You can find information about the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge here or read the rest of my A to Z posts by following this link.
Today marks the 11th day of the Blogging From A – Z Challenge and that means today’s corresponding letter is the letter K. Today I am writing about the KonMarie Method and why it didn’t work for me.
I’m sure most people have heard of Marie Kondo and her book “Life Changing Magic of Tidying” which was published in 2016 with a follow-up book “Spark Joy” following in the following year, 2017. Since then there has also been a programme “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” which is available on Netflix. The method that Marie Kondo teaches, fondly referred to as KonMarie, with regard to our stuff and things, is to hold a “tidying festival” and go through our belongings in a set way, starting with clothing and ending with kimono (miscellaneous). It involves piling all the items together that belong in each category, so for clothes you would gather every item of clothing you own, from jumpers, underwear, sportswear, hats, gloves, shoes, boots, into a pile and start going through them. That sounds easy enough, but you have to hold each item and thank it, decide whether it sparks joy or not and then discard any item which doesn’t leave you feeling joyful. Then you need to fold the items you will keep in a certain way and put them away. Not only will everything you own, eventually, spark joy from within but you end up with a nice, tidy home with space for everything you own.
This sounds like a really good way to decide on what to keep and what not to, but for me, well, I started with my clothes and got rid of a fair amount of things which didn’t spark any sort of feeling for me at the time. I did end up with a really tidy home which was a positive outcome, and my book shelves and drawers, cupboards and wardrobes never looked more organised and tidy. But, what didn’t work for me started further down the line, a few months later.
I found that, even though I had willingly gotten rid of things and had this whole neat space around me, I started to regret getting rid of things. It started with a coat that I had got rid of. Admittedly, I had not worn it for a year or so but I missed it being there, ready to reach for whenever I wanted it. Then there were books that had gone that I suddenly wanted to re-read, decorations that I wanted to put out and vases that I no longer had that would have been useful at the time. I found that “joy” for me, is a pretty subjective feeling. One day I can really love something, and the next it just be forgotten about, then I will re-discover it and love it again, and this goes in cycles, happening to all of my belonging, not just clothes. And for this reason, Marie Kondo and the KonMarie method really didn’t work for me. Not just that, but all the things I said goodbye to, have pretty much been replaced with similar items as time has gone on.
Have you tried the KonMarie Method? Did it work for you?
My Colourful Life 