For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about: I'm referring to the KonMari Method from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Basically, the book shares the Japanese art of decluttering.
For a quick recap the method most simply stated is this: keep only things in your life that spark joy.
The long version of that means you'll be standing in your bedroom surrounded by every single piece of clothing that you own, running your fingers over the fabric, ruminating over the memories you've had in the shirt, and trying to decide exactly how this piece of clothing makes you feel.
It's all very new age-y and you feel incredibly silly during the entire process, especially when you're made to thank the clothing you're giving away, but honestly, I got super into it.
The KonMari method is supposed to declutter every aspect of your home, but Marie Kondo suggests you start with clothing first. Shauna is a now self-proclaimed minimalist and offered to help me through this gargantuan process, so I quickly took her up on her offer. Shauna stayed the night after a party and in the morning, hung over and fuelled with a breakfast generously cooked for us by Jordan, we began.
The first step was to get every piece of clothing I own into one place. This is apparently a very serious rule that you're not allowed to break. If you forget something you have to agree to immediately throw it out once you find it again because if you've forgotten to add it to your pile then it must not mean that much to your life.
After pulling everything from my two closets, countless plastic drawers, and Rubbermaid's from the garage I was pretty sure I was ready to go. I immediately realized that Shauna was going to be a great companion for this job because she was super supportive and encouraging, while also a bit of a hard ass. I made a mental note not to mention that I thought I forgot a sweater I actually wanted at work.
Once the clothes were all sprawled out across the floor, we began. The process is simple, but also not at all. I picked up my first shirt and tried to get really introspective with it. I thought a lot about the shirt and tried to feel the fabric, remember what it looked like on me, think if it brought me *joy* before I realized yes, I did like this shirt. The next shirts became easier as I realized this wasn't about thinking, it was a gut instinct thing. Shauna pointed out to me that when I knew I wanted something and I knew it *sparked joy* that I immediately threw it into the "Yes" pile. When I spent time holding the shirt and thinking about it, this was me trying to convince myself that I needed and wanted it.
Once we got through every.single.shirt I own Shauna looked at me and said "again." WHUT?! I had to go through the pile again!? I did the process again and when I got to a shirt I had been lying to myself about I held it once more, stared and stared into it's every fibre, and then threw it into the "No" pile, with a "thank you" of course.
The main thing I realized was that I truly did have clothing that didn't bring me joy. I had a lot of clothing I liked but that when I thought about them, I got a little bit of anxiety. I felt anxious that they were taking up space in my already stuffed closet and hanging around to remind me of how I felt in them. One of the number one things I found was that I was hanging on to things because they held a happy memory for me but in actuality, I didn't really like them and truthfully, the memory was more soiled by keeping it around. For example I had a blouse with a Peter Pan collar and tiny little bow ties on it that I kept because it always made Jordan laugh. He told me he really liked it one day and laughed because it was cute and silly, like me (this is a direct quote but also a humble brag about me. Deal with it). So I kept the shirt, but when I would try the shirt on I wouldn't smile about it because it didn't fit right. It was tight in the bust and a little short and generally just made me feel uncomfortable. Really, I like the memory of Jordan smiling at my shirt, not the shirt. I had to get rid of what didn't bring me joy and hold on to what did.
Another thing a lot of people hold on to are gifts. We feel bad throwing things out because someone else spent money on them and we think it would upset them if we got rid of them. Shauna was great in this department because she would always remind me that once a gift is given, it has served it's purpose of sparking joy. When someone gives you a gift they feel joy in giving you something they think you would like and you feel joy receiving the gift. If the joy goes no further than that then that is okay. I was holding on to a lot of clothing that had been given to me out of guilt. It no longer brought me joy, or maybe never did, but I kept it because it felt rude not to. Letting go of a lot of those things was like letting go of a big breath of air I'd been holding on to.
Shauna was also a great pusher that day. I was pretty much wiped out by the time we finished shirts but she kept my momentum going. We went through workout clothes, pants, socks, jackets and shoes. Shoes were something I knew I had too many of but I just couldn't part with a bunch because I was always thinking about "just in case." Which is why I had about 7 pairs of high heels when I have worn heels approximately 5 times in my life. The numbers do not add up and that is my point.
<<Lost a bunch of shoes. Found this cat>>
At the end of the day I ended up with a gargantuan pile of things to get rid of and it felt so.good. I donated a large portion to the homeless shelter I work at, threw out a bunch, and am selling the rest. I took some to a consignment shop last week and they didn't take a lot of things because they were out of season *womp womp* but I still got $50.00 for 9 things. Only about 30 more things to go.
My favourite part of this entire thing has been how free I feel. I don't feel weighed down or overwhelmed by my things anymore. I don't notice that I've given away half of my things because I only kept the things I want to wear anyways. I do get a bit nervous still seeing my teeny tiny workout shirt collection and wonder if I've shot myself in the foot but I continue to repeat the mantra that if I ever need for anything I can buy it again, but this time I'm buy something that I truly love.
Now for my favourite part: the before and afters. Guys this stuff is like porn to me. I seriously went on the Marie Kondo Instagram and just drooled over the before and after photos leading up to my purge. Please enjoy my masterpieces.
Bedroom Closet:
<< No more basket on top of my plastic drawers and no more leaning tower of pants(a)>>
Office Closet (My 2nd Closet):
<< These dresses all used to be stuffed into the drawer below them.
Getting rid of half my clothes made room for them to hang happily! >>
Coat Closet:
<<So many shoes and scarves gone!>>
Honestly, if you're thinking about trying to simplify your life I think you should consider at least peaking into Marie Kondo's book. I've been really trying to focus on stepping away from my obsession with "things" that actually just end up stressing me out and clogging up my life and stepping towards having the freedom to breath and experience life. I'm not saying this is some sort of cult (although I did reference drinking the koolaid) that is going to change your life, but maybe it will. If nothing else it will free up SO MUCH MORE ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES!
Thanks for reading this uber long post but I hope it may help someone because I did a lot of reading articles like this before I took the plunge and it really helped me.
Happy decluttering!
From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
KonMari Convert
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