Organizing the nest

The Life Changing magic of tidying up!

 After a rigorous day yesterday, I thought it would be good to take it easy today at home and start organizing my drawers. I’d heard about Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant, from friends who spoke wonders about her methods and how they’d transformed their lives. I remember Cristi referring to her as she was cleaning her closet. In case you haven’t, here’s the little turquoise book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, I just happened to see it at National Book store here in Manila. Kondo is not just popular in Japan but in all of Asia and she has set off a decluttering craze across the globe. Amazing!

Kondo’s services command a waiting list a mile long in Japan, but for the rest of us, her book breaks down her radical approach to tidying. First, put your hands on everything you own, ask yourself if it sparks joy, and if it doesn’t, thank it for its service and get rid of it.  

Second, once only your most joy-giving belongings remain, put every item in a place where it’s visible, accessible, and easy to grab and then put back. Only then, Kondo says, will you have reached the nirvana of housekeeping, and never have to clean again. That is so Japanese, I love it! I remember when my mom went on a trip to Asia in 1975 and came back so impressed by how tidy and clean people were in Japan. What she told me is that people do not have space and they only buy good quality not quantity! They own a few things because they have no place to put anything. They fold up their mats where they sleep every morning because they don't have the luxury of owning a bed. They eat on a tiny table close to the floor that could be used for something else and that way they don't even have to have a dinning room. That is how little space they have.

All of this sounded wonderful. But as a woman who loves to keep everything I can barely keep up with the demands of daily life (laundry! groceries! deadlines!). But once I read Kondo’s book, I got totally sucked in. It turns out, tidying really may be the way to bliss. Here’s what I learned.

Lesson #1: Tackle Categories, Not Rooms

I’d always tackled clutter by room—take on the office first, the bedroom next. Instead, Kondo’s first rule is to tidy by category—deal with every single one of your books at once, for example, otherwise they’ll continue to creep from room to room, and you’ll never rein in the clutter. She advises beginning with clothing, since it’s the least emotionally loaded of one’s things (books come next, old photographs are much later), so this afternoon, is exactly what I did.

Lesson #2: Respect Your Belongings

With my eyes now open, I realized my closets had hit rock bottom. Everything had succumbed to a mixed-up messiness. Kondo asks that you consider your clothing’s feelings: Are they happy being squashed in a corner shelf or crowded onto hangers? Are your hardworking socks really thrilled to be balled up? It had sounded out there when I read it, but suddenly my clothes looked totally miserable.

Lesson #3: Nostalgia Is Not Your Friend

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As I started emptying the closets, I opened boxes filled with letters and old photographs. Serious mistake. Kondo knows what she’s talking about when she insists you put blinders on and focus only on the category of stuff at hand. Read one old letter, and suddenly you’re down a rabbit hole of nostalgia.

To be honest, I was probably procrastinating. In theory, I was sold on the idea of living exclusively with clothing that gives me joy, but I still had hang-ups: What will I be left with? Will I have anything to wear? Will I have to sacrifice beloved things, all for the sake of decluttering?

Lesson #4: Purging Feels SO Good

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From then on, I followed Kondo’s advice to a T. I gathered every piece of my clothing and put it in one giant pile. While I normally tidy my clothes only when I’m on a long phone call—distracted from the task at hand—today I wasn’t even supposed to listen to music which is the only thing I refuse to do without, I love listening to good music when I am cleaning my house.

Once I got to work, it was so much easier and more fun than I’d thought. This question of joy gives you permission to let go of off-color shirts bought on sale, dresses past their prime, skirts that always clung uncomfortably. I realized I had many things that seemed great in theory but weren’t actually my style—they’d be better on someone else’s body or in someone else’s life and here in the Philippines, there are so many who would love them!

Lesson #5: Fold, Don’t Hang

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Once you’ve sorted out the things to discard—and only then—you can decide where the remaining things should go. Rather than folded in a cubby or hanging in a closet, Kondo thinks a lot of our clothing would be better off (or as she’d say, happier) folded in a dresser.  

I hadn’t been using a dresser at all before, but now, having begun with four overflowing closets, I was down to enough clothing to fill one closet and one dresser. Pulling from the tops, pants, and scarves now destined for the dresser, I started folding using Kondo’s special technique.

Lesson #6: THE Fold!

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Kondo’s vertical folding technique makes everything easy to spot and hard to mess up (you aren’t jostling a whole pile every time you take something out or put something back). Folded this way, clothing looks like fabric origami, ready to line your drawers in neat rows.

To keep these little folded packages standing at attention in your dresser Kondo suggests using shoeboxes as drawer dividers. A smaller box is perfect for square scarves, a deep one can go on a bottom drawer for sweaters.

Lesson #7: Fall in Love with Your Closet

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This is why people become evangelical about the KonMari method. Once you’ve cleared away the clutter and put things away, your dresses and skirts—the fun stuff, let’s be honest—can see the light of day. There’s breathing room between pieces, so you no longer have to do that awkward arm wrestle with the racks. All of which means you get a hit of joy—even hope!—just opening your closet, whether you’re getting ready in the morning or planning a party ensemble.

Lesson #8: Rediscover Your Style

Now it is time to put on only those things I love. I like colorful clothes. What you would wear in the Summer months and I also like contrasts like black and white. This next few months I will re discover my own style. Will it be, bright or off tones, I don't know but I will find out! 

Con amor,

Vero