Major Clothes Decluttering

 I finally did it. I dumped every single piece of clothing that I own onto my bed and went through all of them. If you aspire to live clutter-free, you've probably heard of Marie Kondo, or 'KonMari'. In her book, 'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying', KonMari insists that decluttering cannot be done gradually. She points out that once you make the drastic change of eliminating the clutter and putting things in order, you will be motivated to keep it that way. I was totally sold on the idea, but how does one find the time and space to dump all of one's possessions on the floor as she suggests with little children? So, I had to hold off this endeavor until my baby started having regular nap times and we entered holiday mode with no particular daily schedules. And finally, today was the day.

Before: Sorting through every piece of clothing that I own.

 I dumped everything on my bed (instead of the floor as suggested), sorted them into categories (tops, bottoms, clothes that should be hung, socks, underwear, accessories), then went through each item to see if it 'sparked joy'. This was actually a fast process as I didn't have to go through the complicated decision process of 'Have I worn this in the past year?', 'Does this colour suit me?', 'Do I need this for special occasions?', etc. I could discard the clothing that made me feel ugly, or reminded me of unhappy situations without feeling guilty. It also helped me from going the drastic route of only keeping the things that I absolutely loved. I mean, I hope to reach that state some day of owning a capsule wardrobe, but that requires so much more thought and shopping, which I simply do not have the capacity to do right now. Anyways, after going through everything, I had eliminated four bags of clothing from my possession.

After: No bulging clothes from the drawers

  Now, all the clothes that I own fit into our built-in wardrobe. KonMari discourages putting off-season clothing in storage as it is hard to find the time to lug out and put away clothing each season, resulting in people buying more clothes, adding to the clutter. So now, besides extreme cold weather gears, all of the clothes that I own are neatly folded or hung in my wardrobe. She also teaches you how to fold clothing so that it stands on its own in the shelf, which is awesome since you can easily see what items of clothing you have and don't mess up the piles in your drawers every time you take out or put back clothing.

After: Clothes hanging freely without squishing. 

 I've been trying to get organised all year as life will get pretty busy when we start 'big school' homeschooling from next year. Also, as I wrote in my former post about teaching by example, I have to be organized to be able to teach my children to love order and clean up after themselves. I've really enjoyed this process and feel a sense of achievement at what I've accomplished. It took me around an hour to take out all clothing and put into categories. Then another hour to go through all of them, and finally another hour to put them away back in my wardrobe. Now I can clearly see what clothing I own, and am convinced that I don't need to shop for a whole year. Now, I just need to find out what colours and types of clothing really suits me and work on building a capsule wardrobe. Another project for next year. 

 Word of caution: If you have been inspired by this post to read Marie Kondo's book, be aware that she mentions things like, 'thanking the items for their service' and 'greeting your belongings' which is probably influenced by the Japanese Shinto religion. As a Christian, I thank God for the abundance that He provides and don't believe that material things have spirits. Other than that, this book has excellent tips and suggestions on how to declutter and maintain a tidy home.