Have you been KonMari-ed yet? A Fascinating Way of Tidying Up Your Homes!

Marie Kondo and her approach to tidying up and de-cluttering our homes is at the same time both simple and complex Suddenly there was this Marie Kondo name being whispered in the air a few weeks ago, and soon that gentle wind became a stormy rage. Each one of us got curious enough to watch her on Netflix, and “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” became such an international sensation. And that’s those of us that didn’t read her book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. And why not? All of us have to deal with cluttered homes. We are all at a crossroads in our life, where we are constantly shopping online for things we don’t want…to another extreme point where we realise we don’t have space to hoard anymore and neither do we have time to look after and care for our belongings and need to get rid of things and go “minimalist”. Who better to talk of minimalism then, than the Japanese? “Less is more” is the core of the philosophy, as is the idea that it’s not things that should bring you happiness. It ties up beautifully with the other big thing of the moment – mindfulness. All this sounds romantic, idealistic, Utopian, Impossible. Can you do it? Now, that’s the big question. But this demure little Japanese lady who calls herself a tidying-up and organizing expert (never thought that would be a job someday) has even a trademark on her method (the KonMari method, mind you). Her specialty is in tidying up by category, not by room – supposed to be the key to her success. I introduced the Netflix series to my 10-year-old son (simply because we both watch programmes together and I was dying to see what Marie Kondo had to say about tidying up). We were

1. Super thrilled to see that people in America lived in far more cluttered homes than our own
2. In fact what we had in our house looked pretty sane
3. Her method was in a way pretty simple
4. And because of all the above, it would be possible for us also to tidy up

In fact, my son became so inspired that somewhere after binge-watching till Episode 3 (and we figured that she worked with five or six basic approaches) he wanted to put the series on pause and start tidying up! Advantage: The young man actually put into separate bags- toys and books in good condition that he had outgrown and we could donate. And another bag of absolute junk! All these in some 3 hours from a cupboard with 6 sections. For me, that was an instant success! He WANTED to do it. I didn’t force him to. He decided what went and what stayed. Marie Kondo asks you to identify what “sparks joy” for you and keep that. A very complex thing – this. He actually kind of figured it out in his own way and even thanked some old favourite toys! Here are a few things that Marie Kondo says, that worked for us. The rest, you go figure!

1. Clothes: Heap all, and she means ALL your clothes into one big pile. That really is what undoes you! Imagine seeing all of your clothes in one pile – at once you feel greedy, stupid, overwhelmed, and you see clothes you haven’t seen in years. Then start holding each one and see what “sparks joy”. If yes, keep. If not, thank and let go. Yes, a lot of people have joked on the Internet about how they couldn’t get themselves to thank their old underwear!
2. Her advice to roll all forms of clothes into this three-fold piece and stack vertically in drawers so you find things easily is a great idea. But, we will all have to bring in carpenters to have lots of drawers made. How many of us have great storage spaces a home? For many of us, the trouble begins there.
3. While she asks each member of the family to work their way through their own pile of clothes, she suggests getting young children involved from an early age in this folding and tidying-up process (children learn from watching parents), and make cleaning a family activity. My big vote for that!
4. Use baskets to put away similar things together – this kind of advice seems pretty basic—be it in the room or kitchen.
5. Dealing with sentimental items – we didn’t find too much help there.
6. Dealing with papers – that’s a tough one unless it’s just bills! Don’t you want to keep a greeting card mom gave you when you turned 16? And letting go of my child’s artwork? Tough one for me.
7. Dealing with books – most book lover friends of mine have said they don’t like Marie Kondo because she says just do away with them if they don’t spark joy. But that is an oxymoron for a lover of books.
8. Dealing with miscellaneous items – well….I haven’t gotten there yet!

Have you started thinking about what “sparks joy” for you in your house already? Know more such interesting updates, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.