The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
My obsession with the Organization of Things…
Growing up, I have always been fascinated with the organization of things and those who know me well, also know that one of my favourite places to frequent is one that has storage/tidying/organization ideas. Much like Marie herself, I found myself a bit obsessed with organizing from a young age. I still remember the day (one of many) I cleaned up my mother’s kitchen and made a place for everything. I had discovered she had these glass jars of raisins scattered throughout the kitchen and I ended up discovering 4 jars of raisins. I knew my mother was just stocking them and then forgot where she put them so she’d buy more. To put a stop to that, I made a giant butter tart with raisins and other dishes I could incorporate raisins. It was as if I was on Iron Chef and the secret ingredient was raisins. I’d start putting raisins in my peanut butter sandwich instead of jam or in addition to jam (try it!). Fast forward to 2016 - After living on my own for so long, I realized I had way too many things and just got lazy to organize them. It was at the same time I was hearing about Marie Kondo, so I gave it a shot. Read her book, realized I was already employing the same methods as her but also learned a few new interesting things.
I enlisted the support of a few friends and together we went through everything step by step. I donated a total of 9 garbage bags worth of clothes and 7 large reusable bags worth of books to the local shelter. The rest, I gave away bit by bit to friends and family. I even vacated an entire closet which I turned into a pretty little office and called it my cloffice. Unfortunately, the cloffice didn’t last long as it lacked the essential element of light and space, in my already dim and tiny (but oh so beautiful) apartment. Below are the lessons I learned from Kondo’s book.
Summary
Organizing your home has a tremendous effect on your stress levels and consequently your productivity. It affects our mood. There are numerous benefits to having a house in order: environmental, mental, physical (the amount of free space), spiritual. When organizing, please do it in the correct order as the art of organizing itself needs organization. If you do it carefully, with intent, and follow-through, you will never have to tidy up ever again.
My key Takeaways
The benefits of keeping a house in order
Tidy in the right order and all at once: discarding first, and then deciding where to keep/store things
Everything has its purpose - to truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose
Tidy by category and start with Clothing (tops, bottoms, clothes that should be hung), socks, underwear, bags, accessories, clothes for specific events, shoes), Books (general, practical, visual, Magazines), Papers (currently in use, need to limited time, need indefinitely), Miscellaneous Items
Pick one spot for the papers you keep
How to fold: store things standing up rather than laid flat - this way, you are able to see what you have and therefore use what you have. Always store vertically! Folding Method: fold each side lengthwise (left and right) towards centre to make a long rectangle shape, then fold in thirds. Adjust so clothes standing fits height of the drawer
Hang clothes like suits, jackets, dresses, skirts in the same category and arrange them so the length rises from left to right (longest items on the left and shortest to the right)
Indoor clothes should be comfortable and make you feel good
What you don’t need, your family doesn’t need either
Designate a space for everything in your home: store all items of the same type in the same place and don’t scatter storage space
Pursue ultimate simplicity in storage
How to identify what is truly precious: ask yourself if it brings you joy, if it does, find a place for it and keep it. If it does not, thank the item, say your goodbye and discard it
Being surrounded by things that bring joy makes you happy
Once your house is in order, you will find a renewed sense of purpose and energy…(for me, it was the importance of designating an aesthetically pleasing work station that ultimately (and finally) led me to want to create my own blog
I would recommend this book to
Anyone looking to organize their house
If you’re hoarding too many things
Your place is a mess and you are spending too much of your time/day cleaning up