How to Marie Kondo Your Home In 6 Easy Steps
We all have 'stuff' throughout the home that we don't need or didn't even know was there. Even a minimalist likely has a suitcase or shoebox filled with miscellaneous junk. That's where Marie Kondo, best selling author of 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' and now star of the Netflix series 'Tidying Up with Marie Kondo', comes in. She's created and perfected a method to tidying your home that involves intentionally giving a place to everything you own. Called the 'KonMarie method' - here are six steps for applying it.
1. Thank Your House
Kondo goes so far as to kneel down and say a prayer of gratitude to the home. We guess you don't have to go that far but a small commitment to tackling an area of the house at a time will most likely put you in the right mindset.
2. Discard Items By Category First
Kondo recommends starting with clothes first, then books, papers and so on. Where necessary she breaks down those categories into subcategories e.g. shirts, pants. Smart.
3. Ask If It 'Sparks Joy'
Here's the sticky part of the KonMarie method that everyone loves. Bring out all items within the category and hold each one in your hands. Only keep the item if it 'sparks joy'. For objects that are more functional than sentimental e.g. a stapler, you can recognise the joy it sparks by its usefulness and functionality.
4. Say 'Goodbye' to Your Discarded Items
Kondo notes it's okay to be sentimental when saying goodbye and to thank your things before they leave for donation.
5. Once Finished, Organise Your Space Completely
Marie advocates vertically stacking like objects and storing sub-categories of things away in dedicated spots.
6. Do It All In One Go
Marie holds you shouldn't tidy bit-by-bit but rather all in one go (this is where step 1 comes in). That doesn't mean it's not okay to start small. “If you are able to feel that spark of joy by implementing a part of my method, then that’s great,” says Kondo. However, if you are a 'softly-slowly' type of person - we don't see anything too wrong with doing it your way.
What do you think of the KonMarie method? Will you tackle your closet this weekend? Let us know if you tried it out and how it worked for you. Send us an email with any photos - we'd love to see the results. Happy tidying!
All images from Netflix / People
