Note: All of the ideas discussed in this blog come from the #1 New York Times best seller “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.

As a society we are constantly inundated with things. I cannot count the amount of hours I have spent on planes reading SkyMall and thinking of how yes, I can totally use that outdoor sun-shaded lounger for my nonexistent dog, or maybe the men in my life really would love a pair of Man Spanx. Whether it is holding on to that one shirt you can’t bear to get rid of despite it’s deodorant stains or the 13908 articles that will come up in my social media feeds about the newest trend for eyebrow shaping or celebrity gossip, we live in a society that seems to prize “busyness.’ From the line of “oh I don’t have time to clean I am just too busy” to staying up late in the quest to reach inbox zero (my own personal dream), being “busy” has become a way of life.

This doesn’t only affect how we work and how we relate to others, but comes into play in how we organize our homes. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you are surround by stuff that doesn’t spark joy.

I have been undertaking the KonMari Method, designed to declutter my house (aka 400 sq ft studio apartment) and restore order to my personal life. Marie Kondo, the women behind it all, a professional tidier with a three month waitlist, lays out the secrets to success in her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” You can also watch her on Netflix by tuning in to Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

We’ve all been there, working on a high-stress task like studying for final exams or building a big presentation for your boss when all of a sudden you see it, your desk. How is it possible to have that many papers on your desk, and when you open the drawers, disgusting! So what do you do instead of working on that important project? You clean your space. By tidying you are exercising a form of control over one area of your life when everything else seems out of reach. My decision to KonMari my space came out of a particularly stressful few months. A secondary reason was that my mom and I had a Hoarders marathon over winter break, and I immediately felt like everything in my life was by proxy unclean.

I have a love affair with the idea of minimalism. In my head, the ideal lifestyle is one of yoga, camomile tea, and green smoothies. Instead, I am sitting in bed, eating a medium pizza, while I wait for Jury Duty tomorrow. Not example an ideal matchup.

Instead of minimalism, I live in a system of organized chaos. While you aren’t going to find a half-eaten donut on the floor of my room, I do have all of my important papers shoved into 1 box with no organizational system in sight. Baby steps everyone.

That is why I decided to try the KonMari Method, to create a system of tidying that works for me.

The central message of the book is pretty simple, there is a right way, and a wrong way to tidy a space. On the first page on Kondo’s book she states, “organize your space, thoroughly, completely, in one go. If you adopt this approach the-KonMari Method-you’ll never revert to clutter again.”

I am going to let you in on a secret though, I have done the KonMari method on more than one occasion. I find myself bound to slip into, “I’ll put that jacket away tomorrow” after a long day at work. Kondo would describe this phenomenon by saying that I didn’t properly tidy my space the first time or I wouldn't have reverted back.

According to Kondo, one of the most important tips in tidying is to sort by category, not location. This means don’t go room by room cleaning as the self-help magazines always recommend. This is ineffective. This doesn’t allow you to see the full scope of what you have. For instance, if you clean one room at a time you may find that you think you have 3 candles in each room in storage. However, what if you brought every candle you own into one room and found out you have 27 candles? Do you really need that many candles? According to Kondo, when you use categories you get a better overall picture of your space and therefore allow yourself to give up more. You should therefore clean your categories in the following order: Clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, and finally items of sentimental value.

Kondo’s method comes down to one simple idea, only surround yourself with things that bring you joy. When you are tidying, you must pick up each item in your hand individually and ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, you let it go.

While this may sound a little hokey, it can have transformational impact. On page 60 of her book, Kondo states, “When you come across something that’s hard to discard, consider carefully why you have that specific item in the first place. When did you get it and what meaning did it have for you then? Reassess the role it plays in your life. If, for example, you have some clothes that you bought but never wear, examine them one at a time. Where did you buy that particular outfit and why? If you bought it because you thought it looked cool in the shop, it has fulfilled the function of giving you a thrill when you bought it. Then why did you never wear it? Was it because your realized that it didn't suit you when you tried it on at home? If so, and if you no longer buy clothes of the same style or color, it has fulfilled another important function- it has taught you what doesn’t suit you. in fact, that particular article of clothing has already completed its role in your life and you are free to say, “Thank you for giving me joy when I bought you” or “Thank you for teaching me what doesn’t suit me” and let it go.”

That idea is incredibly freeing. By reframing items in terms of serving their purpose you no longer have guilt over the items in your closest that someone gave you and you know you will never wear. Perhaps the purpose of that item was for someone else to convey their appreciation for you. That purpose has been served even if you never go on to wear it. Now the shirt can be let go and go on to serve its next purpose.

Below are some images from my attempt to KonMari my closet and linen closet.

Before:

Below are picture of both of my closets before engaging in any sort of organization. As you can see, things are just thrown inside without any real regard to where they should go.

While my natural tendency would be to just shift things around to look cleaner, Kondo makes sure to point out that before you can figure out where to store things, you need to discard things first. This meant bringing every single item of mine within that category to the center of my room.

And I committed. I sat down, picked up every single item I owned and asked "Does this spark joy?" (which yes, if you are thinking it, it is a very weird question to ask your underwear).

What was the result? I gave away 5 trash bags of clothes! While some of the decisions were difficult, the more I gave away the lighter I felt.

Kondo even offers specific folding tips for how to maximize your space and treat your clothes with respect. While I definitely have used the tips to organize my tshirts, I have to admit I haven't taken up her examples for socks and underwear.

The reveal:

Before/After:

Is it the shining example of a clean home with absolutely zero clutter? No. Is it a vast improvement and am I only surrounded with things I use regularly and that give me joy? Yes! While this is only the first step in the KonMari Method (I still need to move on to books, papers, miscellaneous, and finally items of sentimental value), I am happy with the the overall impact on both my apartment and myself.

I would like to think that Marie Kondo would be proud! Or at the very least that Netflix would do well to have me on for season two of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.