Messy Jessy was my childhood nickname. When friends came over I would throw everything into my closet and quickly shut the door before things tumbled out. These bad habits of being messy followed me into adulthood. I spent a lot of the time looking for things. I blamed messiness on being creative . This was a poor excuse. The truth is that I needed to find a better way.
My mom got me a copy of Marie Kondo’s Book “The Life Changing Art of Tidying Up.” When I finished rolling my eyes, I started reading.
The method of folding has been life changing. I can now open my drawers and see all of my shirts, allowing me take a quick inventory of what I have. Separating into small boxes keeps my drawers and cabinets easy to organize and helps solve the issue of every drawer becoming the “junk drawer.” I thought for a long time more fancy organizers from The Container Store were what I needed. In reality, I needed to look at what I had and decide what was worth keeping. The problem was not that I wasn’t spending enough time tidying, it was that I was doing it the wrong way.
The author suggests tidying by category instead of room. You gather all items of the category from all rooms and lay them out so you can see what you have . Then you pick up each item - one at a time - and ask yourself “Does this bring me joy?” Going item by item forces us to really consider if that item is useful to us. Items that are not “useful” but truly bring us happiness when we see them should be kept.
Kondo teaches us sometimes we hold onto things that have outlived their purpose and in turn we can’t appreciate the things that bring true value to our life. We need to thank our items for the value they had at one time and then discard them. A kind gift of a sweater from a friend that we will never wear is still clutter.
Some of Kondo’s ideas was a bit too much for me. The advice I chose not to take:
1. Getting dressed up for the cleaning event. I think I will stick with my sweatpants - but lighting a candle and playing some good music make it more enjoyable.
2. Roll my socks so they don’t feel smushed? I am still not completely finished so I might change my mind on this one.
3. Do all tidying in one go. I did my best to do one category at a time to completion but I knew if I had to do this all in one “go” I would give up halfway. I am still working my way down the list of categories Kondo provides. Know yourself and what will work for you.
Once I got over trying to fold perfectly like Marie Kondo , it became easy. I just focused instead of getting each shirt into a rectangle that could be stacked vertically. Being able to see all my clothes at a glance makes putting together an outfit effortless.
I tried to use mostly clear and opaque containers and stack items upright so I could see what I had . Having boxes for each category under the sink allow me to pull out
everything I need when doing my hair , then stick the box right back under the sink. I no longer have items cluttering every surface. Shoe boxes also work great. Get creative - even a chocolate box will work !
After the book came out Marie Kondo got her Netflix series. I highly recommend watching it if you need some motivation to tidy your things. It also helped me understand the method better than just reading the book.
I travel often and packing is very easy because I know where everything is. I am no longer buying multiples of things because I am too overwhelmed by the thought of going through my many Rubbermaid bins of random items. I’ve even started to tidy in my office at work with some cute drawer organizer boxes I got from Amazon . I am finding that I have more mental clarity knowing what I have and where everything is . Guess it’s time for a new nickname.
My mom got me a copy of Marie Kondo’s Book “The Life Changing Art of Tidying Up.” When I finished rolling my eyes, I started reading.
The method of folding has been life changing. I can now open my drawers and see all of my shirts, allowing me take a quick inventory of what I have. Separating into small boxes keeps my drawers and cabinets easy to organize and helps solve the issue of every drawer becoming the “junk drawer.” I thought for a long time more fancy organizers from The Container Store were what I needed. In reality, I needed to look at what I had and decide what was worth keeping. The problem was not that I wasn’t spending enough time tidying, it was that I was doing it the wrong way.
The author suggests tidying by category instead of room. You gather all items of the category from all rooms and lay them out so you can see what you have . Then you pick up each item - one at a time - and ask yourself “Does this bring me joy?” Going item by item forces us to really consider if that item is useful to us. Items that are not “useful” but truly bring us happiness when we see them should be kept.
Kondo teaches us sometimes we hold onto things that have outlived their purpose and in turn we can’t appreciate the things that bring true value to our life. We need to thank our items for the value they had at one time and then discard them. A kind gift of a sweater from a friend that we will never wear is still clutter.
Some of Kondo’s ideas was a bit too much for me. The advice I chose not to take:
1. Getting dressed up for the cleaning event. I think I will stick with my sweatpants - but lighting a candle and playing some good music make it more enjoyable.
2. Roll my socks so they don’t feel smushed? I am still not completely finished so I might change my mind on this one.
3. Do all tidying in one go. I did my best to do one category at a time to completion but I knew if I had to do this all in one “go” I would give up halfway. I am still working my way down the list of categories Kondo provides. Know yourself and what will work for you.
Once I got over trying to fold perfectly like Marie Kondo , it became easy. I just focused instead of getting each shirt into a rectangle that could be stacked vertically. Being able to see all my clothes at a glance makes putting together an outfit effortless.
I tried to use mostly clear and opaque containers and stack items upright so I could see what I had . Having boxes for each category under the sink allow me to pull out
everything I need when doing my hair , then stick the box right back under the sink. I no longer have items cluttering every surface. Shoe boxes also work great. Get creative - even a chocolate box will work !
After the book came out Marie Kondo got her Netflix series. I highly recommend watching it if you need some motivation to tidy your things. It also helped me understand the method better than just reading the book.
I travel often and packing is very easy because I know where everything is. I am no longer buying multiples of things because I am too overwhelmed by the thought of going through my many Rubbermaid bins of random items. I’ve even started to tidy in my office at work with some cute drawer organizer boxes I got from Amazon . I am finding that I have more mental clarity knowing what I have and where everything is . Guess it’s time for a new nickname.
