Best Products To Buy Keeping In Mind KonMari Method
The KonMari Method of Tidying
Have you heard of KonMari? More space doesn’t necessarily mean more things. The goal should be to have a house full of items that spark joy.
Where Minimalism advocates living with less, the KonMari Method, encourages living among items you truly cherish. One of the reasons the KonMari Method is associated with minimalism is because many people discover while tidying that they’ve been living with items they no longer love – or never did. And they suddenly feel empowered to let them go with gratitude.
Discard Everything That Does Not Spark Joy ! Click To Tweet- In This Article:
- The KonMari Method of Tidying
- KonMari Philosophy, Six rules of Tidying
- KonMari Tips On Tidying
KonMari Philosophy, Six rules of Tidying
1. Commit yourself to tidying up
Believe in the change that you are about to experience in life. Decluttering things from home helps in contributing to positive changes in personal attributes and peace in life. According to the KonMari method, from the moment you start tidying, you’ll feel compelled to reset your life. As a result, life will change. Therefore, make a strong commitment to bring that change.
Note down your thoughts and feelings, reset your life.
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle
Before you start the decluttering or throw things away, visualize your ideal lifestyle. Goals such as, “I want to live clutter free” or “I want to be able to put things away,” are too broad. You must think in concrete terms, such as: “I want to live like a Goddess, surrounded by peace and beauty.”
3. Finish discarding first
Remove all the things to be discarded before you re-stack the things to be kept. Before getting rid of each item, show gratitude and sincerely thank each item for serving its purpose and just be thankful to have owned it.
4. KonMari method encourages tidying by vategory – not by location
(Clothes, Books, Papers, Miscellaneous items)
In most households, items that fall into the same category are stored in multiple places. If you are tackling your clothes, then you must get all the clothes out of every closet and drawer in every room first.
5. Follow the right order
According to the KonMari method, the right order to declutter is to tidy the clothes first. Followed by Books and Papers and then miscellaneous items.
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy
You must touch every item so that your body can react. This is NOT an intellectual process. It’s a “felt” physical sense that you can develop over time. Think about how you feel when you’re using that particular item and “how it helps you get the job done better.” If the thing does spark joy, then it stays otherwise throw it out.
You’ve succeeded in tidying if you know where everything in your house belongs and if the layout feels natural to both you and your things.
KonMari Tips On Tidying
Organize sentimental items and things which make you feel nostalgic at the last because otherwise you’ll spend hours just going through them. Eg. Old photographs, letters etc. After organizing all of the necessities in your home, then we have space to add and organize the beautiful emotional items we want to keep.
Folding clothes in a particular manner- Firstly, feel the clothes with your hands and communicate your affection through your palms and have a thought of appreciation for their constant support. Fold them into compact rectangles and they’ll stand.
It’s actually the way you store clothes that makes a difference.
Tidying and cleaning are often used interchangeably, but they are completely different. Tidying is the act of confronting yourself and cleaning is the act of confronting dirt. If you don’t tidy first, your house will never be truly clean, no matter how hard you scrub.
Cleaning is done in 6 steps – Gather supplies and make a plan; Make big moves(pull furniture and appliances away from walls to clean the area); Time to go micro (identify spots that don’t normally see a dust rag like hard to reach light fixtures, refrigerator tops etc); Don’t forget the fridge (Remove the expired items with gratitude and eat perishables ASAP and scrub from the inside); Hit for the refresh button (Clean seasonal items like clothing and bedding when changing from winter to summer season and vice versa) and; Get good dirt (If you have indoor pants, repot and fertilize them & spray down the leaves to remove dust).
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Cleaning is a wonderful way to express gratitude for the items that support you through the season and welcome joy into your home for the upcoming season.
If there is an unused space in your house, use it for something that sparks joy, maybe something creative like your secret corner or a closet space for the kids.
Joyspotting – It is the act of finding small moments or observations that make you happy.
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If you have a lot of items to store in your pantry, It’s easier to divide things into “frequent use” and “infrequent use”. Put those you use less often on the top shelves of a cupboard and at the back.
Make sure everything has its place – Everything you own should have a designated place to make your routines easier and sorted. Label baskets so that everyone knows where their things go.
Get rid of unnecessary paper – We often end up stuffing our drawers with bills and random paper and cards which just end up sitting forgotten. Since most of the paperwork is available online, hanging on to those creates useless clutter.
When it comes to papers, dispose of anything that doesn’t fall into three categories: currently in use; needed for a limited period of time; or must be kept indefinitely.
Use vertical space- Arranging things vertically will save space and allow you to find your belongings more easily. Only keep those clothes which bring you joy instead having rows of forgotten clothes piled up. In case of hanged clothes, arrange in a manner so that they rise to the right. Lines that slope upward are said to make people feel more at peace.
Keep small change in your wallet instead of piggy banks or jars in some drawer where the money keeps sitting unused for years. Keeping it in the wallet will make you actually spend that money.
Plastic bags– According to Kondo, they’re “one of the most common things people accumulate without thinking.” She suggests folding them and storing them upright in a rigid container — a small box, about half the size of a tissue box to prevent over-accumulation. This method of storage can also be applied to cloth bags.
The key to a clean kitchen is keep your countertops clear and design your storage with this in mind. Organize your items by category and store like with like. Store taller items behind and shorter in front so that you can see what you have. Avoid stacking items on top of each other for ease of access.
Mindful discarding of food- Composting is a simple way to discard food with gratitude and stay in touch with the soil that feeds us. Even though food scraps are organic matter, the conditions in landfills make it impossible to decompose naturally. Composting returns organic matter to the environment and improves soil health. Also, spending time outside, fingers in the dirt, has added bonus of improving mental and physical well being and strengthening ties with communities.
Tidying should be practiced with positivity because if your children see you tidying regularly with a smile, they will think of it as a positive everyday activity.
Joy at Work – Tidying the workspace – as well as our tasks, meetings, email, and the like can help us to become more organized, achieve better results and find joy on the job.
You might not be able to get rid of things that don’t spark joy but are necessary to do your job. But what you can do is store them in a pleasing way—whether that’s using fun file folders, cute boxes, or funky containers. Choose storage areas that are easy to put things back in.
Work from home- it’s important to create an environment that helps you focus. If you don’t have a home office, identify the items that are crucial to getting your work done and designate a clear spot for them. When it’s time to work, move all unrelated items off of your workspace and add one thing that sparks joy when you look at it like a crystal or small vase with fresh flowers.
The true purpose of a book is to be read. When deciding which books to keep, forget about whether you’ll read them again or if you’ve mastered the information inside. Take each book in your hand and decide whether it moves you or not. Keep only those books that will make you happy just to see on your shelves – the ones you really love. When it comes to how many books you should keep, there’s no fixed number. The amount that feels right will differ for each individual.
Organize your decisions into three categories: low, medium and high-stakes. Many low-stakes decisions can be automated. President Obama only wore gray or blue suits to cut down on the number of decisions he had to make in a day. Sort through your medium and high-stakes decisions and isolate those that are critical for the work you do. Prioritize those and as much as possible automate or delegate the rest.
Maintaining a solid network- An effective network doesn’t have to be large. Make your network a source of joy. Fill it up with people you like spending time with, who care about your development and success. People who you’re comfortable seeking guidance from and giving advice to.
This article has been contributed by Aakriti Kochar Sachdeva and edited by our editor, Aparna Malhotra.
Aakriti believes in keeping her surroundings tidy according to KonMari Methodology. She is an avid and smart shopper.
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