The first category of Marie Kondo’s, writer of The Magic of Tidying Up, KonMari method is clothing.
Step One: Place every piece of clothing in the entire house onto the floor.
She explains the importance of making sure all closets, drawers and storage bins are empty of all clothing. She warns to make sure nothing is left behind. It is important to physically handle each piece of clothing. If the amount of clothing you have is overwhelming, she breaks it down into further subcategories such as, off-season clothes, tops, bottoms and intimates.
My Before Pile:
My Donate Pile:
Step Two: Get rid of “loungewear”.
“Downgrading to ‘loungewear’ is a taboo”
She explains how she has had clients in the past who found it to be a waste to get rid of something that was still in good use, even if they never wear it outside. Their excuse is that it can be used for loungewear. Casting clothes off in the loungewear category is an excuse for clothes that we do not particularly like or are not comfortable, just for a reason to keep them. This, she explains, is just a delay for us parting with the clothes that do not spark joy. We should not keep clothes we do not like for relaxing around the house. The time we spend hanging out around the house is an important and precious part of living; this time spent should also be spent in clothes that bring us joy when we relax. “The real waste is not discarding clothes you don’t like but wearing them even though you are striving to create the ideal space for your ideal lifestyle”, we need to reinforce a positive self-image by wearing clothes that spark joy because we absolutely love them. We need to stop settling on things that we surround ourselves that we do not love or do not bring us joy, it is just a waste of space and it is not worth to be in our spaces.
Step Three: Know how to fold and rearrange your closet space.
“Fold it right and solve your storage problems”
She begins to explain how one can solve almost every problem related to storage by neatly folding your clothes via KonMari. Hanging clothes takes up a lot of space and creates clutter in your closet. Only clothes that absolutely need to be hung or look nicer hung up should go on hangers.
When we fold our clothes we send positive energy into the clothes and build a relationship with our clothes. I know this sounds crazy, at least it did when I first read it, but she describes how when we fold our clothes it erases wrinkles, makes the material stronger and more vibrant. Folding allows for us to take better care of our clothes, it is an act of appreciation for the clothes that bring us joy. “The key is to store things standing up rather than laid flat”, this allows for you to see every piece of clothing at a glance.
The secret to energizing your closet is in the way it is arranged. The KonMari method is to arrange clothes so that they rise to the right. For example, hanging heavy, longer items like coats onto the left of the closest and lighter, shorter items like tank tops on the right.
Even though this idea sounds nice because of the fact that lines that slope up to the right make people feel more comfortable, my closest physically would not allow me to do this, so I had to improvise a bit. My advice would be to organize your closet in a way that fits your lifestyle and personality the best.
Step Four: Don’t ball up your socks.
“Treat your socks and stockings with respect”
Marie Kondo says to never ball up your socks or tie up your stockings. Her explanation for this was because it does not give our socks a chance to take a break from there long day of working hard on our feet. Their only time to rest is in their drawers. I do not personally agree that socks have feelings like this, but I will say I have noticed a huge difference in my sock drawer from what it was and what it is now. Before I had to use an entire drawer only for balled up socks. Now, I only need ⅓ of the same drawer. My drawers are much neater and I will say that my socks do look much more relaxed than the way they were before.
Step Five: Forget the seasons.
“Eliminate the need to store off-season clothes”
When we store our clothes for the off-season we often forget about them. The trick is to have the mindset that you will not be storing your clothes at all and not to “over categorize”. Instead, divide your clothes by cotton-like or wool-like, not by vague categories like summer, winter, fall and spring. She continues to give solutions to small spaces like only storing small, specific off-season items like swimsuits or earmuffs. When clothes are stored try not to use those clear plastic bins, because they are hard to use effectively. Eventually, things will get stored on top and it will be hard to get to and will seem like too much work. Instead, she says if you need to get storage, get a set of drawers.
My Takeaway
Instantly after I used the KonMari method on my clothes I started to have a clearer mind and an open space. She explains in the book about the importance of having organized closets and drawers because even though they are not initially seen, the fact that we know behind that door or in that drawer things are in order, it will bring peace. She is completely right. Now I have a peace of mind about my closest and dresser and know that every piece of clothing I own brings me joy. Now I am excited to get dressed everyday because I know I will wear something I absolutely love.
My life has already changed with just this first category of the KonMari method.