Hey friends!
Who’s seen it? Tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix? It’s all the rage. I’m not going to lie, I totally binged that show. And then I started in on my own stuff.
A little backstory first.
I did the Great Purge in September. I took an entire carload of donations to our local center (Deseret Industries, or DI for short). I took a dresser, 5 garbage bags full of toys, 2 garbage bags full of clothes, and some other random things. I purged A LOT.
And then we moved, and I had to pack the rest of our stuff up. I couldn’t believe how much we had left over! It was insane!! So, I decided that as we unpacked, I would purge more. Little did I know at the time, I was starting on the #KonMari method, without really knowing it. I hadn’t read the book yet, and the show wasn’t out.
Fast forward a few months. We’re still living in partial chaos. I have 8 boxes left to unpack. I’ve been trying to tidy as I unpack each box, deciding what we need, what we don’t, and what can just go in the trash. But, I couldn’t help but get started on my clothes. In every episode of the show, she always starts with the clothing. So, I decided to do that.
I started by piling all my clothes up on the bed, and dumping out my pants, leggings, socks, swimwear, etc. It was a lot. I was kind of amazed, because when we first moved in I went through all my clothes and got rid of about half of them. To think I had this much left was kind of astounding. I thought for sure I’d cleared out more than I did.
After hanging up all my shirts (I know, I know – it’s not truly #konmari if I don’t have my shirts folded. But, I don’t have enough drawers and most of them are happier hanging anyway.) I started in on my pants. I got rid of soooo many leggings. I had 3 pairs of black leggings and only really liked 1 of them. WHAT?! Why was I holding on to these things? I had a pair of pants from 11 years ago that still had the tags on them. They were my “someday” pants. But guess what? Someday isn’t ever going to happen and I’m totally okay with that. Someone else can enjoy my brand new, name brand jeans instead. I folded my leggings how she showed how to do it in the show. I used to roll my leggings up and stand them on end, but I couldn’t ever tell what I had; there were too many, and they were too bulky to shove in the same drawer. Now, they’re nice and visible. I can tell exactly what I have. And they’re in color order because….you can take the girl out of the retail but you can’t take the retail out of the girl!
Next I tackled my regular pants and jeans. Yes, I have 4 pairs of the same pair of black pants because they are comfy. I actually have 6, but 2 of them are in the mending pile to have seams repaired because I can’t get them anymore.
Next, I tackled the pajamas drawer. I got rid of anything that didn’t fit anymore, and anything I didn’t like. And then I folded the sets together, tops and bottoms, and then placed them in the drawer standing up so I can see them instead of having to dig for them each time. My clothing life was already starting to look soooo much better, so I kept going!
I organized my socks and swim wear. I had bathing suits I hadn’t worn in years. Socks with holes in them. Socks that didn’t have mates. I cleaned the drawer out, folded the socks how she said to, and continued on. I had every intention of stopping when I finished my clothes, but my husband’s ties were all a mess and I was tired of hanging them back up on the hanger, so I made him deal with those next!
Don’t they look so pretty?! We went from 40+ ties down to 9. I’m so proud of him. And now, instead of being squished on a tie hanger in the closet, they’re rolled up so nicely in this little drawer just for him. They’re easy to find, and stay neat, too.
I couldn’t be stopped. I was on a roll! I decided to head to the bathroom next. I’d already unpacked the bathroom, and thrown some things away as I did, but I decided to go through the medicine cabinet and the drawers and clean out some more.
Our medicine cabinet couldn’t close on this side, we had so many medications inside. Looking at bottles, quite a few of the over the counters were expired, as well as a TON of prescription meds we’d been holding on to. Luckily, we live near the police department, so I was able to run those in to the RX Drop Off box there to be safely disposed of.
I cleaned up my portion of the cupboard, with my perfume and face cleaner on the bottom, and my other essentials within easy reach.
In the last side of the cabinet, we keep first aid supplies (I paired those down. We had 4 boxes of band-aids with only a few band-aids inside!), sunblock, lotions, and some hair products. It used to be much more cluttered, but we kept only essentials.
I tackled the drawers next. At our old house, I’d been using baskets and containers to separate hair things to keep the drawers more organized. Little did I know I was already following the #KonMari way! These drawers are much larger than our last house, so the containers really help keep things neat and tidy.
And of course, now ALL of our floss is in the same place! I swear, we won’t need floss for years! (I know, I know, #KonMari says to throw out the excess in her book – I’m getting there!!)
And here’s what I ended up taking to the DI in February. I’ve been every month since we moved, and the car is always this full. And yes, that is a desk shoved in the back there of my Honda Fit. It fit in the Fit!
I’m reading her first book now. It’s fantastic. I’ve learned so much, and can’t wait to get the next book.
How are you tidying up? Do you like her method? Or do you use something else? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!!
XOXO,
