Tidy : arranged neatly and in order. What a delightfully old fashioned word, tidying. Why am I bringing this up now you ask? Well I had a book pop into my world a couple of weeks back. When something appears more than once in a seemingly random place or situation I pay attention. This time it was the book ,
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up-the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo.
Here is SweetPea, post tidy
Organizing, sorting and arranging has always been something that I do. Not unreasonably I think, but maybe more than the average bear. So when the Tidying book came up I thought there wouldn't be anything really new for me in it, but not true. I've always loved the quote from William Morris "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." What Marie Kondo's book has shown me was how to make that a reality.
Dish towels receive the same care as more glamorous items
I should say at this point that once I fell into the book and concepts I forgot to take photographs with my big girl camera so these images were taken with my phone. Some photographers manage to create amazing images with there phones. That isn't one of my super powers yet but I think you'll be able to see some of the results with them.
Basically what Marie Kondo or The KonMari Method has you do is evaluate everything in your home by category, in this particular order to hone your skills, Clothes, Books, Papers, Miscellany and then Sentimental items. You gather all the items in a category and touch each item and determine if it brings you joy. If it doesn't then discard it, throw it away, give it away etc. Once you have discarded then you can tidy the category away. Ideally you have all like items in the same area or place.
Quilts and throws
All knitting items in one old chimney cupboard
Second bedroom with all items in the closest removed prior to tidying
There is much more information in the book about why this particular order and honoring the things you release and the things you keep. Being mindful in your home and having your things work for you and not against you.
Dotty embraces the joy of an empty "in" basket
So that's what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks. KonMari recommends going through the process quickly ie: 6 months. Once I got started that's all I wanted to do around here. I "kondoed" everything. It made me more mindful in other areas of my life as well. I'm eating healthier, taking better care of the things around me because what I have around are things that bring me joy. Once you've done it, your done for good. You will be more mindful about what you bring into your life and home and you'll never have to do it again.
Give it a try.
Until next time my friend, keep the joy.
Kim
