minimalism, sustainability, decluttering, low-waste living and parenting intersect.

Her podcast, The Sustainable Minimalist, features eco-friendly tips and incremental strategies for cutting through clutter as a means to more fully enjoy life's sweetest moments.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Stephanie decided to pursue a minimalist lifestyle after becoming a busy mom.

-Her Three Dimensions of Minimalism: Aesthetic, Experiential, Sustainable.

-How going down the minimalist path gave her more time to be present for her children.

-How our tendency to buy, declutter, and buy again impacts the environment.

-The challenges of having young children and maintaining a minimalist household.

-How to manage the influx of gifts that come into the home.

-Recycling old cellphones at Best Buy:
Best Buy Recycling Program

-Learn about Cellphones for Soldiers:
Cell Phones for Soldiers

-The struggle of letting go of a beloved wedding dress!
Brides Against Breast Cancer

Gems:
“We are destined to being constant consumers of technology.”

“We had the normal parent thoughts of 'When we have a yard, things will be better. When we have a place for our daughter’s stuff, we will be more relaxed.'"

“There’s no one path to minimalism.”

“It’s about getting out and getting living.”

“We emphasize experiences over stuff in our home.”

What sparks joy for Stephanie:
“The simple and often overlooked moments with my daughters and husband.”

Parting words of wisdom:
“Just take one small step toward simplification. And if it feels right, take another.”

To connect with Stephanie, you can find her at MamaMinimalist.com
@mamaminimalist on Instagram and Twitter

The Sustainable Minimalist on Facebook:

Listen to her podcast:
Sustainable Minimalist Podcast

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Stephanie Seferian.

In this episode, we discuss how we discovered KonMari, how we became KonMari Consultants and what it’s like to have a KonMari consulting business.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy checks!
  Kristyn sold her starter condo and rental property in Virginia and is now completely settled as a Chicagoan. Karin loves Springtime in New York City!

• How Karin and Kristyn tidied their own homes and started down the path of certification

• More examples of KonMari fans becoming KonMari Consultants: Consultants Share the Moment KonMari Changed Their Lives

NOTE: This episode was published on April 17, 2018. Any of the information shared regarding training guidelines and procedues is subject to change as the program evolves.

On August 27, 2019, Spark Joy Podcast received this update from KonMari Media, Inc.:
"Starting this fall, due to Marie's very tight schedule, she is no longer available to take individual photos with each attendee."

• The Steps to becoming a consultant:

-Step 1: Read the Marie Kondo Books

-Step 2: Tidy Your Home
KonMari App

-Step 3: Attend a Seminar

-Step 4: Join the Community

-Step 5: Submit Tidying Reports

-Step 6: Complete the Exam

-Step 7: Apply for Certification

• What it’s like to meet Marie Kondo

• A day in the life of a KonMari Consultant

• The business considerations associated with being a consultant

• Why Clients Hire Consultants

• Tools to help prospective consultants and trainees: The Tidy Mastermind and an open letter to KonMari Consultant Trainees

• On the fence about becoming a consultant? Schedule a Joy Call with Kristyn to discuss your unique situation

Gems:

"Her Mission, which is Organizing the World!"

"All different walks of life can bring things to KonMari."

"The fact that I was very sure that I had chosen the right thing to do totally trumped any fear I had about entrepreneurship."

"Everyone at the seminars is super passionate about tidying and living their best lives."

"It's important for you to believe that you have something to provide that's valuable to people because you are."

"I never know what to expect when that door opens."

"As much as I love KonMari, if I didn't feel I could create a sustainable business around it, I would have have had to let go of the idea."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

How does your personal clutter impact the world?

Today’s guest on Spark Joy is Evan Zislis. He is a professional organizer and bestselling author of Clutter Free Revolution. Evan helps people focus on the things that matter most: who we love, what we do, how, and why we live…because everything else is just stuff. Currently, Evan is the founder of Intentional Solutions, a business focused on organization, operational systems, time and task management and more.

We want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Evan's diverse list of job experience all had a theme of organizational leadership that tied it all together and led him to helping people organize their life

• The free services Evan provides to public school teachers and classrooms

• How Evan gives back to the community on his terms through 1% For The Planet

• How Evan's book Clutter Free Revolution picks up where KonMari drops off

• Products and companies that empower local communities through fair trade and socially just practices: The Good Trade ; Pact

• The ridiculously simple three step process - simplify, clarify, and inspire - that makes up Evan's organizing philosophy

• How Evan builds his client's sense of self efficacy and confidence by focusing on incremental successes while incorporating a bit of tough love

• Evan's lid-on-a-box helps accumulators with little to no self control

• Why Evan believes, in some cases, your joy is not enough your joy is not enough

• The technique that Evan uses to get his daughter to voluntarily clean and honor her room daily, without fail

• What monks and mountaineers have in common

• Why "The Velveteen Rabbit" is the Zislis family's favorite book

• A thank you to Evan's friend Dr. Melva Green (Episode 19) who inspired this interview

Gems:

"Need less."

"Abundance is having a sense of gratitude for having that which is needed when it is needed and not a single item more."

"Was anyone harmed in the making of this item?"

"Things are easy to find and convenient to put away."

"Proximity equals urgency."

"You don't love it, you don't have a place for it, and storing it is an inconvenience for you."

"This sense of joy can be transcended [by] this sense of purpose."

"The things that I need..support the idea of generosity, and compassion, and philanthropy."

What sparks joy for Evan: Working on his new book project "Good Company" that highlights entrepreneurs that support fair trade, social justice, and environmental sustainability.

To connect with Evan Zislis, visit www.clutterfreerevolution.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Evan Zislis.

No matter how intentional you are with your spark joy decision making, excessive shopping can severely compromise your ability to either finish your KonMari tidying event or maintain a tidy home and lifestyle long term. Therefore, it is important to address any compulsive or addictive behaviors that you may have uncovered around shopping and consumerism.

Our guest, Dr. Benson, is a nationally known psychologist specializing in the study and treatment of compulsive buying disorder. Author of To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop, she offers individual, evidence based coaching and a comprehensive website - www.shopaholicnomore.com - filled with information and effective strategies.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How the closing of her favorite store led Dr. Benson to explore her own shopping behaviors, which led her to transition from working with people with eating disorders to working with people with shopping disorders

• Why compulsive buying is often referred to as the "smiled-upon addiction"

• The three cardinal signs someone is suffering from an addiction

• The common reasons why we overshop

• The primary and secondary consequences of shopping addiction (emotional, financial, physical, etc.)

• How to confront a compulsive buying disorder, along with certain questions to ask yourself to determine if you're a shopaholic

• Six major shopping magnets and tips to deal with these triggers

• Extended tips on avoiding impulsive online shopping

• What to do if KonMari tidying triggers compulsive shopping behaviors used to fill an emotional or social void

• Take the evaluation: Who Needs Help? 3 Ways to Know, Are you an Overshopper?

• Six questions to ask yourself before you make your next purchase: Why am I here? How do I feel? Do I need this? Can I wait? How will I pay for it? Where will I put it?

• Take the Values in Action Character Strengths evaluation

Gems:

"Create a pause between the impulse and the action."

"Shopping is a short cut solution to issues related to how someone feels about themselves."

"You can never get enough of what you don't really need."

What sparks joy for Dr. Benson: A collection of passion flowers in her greenhouse, dog-sitting, and a love of learning Russian and the piano.

Parting words of wisdom: Effective help is available. [Compulsive buying disorder] is something you need to be serious about.

To connect with Dr. Benson visit www.shopaholicnomore.com.

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Dr. April Benson.

Is your home a hot mess?
If the answer is yes you’re going to enjoy today’s guest organizer Laurie Palau of Simply B Organized in Pennsylvania.

Laurie is a speaker, author, and host of the podcast, This Organized Life, where listeners get a glimpse into her not-so-perfect world as a wife, mom and professional organizer. Her book, HOT MESS: A Practical Guide to Getting Organized is a must-read for anyone looking to streamline clutter from their life.

With over nine years of organizing under her belt, Laurie is another industry veteran here to share her unique perspective on getting organized along with road tested practical tips.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Laurie found her true calling as a home organizer when she identified that organizational principles were part of the solution to feeling anxious and overwhelmed in the home.

-Laurie discusses the 3 types of clutter that she finds with her clients:
Physical, emotional, and calendar clutter

-Learn about ArtKive, Laurie’s recommended app that will help you organize your kid’s artwork online:
ArtKive

-Your dominant clutter source and how it impacts your home organization.

-Organizing diagnostics: reviewing your current clutter situation.

-Learn about the ESP Method: Empty, Sort and Purge.

-The Four Purge Piles: Donate, Reuse, Recycle, Discard.

-How Laurie defines the cost of clutter.

Gems:

“Clutter doesn’t just have to be the physical stuff. It can be the burn out. How you end up snapping at your kids or spouse because you are just spread too thin.”

“How much time and money do we waste buying things we already have that we can’t find?”

