How many of the possession in our homes really 'spark joy'?
She’s the tidying guru whose viral Netflix series encouraged us to declutter our homes to - some argue - an extreme level.
And Marie Kondo’s advice to bin possessions that don’t ‘spark joy’ is the topic of much debate.
According to new research carried out by Yahoo and YouGov, British people would end up with bulging bin bags if we followed her advice to bin our non-joyful items.
The poll asked British people the question: “Please imagine that you had to remove all of the belongings in your home which did not 'spark joy'. What proportion of items do you think you would remove from each of the following categories?”
It found that ‘papers’ like letters, magazines and ‘administrative admin’ are the most likely to go, with 18% of Brits saying they would get rid of all of them.
Mementos like photos and souvenirs are most likely to be treasured, with just 3% of Brits saying they would get rid of all of them and half (51%) saying they wouldn’t get rid of any.
When it comes to clothing, nearly half of Brits (a total of 46%) would get rid of at least half of their clothes, while one in five (22%) would get rid of more than half.
However, one in eight (12%) would keep every single item. Men are twice as likely to keep all of their clothes than women, the poll found, with 16% of men saying they would get rid of ‘none of them’ compared to 8% of women.
The figures are discussed on the latest episode of Yahoo UK’s podcast Britain Is a Nation Of... which this week focuses on the subject of homes.
Listen to the full episode of Britain is a Nation of... below
According to the poll, a third of people (35%) said they would remove at least half of their books, but that figure varies according to age.
For 18 to 24-year-olds it rose to nearly half (47%) while for over-55s it was just a third (32%), with nearly two thirds (61%) saying they would get rid of less than half of their books or none at all.
One in 20 people (6%) said they would get rid of all of their books, with men twice as likely to ditch all the literature in their home than women (8% vs 4%).
And while mementoes topped the table as the least likely to be ditched, four in ten people (42) said they would say goodbye to at least some of their mementoes.
This survey was made possible by YouGov’s panel of 6 million respondents. Join the trend and share your opinions with the world today.
