ALL THINGS DIVINE

Who Is Marie Kondo?

Best known for encouraging people to only surround themselves with items that "spark joy", Marie Kondo is a professional organizer, consultant, author, and founder of KonMari Media, Inc. She wrote the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and has sold over 9 million copies.

In 2019, Marie Kondo teamed up with Netflix to do a reality tv show. At the time, I was sitting in a new and pretty empty house, I had no interest in watching her remove clutter from homes.

Five years later, I am the person that needs the very thing I dismissed. My mission right now is to declutter every inch of my home to get my peace back. So of course I grabbed one and decided to read.  It was an interesting read. For starters, it completely negated all of the decluttering approaches I've read online.

In the first few pages, Marie Kondo talks about the power of decluttering and how it is life changing. The testimonies from past clients had me shook. Not only did they get rid of the clutter in their homes, but they were also able to let go of things holding them back from fulfilling their purpose. It may have been a person, which meant divorce or maybe the idea that they weren't good enough to start a business venture.

So although it gently slammed every approach I've taken to declutter, the glimpse of hope pushed me to finish the book.

I highly recommend it to gather thoughts about how you plan to declutter. But if you just want the cliff notes, Here are the biggest takeaways.

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Declutter by category, not location

Rather than tackling your house room by room, Marie Kondo prefers to gather all of one type of object into one spot. She also declutters in this order: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items, then sentimental items.

By gathering all of your items, you become more mindful and intentional as you go through the decluttering process. It also takes out the redundancy that comes with decluttering room by room. Coming across more clothes as you go from one room to the next actually drives me nuts.

Ask yourself, does it "Spark Joy"

It is repeated over and over in her book. As you declutter, you are to pick up each item, hold it, and ask this question. The idea is that you begin to assess the emotional connection and positive feelings associated. Most people hold on to their belongings because it was a gift or because they spent money on it. But if you asked if you love it, you would have to admit your real feelings.

Honoring Your Items:

One of the biggest takeaways from this book is to develop a sense of respect for your belongings. Even down to the socks in your drawer. Instead of balling them up or leaving them in the package, Marie Kondo suggests you take them out of the packaging in order to truly make them yours. Otherwise it is still part of the retail store. It makes sense.

Discarding with Gratitude:

When you get to sentimental items, Marie recommends letting go of items with gratitude. They served their purpose during a season and it's ok to discard. The hope is that it can give someone else the same joy. For items that are broken, hopefully you used it to its full capacity

I hope this is helpful. In my mind, there is no right or wrong way. You have to figure out what works best for YOU. When it comes to decluttering, I know that I'm just scratching the surface so I'm planning on reading another book that is popular called, Minimalista. Can't wait to share. Stayed tuned.