"Most people if given the choice would rather live in an organized space."

"I’ve relocated kitchen items outside of the kitchen.”

“The average US citizen wastes an hour a day looking for lost or misplaced items."

Favorite Tidying Tip:
Open the mail every day and make a decision.
Mail should fall into three categories:
Action, Reference, Recycle

What sparks joy for Laurie:
Laurie covets her quiet time in the morning!

Parting words of wisdom:
Start small. Just wanting to make a change is a huge hurdle that you’ve already accomplished.

To connect with Laurie you can find her at www.simplyborganized.com

Listen to her podcast:
This Organized Life Podcast

Simply B Organized on FaceBook
Simply B Organized on Instagram
Simply B Organized on Twitter

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Laurie Palau.

In this episode, we usher in spring by discussing the rituals of cleaning and tidying. We also explore the similarities and differences between these two common domestic activities and how they complement each other and your KonMari lifestyle.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy checks! Karin just purchased a new Chemex and Kristyn finished moving #studiotidy (For the Love of Tidy headquarters) to the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago

• The difference between cleaning and tidying

• How tidying makes many aspects of cleaning that are often deemed challenging, much easier

• How decluttering exposes areas of your home in need of attention

• Tips from Marie Kondo's Guide to Spring Cleaning

• How the act of spring cleaning can trap you indoors during the warmest season

• The importance of tidying before you clean

• How to bring your clothing out of hibernation

• Kristyn's favorite Foldable Storage Bag

• How to conduct a spring time version of the KonMari home greeting

• Three unconventional tips for moving your tidying and cleaning forward

• How the Mel Robbins' 5 Second Rule can help push you beyond procrastination and into action

• Our big announcement: 100,000 downloads!

Gems:

"Tidying addresses objects, while cleaning addresses dirt."

"By tidying you're confronting yourself. By cleaning, you're confronting nature."

"It's easier to clean your home when it's already tidy."

"[Decluttering] lifts the spirit of the home by waking up dormant items that haven't received attention."

"I appreciate things better because I can see them year-round."

"Spring is the perfect time to plan or begin your KonMari tidying event."

"Action breeds motivation."

"Clutter is finite."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Sarah is the founder of Tough Girl Challenges, which is an amazing platform for women who are taking on physical challenges and overcoming obstacles.

Sarah started her professional life in finance but found it lacking and wanted to do something more in line with her interest in the sporting life and Tough Girl Challenges was born.

As she built up her platform, she found that her blog, public speaking, coaching and podcast, along with three books, was beginning to grow a community of girls and women who were motivating each other to reach their goals and achieve great things.

She's based in the UK, but reaches women all over the world.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

-You’ll learn how Sarah made the transition from a career in finance to building the Tough Girl Challenges platform.

-Her commitment to showcasing the stories of women who overcome obstacles both physical and mental to achieve their goals.

-Hear about the common experiences of girls and women in setting goals, preparing and implementing a plan to achieve the goal.

-Listen as Sarah shares her story of hiking the Appalachian Trail.

-Her technique for breaking down potential barriers into small, approachable steps.

-Learning the goal-setting strategy of trying different things to find the perfect fit for you.

-Follow the stories of 7 Women, 7 Challenges on Sarah’s podcast:
Tough Girl Podcast

To connect with Sarah, you can visit her at her website:
Tough Girl Challenges

She's on Twitter: @_tough_girl, Instagram: toughgirlchallenges and Pinterest: Tough101

Her facebook is:
Tough Girl Challenges

Her YouTube Channel :
Tough Girl Challenges on YouTube

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week's show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

What sparks joy for Sarah:
She loves Mondays! She loves the start of new things and the adventure ahead. Sarah is excited about the inspirational stories of women she is able to bring to her audience.

Gems:
"If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.”

“People will rise to occasion to help you achieve your goals.”

"She continues to go back, every single week.”

“Nine times out of 10 it’s the mindset of how you chose to look at things.”

“If you want to do something, please just go and do it.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Sarah Williams.

As the KonMari philosophy has become more and more mainstream, blog posts, magazine articles and videos have come out viewing KonMari through a critical and challenging lens.

These perspectives are sometimes based on misunderstandings or misreadings of Konmari concepts and sometimes these misinterpretations occur as missteps while practicing KonMari.

In this episode, we will discuss our thoughts on these myths and provide some practical tips on how to avoid falling into these missteps.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

Joy Checks!
What is Sparking Joy for Kristyn today: a very cute For the Love of Tidy branded onesie for her niece who is due any day now.

What is Sparking Joy for Karin today: restoring an antique wooden doll bed for her niece’s birthday

• Learn about some common KonMari myths:

1. Konmari equals minimalism/minimalism is KonMari

2. Konmari is a selfish activity, fundamentally concerned only with material possession

3. KonMari encourages to you to throw out everything you own to the point where you are either left with nothing or you need to immediately buy new things

• Learn about some common KonMari missteps:

1. Skipping the step where you envision your ideal lifestyle and living environment

2. Forgetting to honor and acknowledge items for their usefulness especially when you are letting them go

3. Not completing all the categories

4. Thinking about storage and organization before the sorting is completed

5. Being overly concerned with the clutter of other people

• See what Marie Kondo’s home really looks like:
  Correction: It has come to our attention that the original article and photograph listed here was a parody article written for April Fool's Day and NOT a house tour of Marie Kondo's apartment. Photographs of Marie Kondo's home have not been made publicly available. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

• Read about what some critics say about the KonMari Method:
  Why Decluttering Guru Marie Kondo is Wrong
  Why I Absolutely Refuse to KonMari My Life
  Does It Spark Joy is the Wrong Decluttering Question
  The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*

• Review the importance of the vision statement in Spark Joy Episodes:
  Episode 1 KonMari 101
  Episode 5 The KonMari Lifestyle

• Our advice to a listener who asks how to address categories when you have items within a category in hard to get to places. Does not being able to completely sort by category mean you are not doing KonMari correctly?

Gems:

“There’s no right number of things a person should have.”

“You can keep ALL of the shoes!”

“Time is the most important commodity as opposed to things.”

“You’re saying goodbye in a respectful way and you’re putting a positive message out there.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Jaye Schlesinger, is an award winning artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who specializes in oil paintings of common objects and abstracts. Her recent solo exhibit “Possessed” caught our attention. It includes 380 individual paintings of all of her possessions inspired by minimalism and simplified living. It sparks joy for Jaye to explore the metaphorical possibilities of painting the mundane.

Jaye gave us a peek into the lifestyle change that inspired her creative process and story.

To connect with Jaye, visit www.jayeschlesinger.com. While you’re there, peruse her portfolio and contact her to purchase high quality reproductions of her artwork in a variety of sizes.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

• How the movie Tiny, The Minimalists Podcast, the documentary Minimalism, and experiencing a flood in her home inspired Jaye to start letting go of her personal possessions

• What Jaye's parameters for joy are, which include usefulness and beauty

• How being led to paint the items that sparked joy kept Jaye accountable during the decluttering process

• How Jaye divided her possessions from her husband's, followed by discussions about the "ours" items

• How Jaye enjoyed the structure this project provided within her studio time. Each painting took 2-3 days to complete and the project extended over two years

• How painting things gave Jaye a chance to meditate and connect to the true meaning behind some of the objects, especially the ones that were deemed sentimental

• Why Jaye continues to return to the still life painting

• How seemingly ordinary objects connect us

• How Jaye's husband reacted to her ruthless minimization

• What Jaye did to help her minimize regret

What sparks joy for Jaye: Jaye's two grandchildren and three custom end tables she's building for her new home

Gems:

• "These things of everyday life connect us. But, they are so overlooked. We take them for granted."

• "Less is more."

• "When you decide to keep a few things, they become stronger in some way."

• "It was always more about being deliberate than being minimal per se."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jaye Schlesinger.

Our guest today is Meg Brunson.

Meg is a multi-passionate mama living in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and 4 young daughters. She is a serial entrepreneur and a former Facebook employee, striving to provide a better life for her family through entrepreneurship.

She is the founder of EIEIO Marketing, the host of the FamilyPreneur Podcast, and recently helped her 10 year old launch her first business.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

-You'll learn how Meg started her business and her motivation for becoming an entrepreneur.

-Meg's tips for teaching your children critical thinking skills.

-How she and her daughter drilled down to find the perfect value statement that created Story Time with Kiki: Story Time with Kiki

-The importance of the calendar in managing a busy household with kids.

-How Meg and her husband support their girl's passion for learning.

-Meg's strong passion for helping kids set and achieve their goals.

-Using setbacks and challenges as a way to help kids be resourceful and resilient.

-Meg's favorite resources for building a great business:
A CRM platform: Dubsado
A scheduling platform: Acuity Scheduling

-And, hey, we all need a good resource for relaxing!
Winc

To connect with Meg, you can visit her at her website: www.megbrunson.com
Or her marketing website: www.eieiomarketing.com

She's on Twitter: @themegbrunson, Instagram: themegbrunson and Pinterest: themegbrunson

Her facebook is:
Meg Brunson on Facebook

She's the editor at: Phoenix Kids Out and About

And Kiki's website is: Story Time with Kiki

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week's show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

What sparks joy for Meg:
Her kids "those happy moments, their smiles and giggles" The freedom of working from home and being able to spend spontaneous moments with the kids while pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams.

