The KonMari Method Six Months Later
When I first read the Marie Kondo book I was prepared to think it was rubbish. I mean I've followed other plans in the past to try and help me to get my home neat and tidy and none of them have worked. I guess it's because just like Healthy Eating, it's not about a diet, it's about making a lifestyle change. As I read the book, the idea made more and more sense to me.
Half of me thinks it's not because this method is any better than any other, but because this book gives me permission to get rid of things which are perfectly useful, to give things to people or charity or places that need the items or can make use of them. The other half of me thinks I just needed a reason to do something about the amount of junk I had in my home, which quite honestly I should have done months before but as Flyfour said to me this last week, even he didn't realise we had so much "stuff".
We couldn't see the wood for the trees.
Half of me thinks it's not because this method is any better than any other, but because this book gives me permission to get rid of things which are perfectly useful, to give things to people or charity or places that need the items or can make use of them. The other half of me thinks I just needed a reason to do something about the amount of junk I had in my home, which quite honestly I should have done months before but as Flyfour said to me this last week, even he didn't realise we had so much "stuff".
We couldn't see the wood for the trees.
Six months later and I just can't decide which half of me is correct. I can't tell you if it was a phase that I was/still am going through or if the method was a life style change and so being able to live in our home with less stuff and less junk and less hunting around looking for something!
What I can tell you however is that my home is brighter.
My home is easier to clean.
My home is easier to manoeuvre around.
Putting things away is easy.
Getting things out is easier.
Getting dressed is quicker.
And the best bit? Finding things is almost always easier!
The other thing that happened when we started this method was that our home started to change in small ways. I'd never really felt at home in the house but now our house is becoming our home. It wasn't just changing the colour scheme in the living room, or putting photographs up in the Den, or adding quirky album art to the stairs.
To me it feels like the house itself can breathe, that it has been able to stretch out a little from under the weight it's been carrying and can be itself now.
I haven't finished, Sure I've worked through all the categories and I have donated, sold given away and in some cases sent to the recycling centre plenty of items. I may have to remind myself at times that I don't need to purchase a new whatever and sometimes bite the bullet and pay a little more money to buy something which not only does the job I want it to do but also is in a colour or style that I love too, but it works. And as far as I can remember I haven't gone looking for something I've got rid of either.
I guess the KonMari method works for me, my family and my home and that is all that really matters isn't it?
Oh just in case it wasn't clear my house feels like my home now too.
And the best bit? Finding things is almost always easier!
The other thing that happened when we started this method was that our home started to change in small ways. I'd never really felt at home in the house but now our house is becoming our home. It wasn't just changing the colour scheme in the living room, or putting photographs up in the Den, or adding quirky album art to the stairs.
To me it feels like the house itself can breathe, that it has been able to stretch out a little from under the weight it's been carrying and can be itself now.
I haven't finished, Sure I've worked through all the categories and I have donated, sold given away and in some cases sent to the recycling centre plenty of items. I may have to remind myself at times that I don't need to purchase a new whatever and sometimes bite the bullet and pay a little more money to buy something which not only does the job I want it to do but also is in a colour or style that I love too, but it works. And as far as I can remember I haven't gone looking for something I've got rid of either.
I guess the KonMari method works for me, my family and my home and that is all that really matters isn't it?
Oh just in case it wasn't clear my house feels like my home now too.