The Life-Changing Magic of Yorokobi

KonMari consultant-in-training Renelyn Tan-Castillejos shares the difference between cleaning and tidying, and how the process changes lives, starting with her own.

Renelyn Tan-Castillejos has been a teacher in China, the Asia Pacific director of international youth-oriented organization World Youth Alliance (WYA), before becoming WYA’s international programs manager. But these days, her main goal is to help you clean house.

 “I didn’t realize that marriage was such an adjustment,” chuckles Castillejos. Castillejos said that her first year with her husband Dominic was fraught with piles of stuff and arguments. She picked up a book she’d previously read, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and applied the KonMari method of decluttering to the master bedroom just to initiate some kind of change. When her husband arrived home from work that day, there was suddenly a sense of peace in their home. Castillejos thought to herself that the term “life-changing magic” was indeed correct.

Kondo Certified

Castillejos learned of a KonMari consultant certification course in New York. “I’d recently resigned from my previous position because there was really a lot of travel, and that didn’t really fit into our plans as a newly married couple. But that also meant that I couldn’t take a loan from the bank because I had no real collateral, so I approached what I like to call the Bank of Dominic Castillejos,” she says with a laugh. With her husband’s support, she took the course in early 2018 and passed with flying colors, becoming a KonMari consultant-in-training. In the next few months, Castillejos would quietly take on a few clients while setting up what would become Yorokobi.

Yorokobi in Japanese means “joy.” Castillejos chose this name for her KonMari consultancy business because the core tenet of the KonMari method is that you should only hold on to things that spark joy. A key thing one will notice upon meeting Castillejos is that she radiates a very cheerful, very human, and very calming sort of vibe. She doesn’t shy away from sharing her own blunders, and often references past errors in organizing or her former mentality in acquiring objects. She isn’t creating an impossible illusion of perfection, because her intention isn’t to intimidate you into minimalism. She’s helping you navigate the journey of seeing whether what your hold on to are things that actually matter.

Confronting Oneself To Declutter

Renelyn Tan-Castillejos conducts sessions as a KonMari consultant-in-training, inspiring joy around the world one space at a time.

Yorokobi clients say that a coach like Castillejos is well worth the investment, especially if you’ve read the books and watched the Netflix series, but still feel stumped as to where to start or how to follow through. Castillejos, they say, is just one of those people who has a keen eye for solutions that might evade others. One of her clients bluntly explains, “When you do it on your own, and you’re someone who’s used to accumulating clutter, you will make excuses for yourself to keep this thing or that thing. You need that objective person who will look at your life from the outside and ask you bluntly, ‘Is that a thing you need to hold onto?’”

 “Sometimes people get confused and think that what I’m doing is providing a cleaning service,” says Castillejos with a laugh. “That’s not what I do. Clients are surprised, but process of tidying can and usually become very emotional. The first time I decluttered, I realized why I was holding on to some things. I had issues I wasn’t dealing with, and it had manifested in the clutter around me. I had to deal with that as well as physically removing things. What we do is not just cleaning, it’s tidying.” The difference she finds it best explained by Marie Kondo herself, who’s famously written, “Tidying is the act of confronting yourself; cleaning is the act of confronting nature.” As tidying becomes emotional, Castillejos is there not only to assist in positioning bins and dividers, but in holding her client’s hand through the turmoil of what comes up in the confrontation of one’s cluttered demons.

Worth The Investment

Yorokobi takes on a few clients a month, with packages starting at a one-day five-hour session to anywhere between three to five four-hour sessions. The fees are cleverly called “investments,” as the goal is not only to declutter, but to help clients create habits that will keep them from relapsing into mess. Castillejos also conducts workshops throughout the city, with fees that range from P1,500 to P3,000 per head.

 “The KonMari method was life-changing for me, and that’s why I want to share it with everyone,” says Castillejos. “It made my husband and myself more peaceful, more loving, and kinder. Maybe if more of us try to live with just the things that are actually important, then maybe the world around us would also become kinder and more peaceful too.”

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For more information or any inquiries, email renelyn@worldofyorokobi.com or follow her on Instagram at @worldofyorokobi.