Since then, I've felt a growing urgency within myself to simplify my life and declutter. Sometimes we make the assumption that people are the way they are because they've chosen to be, that they like that mess. But the reality for me was that I simply didn't know how to change!
Fast forward to last week, when I finally purchased the English translation!
Marie Kondo's KonMari system of tidying can be summed up pretty simply:
1. Discard any items that do not bring you joy.
You discard items in specific categories, rather than going room by room as most decluttering gurus recommend (ideas which have failed miserably in my experience).
2. Decide where to store things.
Only after you've discarded everything that fails to spark joy within you do you begin to organize. You find a place for everything that's left, and then you know exactly where to put it once you're done using it each day. This is designed to eliminate all that extra time we spend in our off hours trying to tidy up the mess before we can clean the surfaces of our home.
As I read the book, my instincts were singing, Yes yes yes! This is what I'd been searching for! Besides, I figured, what the hell do I have to lose?
The answer is a whole bunch of junk I don't want!
Yesterday, I got started with the first category: Clothes.
The first thing Kondo recommends is to gather every article of clothing in one place, so I traipsed upstairs to the bedroom to gather my wardrobe. "This won't take long," I thought. Ha!
Just to give you an idea of the before, here are pictures of my closet and dresser, overflowing with clothes:
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| This doesn't include all of the clothes in random places, like the drying rack that is almost never put away and the dryer. |
But I didn't hesitate, this was my whole plan for my Friday off! I went from room to room gathering laundry baskets full of clothes, and the piles on the living room floor started growing until I got to this:
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| AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH! |
It was at this point that I had a minor panic attack and decided to take a break for some deep breaths and to put a load of dirty clothes in the washing machine. That's right, there were still more clothes that I couldn't even add to this giant mess!
After that, I went in the order of subcategories she suggested, starting with tops that were out of season.
It went pretty smoothly from there, to be honest. Getting started was scary, but pretty soon I was hardly thinking about which items I wanted to keep - I would pick up each article of clothing and almost immediately know that it was time for it to go!
Kondo recommends not worrying about sentimental attachment or gifts, but putting into perspective the idea that holding onto something you don't use or don't want is the truly wasteful act. The item has served its purpose in your life, and now it can be set free! Good bye clothes I once loved, but never wear!
5 trash bags and 1 donation pile later:
At this point, I was getting really excited! I took a break for lunch because all of the running up and down the stairs and bending and sorting had me needing an energy boost. I ate such a big lunch of leftover salmon croquettes over rice and garlic butter peas, it reminded me of the big lunches my grandmother would serve my Papa when I was a kid after he'd spent all morning working hard at building or running one of his latest business ventures. Hearty southern food is for busting ass!
Now that the discarding period was over, it was time to organize! I had a small pile of clothes to hang, but first I went through and folded all the foldables:
This is everything I would be putting into my dresser, plus my shoes, and far less than it was holding before. The dryer was done, so I could add those missing clothes as well. Even as I was going through this process, I ended up discarding a few extra articles of clothing I changed my mind about.
Kondo recommends folding things into rectangles and then stacking them vertically for maximum space efficiency. This was super easy to do, but did give me time to look at each piece closely and inspect for any holes or stains I had missed (except for my loungewear, with those I don't care so much about imperfections).
Once I had them all folded, I organized my drawers with some soft boxes and shoeboxes I had to keep the categories separated.
I started at the bottom, with pants, shorts, heavy sweaters:
Then I moved to the middle drawer with shirts, tank tops, swimsuits, scarves and handkerchiefs, and the two belts I had left:
After that, all I had left was underwear and socks for the top drawer:
Y'all, I didn't have room for all of the stuff I wanted to put in my dresser before I went through this process, and now I have half a drawer left over. And also a lot of extra spare change, I found spare change everywhere!
And this is what my closet looks like now:
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| Anybody need some extra hangers? I have about 3 dozen more than I need! |
This photo is missing a few tops that I need to handwash due to my new obsession with rayon, but that's still basically it. That also includes a few pieces I picked up at Goodwill recently to form the basis of this year's RenFest costumes.
The whole process took me about 5-6 hours, but it was totally worth it. Despite my initial overwhelmed feelings, by the time I was done I felt energized and ready to tackle the next category. I will probably tweak the organization as I use it, but this is such a huge improvement.
I did take the remaining hours of the day off to rest and spend time with my significant other. Mario Kart 8 waits for no woman!
The next category will require a bit more heavy lifting, but I'll be thankful once we get ready to move to a new house in a few months. Next up: BOOKS!
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| Can I say goodbye to my beloved books?! |
Great job. I really enjoyed reading about your efforts, and had to laugh. Mom
ReplyDeleteA word about the books. Kindle- just saying...
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks for the feedback, Mom! I actually purchased this book on my Kindle, so that way I wouldn't have one more thing to put on the shelf!
DeleteLol!
ReplyDelete