If you missed part one of this KonMari method post, catch up here.
My husband and I jumped on Marie Kondo’s bandwagon of organizing joy by spending a few late nights binge-watching Tidying Up after our toddler went to bed, read her first book at any break we got, and decided to get to work! Since Marie Kondo became a mom and claimed the KonMari Method wasn’t on the top of her own to-do list, I was curious about how it would work for my family.
My Experience with the KonMari Method
First, in true Marie Kondo fashion, I thanked our house.
Now, I’m not totally in tune with things like this, so I just found the most open spot in my house where I could see most of it. We’ve spent seven years in this house and it’s seen our lives change so much, all the good with all the not-so-good- from our engagement to starting our family!
With the KonMari Method, you tidy your house by categories and not room by room. That’s the true secret to this method. And there are five categories.
The five categories of the KonMari Method are:
- Clothes
- Books
- Paper
- Komono (miscellany)
- Sentimental
My husband wanted to get us started on a Sunday night. Don’t do this. The one and only reason I agreed to start on a Sunday night is because I know my husband, and I know if I didn’t take him up on this offer right at the moment he suggested it, we would have never started.
Clothes
Our clothes alone took us over four hours. We did have our toddler distracting us for the first hour and then we needed a break to tend to his bedtime routine. But, while I did the bedtime routine, my husband was still hard at work going through his clothes. Independently, we both held each item of clothing to see if it sparked joy.
At the end of just my clothing, I had 118 clothing items and accessories to donate and a big pile for the garbage. I still had a lot of clothes hanging up because there are certain materials I just don’t trust to be folded or they are special occasion items. My husband didn’t hang up anything except his suits, jackets, ties, and belts. Once everything was properly* (following the KonMari method) folded, he went from three dresser drawers to two, and I went from five to three!
As far as “sparking joy”, this is something that really resonated with me.
There were things I just knew it was time to part with that I admittedly didn’t even need to ask myself if they sparked joy. I held the item, thanked it, and moved on to the next one. Some items were much harder and I really had to think about them. My husband, on the other hand, said asking himself that question didn’t do anything for him.
Personally, it makes sense to me to surround myself with things that spark joy. He simply wanted to keep the clothing he wears regularly.
Books
A few days after we finished our clothes, I asked my husband if he wanted to start on our books. He said no and that books were going to be very hard for him. I offered to pile his books up for him to go through but he declined, so I didn’t push it further.
I went through my own books, and while I didn’t have many to go through (I prefer audiobooks), I ended up donating many, narrowing my collection of books down to about twenty. To my surprise, a few days later my husband was ready to tackle his books. And even more shocking, he also did papers and sentimental items- all in one weekend.
I let him skip Komono mainly because I know how his mind works and I decided I would handle it.
Next for me was paper. I didn’t really have much for the paper category so it was fairly easy. We already have a simple system in place for things like taxes, bills, and important receipts. Our wrapping paper was just sorted and organized after Christmas.
All my important papers are in this box!
Here’s a helpful tip for paper:
Instruction manuals and paperwork that comes with products when you purchase larger appliances and other items can usually be found online through the manufacturers’ website, so it might not be necessary for you to keep the actual paper copy that comes with the product. Go online and download it to keep it on your computer, if you’d like, and toss or recycle the paper. After all, how many times have you sought out that guide since you purchased it? You probably don’t need to keep it.
Komono
On to Komono, or miscellany. This is basically stuff in any shared living space like the kitchen, living room, bathrooms, garage, and such. Komono is not room-specfic. Instead, it is divided into subcategories. My husband and I agreed that I would complete Komono, setting aside a few things that he would need to go through, and he would deal with the garage.
It was very hard for me to stick to the subcategories of Komono and not start tidying by room.
When I’ve purged and organized in the past, I would always go room by room, and I feel this could be why I would never finish the whole house, or why I would always accumulate more stuff I didn’t need. I believe this is because by gathering everything in one category to see all at once in front of you, you really see what you have and realize that you might have multiples of something you only need one or two of. Yes, it’s okay to have some duplicate items, as long as everything has a home and sparks joy.
With Komono complete, I am most happy with how our kitchen turned out.
I was able to organize already stored items better and even remove some items that we hardly use off of the counter and keep them in places that are still easily accessible when we need them. The counters look so much cleaner and I feel like everything flows better now. I also have a drawer in our kitchen dedicated to towels and cleaning cloths because I like to limit our paper towel use. I’ve had issues keeping all these towels in this one drawer before KonMari, but now they all fit nicely!
Sentimental
Sentimental items are the last category. I tackled photos and albums, souvenirs, the box of things I kept from our wedding, and anything else that had a significant memory attached to it.
There really wasn’t much left for me after completing the other categories. There were some hard things to go through here, but that’s why this is the last category in her method – because by now, you are much better at sorting out what brings you joy to keep and what you can thank and move on.
Out of this category, I discarded mostly old photos. I was able to store all the photos I kept in one photo storage box, except for a few larger photos too big for the box and our wedding album. For the rest of the items, I neatly organized them and packed them away or displayed them appropriately.
Basking in the comfort of our newly organized home
After everything was finished, we ended up with three SUV loads of donations, made over $400 from selling unwanted items online, and disposed of many, many bags of trash.
I’m happy to report that even though a short time has passed since we completed the KonMari Method, I have continued to be much happier at home and still follow the KonMari Method! I even took organization a step further by tidying up my digital clutter. I unsubscribed from promotional emails from stores I no longer care to shop at and cleaned up my social media accounts.
The KonMari Method is doing wonders in our household! In the past, I would always try to tidy before going to bed, but I was so tired that I would never finish and just end up putting it off until the next day.
Now when I wake up and go to the main living areas of our house, I smile because it looks so much better. There’s less mess and fewer things to put away. For me, the hardest part about this was not being able to go room by room, but we kept with the categories and we have no regrets!
To help you KonMari your home on a busy schedule, I put together a handy checklist for you to print. It will help you KonMari your home in 30 days or less, promise!
Let’s wrap things up with a few ideas for your donations:
- Give washed, unstained stuffed animals to your local police department. When an officer arrives at a scene where a child has to see their parent(s) injured or even taken away from them, the child can find much-needed comfort in a stuffed animal given to them by an officer.
- Blankets and towels are needed at your local animal shelters and rescues.
- Some hospitals take newborn baby clothes and accessories to send home with families that need them. If not, your local woman’s shelter may need these items.
- Men’s and women’s shelters often take adult clothes and toiletries. A favorite category of clothing is businesswear for job interviews.
- Many nonprofit organizations have resale shops that also accept donations.
- Restore and Goodwill also accept donations.
Don’t forget to call the organization you are donating to and make sure they accept what you have to offer them.
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