Spring break is coming up and you know what that means: spring cleaning! It’s one of the times in the year where you have this sudden urge to purge your closets and things. During this spring cleaning, a question you should ask yourself is, “Does it spark joy?”
Gif courtesy of Giphy.com
If you haven’t heard of the KonMari method by Marie Kondo, it’s a decluttering method focused on the value that you find in the items that you own. Kondo first publicized the method in her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. During the past year, Netflix created an original series called Tidying Up with Marie Kondo starring her and showcasing the magic she performs when cleaning.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
So, what exactly is the KonMari method and why is it so popular?
According to KonMari.com, their philosophy is broken down into 6 steps:
-
Commit yourself to tidying up
-
Imagine your ideal life
-
Finish letting go first
-
Tidy by category, not location
-
Follow the right order
-
Ask yourself if it sparks joy
This practice of tidying up has a spiritual aspect to it. Instead of just going through things and tossing them out, a person thinks about the purpose of each object throughout the ownership of it. When looking at the items, a person is reminded of why they bought the object, what they did with it, why they kept it and so on. Overall, this method is based on the relationship that you have with the object.
Of course to get started, you have to commit yourself to tidying up. If you don’t commit yourself, you will not be open to letting things go, which makes it harder to clean the space around you. Committing yourself allows you to be open to the change that can come if you decide to tidy up.
The next step is imagining your ideal life. How do you want your life to be? Marie Kondo believes that tidying up not only cleanses your actual physical space, but also your mental state too. Tidying up helps put into focus where you want to go in life.
Before you actually start giving things up, you have to let things go first. It’s hard, especially with sentimental things, to let them go. They hold a special meaning in your life and sometimes it’s just hard to imagine life without it. You have to let go of items first. Acknowledge and appreciate the time you had with the object, and then let it go.
Then, tidy by category. First, start with your clothes. Clothes are one of the biggest categories of things that people have. Kondo recommends placing everything into a giant pile and going through each item individually. When you decide to let things go, thank the item first for all the use it gave you before giving it away. Repeat this method with your books, papers, and then all of your random things. Follow that order and you’ll be tidying up in no time.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
The most important thing that Kondo preaches is asking yourself if the item sparks joy. Kondo explains this as the feeling when you’re holding the item and a feeling of euphoria and happiness encompasses you. If you find an item that does this, keep it. If it doesn’t it, donate it. Those things that spark joy are the items that mean the most to you.
Gif courtesy of Giphy.com
This is just the bones of the KonMari method. For a more in-depth explanation, there are countless blogs, her book, and the Netflix show, that can guide you and show you the power of this method.
I think the biggest point of the KonMari method is that the emphasis is not about letting things go. When we think about spring cleaning, we think about purging as much as possible to reduce the amount of clutter we have. The point of the KonMari method is to remember that all the objects in your life serve a purpose. These things that we have are not “useless.” The method focuses more on appreciating the things we have in our lives.
So when you’re doing your spring break cleaning this year, don’t focus too much on purging to purge. Take the time to reflect on the things you have and the purpose they serve, because these things are what make up a big part of your life.