Catching the Kon Mari Bug!

There is something about springtime and sunshine and fresh blossom that makes you want to spring clean your house from top to bottom? Don't you think? I love a good clear-out, a good declutter, but if I'm being brutally honest... it often feels like a losing battle. Out goes one black sack to the charity shop, only for my girls to return home with an armful of drawings and artwork, bits and bobs they have gathered and I just can't keep up!

And so I have never, until recently, found anything truly effective. I've never discovered the way to actually keep things tidy and clutter free.

And then I discovered Marie Kondo.

Her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever

 is an international bestseller and I've yet to meet anyone who says her way of approaching clutter and untidiness doesn't work. If I'm honest, I went in a little unconvinced, but I'm a complete and utter convert, and just had to share it with you all!

OK... there are some slightly bonkers bits to the book - the author herself evidently has some slightly (!!) OCD tendancies, and I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to be as ruthless with books as she suggests I should be... and perhaps I'm not quite buying that my clothes have feelings and don't like to be crumpled, but if you can get over the occasional feng-shui style suggestions, the core content of this book is brilliant...

And so, once I had finished the first section I got to it.

I literally hauled every item of clothing that the girls own - from every wardrobe, drawer, shelf, hanger and storage box and made one ginormous pile in the middle of their bedroom floor. No item was to be left untouched, and to be honest, the size of that pile left me a little awestruck, and slightly embarrassed... I had no idea they had so many clothes!

The idea is you handle every item of clothing and make a decision piece by piece... if its worn out, past it, or too small, you chuck it. If it doesn't "spark joy" you chuck it... I realised in the process of doing it, that the girls basically wear the same clothes on repeat anyway - the clothes that spark joy in them (namely dresses... anyone else have daughters who only want to wear dresses... all the time!?) I chucked anything that was worn, and filled a load of charity shop bags with the stuff I could pass on to a good cause. A few pieces that had been well loved, but were too small, I stored away with the rest of the baby clothes (I'm pretty sure I'd get a telling off from Marie Kondo for that though... oops!)

Now all the clothes were sorted, and the wardrobe and drawers were completely empty, I could start the process of putting everything back in again. The secret to the Konmari method of keeping everything in good order, when it comes to clothes, is folding and storing sideways...

I tell you something, it makes for pretty, orderly drawers!

So I took these photos 5 weeks ago... in every previous clear out I've done, within two weeks the drawers have been in a mess again. The children go in and turn everything upside down, the drawer loses all sense of order, and so things just get chucked in there. Lovely items of clothing slip to the back of overflowing drawers, never to be worn again...

Five weeks later, the girls drawers are still looking pristine... they look in and can see everything, so they are wearing a lot more variety. Things look so ordered, that they no longer chuck things wildly in there...

More than that, I was so impressed with how it worked, I tackled Mine, Dave's and Jonas' clothes too. And without exception, each and every drawer has remained in perfect order.

The clothes are done... now its time for the next category... oh help... I'm dreadful at being brutal with books!

Have any of you tried the Konmari method? What are your thoughts?

If not, why don't you give it a go??

PS - cute helpers are always useful to have around... especially when they have cute, baby thigh rolls!

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