fbpx

I’m KonMari-ing My House with Spark Joy!

Written by:
konmari-ing spark joy

I find it hard sometimes to find shows on Netflix that I can safely watch with my pre-teen and teens. By some beautiful happenstance a few weeks ago, I found Marie Kondo while looking for something to watch with my daughter. The world as I had known it, changed forever. I now have Spark Joy!

How take “messy” to “tidy”

I lived in Germany for many years. One oddity I could never quite understand is they do not have built in closets! You must purchase wardrobes and armoires to hang your clothes in. Living in houses devoid of closets for almost 10 years taught me to purge, purge, and purge s’more to make room.

I hold to the philosophy that “cluttered house is cluttered mind”. That may not hold true for everyone, but it sure holds true for me. The more clutter I see, the more frustrated I get. I can’t seem to focus when I’m surrounded by mess. This alone forces me to clean clutter…often.

My strategy has been to dump all my drawers out onto the floor and touch every. single. item. I then decide what to keep, give away, or store. I give myself an unwritten rule to mostly keep or give away. In other words, I want most of what I have to be visible, and not stored away in some arbitrary bin I may or may not remember a decade from now. Once I have completed a space or area, I move onto the next. Sure…it’s exhausting sometimes. And frankly, I don’t want to spend what precious little free time and energy I have cleaning/sorting house. Still, it must be done…because of the “cluttered mind” thing I mentioned earlier. When I’m done purging, I love to sage my space and feel the positive energy. Ahhhh….

Spark Joy with the KonMari method

I thought my method was tight, but I was wrong! I was humbled when Marie taught how to be thankful and respectful in each episode.  She teaches how to be thankful and respectful to the items that we are blessed to have–including our house! And how to be respectful of those things we want to discard. More importantly, she teaches us how to be respectful of the way other members of the household go through her process. What IS her process?

The KonMari method is simple:

  1. Discard by category: clothes first, then books, papers, miscellany, and mementos last.
  2. Only keep things that “spark joy”.
  3. Organize your space thoroughly after discarding unwanted items.
  4. Try to do it all in the same time period.

The fine line to read between is that this is not always an easy process. However, she had some tips that really resonated with me. For example, when sorting through your clothes, ask yourself “Does this spark joy for me?”. I had a sweater I loved wearing. But it was given to me by someone that I did not like very well. Every time I put the sweater on, I thought of her. And for a split-second, I just felt gross. Why on earth would I want to keep feeling that every time I wore that sweater?? On the other hand, I found shirts that I would think, “I love this shirt!”. I felt that spark of joy over and over. When I got stuck, I thought of what Marie said, “Ask yourself..do I want to take this into my future and if so, how will I store it?”. Wow.

Make it your own!

I’m not a hard-core KonMari disciple, but I find a lot of her teaching rings true to me. I believe in our Spiritual energy being everywhere. Thanking items before releasing them just feels good. Gratitude should always be our attitude! It changes the energy of the space we live in. And I believe that when we “bless and release” items to others, those items will find the next home where others can be blessed. As I go through the KonMari method, I also find that I feel the positive energy long before getting to the point of saging. I love this because it feels like fuel for my soul.

As I close this article, I’m getting ready to head upstairs to finish that floor. I tackled my bedroom and enormous closet KonMari style. It looks and feels amazing. Now I will work on the hall and then the downstairs. Yes, I will make my children do this. No, they do not want to. Look even celebrities are delving into the KonMari method! That’s practically biblical. Now go find your Sparks of Joy!!

 

Share THis