In a nutshell, most of us simply have too much of it.
As humans, we come with a deeply seated wanting that retailers are all too happy to fill. Only… stuff rarely satisfies the wanting, so we tend to get more and more of it in a desperate attempt to fill what feels like an emptiness inside.
I’m not going to tell you that you need to get rid of all of your stuff in order to be healthy or happy. Becoming a minimalist is NOT required.
But intention certainly helps!
In Marie Kondo’s fantastic book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she walks readers through a step by step process of examing all of their belongings. According to the KonMari Method, the critical question one must answer when holding each and every item in consideration is does it spark joy?
Notice that the question aren’t
who gave this to me?
how much did this cost?
have I ever worn it?
She helps us to strip away the guilt or stories we may use to justify keeping things by posing this simple question – does it spark joy?
If the answer is no, allow it to spark joy for someone else by giving it away.
If you are a newbie to decluttering, you may want to start with a closet, a rarely used room bedroom, or the garage.
I get it. And that’s fine for decluttering version 1.0.
Every Spring and Fall when I do a version of this process, I’ll start with a cursery run through of places that clutter tends to build and quickly disgard anything that feels like a no-brainer.
But when you’re ready for the real deal, KonMari has you move category by category. So, for example, you would take the time to gather ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES in one place before going through your individual items to ask your critical question, does this spark joy?
Gathering all the items within a category has this huge benefits:
It helps you get the full sense of how much stuff you actually have, whereas, when we tackle spaces separately, we tend to keep what fits comfortably into that space (which is different than keeping only what sparks joy).
MY MODIFICATION
You’ll notice that I mentioned I do this twice a year. Here’s why…
When I go through my belongings, I examine only what is seasonally appropriate. I find that in the cool dreariness of Fall, it’s hard to find joy in even my favorite strapless dress. And the flip side is true. In the heat of summer, all of my sweaters are downers. So I only look at items in the time of year that I use them.
Marie Kondo would probably not approve, but I don’t care. Remember, we don’t do dogma here.
There’s space for you to make this method yours while honoring the intention of curating a home environment that nourishes your health.
SELECT YOUR MODULE
In a nutshell, most of us simply have too much of it.
As humans, we come with a deeply seated wanting that retailers are all too happy to fill. Only… stuff rarely satisfies the wanting, so we tend to get more and more of it in a desperate attempt to fill what feels like an emptiness inside.
I’m not going to tell you that you need to get rid of all of your stuff in order to be healthy or happy. Becoming a minimalist is NOT required.
But intention certainly helps!
In Marie Kondo’s fantastic book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she walks readers through a step by step process of examing all of their belongings. According to the KonMari Method, the critical question one must answer when holding each and every item in consideration is does it spark joy?
Notice that the question aren’t
who gave this to me?
how much did this cost?
have I ever worn it?
She helps us to strip away the guilt or stories we may use to justify keeping things by posing this simple question – does it spark joy?
If the answer is no, allow it to spark joy for someone else by giving it away.
If you are a newbie to decluttering, you may want to start with a closet, a rarely used room bedroom, or the garage.
I get it. And that’s fine for decluttering version 1.0.
Every Spring and Fall when I do a version of this process, I’ll start with a cursery run through of places that clutter tends to build and quickly disgard anything that feels like a no-brainer.
But when you’re ready for the real deal, KonMari has you move category by category. So, for example, you would take the time to gather ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES in one place before going through your individual items to ask your critical question, does this spark joy?
Gathering all the items within a category has this huge benefits:
It helps you get the full sense of how much stuff you actually have, whereas, when we tackle spaces separately, we tend to keep what fits comfortably into that space (which is different than keeping only what sparks joy).
MY MODIFICATION
You’ll notice that I mentioned I do this twice a year. Here’s why…
When I go through my belongings, I examine only what is seasonally appropriate. I find that in the cool dreariness of Fall, it’s hard to find joy in even my favorite strapless dress. And the flip side is true. In the heat of summer, all of my sweaters are downers. So I only look at items in the time of year that I use them.
Marie Kondo would probably not approve, but I don’t care. Remember, we don’t do dogma here.
There’s space for you to make this method yours while honoring the intention of curating a home environment that nourishes your health.
In a nutshell, most of us simply have too much of it.
As humans, we come with a deeply seated wanting that retailers are all too happy to fill. Only… stuff rarely satisfies the wanting, so we tend to get more and more of it in a desperate attempt to fill what feels like an emptiness inside.
I’m not going to tell you that you need to get rid of all of your stuff in order to be healthy or happy. Becoming a minimalist is NOT required.
But intention certainly helps!
In Marie Kondo’s fantastic book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, she walks readers through a step by step process of examing all of their belongings. According to the KonMari Method, the critical question one must answer when holding each and every item in consideration is does it spark joy?
Notice that the question aren’t
who gave this to me?
how much did this cost?
have I ever worn it?
She helps us to strip away the guilt or stories we may use to justify keeping things by posing this simple question – does it spark joy?
If the answer is no, allow it to spark joy for someone else by giving it away.
If you are a newbie to decluttering, you may want to start with a closet, a rarely used room bedroom, or the garage.
I get it. And that’s fine for decluttering version 1.0.
Every Spring and Fall when I do a version of this process, I’ll start with a cursery run through of places that clutter tends to build and quickly disgard anything that feels like a no-brainer.
But when you’re ready for the real deal, KonMari has you move category by category. So, for example, you would take the time to gather ALL OF YOUR CLOTHES in one place before going through your individual items to ask your critical question, does this spark joy?
Gathering all the items within a category has this huge benefits:
It helps you get the full sense of how much stuff you actually have, whereas, when we tackle spaces separately, we tend to keep what fits comfortably into that space (which is different than keeping only what sparks joy).
MY MODIFICATION
You’ll notice that I mentioned I do this twice a year. Here’s why…
When I go through my belongings, I examine only what is seasonally appropriate. I find that in the cool dreariness of Fall, it’s hard to find joy in even my favorite strapless dress. And the flip side is true. In the heat of summer, all of my sweaters are downers. So I only look at items in the time of year that I use them.
Marie Kondo would probably not approve, but I don’t care. Remember, we don’t do dogma here.
There’s space for you to make this method yours while honoring the intention of curating a home environment that nourishes your health.