I, like everyone else, have now seen the new Netflix series "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo." This isn't a new phenomena as her books have been best sellers and trending for the last few years, but it is new to me. After watching a few episodes on a snowy Sunday afternoon I decided I need to start this process myself. I know-- how original! Well, I had a day off last week and decided that was going to be the day that I start.
What is the KonMari method, you ask? Well, what Marie says makes it unique is that she organizes by category and not by location. So, you don't set forth doing one room at a time, but go in a specific order of categories. The five categories are:
- Clothing
- Books
- Paper
- Komono
- Kitchen
- Bathroom
- Garage
- Miscellaneous
- Sentimental Items
Since the people on the show seem to get a month to do the entire process I decided that I should too. Rome wasn't conquered in a day folks-- it took time! So, since the first step is clothing, I decided that in order to keep in line with the KonMari method I would tackle my clothes.
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| Before: Clothes everywhere! |
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| Before: Shoe shelves a mess |
The way that Marie says to complete the organization is to take all of your clothes out and place them somewhere all together. Everyone on the show seems to put everything on their bed, so I did too! She says "only when you are actually confronted with exactly how much you have, you start to realize what you need to do." I decided to take some before pictures, excluding my dresser, and was mortified at the sight! I couldn't even put away all of my clean laundry because there was no more room. I just had laundry baskets and piles of clean folded clothes that hadn't been put away plus a dirty clothes hamper full of dirty clothes. Too much! Well, my fear became a reality when I piled everything on my bed. I couldn't even reach the top to put more on-- I had to toss it on top! I was doing this alone and was so embarrassed at the amount of clothing that I had accumulated over the years and the fact that I hadn't even worn most of it in years.
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| During: It was as tall as I am! |
I went through piece-by-piece and did exactly what Marie says to do... Does it spark joy? Yes? Keep. No? Thank it and get rid of it. After doing this for HOURS I ended up with 9 bags of clothing to give away! NINE! I cannot explain how much lighter I feel. It's crazy that I had accumulated that much clothing and had moved it between homes as many times as I did! The clothing treated me well and it was time to pass it on to someone else that could use it. It is a pretty great feeling! After friends and family looked through the clothing I decided to donate the rest to a women's shelter and Goodwill.
Now comes the hard part-- folding. I hate folding clothes and putting them away. I suppose I hated it more before because I had so many and putting them away was a pain! Marie recommends a specific way to fold all clothing and it actually makes a lot of sense. It saves so much room and looks incredibly neat and tidy (the point I guess). I signed up for a newsletter from a organization blog called For the Love of Tidy and her folding guide is incredibly helpful!
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| All tshirts & tank tops folded neatly. I have so much more room! |
It was a very cleansing exercise and I feel so much lighter after getting it done. I have decided to make this a bit of a series here on Lashes & Leggings and am going to try to organize my personal space in the apartment using Marie's KonMari method. So, this will be followed by four more posts for the remaining categories of organization.
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| After: Organized and so much more space |
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| After: All shoes have a place and easily accessible |
Are you interested in trying the KonMari method of organization? Have you already used it for your home? Please share in the comments below!
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