Ten Months Later…?!

Wow, life sure did take off and take over!
It’s been a little over 10 months and I am still using the Marie Kondo method!
Kondo Veterans may not be surprised, but I am surprised at my continued adherence.

Clothing

I was looking at my previous blog photos and noticed my current closet looks almost the same. There is a bit less room, but it is not crowded.

My drawers are crowded, but neat. It could be I have thicker winter clothes front and center, but I may have to edit later this spring.
I still fold my clothes and linens the same and enjoy it. I still get satisfaction from testing my folding to see if it stands alone.

Books

My book inventory has stayed the same. I borrow or buy used books and return them when I am done reading them. If I don’t enjoy the book (find Joy), I do not continue reading it, I return it and find another.

More Mindful

On another note, I am noticing I do not feel the need to collect more craft supplies. I knit, spin, felt, and dabble with driftwood, beads, and macrame. The local thrift shops were visited regularly. I hardly visit them anymore and when I do, I don’t buy things for “when” or “if” anymore. In my mind, I know I am going to be KonMar’ing my craft room someday (last) and I don’t want to contribute things I know I will be tossing or donating later.

Next…

Lately, I have have been thinking I am ready to take another step and go to the next category. Hmmm.

So thankful I started down this road.

My KonMari Objective

After only two categories my life has become so full I am struggling to adjust. All positive.
I thought if I could locate my original goal I wrote before beginning this process I could refocus my energies again. 

If you are losing focus, I encourage you to join me and locate, draft, or share your goal or objective for beginning this process. Add them to the comments.

Here’s mine:

I’m after the magic that will happen as a part of this process. The mindfulness, the decision making exercise, and the hope that it will allow me to trigger positive changes in my life.

Kondoing My Books

Prep

I was surprised how quickly I could gather my books in the staging area. It only took 33 minutes. Then I was surprised how few I had. 

However, it is no surprise that it is dirty and dusty work. Going to take a break now for a shower and lunch.

Books – Before. Not too many after all!

Tips

• I considered consolidating all my books in one area of the night before. I decided not to. Just seemed like a lot to do before bed. Did not want to wake up sore and have that interfere with my sparks of joy. however, if you have a lot of books you may want to start consolidating them a few days before.
• Make sure you have some water handy.
• Do this before you take your shower. It is dusty and dirty business. You might even want to take a decongestant or any histamine. LOL
• I rearranged them on the blanket so that I could address novels before craft books. I anticipate no problems getting rid of novels but I may angst over my craft books.
• Hindsight. Would’ve been a good idea to have prepared lunch and dinner yesterday. I am OK for dinner, it’s going to come out of the freezer, but I’m going to have to stop and make a smoothie for lunch.
• Hindsight. Didn’t have enough boxes for my books that did not spark joy.

I don’t recall Marie Kondo’s book providing suggestions for what to do with the books you discard. I put all of mine in my spare bedroom in boxes and I’m going to sell them online. Already set up an account to do that. I wonder if this will negate the positive energy created by removing things from your home. I said goodbye to many, many great books.

It only took three hours to go through my books. I went out of very leisurely pace. I also texted and messaged friends and set aside books for them. So I still have books around the house. 

After

No way did I anticipate what the results would be. I am totally amazed at the number of books I was left with. Much fewer than anticipated! It feels wonderful! Now I wonder what I’m going to do with the extra bookcase I have.

I think the book said to keep your books in the closet. I like to see my books so I broke this rule and returned the remaining books  to the bookcase. I almost split them into two different places but going to first try it the way she suggested – I’m keeping them all in one place, even the cookbooks. The two exceptions were my bird book and the book I am currently reading next to my bed. The bird book is next to the window where I feed the birds for quick reference.

Here is my big little reveal!

After! – no one is more surprised than I am!

It’s on! Books, I Mean

I’ve decided to tackle books after all.  Two days ago I opened an Amazon seller account in anticipation of selling my nicer books. I have a few more days to go before I can officially use the account.

I plan to #KonMari or #Kondo my books this weekend. I can not bring myself to throw any books away.  I will sell the ones in good condition on Amazon or Ebay. Not sure what to do with any in poor condition. Any suggestions? I will have to ask my KonMari facebook groups for ideas, also.

I may turn the book sales into a side business if it goes well. I could sell other people’s books on commission.

My Amazon book seller account is ILoveBooksULoveBooks. Simple.

Category 2 – Books, maybe not.

Although I continue to enjoy folding my clothes the KonMari way, I am not moving forward as long as my next task is books. I have come to realize that perhaps it’s a good idea I skip this category. 

I thought making a blog entry would solidify this decision so that I can finish inventory on my donated clothes on Saturday and move on!

Despite that, I am still enjoying the improvement in my attitude and outlook. I’ve been looking for a job for over a year and, for now, it hasn’t gotten me down. there is an hour or two here and there, but surprisingly, I’m managing to be optimistic.

Noticing a change

Only one category complete and already I can feel a difference in myself. I feel happier, more optimistic, and my creative spark is back.

The idea was sparked by Marie Kondo’s book “Spark Joy” and the chapter on what to do with some of the things you love and shouldn’t store away. It is for displaying jewelry or other things that “spark joy”.

Category 1, Clothing – Done!

Category 1, KonMari Method – Completed  √

Before and after of 2 dressers

All folded and stored neatly in 2 dressers and a closet. Summer clothes had to go in a separate dresser.

Some of my super bulky sweaters, sweatshirts, and fleeces had to go on shelves in closet.

Before and after – Closet

I really was enjoying folding by the end. Maybe because the end was in sight? Also, I noticed I spent more time and attention to my sun dresses. They provided lots of joy in the process.

