konmari techniques i use (and some i definitely don’t)
leggings: spanx (THE BEST)
shoes: veja
table: west elm
chairs: world market
rug: target
If you’ve turned on Netflix in the past few months, you’ve definitely seen the Marie Kondo show Tidying Up. I read Marie Kondo’s book a couple of years ago and it really did change the way I think about organizing, tidying and my home. It’s an an easy read and offers a lot of helpful tips. The show is fun to watch but kind of gives me anxiety…haha. Anyways, I had it on the other day and I realized there are some KonMari techniques that I have been using in my daily life without even knowing it.
- Keep things that spark joy – The main premise of the KonMari method is to only keep things that “spark joy” when you pick them up. For most items, this method makes total sense to me and I find myself subconsciously asking myself if things spark joy when I am cleaning and organizing. I have always been fine with throwing things out (I am the opposite of a hoarder!) but this makes determining what is important even easier. You can translate this technique into so many parts of your life, too (byeee negative people!).
- KonMari fold – Marie Kondo’s revolutionary folding method works really well for things I put in drawers (like kid’s clothes, my t-shirts, etc.). Basically, the clothes stand upright so you can see them all when you open the drawer. I was so used to stacking things in piles and so when I first read about this method, I didn’t think it would work for me at all but it really, really does.
- Unpack and detag clothes immediately – This is so simple yet makes such a big difference, especially for me as a style blogger, because I am always rotating things in and out of my closet. When I get something new, I only keep it out if I need to use it for blog content. Otherwise, the tags come off and it gets hung up/put away. Same goes for my kids’ clothes too!
- Sort by category, not location – Before I read Marie Kondo’s book, I had never really thought about tidying by category vs. location. I would clean a certain space (like a junk drawer for example) and then move on to the next space. Cleaning and organizing by category makes so much more sense!
While I liked the book and really love some of the techniques Marie Kondo duscusses, some of them are definitely a little out there. They may work for some people but I don’t typically do the following things:
- Empty my purse every day – This is just absurd to me. To each their own but this definitely isn’t for me!
- Keep things out of the bathtub and shower – Same goes with this. Marie Kondo suggests that you keep NOTHING in your bathtub and shower (like shampoo, soup, razors, etc.) and instead dry off each item after your shower and store it in a cupboard. Nope.
- Greet house/thank items – I definitely think about ways things have served their purpose before I discard of them (it relieves some of the guilt associated with throwing away or donating perfectly good items) but I’ve never gone so far as to greet my house or say thank you to things I’m throwing away.
- Dress up to tidy – Marie Kondo always wears a dress to tidy to show respect for the process and the home. You’ll find me in sweats 1000% of the time when I am cleaning.
- Tidy once, not daily – Marie Kondo says that tidying should be a once-in-a-lifetime activity, not a daily chore. In a house with two kids, this just isn’t realistic for us. When I first read the book, I did do one big purge. And then purged again when we moved into this new house. Now, I have certain organization/cleaning ‘projects’ I work on here and there (like my closet, office, playroom, etc.) as well as generally just straightening up every night after the babes go to bed.
Obviously I still like things but the KonMari method has shown me that it’s more rewarding to live with a smaller amount of items that you truly love vs. a lot of items that you just kind of like.
Have you read the book or watched the show? What techniques have you adopted?
Photos by Little Bit Perfect