A few months ago, I finished tidying up my home for the 4th time. The first was when I was pregnant with my first; the second a year later, with my ‘joy spark’ honed; the third before moving (though I admittedly didn’t get totally done); and a fourth time for closure from the third time, and to share my love of the KonMari method.
Once you’ve taken everything out, sorted it, reorganized, and done that to your entire house…then what? Do you KonMari indefinitely?
Personally, I think I’m going to take a mixed approach.
In the future, I think I will take all of my clothes out once or twice a year, just to make sure nothing that shouldn’t be there is there (clothes that are worn out, or no longer used). I also think going through papers once a year, especially since that category can be so daunting, would be a good idea. If I were to move house, I would do the entire KonMari process beforehand, just to make sure I wasn’t toting things around unnecessarily.
As for the rest of the categories, I really enjoyed some of the thoughts in the book Less: a visual Guide to Minimalism. Basically, my plan is to tidy room by room, instead of just by category. At this point, all of my similar items are already stored in the same place, as I’ve thoroughly embraced the KonMari method. Once you have your home in order, tidying this way makes a lot of sense, as you’ll really only need to be tossing out a few things as they get too worn, or are no longer needed, or wanted. Certainly, I don’t plan on getting laxidasical! It’s simply too easy to acquire things, and then suddenly you realize it’s been lots of things. True order, minimalism, or ‘sparked joy’, I think, requires vigilance.
I do, however, have one more g i a n t KonMari project I want to tackle: tech. In the coming year (since it didn’t happen before having my baby), I hope to tidy my phone (of apps, and photos), and my entire computer. I’ve taken photos, and edited them, with reckless abandon…it’s in the 5-figures…on just my phone. The end goal is to eventually make up a baby book for my first child, and then keep my photos manageable by sorting through them weekly.
With that taken care of, I then want to deal with my ‘digital hoarding’ on Pinterest, and ‘saved’ articles on Facebook. If I can manage to meet all these goals, the end result will be a much-less cluttered technical life—which will make life more enjoyable, as I won’t have the stress of ‘too much’ stored away and in a chaotic manner. Look forward to that!
Are you ready to take the plunge, and start your own KonMari journey? If so, check out my KonMari with Me series, and follow along as I go through each category in my home.
If you have finished tidying up, what’s next for you? Do you have more tidying goals? If so, what does that look like? I’d love to hear from you!
