Before and After I Tried KonMari Step 1: Clothes

There's no better time to tidy up than when you're preparing for a major international move! I was feeling especially inspired after binge-watching "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" on Netflix and learning all about the "KonMari Method" of cleaning and organizing. For those who haven't seen the show or read the book, KonMari emphasizes tidying by category instead of location. The first category, per this post's title, is clothes.

To organize clothes, Marie Kondo suggests taking all of your clothes no matter where they are in your house and putting them in one big pile so you can get a sense of how much you truly own. So I dutifully emptied my closet and drawers and wound up with the full pile pictured above. I didn't feel like I had a ton of stuff, but I did feel like I had more than I need.

Per the KonMari Method, I went through each item one by one and kept only the ones that still spark joy for me. The others I set aside to be let go, even if they had served me well in the past. The picture above is most of what was left over - this is the inside of my only clothing closet. I felt like I did a pretty good job!

In addition to the closet, I have three drawers of clothing items organized by function. Another one of Marie Kondo's suggestions I appreciated was to put things away so that you could easily see everything whenever possible. She has some very unique folding methods to achieve this effect with clothes. I can't really say I mastered the folding, but I tried my best and did succeed in making everything in all three of my drawers immediately visible when you open them! There are no hidden rows behind these clothes or layers underneath I have to dig through to find a specific item. I think I'm sold on this technique.

I do think the KonMari Method and the idea of only keeping things that continue to spark joy can be a healthy way to operate in an increasingly materialistic world where we're constantly encouraged to accumulate more and more. The shoes pictured above (which I will be giving away) are the perfect example, especially the beautiful silver pumps that I actually wore on my wedding day! They have sparked a lot of joy for me, but they were always a little too big and it's time for them (and for me) to move on to the next chapter. I can release them happily knowing that they'll go on to spark joy for someone else. Next step for next time - books!