5 Ways To Declutter Your Life The Marie Kondo Way!

If you’ve never heard of the decluttering goddess that is Marie Kondo, where exactly have you been all this time?! A Japanese organizing consultant, Marie Kondo is famous for her nifty tips and tricks on how to minimalize the clutter in your life and transform it altogether.

After the publication of her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, the world went on a crazy Marie Kondo decluttering phase, so much so that she even has her own show on Netflix that shows you exactly how to organize your life in a smarter, more cost-effective way.

What exactly is the Marie Kondo way?

There is a simple premise to Marie Kondo’s decluttering method: approach your items individually, ask yourself if it brings you joy, and if it doesn’t, get rid.

Once you’ve narrowed your items down to what means most to you, start to organize them in a way where they are visible, easily accessible, and can be stored away seamlessly. Once you’ve reached this stage - and trust me, it’s much harder than it looks - then, and only then, will you have achieved decluttering greatness.

Here are our top 5 tips and tricks inspired by Marie Kondo that can get you a step closer to that stage!

1. Declutter PRIOR to organizing

Just moving things around won’t solve the bigger issue at hand. It may look pretty for a while, but it’ll get messy again quickly and soon. Decluttering before organizing your things is what makes the difference. Stop trying to fit everything into your life and start being cut-throat about the things you truly need and want.

2. Start decluttering with clothes first

In a different book, Marie Kondo explains that “Clothes are ideal for practicing [the tidying up] skill first.”
Your clothes hold a lot of intimate memories and emotions. They are also the items that you have the most control over.

It’s important to take every piece of clothing item you own and throw them into a big pile. You’ll be able to see everything all at once, making it easier in the moment to judge what needs keeping and what to get rid of right away.

Do not linger on the decision. If in the moment you felt it didn’t need saving, that’s most likely your most honest feeling.

3. In a similar manner, leave sentimental items last

It’s not unusual to start the decluttering phase and suddenly find yourself halted by the discovery of old pictures and items that you forgot existed. You’ll either get caught up in the moment looking through all these things and subsequently forget about the task at hand, or you’ll make a hasty decision in the moment to keep all of it.

As such, leave the sentimental stuff until the end of the decluttering phase. Once you’ve gone through and decluttered the necessities in your home, then you’ll have both the physical space and the mental capacity to approach and organize the things you hold most near and dear to your heart.

4. LITERALLY thank the things you are throwing away

When you have an item in your hand that you’ve decided to chuck away, take a moment to appreciate the joy it gave you at a time in your life. Think about the person who gifted it to you (if it was gifted) and recall the gratitude you felt at receiving it. Just be happy that you owned it and then let go.

Having that closure will allow you to move on and not question the decision you’ve made.

5. Learn to fold clothes the Marie Kondo way.

Once you’ve narrowed your clothing items down to what you want to keep, fold them in a “file system” the way Marie Kondo would.
Folding your clothes in this way can reduce the amount of space in your closet that your clothes occupy, which will allow you to find the items you love quickly and effectively while also giving you room to store other things there too.

And now that you are armed with these 5 tips, go forth and discover the inner decluttering goddess within you!

(preview image via Netflix)

Next Up, How To Know When It's Time To Let Go