Gems:
"We should be paving additional paths for our children."

"Drill down to the thing you know the best and find the value proposition within that knowledge."

"Turn their questions back on your kids. Get them to explore the question themselves."

"If you are passionate about it, I really believe you can make it happen."

"I'm going to have those good resources. I'm just going to have to build them out myself!"

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Meg Brunson.

Super mom by day, super wife by night, and invisible all of the time.

This is what happens when you retire the Superhero cape, remove the masks, and begin the journey of, "Who am I? How did I get here? And how long will it take to pick up all of the broken little pieces of my life?"

Our guest today is Kizmat Tention.

Kizmat is a life coach and author who has been making big waves with her new book, Broken Little Pieces: Invisible.

Since then, she's been touring and speaking about her work and sharing her very powerful message of finding your authentic self. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children.

In this episode, you'll enjoy:

You'll hear how Kizmat began to recognize that she had been given, and had taken on, identities, roles and masks throughout her life that had keep her from her true self.

How masks are passed along to us and how they can damage not only our true selves, but also our relationships and those around us.

The role that birth order can play in our development. Kizmat talks about her "middle child" position and Karin shares an "oldest child" memory!

Here's a good article on birth order theory:
How Birth Order Affects Your Child's Personality and Behavior

Learn how to begin moving away from our masks and our toxic identities AND how this fits in with the KonMari Method.

How clutter reflects our emotional space. Kizmat talks about the "revolving door of emotion" within our homes, going back and forth from obsess orderliness and giving up on it all.

To connect with Kizmat,you can visit www.brokenlittlepieces.com and follow her on FB at Broken Little Pieces: Broken Little Pieces on Facebook,or on twitter @kizzymat on Instagram at Kizmat Tention.
Her book, Broken Little Pieces: Invisible, can be purchased here: Broken Little Pieces: Invisible on Amazon

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week's show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

What sparks joy for Kizmat:
"When people are brave."
She loves inspiring others to be a light in the world via her FaceBook group and her online community.

Kizmat's final words of wisdom:
"Don't be afraid to go and create your own lane."

Gems:
"It's a journey to take all of the pieces to create the mosaic of your life's mural."

"Marriage multiples what is already there."

"How long have I felt invisible?"

"Regret and perfectionism are companions. We fear having regrets, thus propelling our mindset into the ways of perfectionism."

"What am I holding onto and why? What reward are you getting from it?"

"Change the dialogue of failure."

"You see their glory, but you don't see their story."

"Inspire someone daily."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Kizmat Tention.

In this episode, we review The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson. Instead of “does it spark joy,” we explore the question “will anyone I know be happier if I save this?” We review what parts of Death Cleaning sparked joy and what left us wanting more, as we compare this tool to the KonMari Method. We also apply both death cleaning and KonMari to answer a listener's question about managing clothing and papers.

Now, we want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Joy checks! Karin consolidated her storage locker space in NYC and Kristyn is moving to a new neighborhood in Chicago

• The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

• How "Dostadning," Swedish for "dealth cleaning," focuses on disposing of things prior to passing on

• How Marie Kondo feels about death cleaning

• Margareta Magnusson's background and experience death cleaning after her parents, husband, and mother-in-law passed away

• Questions that you can use to spark conversation around death and possessions across generations

• Why you shouldn't assume your loved ones will have the time and energy to examine your items after you've passed

• The age when you should start death cleaning

• The exception you may need to make while you're walking through KonMari clutter categories in order

• What we wished death cleaning included to aid in decision making

• Our advice for a spark joy listener who struggles with maintaining her tidy when it comes to clothing and paper

• Practical tips on how you should properly organize or give away your sentimental and valuable possessions before you pass

Gems:

• “Will anyone I know be happier if I save this?”
• “If you can’t keep track of your things you know you have too many.”
• “If I don’t know the names of the people in the photos, nobody else in the family is likely to.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Today’s guest is Alex Erickson. Alex is a personal fitness trainer in the process of completing his KonMari consultant certification. Prior to this, he was a professional model.

Alex and his husband, Edgar, decided to tidy their new home together using the KonMari Method after their recent wedding.

Alex enlisted Karin to help him with the KonMari process in their Brooklyn home (they've recently moved to Manhattan). Not only did he do an amazing job with the process and was delightful to work with, he was so inspired by the KonMari Method, that he decided to pursue becoming a consultant on his own. He recently completed the KonMari consultant training seminar last October and is now working on his practice sessions towards certification.

In this episode, follow Alex along his journey toward tidying his home with his husband, Edgar, as they learn about themselves and each other. He'll also share how he decided to become a consultant and what he has experienced with his first clients on the way to certification!

To connect with Alex, you can find him on his new Instagram @hotmessorganizers.
His email address is: alexandererickson@yahoo.com
His new KonMari Consulting business is called Hot Mess Organizing. Website coming soon!

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Alex decided he was ready for the KonMari Method and why he decided to hire a KonMari Consultant

• How Alex got his husband on board and how they faced their fears and challenges together.

• How Alex used Marie Kondo’s quote,“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.", to help motivate him to move forward with the process.
  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

• How Alex used a Big Box to help with the sorting process. It really worked!
  Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

• How this quote helped Alex decide to become a KonMari Consultant himself: “The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order.”
  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing

Alex’s Favorite Tidying Tips:
Designate a temporary area for things that need to be sorted as you are working through the process.
Keep in mind that any item in any category can feel sentimental, so save them for last.

What sparks joy for Alex:
Our big Chinese Good Luck cat!
But, most importantly, my husband, Edgar!

Gems:
“As long as you have a somewhat open mind, you will be perfect for the KonMari method.”

“You’re getting rid of a safety blanket. I had to let go of a lot of false security.”

“It forced me to hold myself accountable for my own actions. I can make sure that my own items are tidy.”

“When you face the clutter in your house, you are facing yourself.”

“I did a fearless inventory of the material items I possessed.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Alex Erickson.

Dr. Melva Green is best known for her work on the critically acclaimed A&E series Hoarders. She is a psychiatrist and spiritual healer specializing in REAL LIFE living. Dr. Green is the co-author of Breathing Room: Open You Heart by Decluttering Your Home, a wonderful blend of personal stories interwoven into a clear, practical guide on decluttering.

In this episode, Dr. Green discusses the importance of slowing down, taking a breath, and leading with compassion before we jump into the clutter. We also discuss the do's and don'ts associated with identifying and treating someone with a hoarding disorder and associated signs and resources.

To connect with Dr. Green, you can find her at www.drmelvagreen.com as well as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube at @drmelva. Dr. Green is offering our listeners a discounted, signed copy of Breathing Room using the following link: http://bit.ly/2qM2pVB

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• What led Dr. Green to take a leap of faith, close her practice, declutter, and move to Costa Rica

• The moments leading up to Dr. Green getting the call to be an expert on A&E's Hoarders

• How Dr. Green's book, Breathing Room: Open Your Heart by Decluttering Your Home evolved into a collaborative project with co-author Dr. Lauren Rosenfeld

• How Dr. Green's spiritual approach to therapy broadened her client's experience and given client's permission to pursue another path and reduce shame

• The role anxiety plays in disorganization

• How being kind to yourself can shift the heart space to the self love and tenderness required to start the process

• How the SLICE method (Stop & Listen, Intend, Clearing the Energy), a three step process described in Breathing Room, can help you jump start your journey to organization

• Signs a loved one's life may be impacted by hoarding

• Why common statistics tracking hoarding disorder misrepresent the scope of the public burden due to the "hidden" nature of the problem

• How trauma is often at the core of a hoarding crisis

• How in over 14 years, only two of Dr. Green's clutter clients were so resistant to change they couldn't be helped

• How the support system of family can help hoarders successfully dig out and recover

• How Dr. Green listens to her clients and reminds them to stop and breathe to hold a clear space

• Dr. Green recommends resources on wwww.hoarders.org , including a scale to help you determine if you meet the clinical criteria for a hoarding disorder

Dr. Green's favorite tidying tip: Breathe...

What sparks the most joy for Dr. Green: Her son starting at Stanford University!

Gems:

"Most of our clutter is unconscious."

"The mess is not IN the way, it's PART OF the way."

"Clutter is the external manifestation of what's going on in our internal space."

"When we stop and breathe we're able to get a sense of what needs to go and what needs to stay."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Melva Green.

Our guest, Patty Morrissey, is a certified KonMari Consultant based in Huntington, NY. Patty is dedicated to helping people throughout her dynamic career as a nanny, social worker, college student affairs administrator, corporate social responsibility manager, non-profit director, and entrepreneur. She is a lifestyle and organizing consultant, who believes our homes should “Spark Joy” and that our own definition of success is the only one that matters.

