I don’t exactly have the same taste in TV shows as my mom. She’s HGTV; I’m HBO. She’s Bravo; I’m VH1. You get the idea. So when I got a call from her about a new Netflix show that I “needed” to start, I was a bit hesitant. Our conversation went a little something like:
“Gabi, I binge-watched the entire thing in one day! It’s incredible!”
“Wow, mom, you’re usually not a big binge-watcher… it must be good. What’s it called?”
“Tidying Up!”
“…What’s it about?”
“Well… Tidying up! It’s about this woman who teaches you how to live a clean and organized life.”
“Umm… sounds… interesting”
Let’s just say I wasn’t sold. Nothing seemed appealing about sitting down to binge-watch some cleaning show. I assured her that I would check it out, even though it really went straight to the bottom of my watch list.
A few days passed and it was laundry day. The typical obese load of laundry that I carry to and from the machines was on the verge of severing my spinal cord when it dawned on me: “How on earth am I going to fold all of this in one night?”
After letting the mountain of clean clothes in the corner of my room intimidate me for about two hours, I got to folding. Once I was done cramming them into my three tiny dorm room drawers, I realized just how much useless junk I actually owned. It was then, in my time of desperation, that I decided to give my mom’s recommendation a try.
I turned on Tidying Up, and less than 25 minutes into the first episode, I found myself emptying out every drawer and dumping out all of my clothes. By the time I was done undoing all the work I had just put into folding, it was 11:30 p.m. I took a second, staring right into the mountain of clothes on my bed, and had a “wtf just happened?” moment. But I had already committed.
Before I go on, you should know more about the woman behind this show. Japanese author, Marie Kondo, wrote a book on what she calls the “KonMari Method.” This is her 5-part method of transforming your entire life by simply “tidying up.” Not only is she somewhat of a freakin’ genius, but she’s literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.
Each episode of the show highlights a different family, each in desperate need of her teaching. From young parents of toddlers to empty-nester hoarders, her method works for everyone.
Phase one of Marie’s method tackles clothes. Marie says you should only keep the items that “spark joy” for you. If an item doesn’t spark joy anymore, you must thank it for all it has done for you, then put it in a pile to be disposed of or donated. It seemed a little silly at first, but soon enough, I found myself thanking all of my ratty old high school t-shirts and throwing them into a bag for Goodwill.
My favorite part of the clothing phase was learning how to properly fold my darn clothes. You probably learned how to fold from a parent, grandparent, or older sibling. Well, ditch anything you thought you knew and open your mind to the future of folding! Marie Kondo’s method will save you time, space and headaches.
Courtesy of Bodrumislife.com
The trick is to fold your clothes into a narrow rectangle, then fold in half, then again in thirds.
The item should then be folded into a small rectangle, about the size of a postcard. Once you’ve folded it, it should be able to stand on its own. The idea here is that everything in the drawer has the opportunity to be seen. This way, you aren’t rummaging through every article of clothing to find the one shirt you’re looking for.
My drawers went from a crazy cluttered mess to the most satisfying I’ve ever seen them! For the first time, I finally feel like I have enough space for everything I own. My unnecessarily enormous mountain of clothes finally fits perfectly into three tiny little dorm room drawers.
The bottom line? No one has room for clutter in 2019! It’s a new year, so start fresh. Start with organization and order. There are four more phases to “tidy up,” and each one is incredible. If you don’t believe me, check out “Tidying Up” on Netflix and see for yourself!