How the "Kon Mari" Method helped me clean out my Closet

If you are on the web at all and looking for Organisation Ideas you may have heard about the “Kon Mari” Method by Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo. I am a big fan of making my life more organised so I had to have a read. 
She has a book out called “THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP” it is an interesting read all about getting your life organised. There is a right and wrong way to tidy up a space according to Marie Kondo, and we have all been doing it wrong !! 

So I decided to follow some of her method and see if I could finally get my wardrobe into some sort of order. This is the story of how I got on. 

GETTING STARTED 

First things first the KonMari method insists you do this in one fell swoop – no little and often with this method – you are tidying up once and for all.  So don’t pick a day when you are busy, I did this over a weekend and some people can take weeks, I suppose it depends on how much stuff you have to sort. 
And to start you get all your clothes and put them on the floor or in my case my bed just to see how much stuff you have accumulated and that means clothes from all over the house – frightening stuff I can tell you.

THE SORTING PART  
The general gist of the method is you should only keep an object if it “sparks joy” if it doesn’t thank it for its service and consign it to the charity bag or bin.

Or as my Nana would call it “if in doubt throw it out” – wise women is my Nana. 

Do not keep things that might fit “one day” or even ones you kept for sentimental reasons, the likelihood of you ever wearing those skin tight stonewashed denim you had when you were 19 to your first gig , is slim !! 
Have black bags or boxes handy – one set for donating and one for the bin, there are just somethings that are passed rescuing. 


THE STORING PART

I believe and so does Miss Kondo,that everything should have a place. Luckily for me I have a walk-in wardrobe, now before any of you think wow she must live in a palace or mansion,I do not,  it is a small walk in wardrobe built over the stairs, all the houses in this estate have one. 

I got some new velvet hangers for the hanging clothes and started to arrange them – now this is where Miss Kondo and I disagreed,she hangs things by type and goes from heavy to light things -left to right.
I go by colour instead of type because I love the way it looks although I also go from heavy to light. 

I have shelves which have my winter jumpers and my summer jumpers on one shelf, cardigans and light zip tops on the next shelf and then the third shelf has my  work trousers on one side and leisure trousers on the other. 

The bottom shelf has my long boots in it currently. 

THE FOLDING PART 

As for the things in my dresser, the Kon Mari method is big on folding and storing things vertically   “When we take our clothes in our hands and fold them neatly,”  writes Marie , “we are, I believe, transmitting energy, which has a positive effect on our clothes.”`

There are a multitude of  videos of how to fold things this way on the internet to see one click here  which might seem a bit of a faff – but I have been doing it for about three weeks now and it is becoming second nature and I fold them straight from the line like this, I just wish I had deeper draws. 
I actually like that I can see all my tops and have done the same thing in my daughter’s drawers and she loves that she can find all her tops at a glance. 

I also used this method to sort out my bags and shoes – and I now have a home for all my evening bags. 

Has it made a difference ? Yes it has ! I find getting ready in the morning much easier now I can see what I have and I no longer struggle to find things. I do feel lighter and more organised so much so I have implemented her methods around the house not just in my closet. 
And I like the idea that the things in my house are ones that bring me joy – there is something nice about that. 
So Marie Kondo – Tidying up is life-changing and magical you were right 🙂