In this episode, you'll learn about life management tools that complement your KonMari path and help you spark joy where it counts! Patty shares how to keep score of what matters by applying key performance indicators (KPIs) (commonly used in corporate environments) to your own life. We also explore the impact of Ben Franklin Circles, which help people improve themselves and the world by practicing 13 timeless virtues.

To connect with Patty, visit www.pattymorrissey.com and follow her @pattymorrissey on Instagram and Facebook. For more information on Ben Franklin Circles, visit www.benfranklincircles.org.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How reading The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up during a four hour commute led Patty to leave corporate america to become a KonMari Consultant

• How Patty was left with a physical and emotional void after completing her KonMari tidying event that she continues fill more intentionally

• How Patty rationalized letting go of a majority of her journals and kept reflection papers to share on the Mortified podcast one day

• How Patty's brave clients encourage her to continue to revisit certain clutter categories

• How a ruthless focus on key performance indicators at her corporate job led Patty to take a step back and track what was going on in her own life

• Patty's Life KPIs: Meals with my family; Visits with friends; Walks in nature; Dates with my husband; New experiences

• How you can start developing your own life KPIs: Key Performance Indicators for Life

• How Ben Franklin's 13 virtues (created over 300 years ago) apply to modern life, serve as the foundation for the Ben Franklin Circle community, and complement your KonMari tidying event

• Ben Franklin's Virtues: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Chastity, Tranquility, and Humility

• How Ben Franklin Circles create a safe space and permission to be honest about what's going on in your life

• How Patty's Spirit Walk project satisfies many of her life KPIs

• Why we all agree David Allen's Getting Things Done system continues to helps us lower our mental RAM

• How Patty's Today show appearance for being "messy" 12 years ago was the start of her trial-and-error filled journey to order

• How peak levels of consumption has created a new problem for our generation that's led us to examine our relationship with stuff and change our habits

Patty's favorite tidying tip: Sit down with your spouse and write down your individual home responsibilities/tasks on notecards to assess how much you actually have to do. Revisit and redistribute responsibilities accordingly to ensure a healthy distribution.

What sparks the most joy for Patty: All aspects of planning, preparing for, and anticipating her daughter's halloween costume and anticipating the experience

Gems:

"Personal growth does require some element of discomfort."

"Papers really represent undone tasks."

"It was not my employer's responsibility to make sure I'm living my best life, it was my responsibility."

"The magic of the Ben Franklin Circle is the observation of the daily review."

"Recognize how much you actually have to do and realize it's impossible for you to do it all."

"Find your group that you can be you with and safely change within."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Patty Morrissey.

In this episode, Spark Joy co-hosts take a look at KonMari basics and share their experiences as KonMari Consultants.

The history of the KonMari Method along with basic concepts of KonMari organization are covered.

Marie Kondo developed this organization methodology based on her experience as a professional organizer in Japan. She found that tidying could be completed thoroughly and that relapse could be avoided by following a particular order and focusing on whether an item sparks joy.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning how Marie Kondo created the KonMari Method, as found in her first book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up

• Interesting facts about Marie and the beginnings of the KonMari Method

• How Marie’s childhood factored into her role as a future organizer:
  Marie Kondo Remembers

• How the KonMari mission to “organize the world” has expanded into a worldwide the training program to certify KonMari Consultants

• Fundamental Concepts of KonMari:

  • Tidying by category instead of location
    • Clothing
    • Books
    • Paper
    • Komono (miscellaneous items)
    • Sentimental
  • Sparking Joy
  • Once and Forever Event
  • The Power of the Pile
  • The Folding Method

• How Konmari can impact other areas of your life such as your health, finances, and maybe even your love life!

Gems:
“You don’t have to get rid of everything that doesn’t make your heart swoon.”

“It’s important to pull everything from everywhere.”

“Transferring love respect and gratitude through the palms of your hands.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

During the show, we play some of our favorite clips and talk about the impact they have made on us and how they influenced our work as KonMari consultants.

Creating a podcast that focused on the KonMari Method has been our shared vision since the very end of 2016. We spent the first half of 2017 researching, preparing and putting all the pieces together and finally launched on August 31st.

We are so grateful to all of our guests for their talents, wonderful stories and the amazing tips and tools they shared with us.

Our listeners have been amazing. We have learned so much via your questions, comments and feedback. Thank you for being a part of Spark Joy!

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life.

Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

Before we get to our highlights, we ask, “What have sparked the most joy this year?”

We would love to hear what sparked the most joy for you!
Email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com and share your most joyful moments of 2017.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

We share big news: Spark Joy Podcast has been downloaded over 40,000 times!

Two listeners sent us great questions:
Sara asked about how to apply KonMari principles to the ongoing struggle of paper management in a busy family.
Ep 9 | Tidying by Location is a Fatal Mistake
Spark Joy Episode 9

Kimberly’s question was about how to determine what sparks joy when it comes to seasonal items, in this case, Halloween costumes.
Ep 13 | Does It Spark Joy?
Spark Joy Episode 13

And now, on to our favorite clips!

Ep 2 | Meet Marie Kondo’s First Employee Jenny Ning
Jenny Ning, Marie Kondo’s first employee in the US, shares what it’s like to work for the Queen of Tidy and her journey from KonMari super fan to Bay area home organizer.
To connect with Jenny Ning, you can visit her at www.jennyning.com or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@jennyorganizes).
Spark Joy Episode 2

Ep 3 | Face Your Stuff with Dorothy The Organizer
Dorothy Breininger, author and veteran professional organizer as seen on A&E’s hit show “Hoarders” sorts out the mind-body-home clutter connection and related addictions.
To connect with Dorothy Breininger, you can visit her website, www.dorothytheorganizer.com for free tips, videos, newsletters, organizing resources for your life, home, office, and relationships. Be sure to check out her book “Stuff Your Face or Face Your Stuff” via her website or Amazon. Also, check her out on the hit show “Hoarders” on A&E.
Spark Joy Episode 3

Ep 6 | Declutter Your Path to Wealth with Tess Wicks
Tess Wicks, personal finance coach and educator, breaks down the journey to financial independence into key actions and makes the connection between our priorities, the things we acquire, and our life vision.
To connect with Tess Wicks visit www.wanderwealthy.com and join the Wander Wealthy community on Facebook and YouTube. Also, check out Tess’ podcast Words and Money.
Spark Joy Episode 6

Ep 7 | Design and the Future of Minimalism with Lloyd Alter
Lloyd Alter, architect and design editor of Tree Hugger magazine, helps us understand our changing relationship with our possessions and how the upcoming generation will view design and functionality.
To connect with Lloyd, you can visit Treehugger, https://www.treehugger.com, Mother Nature Network, https://www.mnn.com, or follow him Twitter @lloydalter and Lloyd Alter on Facebook.
Spark Joy Episode 7

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson
The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Ep 8 | Make Bold Moves with The Traveling Organizer Holly Southerland
Our guest, Holly Southerland is a professional organizer who has been traveling nationwide since 2008 helping families and entrepreneurs get unstuck and find peace in their homes.
To connect with Holly Southerland, visit Waco Home Organizers (www.wacohomeorganizers.com) or email info@wacohomeorganizers.com. You can also follow her on Facebook or Instagram at @holly_southerland
Spark Joy Episode 8

Ep 11 | [Tidy] Like a Mind Reader with Jonathan Pritchard
Jonathan Pritchard, professional mind reader and author, opens his psychological toolkit to help us apply the predictive art of mind reading to reach personal goals across all areas of our life.
To connect with or hire Jonathan, you can visit www.likeamindreader.com. His book Think Like a Mind Reader is available on Amazon (http://amzn.to/2yb9WwC).
Spark Joy Episode 11

Gems

• “We are proud to announce since we launched Spark Joy on August 31st of this year we’ve received over 40,000 downloads!”

• “It starts as just a means to get the house in order, but I don’t think most of us really expect the snowball effect!”

• “The clutter never lies and the truth is often in the clutter.”

• “I remembered resistance I receive from clients around trying something a new way because obviously my way isn’t working.”

• “This idea that we honor the item by showing appreciation for what it meant to us, and making sure the item goes on to it’s next useful life.”

• “I believe that organizing is really just lots and lots of small steps and lots and lots of small decisions.”

• “It’s ok if every rule in the book is not a perfect fit for your life! If you even apply 50% of the method you’ll notice an improvement in your lifestyle, so it’s not an all or nothing deal.”

• “We’ve got an amazing line-up for 2018, more guests who exude joy and embody the KonMari lifestyle that we’ll share them with you each-and-every Tuesday.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Amanda Jefferson, is a certified KonMari Consultant who serves the western suburbs of Philadelphia. After a successful 20 year career in academia, corporations, and non-profit leadership, Amanda now channels her passion for helping others by creating homes that are peaceful, stress-free and efficient.

