Is your new best friend Marie? You know, Marie Kondo? You do know Marie Kondo of course. Marie with the book and the show and the life-changing magic. If she’s not your best friend she might be your worst enemy. Either way, this post will fill you in on my love/hate relationship with Marie.

Anyway, if you don’t know who she is, she is the author of a book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing and also the star of a show on Netflix, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. She is a professional organizer from Japan. Her book outlines a specific method of decluttering and getting organized.

I flirted with Marie a few years ago, got bored and let the magic slip away…but then my husband heard about her, got all starry-eyed, and turned our cozy nest of clutter love upside down. I resisted at first but knew I needed some help. I’m a mess by nature. Scattered, easily sidetracked, disorganized. For years I’ve tried to get a handle on things around the house with little success. So I am grateful that my husband has stepped in.

Now about 8 weeks have passed since we pulled all the clothes out of closets and drawers and piled them up on beds. We haven’t finished the whole house, mostly just clothes. And we aren’t following her method exactly. Even so, the results are impressive.

And here are the surprising ways tidying is changing our lives…

1. This “tidying” thing must be magic because we’re actually sticking with it. We’ve never stuck with any other system in the house before. Believe me, I’ve tried- cleaning schedules, chore lists, daily and weekly to-do lists. This could be due to other factors, too, but I definitely think there’s something to this Kondo method.
2. Our drawers are filled with neat little tri-folds. This means it’s so much easier to pick out clothes and get dressed. It’s easier and we don’t end up pulling out several shirts (and leaving them unfolded, probably on the floor) to find the one shirt we want.
3. The hall closet is now home to our jackets. We used to just hang them on the dining room chairs. In those in-between-season months, this could lead to mountains of coats, sweatshirts, fleeces on the dining room chairs. If you ever would have told me I would walk in my house and walk down the hall and hang up my coat on a hanger I would have wrinkled my nose and shook my head. Now? I do it. Without thinking about it. (When I do think about it I feel very much like Mr. Rogers and it makes me smile a little and want to put on a cardigan.)
4. You do the clothes and it spreads. As I said, we are not following the system exactly as it’s outlined. We started with the clothes, and we did one person at a time. We haven’t moved on to the next category of household items yet (which would be books I think). But the tidying has spread. It’s contagious. Other areas of our home are getting tidier too.
5. We are more appreciative of our house and our things. My husband and I both separately found ourselves thanking the house in a big windstorm. Marie Kondo is big on being grateful for things, thanking things for the purpose they serve. This part might sound a little out there, but you really start to feel it. And it makes it easier to be neat. It makes it easier to take the extra step to put your things away- out of respect for the space you live in and the items that serve you (and bring you joy).
6. We understand it’s a long process and we still haven’t given up, ripped out our hair, or moved on to the next quick fix. It’s ok that this is part of a process because the steps along the way are getting you closer to a space you really want to live in. The steps along the way are making our home that much more enjoyable. So we can be patient and look forward to taking on the next project.
7. We are ready to spoil the house with more tidying. Our bedrooms have become serene havens. It feels good to be in those rooms. That makes us look forward to doing the next room and the next until the whole house is “tidied.” This girl is not one who was maybe ever excited about decluttering!
8. Our house is company-ready (almost) all the time. Don’t get me wrong, we have a lot of work to do. There are several unfinished projects (think missing molding and children’s drawings on the walls) that need our attention desperately. But the house is neat and clean. No longer do I have to duck under the window when a car pulls in the driveway or angle myself just so in the doorway when a mom comes to drop off her child. I can’t wait for someone to pop over! Just so I can say, “Come in,” and not be slowly dying inside.
9. Our house is also party-ready. Getting ready for a party used to be torture. The hours of cleaning, the stashing of stuff in the closets, the fighting to get it all done in time. We recently had overnight guests and a big party for St. Patrick’s Day. It was a breeze. Or a breeze compared to what getting ready for a party used to mean anyway. And we had clean sheets and blankets folded and ready for our friends. We didn’t have to brace ourselves for an avalanche when we opened the closets. It was a really nice feeling.
10. We enjoy our downtime much more. There have been moments where we really feel like we can sit and kind of do whatever because there’s nothing we have to be doing. Now, believe me, there’s plenty we could be doing. And I’ve never had a real problem snuggling in on the couch on the weekends. But it is so nice to not have anything pressing- like a mountain of laundry or rugs badly in need of vacuuming. Our relaxation time is much more peaceful and we enjoy it more.
11. I am neater in other areas of the house. Just from doing the clothes, I find myself acting like a neat person. Before I put something down on the counter I catch myself and put it away. I take the extra steps to put things where they belong rather than deal with it later. It’s strange…but nice.
12. I’m more organized in life outside the house too. Now I read that Marie Kondo empties out her bag/purse as soon as she comes home each day. That seems a little extreme to me. (My kids and I play a little game in waiting rooms based on what we might find in my bag.) But I do find myself throwing out old shopping lists and receipts more often.

Overall, I’d say our great tidying experiment is going well. I have to admit my husband is still the Chief Operating Officer of the whole thing. My oldest daughter is probably next in charge. But the rest of us are hanging in there, maintaining, and picking up some good habits along the way. And it’s making a huge difference in our lives.

I will say I imagine it would be harder to do if our kids were younger. The decluttering would be harder (they get too attached to things at certain ages and I think our children are still suffering from a poorly executed garage sale we had when they were toddlers). Plus, you’d have to do too much for them. Walking down the hall to calmly hang up my coat is a lot different than walking down the hall with my coat plus four small coats and all the chaos those little coat-wearers bring with them. That’s not to discourage anyone- but maybe start with the adults in the house and move along patiently.

If you haven’t read the book yet you can buy it on Amazon. I just restarted it and look forward to finishing it!

Have any of you been sucked in by the amazing Marie Kondo? I’d love to hear how it’s going for you! Or how you’re resisting her charms!

 

 

 

 

 

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