Does Tidying Up Lead to Environmentally Friendly Consumption?

The concept of living with fewer material things has gained increasing public attention, and “tidying up” has been popularized through the work of Marie Kondo in books and mass media. However, previous research on how tidying influences consumption behavior remains limited. This study draws on semi-structured interviews with 15 professional tidying consultants in Japan to examine how tidying relates to consumption practices and environmental attitudes. Most respondents were middle-aged women who had been full-time homemakers. They described long-standing difficulties in managing household possessions and reported turning to tidying to reorganize their lives. After tidying, they all began to practice a less material-intensive lifestyle by not keeping unnecessary stocks and by using things that they already had. They also did regular maintenance on their existing items and tried to use things for longer periods of time. However, the links between tidying and broader environmentally friendly behaviors and attitudes, such as saving energy or reusing secondhand goods, were weak and depended mostly on personal values. Overall, the findings suggest that tidying may be linked to mindful consumption, but it does not necessarily lead to substantial changes toward sustainable consumption.