In this episode, you'll learn how to navigate the holidays using the 4 Ds. Amanda also shares tips on how to manage paper organization with three simple tools. This episode is less about getting more done and more about having less to do!

To connect with Amanda, visit www.indigoorganizing.com and follow her on Instagram @indigo_organizing.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How a mid-life crisis that Amanda lovingly named a "Creative Renaissance" led Amanda to shift gears to professional organizing

• How tackling the "Paper" KonMari category made Amanda want to run and hide

• How career threads such as helping people, making operations more efficient, and an interest in positive social psychology and energy/time management tie into her KonMari practice

• How to apply the Four Ds to declutter your holiday experience and fill it with joy: Delegate, Defer, Diminish, and Delete

• Amanda's Worksheet: Getting from Stress to Joy with the 4Ds

• Ways you can spark conversations that change traditions and shift attention to fewer better things and more experiences

• The three tools you need to manage all of your paper

• Apps that incorporate a scan feature: Google Drive , Evernote , Dropbox

• How to make paper management fun by finding office supplies that spark joy

• Independent scanner apps: Tiny Scan , Genius Scan , CamScanner

Amanda's favorite tidying tip: Keeping things bite-sized. Set a timer for 1 hour and dive into one category (or subcategory)

What sparks the most joy for Amanda: Making Chatbooks - Photo books for people that don't have time to do photo books

Gems:

"Having a home that runs efficiently is really the difference between sanity and total burn out."

"If your friends think you're crazy, you're doing something right."

Delegate: "Make all of your holiday meals potluck."

Defer: "Send New Years cards instead of holiday cards."

Diminish: "Don't go all out with holiday decor. Buy a simple wreath and set white lights on a timer."

Delete: "Don't exchange gifts as adults. Only exchange gifts for the children."

"There should be a very, very high bar for an actual sheet of paper that stays in your home."

"What is the action associated with this piece of paper?"

"When in doubt, scan."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Amanda Jefferson.

Our guest, Doug Marshall, is an entertainment and lifestyle writer, on-camera host, and social media content strategist. He recently had an article published in Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine on how to KonMari your closet and participated in a follow-on TV segment with Fox9 in the Twin Cities.

Doug is a Spark Joy fan who KonMari’d his closet over 10 days in preparation for a big move from New York to Minneapolis. The impact the process had on his life still shines through his spirit and he sparks joy by continuing to share his story via media outlets, blogs and social media.

In this episode, we discuss KonMari from the male perspective, how Doug KonMari'd his closet over ten days and the impact the process had on his life. We talk about ways to get over the initial hurdle of getting started, and some physical and emotional challenges to anticipate. We also discuss how Doug has attracted opportunities to continue to share his closet transformation, which has inspired others to let go.

To connect with Doug, you can find him on Instagram @theworldofdoug or visit him at www.theworldofdoug.com.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Doug went from saying "I will never do that [KonMari]" to writing a blog article about the impact the tidying process and appearing on Fox 9's The Jason Show

• How the KonMari Method helped Doug move from New York to Minneapolis

• The highs and lows of executing KonMari in the span of 10 days

• How Doug's body reacted to anxiety related to preparing for the decluttering process

• How Doug related to Marie Kondo's use of organization to feel safe in a world she had no control over

• How by examining his relationship to what stayed made room for Doug's style to be revealed to him

• How Doug's shopping habits are way more deliberate post-KonMari

• How Doug's husband reacted to his tidying quest

• How Doug attracted opportunities that helped him establish his voice

• How KonMari serves as a gateway to new beginnings and creative projects

What sparks joy for Doug: "Opportunities like this!"

Gems:

"I'm a big believer that if you put something out into the universe, the universe shows up for you."

"I trust her [Marie Kondo], I can do this."

"There was so much stuff in my closet that wasn't sparking joy, that I couldn't see the stuff that did."

"By the time I got rid of what didn't spark joy, my style revealed itself to me."

"I don't buy anything in a store now if it doesn't spark joy."

"I want to feel clean, free, grounded, and on time."

"Whatever you get rid of will come back to you in a different form."

"My mind is more clear and I'm open and available for more opportunities."

"There is literally nothing in my life right now that does not spark joy."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Doug Marshall.

A Certified Simplicity Parenting Coach and KonMari enthusiast with over a decade of experience, Christine coaches women to create home environments that support harmony and connection.

Christine coaches from the heart, using joy as a guide and her clients find so much peace in having less, doing less, and editing their lives and their homes with intention.

In this episode, Christine will share her unique approach in helping moms find their own path in creating an intention-filled life. Christine transformed her space with the support of her husband and their young, spirited daughter.

You can follow Christine on her website, Creating Calm Coach, on Facebook at Christine O'Brien Coach or on Instagram @creatingcalmcoach. Download her Free Creating Calm Checklist.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Christine’s private Facebook group community, KonMari Method: Life-changing Magic for anyone working through the KonMari tidying process

• Christine’s virtual consulting program, From Chaos to Calm, which consists of group and individual support for making joyful transitions

• How Christine combines two powerful schools of thought to inform the way she supports moms to relax into full presence with their children: Simplicity Parenting and the KonMari Method

• Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne

• Re-occurring KonMari related pain points that may sound familiar:
  1) feeling too overwhelmed to start, 2) getting stuck at some point in the middle of the process, and 3) uncertainty regarding doing KonMari with a family

• How to guide a family through the process and how to find the joy click-point when you have growing kids

• How speaking to your items can “soften” and facilitate letting them go

• How focusing on the positive and the joy can apply to your vision for fitness and diet

• Learning about Brene Brown , who says that gratitude creates Joy

Christine’s favorite tidying tip:
“Tune in to your intuition and trust your joy checks.”

What sparks joy for Christine:
Her family and the transformation she has witnessed as a result of this process. She’s joyful about sharing this way of living!

Gems:

“The toys she’s interested in change all the time.”

“As you get more in tune with what brings you joy, more space develops for experiencing joy.”

“Put your oxygen mask on first and make sure you complete your tidying first before you move on to your children.”

“Different personalities come out for display when you do KonMari with a family.”

“What? Talk to my clothes? Say thank you and goodbye?!”

“The process is about connection and not perfection.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Christine O'Brien.

In this episode, we discuss what "spark joy" truly means and how to apply it to your tidying event. We share practical tips on how to build your own personal awareness of joy and how to apply this concept to your decision-making. The term will start to become part of your vocabulary and you’ll see joy everywhere.

But first, we begin by sharing what's sparking joy for us today. We also answer a great question from a Spark Joy listener about how to determine what sparks joy when it comes to seasonal items, in this case, Halloween costumes.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at  www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at  contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, or on Twitter at @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning the Japanese language origins of the phrase, "spark joy." The Japanese translation is Tokimeku ときめく, which means "to flutter with a little thrill" in the same way that we describe how our hearts can flutter with joyful emotion when something makes us happy or excited

• How Marie Kondo demonstrates what sparking joy looks like while interacting with possessions. See videos below:
  -- Marie Kondo: Organize the World: Design Your Life to Spark Joy - SXSW 2017
  -- Marie Kondo explains Spark Joy

• How to avoid getting caught up in how many things you're keeping or discarding instead of focusing on the joy

• Being reminded of the importance of vision, as discussed in Episode 5, to keep your thoughts future-focused and in tune with the quality of life you envision for yourself

• How to set a high joy bar by developing a criteria for what stays and what goes

• How considering the passage of time and your evolution as a person can help you understand whether something is part of your future or just hanging out from the past

• Marie Kondo states, “When we really delve into the reasons for why we can't let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future.”
  The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

• "If it makes you happy, then the right choice is to keep it confidently, regardless of what anyone else says."
  Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up

Gems:

• “The practice is to pay attention to how your body reacts when you’re holding your possessions.”

• “You want to be able to live in harmony with your things.”

• “Does this item spark joy AND fit into of my vision for the quality of life I’ve envisioned for myself in the future?”

• “This is an area I really do want to invest in instead of buying the cheapest things to just make do.”

• ”Keep your joy bar high!”

• “Objects like having a job to do.”

• "If it makes you happy, then the right choice is to keep it confidently, regardless of what anyone else says."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Diane Arias is a true KonMari mom and one of Kristyn's former clients. After a decade of raising her three girls (one age 14 and two twin thirteen-year-olds), Diane found that her belongings, along with her home, looked run down and unloved...and so her KonMari Summer began. She tidied for up to 2-3 hours at a time across her 3,000 square foot home. The results? A space filled with love and joy that will take her family of five into the next phase of their life.

In this episode, we will show you it is possible for busy moms to get tidy too! Follow Diane through every phase of the KonMari process, as she applies the method in the presence of her growing family. Look forward to tips on how to plan, pace, and reward yourself during your tidying event to avoid hitting a wall.

You can follow the final stages of Diane’s tidying journey by connecting with her on Instagram (@diane_arias_2017).

