Tidying Up

By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Marie Kondo’s bestselling book on organization, the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. A year ago when I found out about online yard sale sites, I got really into purging EVERYTHING we didn’t need and selling it on Facebook or ebay. I am extremely proud of how diligent and relentless I was, and I knew it made my husband happy (he owns like, five things). When I heard about her book, I was interested in hearing some tips about cleaning out, and figured it would be fun to read about the topic of tidying.

Before I had the chance to drive to the library, sign up for a card, and put myself on the waiting list, I found out I could get the sequel for free from Blogging for Books (in exchange for my honest review). Some of the reviews of “Magic” criticized the lack of illustrations and difficult-to-decipher descriptions for how to fold things. Seeing that “Spark Joy” had illustrations and more details, I decided to give it a go.

First off, I declared that I would NOT stupidly fold my clothes into weird shapes. I would also not necessarily commit to every command given in the book (“thank your items before you discard them”). I was just reading it for fun and to possibly learn a few tips regarding the way I purge and organize.

Enter Marie Kondo. She boldly claims that NO ONE has ever taken her course and then not lived simply, tidily, and happily ever after. She is a pyscho tidier, for lack of a better description. Since she is so committed to her trade, she knows exactly what she’s doing. That’s convincing, sure. But I really got hooked when I read that this was NOT a book to get rid of clutter. Huh?

Since marrying a tidying-freak, being convicted about being too attached to material possessions, and being energized by purging in the past few years, along with the capsule wardrobe trend, I have tried my best to be a minimalist. However, upon prompting from Kondo to choose images for my “ideal lifestyle,” I recognized for the first time that I actually LIKE things! My dream room is not empty or neutral, rather it is filled with earthy, colorful knick-knacks. The thing that I’ve had trouble doing, then, is curating a collection of items that I can display that I LOVE and that look good together. The goal of Kondo’s method is to weed out things you own so that everyone you have brings you joy, and you eventually create and live in a space that you love.

After that discovery I pretty much gave into the fact that I would be completing the KonMari course on this Japanese woman’s method of tidying. I can’t wait to share more about how the process is going! For now, I recommend picking up a copy of the book. And while you wait for the library to get back to you, look at these images that I chose to represent my ideal room, with elements that stand out to me:

This particular shade of blue:

Lots of plants:

Lots of items (you may call it clutter, but I wouldn’t call it that if every items brings you joy, and seeing them together makes you happy)

Pops of yellow (did not know that I liked that!!)

A soft palette of tan-colored wood (see first photo above), tan-ish gray, lighter brown wood, gray, and black. Notice that there is a lack of dark brown wood in all these photos, which SHOCKED me! All of our furniture is dark, dark brown!!