Who doesn’t want to be more organized? Have their space be controlled and not control you? Who doesn’t want to start the new year off on a better foot that isn’t in mess?
With New Year’s right around the corner, and a possible out of state move looming over my horizons; ‘cleaning up’ is a huge elephant sitting, not in my room but, on my chest!
I’m a clean individual, not the most organized-but I am definitely clean. I don’t leave dirty dishes with standing water in the sink, I mop on a regular basis, clean my fridge out, bathroom etc. But my downfall is organization (and if you ask my mom, its also that my clothes magically reproduce into multiple pieces.)
I was hitting the Pinterest boards and YouTube one day and stumbled upon Marie Kondo and her method of cleaning up. To be honest, you’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard about this method (my own hubby sent me an article one day that he had even found! And he usually deep dives into This Old House articles on how to rewire a home.) And after my own experience, I highly recommend that whatever aspect of your life needs it – MARIE KONDO THAT SHIT! #KonMari
The Method:
I’m going to give you a brief, Jessica version of how I broke down this method but, I am going to link here a more in depth article that helped me!
So, she breaks down de-cluttering and organizing into 5 categories and you need to start with the first and go through the list. Its 1) clothing, 2) books, 3) papers, 4) komono (miscellaneous), and 5) sentimental items. You break it down to donate, keep, and throw out and you do two things: ask yourself if this sparks joy and thank the item for its service to you. Its weird at first, I will admit that-but trust me, it helps!
The list of categories also makes decision making faster and more efficient; by starting with objects such as clothes (which to most would be easy to get rid of) aids you to when you get to sentimental items. The idea that you start to understand that objects themselves are not the memories you keep and that you can keep those memories in your heart and not necessarily in your closet.
I laughed, and I cried…I cried a lot and writing about it now has me giggling. It’s a very freeing experience; you realize you’ve been carrying around a lot of crap and weight throughout life that you don’t need! There was an overwhelming relief that I felt just when I got rid of my clothes!! Let alone papers and books!
I didn’t follow the rules to a T-like folding my clothes the way she does. But, for the most part-starting the New Year with a little more physical and heart space-felt so damn good.
Give it a try…Zen yourself. Again, I wouldn’t suggest it if I hadn’t tried it and actually benefited from it. (Like no bullshit-I can’t get my husband to fold exactly like her and then when I try to do it, I just lose interest…)
Never any artful bullshit and forever yours,
Jess
The Year of the Introvert 