Now what do I do with all these leftover hangers? :}

I’m not sure this category will ever be finished. It is a process. I will be greeting new clothing and saying goodbye according to how it makes me feel.

I still need to clean up hangers, inventory the clothes for donation, and find rolling see-through plastic storage drawers for my closet.

Next: Books

Then I can start the books category. Dreading this category, I love books.

Just like to have them around or reference (many knitting, spinning, and home/self improvement books). I don’t usually keep books I have already read, especially novels.

Anyone care to share their book category tips, advice, and/or concerns?

Tidying Marathon

I am still folding clothes every day. I grab anywhere from 5 to 15 items in the afternoon to fold and put them away. It was too much to try and do it all at one time. I’m also thinking that I may have kept more clothes than I should have. I say this for two reasons; I don’t have enough room for all of my tops in one drawer and not all of the clothes I’m touching are bringing me joy this time around. As for the Spark, I am not sure if this is because I felt overwhelmed or I truly need to say thank you and farewell. So I am setting some clothes aside for possible donations. As for not having enough room, I am now putting my summer clothes in a second dresser.

I am so glad her new book arrived when it did. It has tons of encouragement, illustrations, and tips that were not in the first book. Right now the most important thing to me is the encouragement. She refers to everyone’s journey as a tidying marathon. Everyone works at their own pace and there is no right or wrong way to go about it as long as you continue to make progress.

I am enjoying the folding again. I even pulled some things out and re-folded them because I am getting better at it as I go. Also, the newest book includes illustrations about how to fold clothes correctly. This helped with garments like camisoles. Before I got “Spark Joy” the straps were popping out and looking messy.

Running out of room, but looking good!

The image above is my top drawer that I am working on. I need to work on a uniform size and consistency. Will be difficult with the thicker sweaters and sweatshirts. Maybe there’s an answer to that in the book still. You’re supposed to arrange the clothes light to dark. The darkest clothes should be in the back. In the middle back you will see some of my lavender sachets – oh no, where are they going to go! 

All of this has made a subtle change around my house. I am less tolerant of messes. My kitchen table used to collect all kinds of things and my laptop was on it all the time. I know store my laptop in a dresser drawer and the tabletop is clear all the time. My kitchen countertops are becoming less cluttered. More and more things are finding their way to the garbage as I look at them and do not feel that spark. I am careful not to try and do too much because I know, it’s not the correct way to deal with it and I will be addressing it all at one time eventually. But it feels good!

Time Out, Reassess

I was physically tired and sore after folding yesterday. There may be something wrong ergonomically with my height to folding surface ratio. Or maybe I have too many clothes.

I’m thinking, “What am I doing wrong? I don’t feel good about this. I’m tired, sore, and most of all, overwhelmed“.

It’s Monday, so I am back to my current job – looking for a job and doing a little freelance web design work. At the end of my work day, I found some time to investigate further into my issues and do some reading online about Marie Kondo.

Success! I found an article that made me feel better. It’s entitled “Marie Kondo Shares Her Happy Life Secrets” by Brigid Moss. At the end of the article, there are some great questions and she answers. She is so kind. I enjoyed this article (it had me smiling) and also gained one very useful tip from the Q & A at the end. Subcategories!

I have taken on too much, I need to address a smaller group of clothing. Instead of doing ALL my clothes at one time, I should have started with just tops. The actual process of addressing each piece of clothing was not a problem. I’m having trouble with the folding part. 

I feel much better after reading the article. Tomorrow, after my responsibilities, I will pull a limited number of items from the remaining clothes piled on the bed in the guestroom.

But not today.

Today, I received her newest book in the mail: Spark Joy and I plan to start it after dinner.

 

Links & References

“Marie Kondo Shares Her Happy Life Secrets” by Brigid Moss for Red, posted on January 14, 2016

Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo (Amazon link)

Day 2 – Folding

Yes, folding clothes can be fun. It is strangely satisfying to find the sweet spot and see you shirt stand up on its own. Today it was a daunting task and I procrastinated getting started.  But once I started, I was fine. I’m realizing that this time there are many more than there will be in he future.

I broke some rules here.

I turned on the TV while I worked. I understand her reason for not having distractions, but I think I managed to honor my clothes and did notice I felt a smile tugging the corner of my mouth when I found a challenging sweet spot. It also distracted me from the pain in my feet and legs from all the standing the last few days.

I haven’t started putting anything away yet. I’m not ready to put it all in one place yet. I measured and it looks like I will be able to fit a dresser into my closet. But, using her method, the clothes need to be visible. I am going to need to find some clear drawers, with wheels, to tuck under clothing hanging on my closet rod. The wheels are necessary because the door to my crawlspace is the floor of my closet.

Tips:

• Keep a lint brush handy. I found myself using it frequently while folding clothes. I own a cat and a dog, plus I shed myself, so it came in handy to get the stray hairs off my clothes while I folded them.
• I suggest you wear shoes it may help if you’re going to be standing for a long time.
• I cleared off my kitchen table and folded the clothes on it. It worked great because the smooth surface allowed me to maneuver the clothes any which way and it was long enough to fold pants easily.

4:30 pm

I folded for four hours. I hardly made a dent in the pile of clothes I have in the guestroom. I guess I will be at it again tomorrow afternoon! Just too tired and sore to continue today.

Bright side.
I folded all my pajamas today and I can’t wait to put on a pair. No more sitting around in rumpled sweats for me! I agree with her that it makes a big difference what you wear. If you wear something you love, you will feel better about yourself.