Tidying Up the Marie Kondo Way – Part 1

Disclaimer: This method of tidying up is not for the faint of heart.

Inspired and intrigued by the barrage of Facebook and Insta posts about Marie Kondo and her KonMari method of tidying up, I decided to dig into this novel way of approaching decluttering. I’d already been feeling a strong desire to do a complete sweep of my house and get rid of all the clutter that was subconsciously stressing me out – so this popped up at the right time.

Determined to make my house a stress-free and clean haven, I immediately downloaded Marie’s book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” on my Kindle and let me tell you, it was a page turner. In the limited time I have to read, I was able to finish it in TWO days. And for you mamas with young kiddos out there, you can appreciate how hard that is to accomplish!

If you’re not already familiar, the KonMari method of tidying is centered around the idea that you only keep things in your home that sparks joy, so you’re surrounded only by the things you love. And if you go through the process the right way – in one fell swoop, in the proper order – you’ll never have to do it again, you won’t rebound back into the clutter. That, for me, was the kicker.

In search for more tidying inspo, I watched one episode of her wildly popular Netflix show, Tidying Up. That was all the motivation I needed – I was all in.

The first category to declutter is clothes. As a warm up, I used the KonMari method of folding to tidy up Mackenzie’s dresser since there wasn’t much decluttering I needed to do with her clothes. My husband (bless his heart) gets her dressed every morning and in the process manages to completely mess up any attempts at keeping her clothes folded. Because, he claims, it’s hard to find the leggings or shirts he’s looking for. Enter Marie’s ingenious way of folding – so that all your clothes are standing up in plain view instead of stacked in a pile you have to sift through. What a huge difference it’s made!

It is so satisfying to still see her clothes neat and tidy in their drawers after more than a week of mornings of Chad getting Mackenzie ready. One point for Marie. Zero points for rebounding clutter.

On a tidying high, I decided to take this past Friday off from work so I could get started on decluttering my clothes. It was the perfect storm – Chad was traveling for work, Mackenzie was at daycare and Wally was at doggy daycare – I had the whole house to myself.

To get in the right head space, I watched an episode of “Tidying Up” while drinking my coffee and fueling up on eggs and toast. Then, I got to work – taking all my clothes out of the closets, storage bins/bags, and drawers and putting into one big pile. The pile ended up being taller than me, which is kind of embarrassing, actually.

The point of it all in one spot is to give you an accurate picture of how much you actually have, which, for me was pretty eye-opening. It’s so easy to forget the sheer volume of what you have when things are stored away in other closets, drawers and storage bins. Like I mentioned, it was pretty embarrassing to see how much clothes I own. I mean, I knew I had a shopping problem, but now it was staring me right in the face, plain as day.

After I got over the initial shock, I started the daunting task of picking up each item, and asking myself if it sparked joy. Now, I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical about the whole “does it spark joy” thing. Seemed a little far-fetched to think any material item could bring you true joy. But it’s really all in how you define it for yourself. For me, joy meant liking how I felt in it, loving how it looked on me, and asking myself if it was something I wanted to keep, rather than asking if it was something I wanted to get rid of.

There were a lot of clothes that I knew right away I didn’t want to keep for various reasons (didn’t fit me anymore, didn’t like how it fit, didn’t reflect my style, haven’t worn it in years). Then there was a pile of “I’m not sure’s” -of clothes I haven’t worn in years but wasn’t ready to let go of, clothes I was hoping to someday fit into again, and clothes I kind of liked and would wear every so often.

Another important part to this process is to thank the items you are getting rid of. At first, this seemed really weird to me. But, I found it made it easier to let go of some of the clothes I was holding onto for more sentimental reasons like the dress I wore at my rehearsal dinner, when I got engaged, or tops that I made a lot of fun memories in.

When you think about it, clothes at the most basic level, are meant to be worn. So hold onto clothes that have been sitting unworn, unloved, unappreciated for weeks, months and even years. Why not give someone else the chance to wear, love and make their own memories in?

The more time I spent assessing each piece of clothing, the clearer it became what sparking joy meant. It took me a solid 4 hours to go through the massive pile. I said goodbye to 6 trash bags of clothes and one trash bag of shoes. I completely eliminated the need to use the closet space in the guest bedroom, scaled down 4 bins of seasonal clothing into one small storage bag of shorts, and freed up more space in our closet for Chad’s clothes. It felt so freeing.

Once I got into the folding and putting away step, I found myself getting rid of a few more clothes. They just weren’t worth the extra effort it took to fold the Marie Kondo way – a sure sign they didn’t bring me joy.

When I picked out my outfit the next day, I realized my whole mindset was different. Instead of looking at my closet overwhelmed and just feeling blah about it all, I looked at it happily wondering, “What do I GET to wear today?” I knew that everything piece of clothing I now own, I intentionally chose to keep because I cherish and value them. I like how they make me feel, how they make me look, how they reflect my style. And now that they’re folded and organized in a way where I can see it all – it’s so much easier to put together an outfit. Two points for Marie. Still zero points for rebounding clutter.

So, now that I’ve successfully completed the first phase – clothes – next up is books and then paper. Check back for Part 2 of my KonMari journey!