Charity shops around the world have been reporting a significant increase in donations due to the popularity of Netflix hit ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.’
The show follows the Japanese tidying guru as she helps American households to de-clutter – by getting rid of items that no longer “spark joy.”
Kondo has authored a number of books – including a New York Times bestseller – on the “KonMari” method; however since her new show was launched, her fame has hit new levels.
This afternoon, Newstalk reporter Henry McKean made his way to the St Vincent de Paul charity shop on Sean McDermott St to see if there has been any increase in donations.
Exclusive: Has the @NetflixUK hit Tidying Up with Marie Kondo led to a spike in charity shop donations worldwide? Join me in a very busy @SVP_Ireland warehouse as de cluttering donations pile up. @SeanMoncrieff from 2pm @NewstalkFM @MarieKondo #SparkJoy pic.twitter.com/MBlSHbTFHm
— Henry McKean (@HenryMcKean) January 24, 2019
Annette McGrane, the charity’s area manager for the east region said there has been a “huge spike” in donations this month.
“I think people mainly do a huge clearout after Christmas when they are outing items back in their attics and they get rid of what they don’t want to make room for what they are going to have for the coming year,” she said.
She said the show appears to have had an effect- although there is no way of saying for sure how influential it has been.
“All programmes like that would impact on what people do and don’t do in relation to donating items,” she said.
“People would look at that and go ‘oh god I need to do one of those clearouts’ and we would get quite a lot of donations.”
St Vincent de Paul provided over needy families with direct assistance worth over €43m last year – with cash assistance of €8m.
Ms McGrane said the Sean McDermott St shop alone brought in half-a-million Euro for the charity.
You can listen back to Henry’s full report here:
