The KonMari Method: Books

I am continuing to use Marie Kondo's decluttering method on my home. You can read about the introduction here. Next up as I KonMari my house: Books!

I used to have a TON of books. Before I moved in with my husband, they took up a floor to ceiling bookcase, plus I had more stashed under my bed. It comes at no surprise because I love to read and get pretty attached to books that touch my heart in some way. When I moved in with my now husband, we were living in a tiny one bedroom apartment with almost no storage space. That sparked the first major decluttering of my books. So I already had gotten them down to a smaller number.

There are a few cookbooks in the kitchen that I use all the time, plus magazines from upstairs. Right now, most of our books are stored near the dining room because this just worked out with space and with keeping a common decor with the furniture in the room. The bookcase holds my husband's records and record player on the top and bottom shelf, with my books and scrapbooks in between. The rest are stored inside the chest.

Kondo goes pretty into depth in her book when describing how to go through books. She reminds the reader that books that may spark joy, are lifeless sitting unread on the shelves. She encourages us to only keep those that truly spark joy and that are actually used. Things like textbooks, dictionaries/reference books, and half read novels have served their purpose of providing an experience. After that, we do not need them anymore.

Going through them was tough at first because I had the mindset that I had to get rid of some. But then I remembered the main message of the book, to focus on keeping what sparked joy. After that, it became much easier. It was nice to know that nearly all of my books sparked joy. I had a nice collection of books I primarily used as art reference, those stayed. I also had about a dozen novels and classic books that I kept because I really do reread them often.

The books on the bookcase were all very, very old and passed down from my father to me. Although they were not really read, because they were a family heirloom, I decided to keep them. When I was little, I used these in my pretend play all the time because they were how a book should be. Solid, simple, and they had that great old book, musty smell.

I still got rid of a small pile of books. There were a few funny reads that I knew I wouldn't pick up again. Among them were classics that I only really kept because it felt wrong to get rid of something written by Shakespeare. There were also reference books that I knew could be replaced by Google. There were a few books that I loved dearly and wanted to read them to Dominik, The Lord of the Rings and Grimm's Fairy Tales. These I saved for a future gift for him.

I used this method to go through my son's books too. Although, I also used criteria of whether or not it contained a message I wanted him to be exposed to or if the book had too many grammar errors. There were just a few, as I know his books spark a tremendous amount of joy for him. I gently encouraged my husband to go through his books, as he has lots of reference books and textbooks that are never, ever touched. But he remains in his "these are perfectly good" frame of mind. 

How to keep it green and eco-friendly:

-Books that are in readable condition can be donated to a library. You get a tax write off and someone else gets to enjoy the book.

-Books that are damaged and unsuitable to be donated should be recycled, remember that they are just paper!

-They can also be sold on website like Ebay or Amazon, books like up to date textbooks still fetch close to their retail price, but it helps students to pay it forward with an affordable price

So although I did not declutter as much as I thought I would, I was happy that the books that were left after my last major de-stash were those that truly brought joy to me. It's nice not being overwhelmed with titles or having books that go unread. The ones that I have are reread often because they truly speak to my soul. Every time I wonder if I am keeping too much, I remind myself that it's not necessarily about the amount I have, but whether it truly sparks joy.

Up next: Papers

The KonMari Method: Clothing

After a quick read of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, I decided to give it a try. Read about my review here.

First on the list to be tidied is clothing. This includes underwear, pajamas, pants, tops, blouses, sweaters, leggings, dresses, skirts, coats, and shoes. I always considered myself to be an organized and clean person, but it seemed like the clutter always came back. This is especially true of my closet. I often got rid of clothing items and didn't shop very often, but my closet always felt so stuffed. I hoped that the KonMari method would help to tame my wardrobe.

I'll admit that a larger motivation to getting my clothing under control was the hope that it would mean less laundry for me. Laundry is by far my least favorite chore and it's never long before the baskets are overflowing.

This is how I do laundry.

Because I have a toddler to look after, I did not put everything on the floor to be tidied at once. I also did my decluttering during naptime or independent playtime. Instead, I decluttered by subcategory, starting with undergarments and going from there.

The first thing I noticed, was how different it felt to be decluttering based on what I wanted to keep rather than what I wanted to get rid of. By only asking myself if it sparked joy, I was avoiding any of the other justifications for keeping something. But those thoughts still creeped in every now and then. I kept catching myself thinking, "I don't love this but I can use this as pajamas since it's still perfectly good." Kondo brings up this in her book, warning us to avoid demoting clothing into the "lounge wear" category. This is something I'm often guilty of, so instead of keeping those items, into the donation bag they went.

I also found myself better able to part with gifts from people that never fit right or didn't suite my style. They weren't being worn anyway, but the larger point was that they didn't spark joy.

Folding the KonMari way is what I think really transformed my closet. It's one thing to get rid of a bunch of stuff and then throw the rest into drawers but it's a totally different ball game to fold her way. Whatever is not hung up on hangers, should be folded using her method and then "filed" upright into dresser drawers or on shelves. My socks in particular look AH-MA-ZING and there is now a ton of room in my drawers. Everything is in sight and I can easily grab exactly what I want.

When everything was folded and put away, what surprised me was the feelings I now had towards my wardrobe and in getting dressed. It was pleasurable to put on clothing that I knew I really loved and that made me feel good. My wardrobe is now made up of clothing that is softer, fits nicer, and that better suits my personality.

Socks, bras, stockings and underwear

Bags, accessories, and swimwear

Robes, sweaters, cardigans, and blouses

Pajamas and "lounge wear"

T-shirts, tops, and tanks

Long sleeve tops and sweaters

Pants (The right side is my side, the left side is hubby's)

Even though my side of the closet is much more organized and just has less than my husband's, I feel like the entire closet is already different. My clothing is easier to find and manage, no more shoving a drawer shut! I even folded my husband's clothes the KonMari way. Without getting rid of anything, everything fits better and is just much nicer.

After going through my clothing, I got rid of two full garbage bags worth of stuff. This is after regular closet purging as well as delegating a few items elsewhere. And no, nothing became lounge wear. Items that weren't put into the donation bag were put in my fabric stash for planned projects, my son's dress up drawer, or were severely demoted to cleaning cloths. This is how I kept the process as green and eco-friendly as possible:

-All clothing in good condition will be donated. People in need are going to get good quality clothing and that also means less will end up at the dump.

-Clothing that can be used as dress up is saved for my son. Blouses, bandanas, hats, etc. that can be used in pretend play, were saved for that purpose. For example, a white button up blouse can be a business top or doctor's coat. I save money because I don't have to buy dress up clothing, plus children would rather play with real, grown-up items.

-Clothing is stained, has holes, or is just not donation worthy is saved as cleaning cloths. Instead of using paper towels, I use these items of clothing (cut up to be smaller if necessary).

-All of these pieces of clothing are fabric, Pinterest as a wealth of ideas on how to use them for sewing projects. This is particularly good for making people gifts (like fabric headbands, wallets, or bags) because you save money and reuse something instead of buying new.

Overall, I'm very happy with results, even if I didn't get rid of as much as I anticipated. I realized that my true style is very geeky and very casual. I ended up keeping mostly yoga and sweatpants because the thought of being able to move more freely with my toddler brought me joy. Plus, I absolutely love the feeling of getting into comfortable clothing when I get home. Most of the tops I kept have to do with a particular fandom, like Sailor Moon, and those make me very happy. So, I still have a lot of clothing than I think Miss Kondo would like, but I feel joy about my wardrobe. I plan on continuing the major decluttering and am anxious at how the rest of the house fares. Up next, books!