It’s 2020. Have you thought of your New Year’s resolution?
The first thing that came to my mind aside from loving more, giving more, caring and sharing more, forgiveness, and a trip to my favorite telenovela destination – Korea, is de-cluttering the Marie Kondo way or using the Konmari method. I need to be steadfast in my goal.
Marie Kondo is a young Japanese mother who started her interest in tidying since she was five years old. At 15, she read most of her mother’s lifestyle magazines and books and started tidying up seriously. By the time she was 19, she was doing professional tidying and was a consultant. Due to the increase of her clients which had a six-month waiting list, she decided to write a book that could be shared with more people entitled, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: Spark Joy.”
Kondo’s videos are on Netflix and YouTube. Some of her followers even summarized her method into 20 basic steps. The basic question is, “Does it spark joy? Will this method change your life forever?”
The top 20 tips according to a YouTuber to start de-cluttering are:
1) To visualize your goal of tidying up;
2) To discard or de-clutter first and store or organize later. This means to get all the stuff out in one area;
3) To work in categories: clothes, books, paper, Komono (miscellaneous) and to put the sentimental items like photographs etc. later;
4) To start easy;
5) To focus on what you want to keep and ask the question, “Does it spark joy?”;
6) To never de-clutter other people’s belongings because they have their own preferences;
7) To not to pass on what you have de-cluttered to family members.
After the initial de-cluttering stage, it is time to reorganize:
8) To give each item or object a specific part or importance;
9) To fold items or clothes properly to be able to use space. Marie gives a sample on how to fold clothes so that they stand up during the organizing process;
10) To never stack things on top of each other, but to store them vertically;
11) To hang clothing accordingly or from left to right from heavy to light;
12) To not to store things as they tend to get neglected. Things must be visible so as not to forget them;
13) To store items in bins, or more economically in shoe boxes;
14) To store bags within each other, not more than two;
15) To store other bags in tote bags;
16) To store coins in your wallets where they belong.
The rest of the method is on how to maintain the tidiness:
17) To unpack each clothing right away;
18) To put things in their proper places or put them in their right corners as soon they have been used;
19) To sort out your handbag every day; and
20) To appreciate your provisions and treat them with respect.
In Marie’s videos, you even see her thanking each item before putting it away. I guess this lessens the sentimentality connected with it.
So, there you are. As Neil Armstrong said, “One small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.”