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• The article that inspired Diane to pick her tidying back up after reading the The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up after working through clothing three years ago

• How Diane course corrected her original plan after confronting the sheer number of things in her home

• How Diane's vision reflected the part of her that she wanted to reconnect with to be the best model for her daughters

• How Diane leaned on her experience training for marathons to push through moments of overwhelm to get to a point where her surroundings were supporting her

• How an intentional reward system helped trigger Diane back into gear during moments when she needed extra motivation to finish Komono (miscellaneous items)

• The "warning" Diane thinks should come with Marie Kondo's books

• How each member of Diane's family reacted to her decluttering and how they supported her in their own way

• Diane's advice to busy moms that are ready to dive in

• How tidying has helped Diane be more in tune with her husband's values and motivations

• How Diane's children taught her the KonMari signature fold after watching YouTube videos!

• How Diane's family adjusted to the big changes taking place in the shared spaces and pushed through a few uncomfortable moments

What sparks joy for Diane: "Having headspace...and a true, full presence for my daughters."

Gems:

• "This is definitely something I want to do. I just need to have the timing show up for it."

• "I had no idea how much stuff I actually owned."

• "My own joy for my own life is what was missing."

• "I truly feel my home is a reflection of me."

• "A home that is full, and vibrant and joyful and truly supporting me and my family."

• "I would not be able to put into words what I was wanting for my children...but I've found it through this method."

• "You truly have to detangle yourself from someone else's belongings."

• "I've plugged myself into every single person's belongings in the house, meanwhile, not really taking care of my own."

• "These t-shirts look like someone cares."

• "I can be the kind of mom I wanted to be."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Diane Arias.

Our guest, Jonathan Pritchard is a mentalist who appeared on America’s Got Talent, entertained US troops stationed overseas, performed on Vegas main stages, cruise ships, and more. He also helps people discover the magic of connecting. He helps companies connect with their employees during networking events and sharpen their marketing skills to be able to grab prospective clients. And now, he's the author of a new book, Think Like a Mind Reader: Improve your business, strengthen your relationships, and solve your problems.

In this episode, we explore applied psychology-based strategies, approaches, and techniques you can use to change your life. Jonathan teaches us how push the limits of our understanding to realize we can do a lot more than we think we can.

To connect with or hire Jonathan, you can visit www.likeamindreader.com. His book Think Like a Mind Reader is available on Amazon (http://amzn.to/2yb9WwC).

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Jonathan made a living on stage by making others think he could read minds

• How a shy kid used magic to relate to people and make them think he was naturally outgoing

• How people are wired to make magic possible and universally accepted

• How Jonathan uses the skill of professional people meeting to help businesses highlight their products and connect employees with their teams and customers

• A tip that will help you be unforgettable during your next networking event

• How post-live show conversations inspired Jonathan's new book: Think Like a Mind Reader: Improve your business, strengthen your relationships, and solve your problems

• Why Think Like a Mind Reader is only offered as a printed/hardcopy rather than an e-book

• How the book itself can be used as a mind reading trick

• Why you should hand write notes instead of type them

• Why everybody needs a coach

• How the story you're telling yourself about a problem may actually be the problem

• How to install new mental models to change your behavior

• The one statement Jonathan loves to hear his coaching clients make

What sparks joy for Jonathan: "A quiet night home with my sweetie."

Words of Wisdom "Fail faster."

Gems:

"How would your business be better if you could actually read minds?"

"When the whole world is zigging, I like to zag."

"What action are you going to take that really makes or breaks your success?"

"Most people fail to solve their problems because they don't understand what the actual problem is."

"Even the highest performers still need coaches."

"My life goal is to trade up to more and more interesting problems every year."

"Our environments influence and affect us just as much as we influence and affect our environments."

"Your brain runs on as much energy as the light bulb in your fridge."

"Magic shows walk you up to the limit of your understanding, and then point out into the distance and go 'that's where I live.'"

"Fail fast. The only time you learn is when you're uncomfortable and learning something new."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jonathan Pritchard.

Our guest today is Lanecia Rouse Tinsley. She is an abstract expressionistic artist whose work includes photography, painting, teaching, writing, and speaking. She is the owner and creator of LARArt Studio and works out of Studio D at Hardy & Nance Streets Studios.

In addition to her own work as an artist, Lanecia partners with the Holy Family Church in Houston, TX, serving as their Artist-In-Residence, as a Spiritual Director and Consultant for the Arts for Project Curate.

Lanecia has been exploring the Japanese philosophy of Wabi Sabi and the related art forms within her own work and the work of her workshop participants. Lanecia hosts workshops exploring the related art form of Kintsugi and has written about that experience on her blog. Wabi Sabi is an ancient Japanese philosophy that honors the imperfect, the humble, the hand-made and the impermanent. It seeks to embrace the beauty found in the changing of seasons, things, nature and in our own lives.

To connect with Lanecia, you can visit www.larartphotography.com and follow her on Instagram, and Twitter @larartstudio. You can also purchase her work online by visiting www.society6.com/larart

We want to hear from you. Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. You can also join the discussion on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning about the Holy Family Church HTX in Houston, TX

• Hearing how Lanecia asked for love to show up while she grieved a painful loss

• How the LAR Art Studio was envisioned and grew over the years

• How Lanecia discovered the art of Kintsugi:
  Essential Information on Kintsugi

• How Lanecia teaches the Wabi-Sabi expressive art form during her workshop:
  The LAR Art Studio Mended Wabi Sabi Pottery Art Experience

• How Lanecia's work with her students has surprised her and informed her work

• How Mark Nepo uses poetry to express feelings of being broken open

• How the process of breaking pottery into pieces and putting it back together as a new object is a powerful exercise

• How the workshop process enabled some participants to make significant life changes

• The parallels between the ancient philosophy of Wabi Sabi and the newer KonMari philosophy

What sparks joy for Lanecia: All the precious moments she spends with her husband, Cleve! Working with her camera and exploring photography as well as listening to music.

Her Parting Words of Wisdom: We all have the capacity to create beauty.

Gems:
“Art was big enough hold my tears and also to hold my vision and hopes for what could be.”

“I’m just throwing out into the universe the dreams that I have.”

“In living, life is going to break our hearts.”

“We are all more powerful and capable than we believe.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Lanecia Rouse Tinsley.

In this episode, we begin by sharing what is sparking joy for us today. We discuss the work of Mel Robbins, of The Five Second Rule fame, along with some aspirational travel goals!

We take a look Marie Kondo’s famous quote, “Tidying by location is a fatal mistake.” What it means and how it guides the practice of KonMari. We talk about the concept in practical terms, with some real life experiences sprinkled throughout, so that you can apply the concept to your own Tidying Festival.

We also answer a great question from a Spark Joy listener about how to apply KonMari principles to the ongoing struggle of paper management in a busy family.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at  www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at  contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook or on Twitter at @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
• Learning about the Mel Robbin’s course that Kristyn is enrolled in and it’s ground breaking, action focused plan for success: The Power of You

Mel Robbins first came on the scene with this TED talk on the Five Second Rule: The Five Second Rule

• Hear about Karin’s holiday wish for a yoga retreat in Thailand. Here is one of the retreats she is considering: Absolute Sanctuary
And here is a good resource for doing yoga retreat research: Yoga Journal

• We review the KonMari categories we described in Spark Joy Podcast, Episode 1 | KonMari 101

• Why processing each clutter category, completely and in order, is critical to long-term success

• As a review, here are the categories:

• Clothing
  
• Books
• Paper
• Komono (miscellaneous items)
• Sentimental
  

• Hear more about why the Clothing Category is the first category and how it builds your ability to determine what sparks joy

• Learning how coming to terms with the amount of things you own will help you hone your decision making process

• Why revisiting your vision statement is a helpful next step when you are struggling with a particular category. We discussed this in Spark Joy Podcast, Episode 4 | The KonMari Lifestyle

• Discover tips on how to deal with paper clutter:

• Stop paper at the source
• Use available tools to keep it from coming into your home in the first place
• Use flat surfaces for activities and not for storage
• Rethink your self-talk about time: manage your priorities and expectations

Gems:
“When items are dispersed throughout the home, you can never fully grasp the overall volume and get discouraged before finishing.”

“What does my clutter say about me?”

“Buying more organizational tools such as file folders is not always the best solution.”

“Flat surfaces are for activity not for storage.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest, Holly Southerland is a professional organizer who has been traveling nationwide since 2008 helping families and entrepreneurs get unstuck and find peace in their homes. Her team, Waco Home Organizers, based in Waco Texas, helps individuals and businesses with decluttering and creating organizational systems that fit their personal style. She is passionate about helping people move forward by cutting out the clutter that stands in the way. In this episode, Holly discusses the life of a travelling organizer, what it’s like to pursue an entrepreneurial dream, and some of her best insights into organizing using practical and obtainable systems and methods. Holly also shares her thoughts on being an introverted entrepreneur, the differences in American homes state-to-state, and her thoughts on the connection between clutter and depression.

