When Marie Kondo’s Netflix series came out, “Tidying up with Marie Kondo,” I was curious. I don’t believe I had ever heard of her before and I was in the mood to declutter and filter my home, so I checked it out. I will say she is utterly fascinating. This tiny little human, Marie Kondo, has such a simple way of organizing but it is so effective. This show was based on her book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”
She does a few things that I don’t do, but I have implemented some of the ideas into my own organizational arsenal. It has forever changed how I tidy up my home. If you are trying to stick to a certain way of keeping your house filtered and tidy, I’d pick this method.
The idea is to go through everything in your house and see if it is sparks joy. If it does, keep it. If it doesn’t, give it away. It’s as simple as that. Her way of tidying has become known as the KonMari method. Here are some of the basics that I’ve learned.
1. Commit to Tidy Your Home All At Once
If you are going to do this. It’s important to decide to do it all at once. Meaning if it takes you 30 days, do it until it is complete. It means don’t do one category and do another months later. In the show, a lot of people commit to this and it takes time, but the investment is worth the effort. The way she does this is so interesting.
2. Visualize the Destination and Decide To Keep Only What Sparks Joy
Vision is the key. What do you want your home to look like? What do you want it to say? Do you want it to look tidy? Do you want it to look peaceful? If you know what you want your home to look like before you start, it will help you a lot. Think about what “sparks joy” for you.
3. Tidy by the Categories Listed, Not by Location
A lot times we clean and organize our home by rooms. Marie’s suggestion is to do it by category. So if you are cleaning clothes, do all the clothes in the entire house at once. If you are organizing papers, gather all your papers into one area and tidy up all the papers in the house. I think it’s quite effective this way.
The categories are: clothes, books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and sentimental items. With the clothes, Marie Kondo has a very specific folding method which I discuss below. Miscellaneous means everything else, and sentimental are things that have meaning to you emotionally.
4. Tidy in Order
It’s important to follow the categories in order, because this will make you more structured and you will feel like you are heading in the right direction. I didn’t have too much problem following the order.
5. Fold the “KonMari” Way
The folding method I would say was the most interesting for me. It actually made everything look more organized and gave me more space. I was skeptical at first whether it would really give me more space, but somehow it does. It’s amazing! I’ve attached a short video for you to see, how she recommends to do it. In the process, will be folding clothes that you have decided you love and want to keep.
In the end, I had a couple of bags to donate to Goodwill. It was great. I would recommend watching the first couple of episodes to get the hang of this. The two biggest adjustments for us maintain this, was keeping up the folding system and making sure that what we bring into the house is something that brings joy. If you keep it that simple, it really stays simple.
Cheers!