How To Declutter Like Marie Kondo
“I think that the ‘art of minimalism’ can be measured on a scale… with Marie Kondo on one end of the spectrum - whilst the other end of the scale adopts a lifestyle of ‘collecting’ but disapproving of clutter. No matter where you sit on the scale, being more conscious and considerate about your belongings is a healthy pursuit (in my opinion).”
With our new way of living and spending more time in our homes whilst still maintaining our busy lifestyles, keeping a home manageable can be a challenge at times... I want to talk about decluttering a home to ‘spark joy’ as Marie Kondo says. I watched Kondo’s Netflix series ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo’ where she pretty much sets a ‘new’ wellness trend by removing any items that do not serve a purpose or lack value, keeping only the things that really matter to you.
Decluttering your home creates a sense of composed living (as I call it) that can boast emotional calm. When life gets crazy busy, it often creates a level of stress or discomfort. I find, the same applies to a home, a busy and cluttered space can feel overwhelming.
DECLUTTERING YOUR HOME - HOW TO GET STARTED
It is really important to prepare yourself mentally for decluttering your home. You need to feel a sense of commitment to this process. We often get attached to items that we think we might use one day… In fact, when it comes to clothing, we only tend to wear 20 percent of the clothes we own 80 percent of the time. In her book, Spark Joy, Kondo explains "Clothes are ideal for practicing (the tidying up) skill first." My personal approach is, if I haven’t used or worn an item in a year, I get rid of it.
THE KONMARI METHOD OF DECLUTTERING
The Marie Kondo decluttering method only consists of two categories: discard and organise (discarding needs to happen before the latter). The KonMari method goes beyond just cleaning and getting organised, it is really about your ideal lifestyle and how you can achieve it. Kondo has set 6 basic rules to get started:
1 | Commit yourself to the tidying up process
2 | Imagine and visualise your ideal life style
3 | Choose what to keep, not what to throw
4 | Organise by category
5 | Follow the right order (begin with clothes, followed by books, papers, miscellaneous items, sentimental belongings)
6 | Ask yourself if it sparks joy - or in other words, is this item truly beautiful or useful?
“In the past, I decluttered my life by room. I was excited initially then lost steam partway through the process… Sounds familiar? The KonMari method focuses on tackling your decluttering category-by-category rather than room-by-room. Kondo recommends to start with your clothes as this is considered the least emotional category.”
THE END RESULT
The idea of decluttering is not to evoke a feeling of panic when getting rid of belongings but feel a sense of relief instead, kind of like good karma - and to fall in love with your closet and other areas of your organised home again… I found that this method really helped me to rediscover my style again.
Following this decluttering process brings some marvellous results: finding, matching or pairing items is no longer a chore to dig through a cluttered wardrobe, overstuffed drawers and loaded cupboards. It also feels like you can focus more on the things that you truly love and that you respect for fulfilling a specific purpose in your life as well as fostering a buy for your needs mindset. With this new mindset how to declutter, I find that my home stays tidier for longer (rather than having to plan a mammoth declutter session).
SWEDISH DEATH CLEANING
Is this Scandinavian lifestyle trend 2020’s answer to Marie Kondo? Döstädning known as Swedish Death Cleaning pretty much sounds like a crime scene cleanup operation, but it is actually another effective approach to decluttering that asks you to think about what will happen to your possessions after you’ve passed. In contrast to Marie Kondo’s method of only keeping the items that bring you joy now, the anti-hoarding Swedish Death Cleaning approach focuses your mind on the things that would make a meaningful keepsake for family and friends once you have passed. To me, this method sounds a bit too morbid, so I’ll stick with Marie Kondo ;)
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