'Tidying Up' craze causing spike in thrift store donations

TV show sparks wave of organizing Cole Davenport explains how the Netflix show Tidying Up has sparked people to start cleaning up and getting organized.

A new Netflix show called Tidying Up is encouraging people to be a bit more organized by using the techniques of Japanese organization expert Marie Kondo, and it’s contributing to a recent spike in thrift store donations.

“This time of year, traditionally, the donations coming in through the door slows down,” said Dean Cox, store manager at The Log House Thrift Store in Regina. “But this year they’re still just coming in like crazy, like it was the middle of the summer and people were doing their spring cleaning.”

Cox says it’s a welcome surprise, adding many of his customers and staff are fans of the show.

“Apparently I was the only person in the store that really didn’t know who Marie Kondo was, and everybody kind of snickered at me a little bit,” Cox said. “If all the people in my store know who she is, then you know a lot of people out there know who she is.”

Samantha Bromm, a Regina-based professional organizer and owner of Queen Bee Organization has seen the show and uses some of Kondo’s “Konmari” techniques in her own organizing at home. She says the show is causing people to ask themselves many of the same questions about decluttering her clients ask.

“Some people just need someone else to come in and say, it’s okay to let that thing go,” Bromm said, adding the trend so far hasn’t brought about a spike in her business.

“I think people have trouble getting organized because they’re overwhelmed,” Bromm said. “Most people say they’re overwhelmed. They don’t know where to start.”

Cox is reminding anyone thinking about decluttering to try and avoid sending everything that ‘no longer brings them joy’ to the landfill.

“Please bring it to an organization like ourselves, where if we can’t repurpose it, we go through everything and we’ll send it to somebody else who can.”

As the show becomes an instant hit, sparking joy for viewers, it’s also sparking action from people hoping to bring in a little more organization.