Holly is offering Spark Joy listeners a Two-Day Declutter Blitz an investment in yourself, your home, your peace, your productivity, and your sanity. https://goo.gl/sLkXNp

To connect with Holly Southerland, visit Waco Home Organizers (www.wacohomeorganizers.com) or email info@wacohomeorganizers.com. You can also follow her on Facebook or Instagram at @holly_southerland

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How personality type can influence your comfort level in communicated both at work and socially. You can take your own
  Myers Briggs Personality Test

• Holly's experience working with a variety of homes and the challenges of order regardless of the size

• How clutter and depression are related as she discusses in her blog post

• The great method of managing all the accumulated paper in your home that she teaches in the Sunday Basket Workshop

• How having a mentor and coach made such a huge difference in planning for her new business. Holly's coach: Lisa Woodruff, Organize 365

• Helpful hints for dealing with spam mail by visiting DMAchoice.org

• The adventures of travelling around the country, organizing homes for all sorts of families

• The benefits of organizing in a concentrated blitz

Holly’s favorite tidying tip: “Do it right now!”

What sparks joy for Holly: Her baby nephew

Gems:

• "My test for buying a new piece of clothing is: Do I want to wear this everyday?”

• “Space is a vacuum. You don’t get organized by getting a bigger space.”

• “It’s easy to get overwhelmed by big plans and big ideas, but take action on something small that’s right in front of you.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Holly Southerland.

Lloyd Alter is design editor of TreeHugger, a prominent media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability to the mainstream.
Living in Toronto, Canada; He has been an architect, developer, inventor and prefab promoter.
He contributes to Mother Nature Network at MNN.com, The Guardian, and Azure magazines, and is Adjunct Professor teaching sustainable design at Ryerson University School of Interior Design.

In the course of his work developing small residential units and prefabs, Lloyd became convinced that we just use too much of everything- too much space, too much land, too much food, too much fuel, too much money, and that the key to sustainability is to simply use less. And, the key to happily using less is to design things better.

Recently, Lloyd has been writing on family heirlooms and the changing culture. I found his work while researching solutions for clients who are confronted with managing the possessions of generations while downsizing. His direct approach to working with our elder parents along with his prolific writing on a lifestyle focused on less stuff and better design, was a great fit for us!

To connect with Lloyd, you can visit Treehugger, https://www.treehugger.com, Mother Nature Network, https://www.mnn.com, or follow him Twitter @lloydalter and Lloyd Alter on  Facebook.  

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning about the relationship between medicine, science and minimalism. How the fear of germs led to the minimalist movement.

• Hearing about how Lloyd confronted the generational shift in thinking about “things” within his own family.

• Discussing how our mobile lifestyles have changed the quantity and quality of things we acquire.

• Looking at the reality of emotional value vs. financial value.

• Suggestions on how to decide “who gets what” when a previous generation downsizes.

• How Lloyd used Marie Kondo’s concept of Spark Joy when deciding what to keep when downsizing.

• How Lloyd and his family held an Open House, allowing young adults to come in and take things they needed to start their own households as a means of thoughtfully discarding things.

• Discussing how to find the “right new home” for things that you are letting go.

• Learning how Lloyd defines a minimalist lifestyle.

Read Lloyd's article, "On Decluttering, Downsizing and Surviving a Green Renovation", Tree Hugger Magazine, here: https://goo.gl/cnbFvr

What sparks joy for Lloyd:
Lloyd shares his joy at looking out over the lake in his Canadian cabin, sitting at his amazing dining room table and the significant back story the table holds.

Gems:

• "Big Brown furniture: Nobody has room anymore!”

• "That furniture had absorbed the memories of our entire family."

• "You don’t know if you are an architect or a marriage counsellor."

• "Start talking to your older family when they are willing to share the history of things."

• "Do not keep anything that you don’t know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”-William Morris.

• "We are moving to multi-family and walkable communities and less stuff.”

• "You just have what you need.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Lloyd Atler.

Tess is offering Spark Joy listeners Free Anti-Budget Training. It's a budgeting method for people who hate budgeting. It simplifies financial management down to one simple number to use every day and is available at: www.wanderwealthy.com/AntiBudget

To connect with Tess Wicks visit www.wanderwealthy.com and join the Wander Wealthy community on Facebook and YouTube. Also, check out Tess’ podcast Words and Money.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• What improv, kettle bell and playing the violin have to do with personal finances

• How having financially responsible parents led Tess to be a cautious spender who avoided debt

• How to live outside of your comfort zone while taking calculated risks

• How Tess desires to be a minimalist and frugalist in most areas, but leans most towards Essentialism

• How prioritizing what is essential to you and deeming the rest "clutter" helps build awareness around spending

• How important it is to exercise your "saying no" muscle

• The lesson your sunk costs teach you

• Feeling financially overwhelmed? Tess suggests:
  1) Commit time to sit down and look at your finances
  2) Calculate your net worth (everything you own - everything you owe)
  3) Set realistic short-term goals you can accomplish in three months

• How having multiple bank accounts actually helps you avoid being caught off guard by financial surprises

• Why talking about money is so taboo

• How to initiate tough conversations about finances

• How wealthy women put their money to work for them

• How Tess pre-saves for splurges and treats herself, including the five things she won't give up

What sparks joy for Tess: She's finally living and breathing what her brand (Wander Wealthy) is by finding her freedom, taking adventures and enjoying her life while living within her financial means.

Gems:

• "I identify places where I need to grow or challenge myself and I dive into it."

• "If it brings you joy, make room in your budget to spend on that thing."

• "Separating the essential few from the trivial many."

• "Net worth = everything you own - everything you owe"

• "You don't want to be with someone who can't accept you for your flaws."

• "Anyone can achieve financial independence. The hardest part is taking action."

• "Commit and take action for one hour to decide to declutter your financial life."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Tess Wicks.

In this episode, Spark Joy explores how you can clarify your vision of the kind of life you want to lead and why it’s important step, but often overlooked, in the KonMari journey.

We discuss the why and how of identifying the vision of your ideal life and how it can help you complete the KonMari process to greater success. Your life vision will help you clarify why you want to tidy and how your life will look once the tidying is completed.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Tips for how to begin identifying your vision, making it specific, focused and intentional

• Learning how to break down identifying your ideal life into manageable parts:

  • What is your ideal day?
  • Your ideal moment that would spark joy? Picture yourself doing something delightful.
  • Begin with gratitude and appreciation - what is currently working for you in your space and in your life?
  • Imagine how you would be living your life today if money, time and obligations were not a constraint?
  • Take a holistic look at how you’re doing in each area of your life: Career, Relationships, Hobbies, Spirituality, Health, Finances, Community.
  • Check out the The KonMari Wheel of Impact
  • List the first five life goals (long- or short- term) that immediately come to mind as they relate to those categories.
  • Close your eyes and imagine you’ve reached the end of your tidying journey. Describe in detail how you envision your home to look and how you feel

• We share our own visions and visions of some of our clients from all stages of life: single people, families, couples, downsizers and empty nesters

• How to create your own Vision statement!

  • Get it out of your head and onto another media: diary, Pinterest board, website, blog, Facebook post, anything.
  • Establish a new tradition of creating a vision board and display it proudly in your home

Example of Vision Boards and Statements:
A Goal Setting Strategy That Sticks

Gems:
“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life”

“I just want things to be different instead of thinking about what that different looks like.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Our guest this week is inner voice coach, Kelly Covert. She is the host of the popular podcast, "In Her Voice", which explores ways in which women can begin to love themselves fully every single day.

Kelly Covert has a passion for helping women lay down their lifelong habits of perfectionism and chronic overachieving, so they can listen to their inner voices and break free of the past.
Through her coaching, online programs, writing and speaking, she is creating a movement of women that are practicing “worthy now” instead of “worthy if or when”.

Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, The Elephant Journal, YourTango.com, and she has been a featured guest on many podcasts.

In this episode, we talk with Kelly and learn about how coaching has allowed her to exercise her dream of helping women while teaching her so much about herself. She shares how her inner voice work has allowed her to grow as a woman, a partner, a mom and a musician!

To connect with Kelly, you can visit www.kellycovert.com or connect with her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @kellycovert

You can also learn more about Symphoria here! Symphoria

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-How Kelly found her voice and decided to help others via individual coaching Inner Voice Coaching and group coaching Inner Voice Group Coaching

-Learn about the Worthy Collective on Facebook:The Worthy Collective

-What to look for in a personal coach to meet your own goals.

-Kelly’s evolution as a podcaster and her new podcasting project, In Her Voice. In Her Voice

-How Kelly has practiced KonMari and how tidying has made a difference in Kelly’s home and family

-Kelly’s tips for balancing life as a mother, as a professional and as a creative person

What sparks joy for Kelly: Coffee! The ability to take a long, hot bath in the morning and working on my new podcast!

Kelly's parting words of wisdom:
“You are worthy right this minute. You do not have to do one thing to earn that. You were put on this earth with beautiful gifts that you need to share. And the only way that you can share is to believe that they are there and that you are good enough. So, get shining because we are waiting for your light to shine brightly!”

