Marie Antoinette's: Spring Cleaning: Part 2

In which I try to organize my home the Konmari way. And omg clothes.

Library Journal had a fun review of The Life-changing magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering by Marie Kondo. As I am on a spring cleaning kick, I thought this book was a must read. I tried to get a copy of the ebook at NYPL (my go to for books!) but there were already 430 holds on it! Yes 430. Ouch!

I ended up buying a hard-copy for my mother and one for myself. A quick and easy read, I was instantly inspired over the weekend and thought I would give her method a try.

The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

The chapters are bite-sized making it easy to find and bookmark your favorite tips. The author adds funny stories about her life and about some of her clients. Her method to decluttering, called the Konmari Method, is very simple and makes good sense. I worked on my clothing over the weekend. Here is how it went:

Pile #1

Step 1 Put everything on the floor! Or on the chair! (this is only one pile...) They key is to pull all your clothes from all your drawers, off the floor, out of the closet....everything in one place.

So this WAS my living room after I started. Just a big scary pile of clothing. It extended to a couch and a chair. So many clothes!

The first step was to go through the house and gather all the clothes together in one spot on the floor. There were so many clothes I had a pile on the floor and one on a chair. The average person, according to the book, has about 160 items in their pile. Yes. I think so.

This alarmed @Stephen_Douglas ( I had him go through his clothes 1st) and I watched the stress wash over him in an awesome wave as he started to go through the Konmari process. Poor guy. After the first 5 minutes he was fine, and got rid of 1 trash bag of clothes and filled another bag to donate.

This may seem weird but a focus of the book is to keep things around you that bring you joy. I know exactly what this means. At work I noticed the items I keep on my desk have something in common: they bring me joy! Like my mini jotter notepad, Sunshine Buddies, owl pens and my favorite shoes.

Some things that give me joy at work!

A photo posted by Lauren (@mariegossip) on Sep 9, 2014 at 6:46am PDT

Sunshine Buddies aka Nohohon! Made for stress relief and they are environmentally friendly. Solar powered and adorable. Mine is blue!

I have the one in the middle, the Today mini jotter. The edges are painted edges in pink and navy. By moglea out of Iowa.

Step 2: Pick up a piece of clothing, and ask yourself Does this bring me joy?

I thought it would be even tougher for me than it was for Stephen. Once I started, it really wasn't that hard.

There were a few items I thought I couldn't get rid of: some skirts I haven't worn since my previous job at law school, some tops I have had forever. But I did get rid of them and it wasn't hard. Have your donate bag and your toss bag ready.

Bubble skirt from Delia's? Donate.
Dolman sweater that was pilled beyond repair? Toss.
That pretty mint green, summery, floaty, layered top that I would only wear to Coachella? Donate. Also, I just learned that Coachella auto-corrects to Coachload.

This one is a gem - an autographed The Movielife t-shirt. I met the band, had them sign the shirt at a show. I have kept it with me after moving at least 4 times. But the neckline is not comfortable and I never wear it. According to the Konmari method, it was time to say "Thanks for being there for the band to sign but... time to go!"

This is the front of a tank top with teal, pink and gold paint splattered on it. I loved this top, it has a peach contour-line embroidered skull. I know I will never have another top with a peach contour-line embroidered skull! But you can tell the material has lost its elasticity over time and is generally way too worn out. I haven't worn it in a few years. Another great piece (to me) that has to go.

I ended up filling 1 trash bag to toss, 2 trash bags to donate and 1/2 a bag of clothes that belonged to my sisters or mother.

Step 3: Fold the items you keep so they stand on one end. Once I selected all the items that bring me joy, I had to learn how to fold using Kondo's method. When the items are placed in your drawer "you can see where everything is at a glance, just as you can see the spines of the books on your bookshelves."¹

I had to watch a few YouTube videos to figure out how to fold everything so that it would stand up on its own. "The goal is to fold each piece of clothing into a simple, smooth rectangle." Easy!

Finally, the results!

Knickers all folded and put away! The white stick with the line drawn on it is my homemade ruler to measure how deep my dresser drawers were. My rectangles had to be just that tall so that I could shut them, see below!

Everything folded and looks AMAZING

Some of my tops have thicker fabric but everything fit and is visible at a glance.

There is so much more space now in my closet, I mean it is really shocking, and my drawers are a joy to see. It is so easy to grab things I want to wear without unfolding everything on top of it. I totally suggest trying this out.

If anything go through the discard process. I can't believe how many dormant articles of clothing I had that I haven't worn in 2, 3 or more years. It is like time got away from me, or I just had to take the initiative to let go.

The whole process took me about 5 and a half hours on a Saturday. It was worth it! Because now...

I have my living room back! And wonderful organized closets and drawers!

That is everything I have been doing to get my spring cleaning started, even though it is not quite spring yet. Has anyone else started? If so, what are you doing? And please share any organization tips you might have, I would love to hear them.

¹ Kondō, Marie, and Cathy Hirano. The life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014: 75

Related: Spring Cleaning: Part 1

14 comments:

SakiVI1:51 PM
How long did it take? I'm actually really scared to do this because of the decisions.
Btw, your living room is so pretty!
SakiVI10:05 AM
Do you feel any different, now that it's been a few days?
Fairly Odd Mother7:20 AM
Oh, your living room is beautiful! And, yes, I'm thick into this book right now---have so far done my clothes and shoes, books (including all our homeschooling material), and bathroom supplies. My husband has also done his clothes. I have started "papers" but this one is really stalling me. I'm not sure I can throw away as much as she recommends. I may have to skip "papers" and move on to kitchen. But, I can already see the change in my house---it's really remarkable. I've posted some photos on Instagram under christinaref in case you want to see them.
SakiVI8:16 AM
I think my biggest problem with clothes and books is figuring out which is solely mine and which is actually shared.
Quinne11:51 AM
Oh man your living room is gorgeous! I recently was introduced to that book too, and was surprised that she was teaching a lot of the same things I already do (plus a lot that is just way too crazy for me, but I digress). I loved what she had to say about buying cute/nice clothing just for lounging in. Obviously, that's she and reverie's entire business plan!

I did some spring cleaning of my own this week and as someone who consistently only buys things she really loves, it was sooo hard to get rid of the stuff that I never wear... but it felt so good. One great part about living in a big city is that you can sell or consign a lot of stuff, too! But I haven't been thru my closet yet, where all my 'nice' clothes live... (hiding face emoji) Seeing your pretty living room has inspired me at least.