the life-changing magic of tidying up

I have for some time hated clutter. 

When I was in high school, my Dad had refurbished an old cabinet into a dresser for me. This dresser was wonderful. It held all of my VHS collection, socks, and lots (lots) of jeans.

In high school, I held a job at a clothing store that stocked things from purses to house wheres. && Since I was in high school, I had quite a bit of expendable income.

It seemed every season I would obsess over something new for my wardrobe. I went through a scarf kick, a purse hoarding phase, a band T craving and everything in between.

Due to all this “shopping” when I started college, I realized that I really didn’t enjoy the clothing in my closet or my little cabinet. Thus I started sorting.

From my VHS storage unit, I packed up 3 bags of jeans (3 ! dang girl. step away from the denim …) That moment of purging old items and giving myself breathing room was really….therapeutic.

Fast forward a (few….) years & here I am still looking at purging out the old & unuseful. Thus I found myself taking in “The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondo.

Now I know what your thinking. (Girl.) This book was hot last year & your right. I just didn’t pick it up ! (bad blogger…bad).

But I have to say this was such a thrilling little read! You would be surprised by all the ways you keep clutter in your life. (Like passing items you can’t seem to let go of to your loved ones! – that one got me down pack haha).

Now I thought I could do a normal review on this book…but (yawn), There have been MANY reviews on the witty writing of miss Kondo. Instead, I thought it would be fun to make a mini blogging series of my taking the tips from this little tidying revolutionary manifesto and put them to the test.

According to miss Kondo, you must tidy all at once && in categories. The categories are thusly followed : (& in order to be successful in not clurttering your home up again, you must do the tidying in this order)

1. Clothing

2. Books

3. Papers

4. “Kimono” (ie. CDs,DVDs, medicine, & valuables)

5. collectibles

6. sentimental items

So to start my little tidying journey off right, I started off with my clothes. (Now I thought I could skip this step, to be honest. Since the denim purging of 2010 I have tried to not over stuff my closet.. but…..). I went ahead and pulled every clothing item I owned (literally, including my socks ….) onto my bed & began sorting.

The idea of behind “the life-changing magic of tidying up”  is that you keep only things that “Spark Joy.” Now I know what are you thinking (cause lord, I did too). Why do all my possessions need to spark joy?

Well, when I had all my items sprawled across my bed… want to guess what I noticed ? The things that truly “sparked joy” for me, gave me a little smile when I held them & a little flutter in my chest. (It was similar to that feeling when you discover something that you just can’t put down).

I have to say it was intriguing. The items that I didn’t have this reaction to, where the clothing pieces I rarely wear or kept just for the “in case” I need them moments in life. After I discovered this, before I knew it I had packed up three bags of clothes! (&& this from what I thought was my very sparse closet!)

I have to admit I was worried this morning that when I would go to choose my outfit for today, I would have really doomed myself into “I have nothing to wear” fever. BUT…I was so wrong. Everything that remained in my closet where the items I adored.

For the first time since I can remember, I felt like I truly had unlimited options. It’s crazy what you can image when you remove everything thats blocking your view of the pieces you love!