KonMari: Life-changing magic, one year later

Just over a year ago, I tried the konmari method for sorting out my home and life.

For anyone who hasn’t head about this yet, it’s a system of cleaning house based on one simple principle: joy. Here’s some reading to bring you up to speed:

• The Economics of Tidying Up (The Atlantic)
• Konmari: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (ChiGarden)
• 5 life-changing lessons the KonMari decluttering method taught me (Happier Inc.)

So, let’s be honest here. My house is still a mess. Let me show you.

My bedside table with books I’m reading, a junk box, junk that hasn’t yet been put in the junk box, emergency topicals (Vicks, lip balm, moisturiser, tea tree oil), along with bits and pieces that don’t belong but ended up here by accident.

My messy desk.

A kitchen bench that’s almost always cluttered.

The kitchen bench is a special case. Everything left out falls into one or more of these categories: heavily used, recently used, in urgent need of use, or will probably be used in a few hours. Sometimes we put out stuff we aren’t in the habit of using, but want to use more.

Looks awful, doesn’t it? I’ve learned sometimes I need mess to function properly. Partly as a visual thinker, and partly because I need to assess my ‘usage trends’ in a new environment. This configuration of clutter has changed 4 times since we moved here last April. I’d really like to find a definitive system of organising this space, but nothing’s felt right so far.

Piles of clothes.

Now, this is the worst. To me, it’s the antithesis of what I imagined a konmari life to be. However, you can see some semblance of order inside that plastic crate. There are pockets of order elsewhere too.

My slightly organised craft room.

The craft room is a work in progress as we save up for furniture and decor. We’re taking this slowly. The last thing I want is to add a piece just to fill a gap, without considering whether it’s the right function and style for us.

The somewhat orderly pantry.

Here we have my supply of jars, baking powders, tea, ferments, spreads and sprinkles, oils, special tools and materials, and expired foodstuff used for household purposes (like yeast for trapping garden slugs).

A tidy collection of planning tools and reference material.

My stationery stash.

My very organised stationery collection brings me a lot of joy. Three tiers of hot Swedish RÅSKOG, filled with tools and supplies for everyday creativity and productivity.

With all this in mind, can I really say the konmari method has changed my life? After all, mess is mess, and there’s still so much of it, so it’s bunk, right?

WRONG. Since adopting the konmari system, I have:

• Found a career that’s meaningful to me
• Rekindled my love for books
• Rekindled my love of writing fiction
• Moved to a nicer house with a bigger garden and more natural light
• Met other people like me with similar attitudes to life and hodge-podges of hobbies

None of this is down to magic. Throughout the year, I kept an eye out for disconnected or miraculous events, but found none. Coincidence and luck, sure, but not magic. What seemed to change my life, as promised by the eponymous Marie Kondo, is the perspective I got from tidying up and applying a healthy, self-oriented criteria to my life choices.

When I first started, I’d be km-ing often late into the night. Sometimes I’d go to bed and fidget until relenting to the urge to go through my stuff again. We call this “konsomnia”.

The next morning, I’d wake up sleepy but content that a part of my… life? mind? cognitive capacity? had become unshackled from surplus. I’d leave for work wistful, wanting to just stay home and tidy up some more.

The final stage of konmari has us sifting through sentimental items. This was hard. I threw out heaps of kipple I kept over the years. I found some memories really aren’t worth keeping.

Then a funny thing happened. I started looking at non-material things through the konmari lens. Memories led me to sentiments, which led me to prejudices, habits, customs, friendships, relationships — everything fell under the microscope. Even lifestyle factors like my sports schedule, my career and my hobbies.

Trying to find a system for organising my kitchen was a great representation of my bigger life picture. I don’t hate anything in my kitchen now, so I don’t mind the mess while I figure out a system I can enjoy.

Similarly, I don’t feel so at odds with how I spend my time now. Or the people I spend it with. Sure, it’s a little haphazard still, but I don’t mind the mess there either. Clutter isn’t that bad, I think, as long as it’s comprised of stuff that does bring you joy.

I found konmari worked by helping me develop a habit of eliminating things that don’t resonate with me. Rather than holding onto something out of obligation, guilt, or “just in case”-ness, it got ditched so I could focus on what does work, and make room for what might work.

People can argue all day about good reasons for keeping or discarding things, but no one can tell you what does or doesn’t bring you joy. Minimalism didn’t work for me because it was too pragmatic. Hoarding didn’t work for me because it was too sentimental.

Konmari turned out to be the ideal system for an in-between, here-and-there person like me, still figuring out where they stand and where they’re going.

This article was originally posted on 21 Jan 2016 on my website sanlive.com.