Gems:

“Create a space to access accountability.”

“We don’t have to do anything to be worthy. It’s just there.” 

“It comes from the action. That is how we embody that joy.”

“It’s about knowing who you really are and being 100% ok with that.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Kelly Covert.

Dorothy Breininger, aka “Dorothy The Organizer,” is known to millions as the fearless-yet-endearing problem solver on A&E’s Emmy-nominated hit TV series “Hoarders.” She is the author of seven books, including Stuff Your Face or Face Your Stuff. Dorothy is featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, O Magazine, and appears on the Today Show, Dr. Phil, the VIEW, The Doctors, QVC and PBS.

In this episode, Dorothy helps us make the connection between the clutter in our homes and addictions we may have in other areas of our life (food, alcohol, gambling, shopping, etc.). We explore some of the barriers that prevent us from making the choices we know are best for us and how to overcome them. Dorothy also shares her first hand experience working with clients suffering from hoarding and some of the resources available to help those with this condition.

Dorothy is offering Spark Joy listeners:

1. A Free Guide on “How to Banish Clutter Creatively”
2. A Free Cancer Concierge ebook that can help you learn how to organize yourself and your life in the face of a cancer diagnosis

To connect with Dorothy Breininger, you can visit her website, www.dorothytheorganizer.com for free tips, videos, newsletters, organizing resources for your life, home, office, and relationships. Be sure to check out her book “Stuff Your Face or Face Your Stuff” via her website or Amazon. Also, check her out on the hit show "Hoarders" on A&E.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Dorothy's three life-changing experiences that helped her manage her own clutter

• What Dorothy learned about other culture's relationship with clutter after backpacking across 30 countries

• How Dorothy climbed out of $360,000 of inherited debt

• How Dorothy's work on Hoarders helped her realize her own addictive behavior around food

• Netflix documentaries: Forks Over Knives and What the Health

• Why we are looking to stuff to decide where we are going as a society

• How food addiction is similar to alcohol or gambling addiction and leads to a perverse sense of self care

• How living with an addiction or mental illness impacts our ability to make conscious choices

• The three most common barriers we create between us and the problems we face and how to overcome them

• Stuff My Face, Face My Stuff is available on Amazon and includes examples of over 30 different types of Twelve Step Programs

• Landmark Education

• How to apply a questioning method from Byron Katie's process, The Work, can tell you about what your clutter is saying about you

• Lessons Dorothy's learned from working with extreme hoarding clients

• The power of apologies

• How to identify someone who hoards and common indicators

• The connection between perfectionism and hoarding

• What it was like to spend a night in a hoarder's home

• What happens during a hoarder's aftercare and its similarity to a food addiction maintenance plan

• Where to turn for hoarding help: Turn to www.dorthytheorganizer.com for tools and resources including a virtual therapy group for hoarders

Dorothy's Favorite Tidying Tip: "Left to right, top to bottom."

"Even if you feel sure you are right, never assume you know what’s best for another in terms of stuff. Simply re-arranging someone else’s stuff or worse yet getting rid of it without permission truly breaks the bonds of trust (especially with children)."

What sparks the most joy for Dorothy: Surprising friends, family, and strangers.

Gems:

• “What does your clutter say about you?”

• “We all have stuff.”

• “I got rid of the stuff so that I could create something bigger for myself.”

• “People hoarded stuff in their homes, but I was hoarding sugar and flour on my body.”

• “We’re looking to stuff to decide where we are going as a society.”

• “We are teetering near 14 million people who hoard.”

• “Barrier to facing our stuff: We blame others.”

• “Barrier to facing our stuff: We refuse to look at our own mistakes.”

• “Barrier to facing our stuff: We isolate instead of reach out for help.”

• “Overcome the barrier: Dare to admit we are fully responsible for the things that we own."

• “Overcome the barrier: Take a fearless moral inventory of yourself.”

• “Overcome the barrier: Be with a group of like-minded people to help you get out of isolation.”

• “Apologies created the path to clearing out the clutter in their house.”

• “Even if you feel sure you are right, never assume you know what’s best for another in terms of stuff.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Dorothy Breininger.

Our guest, Jenny Ning, was Marie Kondo's first employee in the US, and helped to grow the KonMari brand from mid-2015 to the end of 2016. In this episode, Jenny recalls her instant attraction to the KonMari Method and how confronting her clutter at home combined with some passionate persistence helped her attract a position on KonMari team. Since moving on from working for Marie Kondo in 2016, Jenny is now a practicing home organizer in San Francisco, and continues to introduce people to the life-changing magic of the KonMari Method. Driven by a desire to improve the status quo, Jenny also founded the startup Tummymom that helps connect all parties within the surrogacy community, making the ideal matching process easier.

To connect with Jenny Ning, you can visit her at www.jennyning.com or follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@jennyorganizes).

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Why Jenny calls The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up her bible

• How the KonMari Method shifted Jenny's attention to what she wanted to do with her life, rather than what she should do with her life

• What led Jenny to question if her job sparked joy and how the answer to that question inspired her to quit 5 months later

• How being a super fan and strategically inserting herself before the KonMari team helped Jenny land her dream job

• What steadily grew the KonMari fan base and the passion behind the followers

• How the KonMari team is inspired to make business decisions based on what "sparks joy"

• How planning the first US based KonMari consultant seminars inspired Jenny to commit to formal training

• Why cluttered living is a challenge in the Bay area, considering notoriously high rent and tight living spaces

Jenny's favorite tidying tip: 1) "Sometime means never." - Marie Kondo. Accept who you are right now. 2) The 20/20 rule: if you can replace something in 20 minutes for $20 or less, then you can give yourself permission to let it go

What sparks joy for Jenny: Her startup, Tummymom (www.tummymom.com).

Gems:

• "KonMari helped me step back and reevaluate my life."

• "With that question, does it spark joy?, you can't really avoid the answer."

• "Jenny Ning: Marie Kondo, I'll quit my job to work for you."

• "The KonMari team uses the KonMari Method to make business decisions."

• "Examining your relationship to things provides a lot of clarity about life."

• "Stop and pay attention to whether the things in your life align with your vision of what you want your life to be."

• "Even an average amount of possessions can make a tiny space feel cluttered and chaotic."

• "Are you willing to let things go in order to feel better?"

• "Sometime means never."

• "20/20 rule: if you can replace something in 20 mins for $20 or less, then give yourself permission to let it go."

• "Life truly begins only after you have put your house in order."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Jenny Ning.

In this episode, Spark Joy co-hosts take a look at KonMari basics and share their experiences as KonMari Consultants. The history of the KonMari Method along with basic concepts of KonMari organization are covered. Marie Kondo developed this organization methodology based on her experience as a professional organizer in Japan. She found that tidying could be completed thoroughly and that relapse could be avoided by following a particular order and focusing on whether an item sparks joy.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• Learning how Marie Kondo created the KonMari Method, as found in her first book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up

• Interesting facts about Marie and the beginnings of the KonMari Method

• How Marie’s childhood factored into her role as a future organizer:
  Marie Kondo Remembers

• How the KonMari mission to “organize the world” has expanded into a worldwide the training program to certify KonMari Consultants

• Fundamental Concepts of KonMari:

  • Tidying by category instead of location
    • Clothing
    • Books
    • Paper
    • Komono (miscellaneous items)
    • Sentimental
  • Sparking Joy
  • Once and Forever Event
  • The Power of the Pile
  • The Folding Method

• How Konmari can impact other areas of your life such as your health, finances, and maybe even your love life!

Gems:
“You don’t have to get rid of everything that doesn’t make your heart swoon.”

“It’s important to pull everything from everywhere.”

“Transferring love respect and gratitude through the palms of your hands.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

In this inaugural episode, co-hosts and certified KonMari consultants Kristyn Ivey of For the Love of Tidy (www.fortheloveoftidy.com) and Karin Socci of The Serene Home (www.theserenehome.com) introduce themselves and the Spark Joy podcast to the world! Kristyn is based in Chicago, Illinois and Karin serves New York City.

Spark Joy wants to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com, email us at contact@sparkjoypodcast.com to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter via @sparkjoypodcast.

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Karin developed a passion for creating peaceful and beautiful environments, inspired by generations of organizational enthusiasts in her family
• How KonMari helped Kristyn uncover her true passion in life, start a tidying business, and move from Virginia to Chicago
• How Karin and Kristyn met and the moment they realized there weren’t any podcasts that were solely dedicated and centered around the KonMari lifestyle
• What the KonMari Method is all about and the book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, that sparked the KonMari movement
• How the KonMari Method is fully integrated and referenced in pop-culture
• Fun facts about Marie Kondo and what it was like to meet the Queen of Tidy
• What the Spark Joy podcast is all about, including featured guests, consultants, clients thought leaders and game changers who put KonMari principles and lifestyle into action

Gems:

• “The podcast celebrating the KonMari Method and the transformative power of surrounding yourself with joy; and letting go of the all the rest.”

• "Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy