The Pursuit of Ultimate Simplicity

I am definitely not thought of as a messy person by my friends or disorganized by any means and this thought is the complete opposite to people in my immediate family. That's why I decided to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up in the first place. Though Kondo states in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, to simply throw away things that don't bring you joy or to store things vertically, it's simply a recommendation and things don't have to be that way. She even goes as far to state explicitly, to not keep things that do not bring you joy, including this book, and says she'd rather you discard it if it doesn't bring you any joy (Kondo 90). Different methods of storage and organization work for different people with different motivations to keep their house or workspace neat and tidy. For me personally, only a few methods have really worked for me and have even spread through my house. My mom, for instance, has started to fold and store her shirts the same way that I did without me noticing it and my sister has started to empty her bag every day like I've been doing. 

Some of the methods that didn't work at all. The books got out of order when my sister and dad were trying to read some of them since we are a family that reads books out of nostalgia once in a while and we've only gotten more books in the few months that I've tried to organize things. There are still also tons of papers in my laptop case and a few aimlessly floating around my desk. This book has definitely changed my opinion of organization and not in the way I expected. I expected to be neater and more organized with my own life by the end of this trial but that is not how things ended. I found that I've come to a realization of which parts of my life are untidy and a new found urge to improve things in different areas of my life, not only in my organization of items but in my health and social life as well. Kondo tells us, "Pour your time and passion into what brings you the most joy, your mission in life. I am convinced that putting your house in order will help you find the mission that speaks to your heart. Life truly begins after you have put your house in order.” (Kondo 204). This definitely applied to me and I've felt more relaxed and not as cluttered in my head all the time with the list of things I've had to do.

I've kept every space I've been organizing as simple as bunched in categories for now and it definitely makes putting things back much easier. I'm sure my space will change within time.

This book really encouraged me to try out different methods of organization. I was never someone that was able to keep up and use a planner but I've gotten one and I've written in it quite a lot. When I was younger, I never thought anyone would ever need a file cabinet at their house but now I've been thinking of trying to find a file box to keep stray papers in and saving up for a new desk. Kondo was correct when she explained how ultimate storage solutions simply lead us to hoard more and become more cluttered in our house. This lead to that same feeling about life (Kondo 149). Reading this book made me think more about how I want my work space to look and what type of life I want to live. I've realized that my desk area effects a lot on how well I do my school work. For instance, I'm sometimes too distracted to successfully accomplish anything in a timely manner because I'd be too busy trying to think of a way my desk can look better or reorganizing my pens. Kondo advises me, "Rather than buying something to make do for now, wait until you have completed the entire process and then take your time looking for storage items you really like" (Kondo 150). To be a person who is able to get work done and to feel comfortable and refreshed constantly is the type of person I want to be and this book helped me realize that I am generally wanting more out of myself and things that have happened.

From these past few months of adjusting to a mindset that is adhering to decluttering and trying to find a way for everything to be simpler and more minimalist in every aspect, my results are a life that is able to make more bold purchases of things I love and make a lot of use of such as an agenda which I've invested in or a new set of pens to use because I have nothing that is 'emotionless excess' which makes what I have become everything I would ever need. The surplus of things I had and my mom that loves to watch HGTV and their organization methods changed when I understood Kondo's ending message, "Tidying is just a tool, not the final destination. The true goal should be to establish the lifestyle you want most once your house has been put in order” (Kondo 21). I finished reading the book and I really enjoy and treat organization and tidying as a special event and a mini 'fresh start' to try different methods and essentially different views on what type I want to live.

Will you test out Marie Kondo's methods of decluttering and how well do you think it'll work for you?

Kondō, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. N.p.: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

Emptying Your Backpack

I am definitely the type of person that has an extremely messy workspace and I've come to a realization that it is because I empty my backpack every day. Marie Kondo in her book, The Life-Changing Magic of  Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing alludes that I am on the right track with how I take out my notebooks and binders on a daily. Kondo states, "Many people see no point in taking [items in your bag] out when they come home because they will use them again the next day, but this is a mistake. The purpose of a purse or a messenger bag is to carry your things for you when you're away from home." (Kondo 153). Many disagree with this idea initially because it seems like it will take too much time or too much work to put things back in. The reason I've actually been taking things out of my backpack for the past few years is because it's actually easier for me to think when everything that I could possibly work on is laid out in front of me but it also helps the backpack not become as worn out as fast.

My desk quickly gets incredibly messy and cluttered even though my desk is quite large. It's probably because I have two monitors and a laptop.

This is actually how my desk looks at the end of the night. Definitely not exaggerating or enjoyable to clean up. 

The part I definitely don't like the most about emptying my bag is trying to find everything I need for the next day and then repacking. Kondo, however, gives us an extremely easy solution for this and states that I simply just need to, "Make a place for the things inside it. Find a box and place your train pass, company ID, and other important items [inside]...Or you can make a space in one corner of a drawer without using a box at all." (Kondo 154). I found that this was a great solution to my problem of digging around for things and I tested it out for a week or so and it has worked really well for me. I have a box for my pencil cases and graphing calculator and I frequently leave reminders on top of the box for myself. For larger items that don't fit the box such as the two binders and three to four notebooks I carry, I've designated a space for them next to the box and it definitely reduces my searching and packing time by a lot so I don't have to rush to get to the bus stop on time.

By following this method, I definitely feel more relaxed and along with the mood is more time to plan the following week in my planner in the morning instead of trying to dig through my desk and try to find a worksheet that I know I completed the night before.

Do you think unpacking and repacking your backpack is too much work? Or do you like the idea of this method and if so, will you try this out?

Kondō, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. N.p.: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

Keeping the Things You Love

Throughout the book, The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, it is a common idea to get rid of the stuff that does not bring you joy (Kondo 107). Although this does not sound all that difficult, it has been something I have tried my best to avoid. I love stuff and it seemed like way too much work to deal with it. Whenever I go through all of my stuff, I get distracted by the memories, waste too much time, and eventually just throw everything back into a variety of spots to organize later. Despite my problem with keeping stuff, I have successfully dealt with it and it honestly feels so much better, with the help of Kondo of course.

Twelve out of fourteen spots of stuff in my room

The first thing I did was try to find all of my miscellaneous items, which were spread around my room in fourteen different spots (twelve of which are shown above). Sadly, it was not like each spot held a different type of thing; they all had a weird mixture of stuff that usually was not at all related. I then took everything out and sorted it by what it was.

Supplies, cards, miscellaneous, and notebook piles

One pile was made up of stuff that was definitely just junk. The stuff in that pile was stuff I had no clue I still had. Most people are unaware of all the odds and ends they’ve collected over the years (Kondo 107). I definitely fall into this group; I had surprisingly kept all of the tags to my Webkinz, which I got rid of years before. Along with that, I had stuff that was obviously just trash: expired coupons, the reading plan for a book club I never even joined, and to-do lists from months and even years ago. All of this stuff was just taking up space and I had no reason to keep any longer.

Another pile that was more difficult to go through was cards. For some reason, I have kept almost every (birthday, Christmas, even St. Patrick’s Day) card I had received since I was 9, and there was some random ones from even earlier than that, including my 5^th birthday card. Though it was fun to go through all of them, most of them lack any meaning to my life. Also, it is important to deal with these things to move on. “By handling each sentimental item and deciding what to discard, you process your past. If you just stow these things away in a drawer or cardboard box, before you realize it, your past will become a weight that holds you back and keeps you from living in the here and now” (Kondo 116-117). It isn’t healthy to hold onto everything you’ve already received. It is important to process this, but also to move on and continue to grow.

It was a little sad getting rid of many of my cards. Kondo had words of wisdom however, that made it much easier. Each card had a certain purpose, maybe to wish you a happy birthday or thank you for something you did, but once that purpose has been served, there is no point in holding onto it, unless it still brings you joy (Kondo 108). I threw away most of my card collection after understanding this. Many of my cards had already achieved their goal and it was time for me to move on.

This same idea aided me through the rest of the process and I was able to part from the things that I didn’t truly love. This provided plenty of room for everything I did. Eight and a half bags of junk later (four trash, four recycling, and a half giveaway) left a happy, organized girl looking forward to the future, not holding onto the past.

What kind of stuff is hard for you to get rid of? Are you just holding onto the past or do you find joy in those items?

Kondo, Marie. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2014. Print. 

Treating Socks and Stockings with Respect

I love socks. I have socks for most major holidays, with many different animals on them, and for all different purposes. Though there is no problem in this, my immense amount of socks can lead to organizational problems, a difficulty in finding the right pair of socks, and just a general mess. Marie Kondo, in The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up, as usual, offers a simple yet effective solution.

My main way of keeping socks together was by balling them up. I personally thought this was a good method but Kondo strongly disagrees. She states that, “If they are folded over, balled up, or tied, they are always in a state of tension, their fabric stretched and their elastic pulled” (Kondo 81). Looking back, I now understand why so many of my socks needed to be replaced often. Following her strategy would not only have organizational benefits, but also economic ones. By treating your socks with care, you can increase their lifespan, thus saving you money.

If you aren’t allowed to ball up your socks, what are you supposed to do with them? Obviously just throwing them in a drawer won’t solve any problems. Kondo recommends two ways to fold: one for stockings and one for socks.

To fold stockings, “Lay the toes one on top of the other and fold the stocking in half length-wise. Then fold it into thirds, making sure that the toes are inside, not outside, and the waistband protrudes slightly at the top. Finally, roll the stocking up toward the waistband” (Kondo 81-82). I’m not an expert in folding but this is super easy. It’s simply just rolling up the stockings so that they don’t take up a ton of space and make a tangled mess. I was at first worried that they would unroll, but Kondo suggests storing them in a shoe box (Kondo 82). This keeps them in place and all located together, making them easy to find.

Stockings rolled up and placed in a shoebox

Folding socks is even more trouble-free. Put one sock on top of the other and fold to make similar-sized rectangles, changing the number of folds based on the height of the socks (Kondo 82). Though easy, this may take a while, depending on the amount of socks you have. It took me about 30 minutes, but then again, I have way too many socks.

A portion of the folded socks

To finish up, you have to put all of your socks away, which for me is in a drawer. As always, it is best to store them vertically (Kondo 83). No matter what you are storing, it seems that vertical storage is the most space saving and practical way to store things. Now I even have room for more socks.

 

After

This is an incredibly uncomplicated way to organize your socks. It saves time, effort, and room. Also, for someone like me, who owns socks for most holidays, they won’t be completely stretched out when I finally get to wear them each year.

How do you store your socks? Is it effective or does it just stretch them out? Also, if you give this a try, let me know how it works out for you!

Kondo, Marie. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2014. Print. 

Emptying Your Bags

I love to be prepared. I always want to have everything I need in every situation. To make sure I don’t forget anything, I never take my items out of my purse so that it is always ready to go. I had no clue that this was a problem since the only time it created trouble was when I either changed bags or filled it with too much stuff. According to Marie Kondo, in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, you must empty your bag every day (Kondo 154). To be completely honest, when I first read this section, I thought it was such a waste of time. Yet, Kondo has had consistently effective methods, so I decided to go through with it.

I still was curious on why it was important to do this. It didn’t seem like it would make much of a difference. However, Kondo convincingly states that, “If you treat your handbags like this, they will soon look tired and worn” (Kondo 153). In saying this, she means that if you never empty your bags, they won’t get a break from carrying all your stuff. This leads to a faster deterioration. Along with being prepared, I love to save money. If emptying my purses and bags helps them last longer, I’m all for it.

The first step to make this a habit is easy, just take everything out of your bag (Kondo 154). I had quite a collection of stuff, ranging from gloves to lip balm to sticky notes.

The next step is to find a way to store all of your things. Kondo suggests, “Find a box and place your train pass, company ID, and other important items vertically inside it. Then put the box just like that into a drawer or cupboard” (Kondo 154). Like all of her tips, I’ve found it extremely important to follow exactly what she says. When I first tried this, I ignored the part about vertically organizing things, which made my shoe box very crowded. As soon as I switched it, everything fit much better.

This strategy has helped my organization greatly. I often change bags and this helps speed that process up. It makes me get rid of any trash I have right away, instead of letting it build up as well. I’ve also found that I carry just what I need instead of everything I have. For example, if I’m going to work, I don’t need to bring my gloves or hair ties, but I do need to make sure I have my keys. This has helped me stay much more organized while still being prepared.

What kind of stuff do you always need to have? Do you think this strategy would help you stay more organized? Also, if you try it, let me know how it goes!

Kondo, Marie. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

Small Changes To Where You Put Spare Change

I'm the type of person who doesn't hang onto their spare change and I either give it to my mom (who is quite the penny pincher by the way with her routine coupon cutting) or I just leave it somewhere and when I decide to clean my room once in a while I'll feel amazed and wonder how I found random money that I've hidden some time in the past. The fourth category of organizing in Marie Kondo's book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, is about こもの (romanized as 'komono,' meaning small articles). "The king of the komono category, coins can be found in the entrance hall, the kitchen, the living room, the washroom, on top of furniture, and inside drawers. Despite the fact that coins are perfectly good cash, they are treated with far less respect than paper money. It seems strange that they should be left lying around the house where they are of no use at all." (Kondo 113). She makes an extremely good point and it gave me motivation to go around and dig for the cash I left around. Kondo mentions that every time she helps people reorganize and declutter their house, they tend to find coins not only in their wallet, but also in couches and other places around their home and it totals up to a good bag full of forgotten change (Kondo 113).

Kondo explains that "If you put them [coins] in a piggybank, you are simply transferring the place where they will be ignored, People who have lived in the same house for a long time are particularly prone to forgetting their little cache of coins....I beg you to rescue those forgotten coins wasting away in your home by adopting the motto 'into my wallet!'" (Kondo 113-114). I definitely went scavenging for my childhood piggy banks and random containers where I stored money in when I was younger and I definitely found a bunch of coins that I could have been spending (though the total doesn't add up to that much unfortunately). 

I think the only con with this method however, is that coins definitely bulk up your wallet and it makes it more heavy. I'm not really the type of person that cares about those things because my wallet in particular has a specific pocket meant to store coins but that is something to mention if you're a type of person that doesn't want to carry around that weight. The obvious pro is that you have some more money to spend, no matter how small and if you don't want to carry around coins, just simply use them when you buy things.

What do you guys do with your spare change and will you try this method out now?

Kondō, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. N.p.: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

Piled Up Papers

As much as I love having an organized desk space to work at, my desk is often covered in papers. From bank statements to community service forms to old homework assignments, they all end up on my desk to not be touched again for sometimes months. This is not only messy but it is very unpractical for actually finding anything.

Before

Thankfully, Marie Kondo, in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has an effective solution. Her strategy is simply to throw away everything you don’t need (Kondo 96). Despite the ease in saying this, it can be hard to get rid of something you ‘might need someday.’ I know I personally struggle with this. I automatically believe that everything is important and thus has to be kept.

To help people like me who think that nothing should be thrown away, Kondo states how to determine what needs to be saved. “I recommend you dispose of anything that does not fall into one of three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely” (Kondo 97). For me, this meant most of my pile of papers had to go, only keeping those that I needed to either do something with or I was actually using for something. It was honestly a little sad to get rid of so much but it was a huge step in getting rid of my constant clutter.

Though getting rid of most of my life in papers helped my organization, it wasn’t the full solution. For this strategy to remain effective, I would need a new way to organize my papers, a way to prevent future piles. Kondo, of course, has a technique to do this. She suggests using a vertical storage container, so your papers are stored standing up, instead of in a massive pile (Kondo 97). Vertical storage is key to this working. Not only does it offer up more desk space, it also provides ease in locating all of your important papers. The whole method has been extremely successful for me and I would recommend it to anyone who also deals with a mess of papers.

Vertical Storage Strategy

How do you deal with all of your papers? Is it effective or does it just lead to a mess like mine did? Also, if you try this strategy, let me know how it works out for you!

Kondo, Marie. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

The New Dewey Decimal System (For Me At Least)

I was a pretty avid reader before school started and I got swamped by things to do and this is pretty evident in my book collection. I actually don't have any books in my room and rather have a lot of them in my sister's room and about a shelf the computer room. I'd rather not knock on my sister's door to grab a book so I've decided to move a select few back to my own room if I get bored in the middle of the night and decide to read. Again, using Marie Kondo's advice from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, we discard things that don't bring us joy first, then rearrange. Kondo like before when organizing clothes, put them into categories then subcategories, which she does the same with for books:

The bookcase in my sister's room with half my books on it.

"If there are too many books to arrange on the floor all at one time, I ask my clients to divide them into four broad categories:
General (books you read for pleasure)
Practical (references, cookbooks, etc.)
Visual (photograph collections, etc.)
Magazines" (Kondo 88).

It took me a while to gather up all the books I own in the house but thankfully, the only books I own are general books and I own one practical book which is a game guide. After dragging them all in my room, I judged the pile on whether I wanted to throw them out or not by the same criteria I had with my clothes, 'does this bring me joy?'. In the end, most of the books we own, we are never going to read again so Kondo recommends to throw out those unread books because 'maybe' essentially means never (Kondo 89). Kondo even goes as far to boldly state for us to "Keep only those books that will make you happy just to see them on your shelves, the ones that you really love. That includes this book, too. If you don't feel any joy when you hold it in your hand, I would rather you discard it." (Kondo 90).

It was actually pretty hard picking which books I wanted to keep because on the bookshelf in the computer room, my dad and I actually store two layers of books in it like so:

I'm very happy with the few books I did decide to place in my room though and my sister and I decided to get rid of a lot of picture books that we were never going to read again. Though my book collection is really small compared to a few other people I know, I do expect it will change though because as I grow older, books will be exchanged for new ones and some more will be added. My sister and dad decided to keep most of the chapter books we own still and donate the picture books though. Here's a picture of the books I have in my room as of now:

Which books are really memorable for you and have really made an impact on you guys?

Kondō, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. N.p.: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

First Folds

At this point of my life, my mother (who loves, and I mean loves, cleaning) isn't even bothering to tidy up after me because everything ends up messy again in five minutes. So I decided to get my life back together and because I'm taking Japanese as well, I decided to read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art Of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. Kondo teaches the same method for all her clients, no matter their personality and she doesn't worry about creating complex categories for each one, she simply states, "Effective tidying involves only two essential actions: discarding and deciding where to store things. Of the two, discarding must come first." (Kondo 28) And though I'm the type of person that can't throw away and can't put back things, I'm willing to give this method a shot and see if it works for me!

Kondo has a way of organizing clothing which sounds like a great method for a person like me who is too lazy to put things away but wants things extremely organized. She recommends creating subcategories when you are tackling the challenge of throwing out clothes and storing them:

"Tops (shirts, sweaters, blouses, etc.)

Bottoms (pants, shorts, skirts, etc.)

Clothes that should be hung (jackets, coats, suits, etc.)

Socks

Underwear

Bags (handbags, messenger bags, backpacks, etc.)

Accessories (scarves, belts, hats, etc.)

Clothes for specific events (swim suits, kimonos, uniforms, etc.)

Shoes (sandals, sneakers, heels, etc.)" (Kondo 65)

I've organized my clothes already into piles and have discarded a good chunk of them that don't fit me anymore or aren't my style. Now we get into folding different types of clothes and storing them in specific ways. My closet consists of a hanging rack, and nine drawers which I store things in. Though I do laundry once in a while, Kondo teaches us a specific way to fold in her book. The end goal is to have all your clothes in the same shape, a simple rectangle. She instructs, "First, fold each lengthwise side of the garment towards the center....Next pick up one short end of the rectangle and fold it toward the other short end. Then fold again in the same manner, in halves or thirds." (Kondo 76) 

Kondo also recommends to store things standing up rather than laid flat like how they are displayed in stores because what creates wrinkles are the pressure that is applied to the clothes. Because clothes are stored in a pile, the weight of clothing on top of one another acts like a press which creates those wrinkles. These are pictures of my drawers before and after.

For a person who loves cute socks and receives a lot of cute socks as gifts, I end up balling my socks which is the wrong way. It's stated in bold to "Never, ever ball up your socks." Kondo explains that they take a brutal beating in their daily life with you walking everywhere with them being trapped between your foot and your shoes and being in your closet is their only time to relax. You simple fold them the same way as you did with clothing and she specifies, "For low-cut socks that just cover the feet, folding twice is enough; for ankle socks, three times; for knee socks and over-knee socks, four to six times." (Kondo 82).

I found that I could close my drawers much easier and I didn't have to push the socks down when I shut my drawers! I can also store even more clothing articles than before. 

Will you change anything about the way you fold clothes now? If you try drawer storage, how many wrinkles do you have in your clothes now compared to before? Can you store more clothes now than before?

Kondō, Marie. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. N.p.: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.

Energizing Your Closet

When rushing to clean up my room, I know the first thing I try to do is throw everything into my closet. This leads to a growing mess and a difficulty in finding anything. Even when my closet is at its neatest, it is still a jumbled mess. Facing this struggle on a daily basis has gotten frustrating overtime. Reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, has improved my closet tremendously.

For as long as I can remember, I just stuffed clothes in wherever they would fit. This, according to Kondo, is my first problem. She explains that the most basic part of having an organized closet is to sort your clothes by category: jackets, dresses, coats, and so on (Kondo 78). This makes perfect sense. It makes things much easier to locate and groups like items for ease in choosing what to wear. But this alone wouldn't solve my problem since I had tried this before unsuccessfully. Soon after organizing my closet, it gets messy again due to my laziness. It feels like an endless cycle of cleaning and sorting.

Kondo offers a solution to this problem. She instructs, “Arrange your clothes so that they rise to the right” (Kondo 79). At first, I was skeptical of this strategy. It sounded useless and I doubted its effectiveness. How could this make any difference at all? Despite my uncertainties, I went along with it. To get an idea of what the closet will look like when down, Kondo includes that, “As you move toward the right side of the closet, the length of the clothing grows shorter, the material thinner, and the color lighter” (Kondo 79). This basically makes your warm-weather located on the right side of your closet, while your thick coats are on the left. While doing this, you must also continue sorting by category, which is trickier than it sounds.

Now I’ve got to admit, it didn’t feel quite what like Kondo describes. She says organizing your closet this way will transmit energy to your clothes and body, and will also freshen your room. This causes you to never go back to a disorganized closet (Kondo 80). My first impression was not a re-energizing feeling, but her method has so far proved surprisingly effective for the week or two since tidying it. I’m not sure how long it will last but it has been enjoyable having an orderly closet for once.

Here is some before and after shots of my closet.

Before

After

Do you think that this strategy would be effective for you? Or is there any modifications that you think would make this more successful? Also, if you try it, let me know how it works for you!

Kondo, Marie. The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Trans. Cathy Hirano. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2014. Print.