Early spring cleaning: How to apply the Marie Kondo method to your life
Stuck looking at your house during lockdown? It’s time for some “feng shui” before the change of season. Luckily, professional organizer Marie Kondo is here to help.
If you need a new series to watch, Netflix’s Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, might be the best choice. The series presents a couple new ways to look at your environment. According to Chicago Tribune Marie Kondo’s KonMari method is a “simple process designed to help you permanently declutter your home.”
In the most positive way, here’s a few of Marie Kondo’s tricks to clean up and feel completely refreshed.
KonMari method
Good Housekeeping reported that Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant best known for her “revolutionary idea” to “organize by category” which led to her 2014 book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
Commit to tidying up
The first step to the Marie Kondo method is to stick to your decision of “tidying up”. If you put in the time & effort, the results will certainly show. If this step doesn’t occur, you’ll have no chance of reaping the benefits.
Imagine your new life
The second step of Marie Kondo’s method is putting your life first. Chicago Tribune refers to this step to keep you “motivated” through the entire process. Some people might enjoy decluttering & organizing once you envision what your future will look like after you’ve gone through the process.
Unwanted items
Getting rid of your “unwanted items” seems like the easiest part, but according to the Marie Kondo method, you can’t start organizing your home without it being completely “clutter-free”. To complete this step, all your old clutter needs to go. Sorry old Liverpool poster.
According to Good Housekeeping, before getting rid of every unwanted item, Marie Kondo would like you to also thank each item for the purpose they brought to your life.
Categorize
Marie Kondo believes that to organize the correct way, you need to clear each item by category. The fourth step in her method allows you to throw out similar items from all around the house. For example, if you’re focused on getting rid of books, take a look at all your books in your house. This includes cook books, diaries, photo albums, etc.
Categorizing can be difficult. As reported by Good Housekeeping, Marie Kondo’s method states that you should try categorizing your items in five categories: clothes, books, papers, komono (diverse items), and sentimental items.
Happy items
One of the final three steps of Marie Kondo’s method is finding items that bring you happiness. This might be easy for some, and difficult for others. However, the key is to find items that provide positivity to your life moving forward.
Goodbye
Saying “goodbye” to your favorite items will be difficult, but using Marie Kondo’s method, the KonMari, will help you determine what you truly need. For example, you can take one category, and hold it and really ask yourself, “does this spark me joy?”. If not, goodbye!
You need to remember that you don’t have to do this with all your items, but it is important to understand what will bring positivity, and what is bringing you down.
Marie Kondo’s rules for discarding
To have a fully organized home, the KonMari method explains that you can take your time organizing each location. Marie Kondo instructs that you place certain items with one another. This way none of your items are scattered around a room.
If you have certain pieces of paper lying around that you need to keep, make sure you file each document or create a form of storage that will be easy for you to use. Marie Kondo stated that if you use a digital form of storage, this might be easier to locate as there are many applications and various software scanners available.
Discarding also includes emptying your bag daily. Not only does your home need to look good, your bag deserves to have the same treatment. You can also do this with your email and any other form of mail you receive daily. Marie Kondo believes that everyone should put their bills or important information in a safe & quick location.
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Marie Kondo’s spring cleaning methods may be easier than you thought. Let us know what you think about the KonMari method in the comments.
