konmari closet cleanout.
i jumped on the bandwagon this summer you guys. i jumped right on the konmari bandwagon and i'm not ever getting off.
over the fourth of july, i needed a book to read at the cabin, so i decided i'd read one that might help me organize my life. enter: the life-changing magic of tidying up by marie kondo. there are a lot of people who swear by the ideas that this book covers, and i thought there was no way that any of it could be that different from anything you'd read in real simple magazine. we're talking about organizing our stuff people, how life changing could this be?answer: very, very life-changing.i had previously been slowly getting rid of clothes that i haven't worn in months. i'd see something and throw it into a bag in the corner of our room, and bring the bag to goodwill every few months. it was fine, and i was getting rid of things, but i still felt like i had nothing to wear, like there was too much clutter. with the way that the book suggests you declutter your closet (and your bookshelves and bathrooms and knick-knacks, etc.), you do it all in one fell swoop. you take all the clothes in your entire house, including jackets and shoes and accessories, and you look at and touch all of them, one by one. you register how each piece makes you feel, and if something makes you happy or brings you joy, you keep it. if it doesn't spark any kind of happy feeling, you get rid of it. simple as that.i was very nervous to buy into this practice wholeheartedly. what if my feelings were wrong?? what if i got rid of something that i really loved or needed? what if i got rid of too much? but then i stepped back and realized - i've been wearing the same combination of shirts and pants since amelia was born. i wasn't wearing more than half the clothes i owned. so i jumped in with both feet and i never looked back.and what i found was surprising for me. turns out, i'm more than okay with wearing the same things over and over. in fact, it makes me happy to put something on that i know i'll look good and feel comfortable in, versus trying to decide if today is the day i'll finally look good in that racerback tank (spoiler: i will not ever look good in a racerback, it's just not genetically in my future). also turns out, i'm a BIG fan of neutral tops. black, grey, beige, white, stripes or no stripes, anything that will match everything is my jam. unless it's bright green, which i also favor, but that's because i see it as a neutral too. this is good news for when i want to buy new things...really cuts down on my options, but in a good way. and as for work, i've streamlined my options so much that i now have a work uniform (i'll give an update on that soon). getting ready each morning takes no time at all.now, i haven't been brave enough/haven't had the time to devote to apply this wondrous method to other areas of my life like books, kitchen, knick-knacks and what have you, but I'm just waiting for a long winter night when i can dig in and dclutter some more. turns out, minimalism agrees with me. i should have known that before, i hate shopping and i hate having to figure out how to organize all my things, but it took a different way of looking at my clutter to realize it. konmari had some things i don't abide by, like the way she talks to her belongings. and right now, i'm just not capable of getting each and every thing back in its "home" every night like she suggests, but for the most part, her theory works for me. it isn't going to work for everyone. not everyone is meant to be a minimalist. some people are good at having a lot of things, and you guys, you shouldn't do this method.but for me, it's a real good thing.
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