Number three:
Spring Cleaning!
Ah, yes. It's a thing and it's spring and you likely have so much time right now!
This fall I read Marie Kondo's much talked about book. I was skeptical that any organizing plan with that much fame could be useful to me but the book truly was life changing.. maybe not on like a cosmic level but substantially so.
If you are unfamiliar read on.
The book is pushing radical simplicity of belongings and living space and has an easy to follow plan. She is such an unusual person that it makes up for how uninteresting she/her life is and also for the fact that writing is not her strong suit. Basically her plan has you going through every (yes every single) item in your home one by one and then holding each one in your hands to decide if it stays or goes. The determining factor? Does this item inspire joy in your heart?
Unfortunately not all of us are privileged enough to have ALL of our essential/useful items inspire joy. For example i do own a plastic ladle- a bamboo or ceramic ladle would inspire joy but I don't have the cash flow that Kondo enjoys to be replacing all my ugly items with beautiful ones.
That is not my only criticism of her book. For all the talking she does about the insane and incredible amounts of things that her clients acquire and have to constantly discard (she's a professional organizer) she speaks very little on the mental health reasons behind the problematic gathering and hoarding of things. In my opinion the source of the garbage needs to be addressed.
Those two things aside I found the book extremely helpful and have implemented her plan at our house. I am now- after three months - of reducing and organizing about 3/4 of the way through. With the exception of our tools and construction supplies I can safely say that if given enough time I could make a pretty accurate list of everything we own and where it is placed. I couldn't guess how many useless, unloved items have left our home due to following the books advice but it's a lot. Like maybe a third of our things? I love the feeling of order. Having an organized home with only the items you need/love in it creates more time to do the things that we enjoy and spend less time looking for needed items/cleaning up clutter. Plus, home can be a beautiful, peaceful place that calms you - not a place that you associate with chores or the storage of your junk.
I've enjoyed the process as well as the results! In January I went through every item in my attic. By going through nearly 30 years of keepsakes and also family heirloom items such as my parent's baby books and old photo albums I experienced a high that lasted a few weeks. Laying out all these items, reading old letters, sifting through photos and ancient birthday cards I could see clearly how I became the person that I am. I felt such love and gratitude for every phase of my life as I could see how each event and relationship built upon each other in a beautiful, messy sequence culminating in my joyful life as I know it now and my resilient, unique, amazing self that I have grown to love and appreciate. No regrets. I was overwhelmed with love for and a sense of connection with everyone that I've ever crossed paths with and felt that every thing was as it should be and we are all one being after all.
I was in an alternate state of consciousness for awhile.
Yes, this happened from cleaning!!!
....All the pregnancy oxytocin swirling in my veins probably helped a bit.
Another part of the book that has had a huge impact around here for me isn't from Kondo's actual plan. She talks about a client of hers who was unhappy with the way her pantry looked and neither Kondo nor the client could figure out why since they had gotten rid of everything unnecessary and also organized everything perfectly. Eventually they realized it was the labels on things that was making it look like such a chaotic mess. Product packaging is meant to be disruptive yet we fill our homes with it. Who wants to look at ads all day? I could never put my finger on it why an amish home or a home from hundreds of years ago so easily achieves this zen-like calm but that's it- there's no ads yelling at you. I immediately put most of our pantry items into generic containers and the result is lovely. I've also began to reduce the amount of text found in other places as well. I plan to create storage space that hides ugly appliances and some of the other items we use a lot with text on them as well. The energy in the house has completely changed due to this. I can feel things slowing and calming down and that's what I want.
If you desire a simple, slow and tranquil life this book could probably help you.
Also....
Kondo-ized drawers for the win!
all of corina's tops
all of corina's bottoms
all of my socks and underwear
Spring Cleaning!
Ah, yes. It's a thing and it's spring and you likely have so much time right now!
This fall I read Marie Kondo's much talked about book. I was skeptical that any organizing plan with that much fame could be useful to me but the book truly was life changing.. maybe not on like a cosmic level but substantially so.
If you are unfamiliar read on.
The book is pushing radical simplicity of belongings and living space and has an easy to follow plan. She is such an unusual person that it makes up for how uninteresting she/her life is and also for the fact that writing is not her strong suit. Basically her plan has you going through every (yes every single) item in your home one by one and then holding each one in your hands to decide if it stays or goes. The determining factor? Does this item inspire joy in your heart?
Unfortunately not all of us are privileged enough to have ALL of our essential/useful items inspire joy. For example i do own a plastic ladle- a bamboo or ceramic ladle would inspire joy but I don't have the cash flow that Kondo enjoys to be replacing all my ugly items with beautiful ones.
That is not my only criticism of her book. For all the talking she does about the insane and incredible amounts of things that her clients acquire and have to constantly discard (she's a professional organizer) she speaks very little on the mental health reasons behind the problematic gathering and hoarding of things. In my opinion the source of the garbage needs to be addressed.
Those two things aside I found the book extremely helpful and have implemented her plan at our house. I am now- after three months - of reducing and organizing about 3/4 of the way through. With the exception of our tools and construction supplies I can safely say that if given enough time I could make a pretty accurate list of everything we own and where it is placed. I couldn't guess how many useless, unloved items have left our home due to following the books advice but it's a lot. Like maybe a third of our things? I love the feeling of order. Having an organized home with only the items you need/love in it creates more time to do the things that we enjoy and spend less time looking for needed items/cleaning up clutter. Plus, home can be a beautiful, peaceful place that calms you - not a place that you associate with chores or the storage of your junk.
I've enjoyed the process as well as the results! In January I went through every item in my attic. By going through nearly 30 years of keepsakes and also family heirloom items such as my parent's baby books and old photo albums I experienced a high that lasted a few weeks. Laying out all these items, reading old letters, sifting through photos and ancient birthday cards I could see clearly how I became the person that I am. I felt such love and gratitude for every phase of my life as I could see how each event and relationship built upon each other in a beautiful, messy sequence culminating in my joyful life as I know it now and my resilient, unique, amazing self that I have grown to love and appreciate. No regrets. I was overwhelmed with love for and a sense of connection with everyone that I've ever crossed paths with and felt that every thing was as it should be and we are all one being after all.
I was in an alternate state of consciousness for awhile.
Yes, this happened from cleaning!!!
....All the pregnancy oxytocin swirling in my veins probably helped a bit.
Another part of the book that has had a huge impact around here for me isn't from Kondo's actual plan. She talks about a client of hers who was unhappy with the way her pantry looked and neither Kondo nor the client could figure out why since they had gotten rid of everything unnecessary and also organized everything perfectly. Eventually they realized it was the labels on things that was making it look like such a chaotic mess. Product packaging is meant to be disruptive yet we fill our homes with it. Who wants to look at ads all day? I could never put my finger on it why an amish home or a home from hundreds of years ago so easily achieves this zen-like calm but that's it- there's no ads yelling at you. I immediately put most of our pantry items into generic containers and the result is lovely. I've also began to reduce the amount of text found in other places as well. I plan to create storage space that hides ugly appliances and some of the other items we use a lot with text on them as well. The energy in the house has completely changed due to this. I can feel things slowing and calming down and that's what I want.
If you desire a simple, slow and tranquil life this book could probably help you.
Also....
Kondo-ized drawers for the win!
all of corina's tops
all of corina's bottoms
all of my socks and underwear
Now we have so many empty drawers....
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