The KonMari tidying method actually works

“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.”

This is a quote from Marie Kondo's book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up.

Photo credit: shop.konmarie.com

And...wow...the way I go about my life is vastly different after reading this book many years ago.

It deserves a blog post.

Kondo's book is about learning how to tidy by keeping only the items in your life that spark joy, and then arranging them in a way that you can appreciate them. Her method involves putting all items you own in a certain category into a pile, such as clothes or books, then holding each item one by one and determining if it sparks joy when you touch it. If it does, you keep it and arrange it beautifully in your house, and if it does not, you donate/toss.

Yes, there are many loopholes. And she addresses ALL of them in her book. What if I find I will need it later? What if it's an essential household item, but it doesn't spark joy? What if someone important gifted it to me, or I spent a ton of money on it? She addresses all of these, but (mini spoiler) she usually concludes with the same thing. If it doesn't spark joy, you won't miss it, and we are better at being flexible and improvisational with what we have than we think! And usually your initial resistance towards parting with an object is rooted in something deeper, such as bad relationships with people around you. By tidying, you can figure out who those people are and how to mend or toss relationships, goals, and passions in your life.

I love that while she addresses the first step, which is finding what to toss and what to keep, she also teaches you how to display what you end up keeping. The rule of thumb is to make sure items are displayed so you can see all of them, and so that they all have room to breathe and look beautiful. For example, why shove your shirts into a drawer in a horizontal fashion, where you can only see the shirt on top, when you can place each shirt on its side and maybe even arrange them in rainbow order, too!

This is my most recent tidied drawer, and it stayed like this through my whole first year in my college dorm! Admittedly, I probably should not have packed it so tight, as there's nothing worse than stressfully shoving clothes into their slot, but hey...it looks pretty cool. I loved opening my drawer and seeing my color coordinated shirts.

You can color coordinate your books, too!

This is the linen closet that I sorted with my mom. The first step involved pulling out all of the sheets and towels and donating the ones that we did not enjoy using. There were some we even forgot we owned! Then, I sorted through the tools and weird random light bulbs and bulky battery packs with only one battery left, etc. Then, I found some old containers in order to hold the smaller items upright, such as the washcloths. So orderly!

Above are some drawers that I sorted in my senior year of high school. At this point I had not caught the color coordinating bug yet. I also sorted my underwear, but I will save you that image.

Overall, this book teaches you about more than just objects. Marie Kondo taught me how to prioritize things in my life, how to be more productive, and how to clarify my values when I have to make decisions.

• I have come to realize the shallow value of certain objects in my life, such as quick buys at the mall and memorabilia from events that weren't that important. Since these objects spark less joy for me, I should probably spend less time doing activities that provide only short lived joy, like going to the mall.

• By tackling a whole category of objects at once, instead of sorting bit by bit, then I can finally start and complete a project in one sitting. How rewarding! Since I felt good after making tangible progress, I learned to better associate difficult tasks with happiness to increase productivity.

• By deciding which of my objects still hold value to me over and over, I am getting better at knowing off hand what I prioritize to be happy.

Tidying also lets you practice parting with your grudges and fears.

• If I fear giving away a book, because I never got around to reading it, I need to move on and forgive myself for never reading it. Time to move forward!

• If I want to keep some art materials or magazines in the hopes of using them in the future, I must remind myself that I cannot task myself with unnecessary baggage for the future. If I want to do an art project in the future, I can find new materials around the house. What a fun challenge!

• Lastly, I find it is hard to toss things because of fear. For example, what if I found I needed it later? What if my friend found I gave away their gift?

This last bullet is hard. However, I found that if I am afraid to give something away because it reminds me of someone, it is a clear indication that I must reach out to them NOW, and focus on our relationship in the present. If I can't strengthen this relationship in whatever way, then I must strengthen my relationships with the people who fill similar roles in my life. My friend should not get mad at me if I eventually gave away their gift if our relationship is healthy in the first place. And if it's a toxic relationship, then maybe I should toss the friend, too.

See? It's amazing how a book on tidying can help you prioritize, simplify, and enrich your life.

Now, time to tackle the desk!