Do you have too much stuff? Is your house, dare we say it, untidy? Are you tied to your material possessions because you've filled your life with everything from wrinkle creams full of empty promises to uncomfortable, but amazing shoes you've only worn once?
On New Year's Day, Netflix released the series "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo," a minimalist home- and life-improvement show based on the wildly popular 2014 book "The Life Changing Book of Tidying Up." The show stars the book's author, Japanese organization expert Marie Kondo.
The method is very simple. You divide all the stuff in your house -- all of it -- into several categories, and then examine each item to see if it sparks joy. If it does, you keep it. If it doesn't, you thank it, as if it were a past lover, and neatly discard it.
It definitely has had an effect. Posts are flooding social media. People posting their before and after pictures and talking about how much they've discarded or donated. One Jacksonville blogger, Kerry Speckman, was able to get rid of six bags of clothes and junk by going through all of her closets and drawers. She feels like a new person since the purge, but there's another big winner here.
We talked to Desi Pappas of Goodwill of Northeast Florida. She said they usually see a good amount of donations in January, but since the show made its debut on Jan. 1, they've had at least a 10 percent increase in drop-offs.
"Just because the item doesn't spark joy in your life, doesn't mean it won't so that for somebody else," Pappas said.
Keep in mind that while you can get rid of whatever you want, you cannot donate everything you don't want.
"We don't accept mattresses, box springs or infant items," according to Pappas. "Those are the top three that we don't accept as donations because they are not really re-sellable. We also don't accept paint or other hazardous materials. Anything that is perishable in any way is not accepted as a donation."
If you have electronic clutter like TVs, computers, tablets and stereos, Goodwill does take all of that. Of course, that's in addition to clothes and household items. Whether you donate to Goodwill or one of the other thrift stores in our area, you're making a difference.
Pappas said, "So by putting these items on our shelves, you are giving something to somebody else who might enjoy that piece as much as you used to."
Netflix definitely knew what it was doing when it released "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" on the first day of the year, when people are probably at their most vulnerable and untidy. The streaming service doesn't share viewing data, so it's hard to tell how many people have watched Kondo gently direct the evacuation of closets, kitchens and kunstkammers in pursuit of a tidier, happier existence.
But the company pointed CNN to this stat: On Dec. 31, Kondo's Instagram follower count was 710,000. By now, it's 1.2 million and climbing.