Marie Kondo’s Morning Routine Is Literally a Breath of Fresh Air

A small ritual with big impact.
Lydia Geisel Avatar
portrait of marie kondo in a brown dress against a border of wood

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Marie Kondo’s morning is one worth emulating. The professional organizer has touched on her routine in past interviews, but earlier this week we learned something new about how she spends those early hours. In addition to beginning each day at 6:30 a.m.—sharp—Kondo opens all the windows in her house and burns incense to cleanse the air. “This routine sets me on a joyful path for the rest of the day,” the author and Netflix star wrote in an Instagram post.  

Our first thought was, Who has time for that? But when we mulled it over, we realized the answer is everyoneAll you have to do is set aside 10 minutes (max!), which is probably the same amount of time you spend catching up on what happened on Instagram overnight.

Kondo carves out room in her busy schedule for many personal rituals. The tidying maven told Elemental this spring that she usually cooks rice with miso soup and in-season veggies for breakfast. At night, once her kids are in bed, she goes around her house and changes the water in the flower vases. She also slows down her skin-care regimen, revealing to W magazine that she’s extra-careful when removing her makeup. After a solid tidying session, she’ll refresh the air in her home once again by diffusing essential oils, opting for natural scents like a Japenese wood called Kuromoji.

We could all use a little breather before the day is in full swing, and Kondo makes a good case for cracking the window. 

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Lydia Geisel Avatar

Lydia Geisel

Home Editor

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.