‘Tidying up with Marie Kondo’ was realised on Netflix since New Year’s Day and since then, stories of people's decluttering pursuits have been blowing up on my feeds.
Source: Netflix
I came across the Konmari method about 2 years ago ever since I came across her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up". This discovery came around the same time that I had come across the the documentary ‘Minimalism: A Documentary’ on Netflix, a documentary about the notion of living a life with less. The combination of the two totally inspired me to declutter my home and transformed my ideas on the lifestyle I wanted to live.
2017 was a year of inspiration. I was well settled into my home after moving in the year prior. The Hubs and I had figured out how to live together and had set up our home, so now it was a matter of optimising it.
Minimalism
The concept of minimalism is a direct response to the capitalist, consumerist culture which is engrained in western societies. The push to have more to be more. In turn we have to work more and stress more, to earn more, to pay for all these fancy things just to keep up with the Joneses. What you learn is that there is no correlation between the amount of things you have, to how much happiness you possess.
So rather than running blindly on the hamster wheel, minimalism offers an alternative approach: by minimalising your life and becoming detached from your belongings, you simplify your life and find happiness through freedom from the chains of consumerism. By being more deliberate on the things you own, you ‘get rid of life’s excess in favour of focusing on what’s important—so you can find happiness, fulfilment, and freedom.’ (Source: theminimalists.com)
“Though changing your mindset, actions and habits, it teaches you to be more intentional with your life so that you can spend more time and energy on the things that you love and value, and not wasting it on things you don’t.”
Konmari
The Konmari method, though similar to minimalism in the sense that they both involve decluttering, is not necessarily to have less things, but more to only surround yourself with things that ‘spark joy’. By envisioning the lifestyle you want to live and keeping only those items that spark joy, your environment will become a source of happiness and positivity. As The Minimalists once stated, Konmari is more of the ‘how’ whilst minimalism is more of the ‘why’. That being said, freeing up your space does have a psychological effect. There is so much satisfaction in letting go of things that weigh you down.
In Marie Kondo’s books she goes into great detail on the process and techniques of how to declutter and tidy your home. She splits it into five phases:
Clothing
Books
Papers
Komono (miscellaneous items)
Sentimental
It’s important that you keep to that order so that by the time it comes to decluttering your most sentimental items that is difficult to let go, the exercise of going through all your items would have honed in your feelings on what things spark joy for you.
Some other key points include:
Tidy by category not location. If you have clothes in multiple locations, bring them and pile them all together so you can visually see how much stuff you have. By seeing everything all at once, the feelings of overwhelm will help you see the excess and cull your unnecessary possessions.
You have to hold your items and listen to your feelings. The act of physically touching your belongings will evoke feelings of happiness and lightness if they spark joy, or make you feel heavy and tense which means that it’s probably something you can let go.
Everything should have a home. If you take out an item, keep your room tidy by returning it to it’s 'home'. If you bring in something new, find a home for it so you know where it belongs.
Marie Kondo has a very specific method of folding clothing. You want to fold it into a little package so that it will stand upright. When you put them in a draw, you will be and to see everything in one go rather than stacking them on top of each other. This was totally against what I had learnt working in retail.
It's OK to let things go of things if they have outlived their purpose and no longer brings you joy.
Even as you rid yourself unwanted items, she reminds us to be mindful and remember to give appreciation for all that have served us.
As I had mentioned in my 2018 year in review, it's something that I wanted to continue practicing this year and with the release of the new Netflix series, it's gotten me all motivated again.
Using the Konmari method for all our drawers
When I first started I decluttered and refolded all my clothes the Konmari way and also went through the Hubs and pulled out a stack of clothing that I had never seen him wear in the 8 years we have been together. Since then, I have gone over decluttering my clothes many times over. I've done my books, I've cut down on my books and papers (clearing out my filing cabinet which had payslips from like 2006).
Unfortunately, if you don't manage to get it all done in a short period you do lose motivation. It is a lot of work. I still have my laundry, my garage storage and sentimental items to go. I probably reviewed my clothes so many times to feel like I'm productive, but really I’m just procrastinating and avoid doing the harder categories. Hopefully I can get through it this year.
Was tidying up using the Konmari method life changing? That, and discovering minimalism, I would have to say, yes. I'm a lot more conscious of the things I bring into my home and when I do, I must fine a place for it. Nowadays I buy something based on need, fulfilling a function or a planned purchase and try to avoid impulse buys. I actually managed to avoid any purchases during the end of year sale this season, besides getting a dishwasher, which was something we have been wanting for years.
Tidying up is so much easier knowing that everything has a home and it's just a matter of returning it to it's place. And my mindset? I no longer feel the burden of having to keep things that weigh me down. I've learnt to let things go physically and mentally.
