If you’ve ever googled decluttering in the past ten years, you will have come across Marie Kondo. Her book, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up*“, also known as the KonMari method. It took the world by storm, and claims to give you a life filled with maximum joy. When I first read the book, I thought it was amazing. But after some time and attempts, I find it impractical.
I did the first part of the KonMari method some years ago. But life took over, and I wasn’t able to go beyond the clothes and general books section. Recently, frustrated by the level of distraction in my life, a large chunk of it stemming from too much stuff, I decided to revisit the method.
KonMari In A Nutshell
The KonMari method is very straightforward: you take everything from a particular category (like “shirts”) and put it in one place. Then you touch each item and decide if it sparks joy. If it does, you keep it. If it doesn’t, you thank the item and discard it.
Pros
There are three main positives to this method:
- It’s manageable. Each category is laid out in order from the easiest to the hardest. You will get through all of your items by following the method. Doing a little bit at a time will mean it never gets done. This is counter-intuitive to me, but it holds up.
- You see everything. By pulling everything out into one space, you see all of the items of that type. There is no place for an item to hide in the back of a drawer or a closet.
- You evaluate everything as a single item. With everything out in one place, you have to pick up each item to put it away, and you can take each item as an individual. Again, this limits the ability to hide within a group.
Cons
- Too woo-woo. I’ll be honest with you. Marie Kondo believes that everything is essentially alive or conscious enough to be communicated with. Sorry, that’s a little too woo-woo for me. (And I can take a whole lot of woo-woo). I simply cannot wrap my mind around thanking an object for its service to me. Not out loud. Don’t get me wrong. I am very grateful for the items I have. But thanking them out loud? Nope.
- So much extra work. Having me unpack my purse every single day so the bag can rest is too woo-woo for me as well. Yes, I regularly go through the contents of my purse. But doing it every day is a whole lot of extra work, leading to stress, not joy.
- Overwhelmed by pulling everything together. I totally understand the rationale behind pulling all of the same type of objects together in order to purge them. But that’s not how my life works. My books, for instance, are segregated. Programming books live in one space. Fiction lives in another. Pulling them all into one space doesn’t give me any benefit. My house is filled with such separated items.
Claims You’ll Never Have To Do It Again
One of the things that caught me when I first looked at KonMari was that I would never have to declutter again. I was really skeptical of this. If you declutter and don’t keep up with it, how can you not have to do it over again?
I can honestly say that perhaps in the short term you might not have to do the full method again. However, if you don’t purge as you bring things into your house, you will end up with more spots to be decluttered.
My Adjustments to KonMari
First and foremost, I do not talk to the objects in my life. I don’t ask if something sparks joy. But I do apply The Stock Theory of Decluttering.
Second, I declutter by area. I made the assumption that everything was roughly in the space where it would be used. Therefore decluttering the books in my studio would have no benefit from being mixed in from books in my office. So within each area, I pulled things out (so they could not hide) and purged an area at a time.
I did make sure I was decluttering one type of object at a time. Books were purged separately of pens, notebooks and old journals in my studio, for instance.
I also do one-in-one-out. If I buy a new sweater, a sweater needs to leave my closet. This keeps me from acquiring things to the level that I need a full purge.
In Conclusion
While the KonMari method has its merits and has helped countless people declutter their lives, it’s important to adapt any organizational system to fit your personal needs and lifestyle. For me, taking the core principles of KonMari and adjusting them to be more practical has brought the best results. The goal of decluttering isn’t to follow someone else’s method perfectly. It’s to create a space that functions well for you and brings you peace. Whether you follow Marie Kondo’s approach to the letter or create your own hybrid system, the important thing is finding what truly sparks joy in your life while keeping your space manageable.
