Spark Joy with the KonMari Method

I mentioned the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, in a recent post. The title isn't misleading.  It IS life-changing. Purging and clearing out your living area gives you more room (literally and metaphorically!) for the things you love the most.

The Marie Kondo's tidying method, known as the Konmari Method,  is actually quite simple.  When going through your possessions, if something doesn't spark joy, let it go. 

The first suggested category to attack is clothing.  (Kondo suggests tidying by category rather than by room.)  You are to gather up all your clothes- including out of season clothes, clothes in drawers, and in closets, etc.,  and put them all in one spot.  Then pick up each item, piece by piece and ask yourself if it truly sparks joy.  If not, either donate (prefereably), or just toss it. 

One idea that really helped me:
Let's say you have a cashmere sweater you bought 3 years ago at a great sale, but yet, you have never worn it because it's just not YOU. Marie Kondo says you just say something like this to that item of clothing, "Hey Cute Cashmere sweater, Thank you so much for that happy day you gave me when I bought you and I felt like I had really scored!  I'm gonna remember that great feeling, but I'm gonna send you out into the world so someone who will really connect with you can wear you.  I don't want you to feel neglecting in my closet any longer.  So long!"  And then off you go, to the donation center.  You're now going to make someone else very happy when they find a cashmere sweater at the thrift store!

The clothing category took me hours and was exhausting.  I clean out my closet fairly often, so it was surprising that I got rid of so many clothes using the Konmari Method. But I did!  And Lucy looked on in wonder.

Lucy was impressed with my heap of clothes to be donated, using the KonMari Method

Once you finish purging, THEN you organize.  And when you put your clothes back in drawers, you roll them into little egg roll looking shapes.  No stacking.  Marie says the clothes on the bottom not only feel neglected, but start to look beaten down.  The egg roll method (my term, not hers) makes it easy to see all of your things at a glance.  All things are on equal ground.  Also, nothing gets wrinkled.  (A bit of a surprise.)

The egg roll folding method-  I can see all my folded clothes now!

When you hang your clothes back in the closet, you order them from dark to light, heavy to lighter weight fabrics.  I hung things by catergory.  Shirts, pants, skirts, dresses...

That day, I also went through all of my handbags and purses, making sure each one that I kept still sparks joy in me.  One that no longer does, is this large black flower purse made by Big Buddha.  As I was checking the inside before throwing it in the donation pile, I found 3 crisp 100 dollar bills inside!  WHAT?!  I have no idea how or why that was in there, but I like to think it was the purse just saying, "Thank you for my freedom.  I can't wait to find someone that will carry me around and put me to good use. This is worth at least $300 dollars to me to get to leave your dark closet for the first time in years!"

A gift from the Buddha bag

I finished purging and then organizing my clothes and assesories a few weeks ago.  Since then, everything has stayed very organized.  However, the other day, I found a large under-the-bed sweater storage container I had forgotten about.  Ugh. Although I was happy to see the sweaters, at the same time, they bummed me out.  I had gotten down to just the perfect amount of clothing, but now, I'm feeling like it's a bit too much again.  I did get rid of 3 of those sweaters, but it's still too much I'm hanging on to. 

Marie says you may continue getting rid of more and more, and then finally one day it will click and you'll know you've reached the proper amount that you feel comfortable with.  Although it is a process, she does encourage doing it all pretty quickly and then being done with it.  It should feel life-changing.  It should feel drastic! 

So that's just a little bit about my process using the KonMari Method of tidying up!  More to follow, in upcoming posts!