Yo what up peeps? Er… nah. Just kidding. Totally doesn’t work for me.
*starts typing again*
Hey! How are you going? What’s been happening for you this past week? Me? I have been getting excited about tidying. Yes folks, you read it here first! I did indeed say that I was getting excited. About tidying. More specifically, decluttering.
If you are anything like me, when you look around a disorderly, cluttered room, it weighs down on you. It all just feels so… much. I literally feel my shoulders sag. My mood sinks. I sigh. My stress and frustration levels rise as I think of how I wish the room would be. Less stuff. Tidier. Cleaner. How I wish everyone in the house was as bothered by the clutter as I am and inspired enough to do something about it. But alas…
So I have told myself, enough is enough. This family of 5 is getting it’s house into shape. And everyone is going to have to play their part if we are all to enjoy a more relaxed household and a more chilled Mama 😉.
Therefore, let the organising begin! Come join in the fun of Jenny decluttering and read about this in-home adventure!
Always Look Out for the Possibilities
This week has been a bit of a blessing in disguise. Or rather a few blessings actually. The disguise was the almost constant rain and unexpected snow showers, combined with the neverending grey skies above. Also, do you remember last week I mentioned how my plans for exercise were on hold because I had a dud knee? Well, I have medical confirmation of a pulled ligament in my knee which prohibits me from doing my home exercise program for a while. Bummer. No, really! It was challenging but I was enjoying getting up at 5am 5 days a week to workout. Ok, there is a bit of a white lie in there. There was not that much joy in waking up at 5am. But definitely satisfaction at having done it.
Thus my stupid knee has had me lying flat a fair bit lately. No exercise means time to do other stuff, right? Crap weather outside means a chance get things done inside, right? Like, think, plan and prepare how to organise our household! See?!? Silver linings!
These past weeks I have been hearing a lot about Marie Kondo and her KonMari Method of tidying. Am I the last person in the world to jump on this bandwagon? Sure, I have heard her name before, and something about “tidying up”.
But somehow I recently came across her TV show and felt a lot of comments and ideas resonate with me. Feeling burdened by your possessions? Check! Feeling stressed out by a lack of space? Check! Want to encourage the whole family to take more responsibility for their stuff and to work more as a team in the family home? Check! Want to practice being grateful for what you own, but find a way to let the unnecessary go? Check!
OK then. It’s decluttering GAME ON, dear family!
I never intended to follow every word and every folding technique Marie Kondo advocates. You can look them all up online yourself and/or buy her books (which I have not). But some of her space-saving techniques looked cool. And her rules for sorting gave me at least a structure of how to get moving forward with the task of cleaning out our 5-person family home.
The more Hubby and I started talking about the ideas between ourselves, the more the kids’ ears starting pricking up with interest. And more than once when Hubby and I were watching an episode of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” at night, some small pair of feet would pitter patter downstairs and claim that they couldn’t sleep and “oh is that the cleaning up lady?!?” and next thing you know there is an extra body joining us on the sofa for a few minutes getting their fill of ideas of how to tidy their stuff.
There is No Time like the Present to Get Tidying!
Bad weather + extra time + somewhat motivated family = Time.To Start. In the back of my head I can picture that dude before the boxing bouts who rallies the fans with “Let’s get ready to rumble!” and replacing it with “Let’s get ready to tidy!!!”.
According to the KonMari Method, the first things to attack, er, lovingly and thoughtfully sort though, are clothes. I had recently come across an unopened pack of curtains made from linen that we bought from Ikea an aeon ago. Knowing that once we decided which clothes to keep, it would be beneficial to come up with a better way to store them. I then had my own “zing!” moment. I could SEW some little baskets to use with our wardrobes, using the curtains! Win-win!
This past week you would have found me digging through leftover cotton fabric supplies, madly measuring and cutting out the pieces of linen and fabrics, and sewing them all into a very colourful army of cute fabric baskets. I will share how I actually made them in a post soon! (Watch this space 😊 )
So there I am, sewing cute little storage baskets not only for myself, but for everyone in the family, ready for the whole family to organise their wardrobes. I am psyching myself up to KonJenny 😉 my clothes, determined to get it done whether or not anyone else actually jumps on board the KonMari train and…
And in a mad twist of fate Miss 10 beat me to it! “Mama! I’m going to sort through my clothes now”. Wow. OK. Miss 10 gathered all her clothes bit by bit (“Even the jackets? And the socks?”) onto a pile on the floor.
Now I don’t know about you, but I have seen some of those Netflix episodes and our children do NOT own 12 pairs of jeans and 27 pairs of sneakers. Our children have ample clothes to select from on any given day, but not a wardrobe of now too-small clothes they had forgotten about, with tags still hanging on them. My daughter’s pile on the floor that day was far more humble.
Decluttering Decisions
So, in a very mature and pragmatic way, she sorted through her clothes collection almost entirely independently. She made piles of:
a) what to keep
b) what was too old/damaged to donate and should be thrown away
c) what her younger sister might like to save for when she gets bigger
d) what to donate to charity
e) what we could sell
I was SO heart-burstingly proud of my not-so-little-anymore girl. She actually had fun sorting and making decisions and discovering her own new way to arrange the clothes in her wardrobe. (I am SO loving this take-responsibility-for-stuff-and-be-self-sufficient thing!) By the end she was grinning from ear to ear and springing around the room. THAT’S what I call a successful afternoon: tidied, organised, happy and proud.
And now not only has one child VOLUNTARILY decluttered their wardrobe. The other 2 are jostling with each other about who gets to be the next to sort through their clothes too. And all 3 are chattering about the next thing in the house that we would organise; books, actually, if you want to stick with the KonMari way of doing things. Which by the way, we have CARTONS full of. Decluttering wardrobes full of clothes I was excited about. Decluttering our personal library collection of books terrifies me!
7 BENEFITS OF DECLUTTERING
Even if you don’t know or care for Marie Kondo and her ideas for decluttering your house, what are the benefits of any method of sorting through and organising your possessions?
#1. Being aware of what you actually own.
For example, no more digging to the bottom of a jumbled overflowing drawer and “ohh… I forgot all about this shirt!”
#2. Feeling grateful for your possessions.
Be appreciative of the things you do have. This can also extend to the decision to donate what you no longer need to a charity, who in turn helps people who don’t have the luxury of owning so much.
#3. Deciding on a way of organising your possessions that you can maintain.
Find a way of folding your clothes that is easy to do each and every time and that allows you to easily see what is in the wardrobe. It may be that how you fold your shirts will be different to how your children can independently fold theirs. The important thing is that it is not so complicated that you won’t continue to organise that way.
#4. Creating more space.
Less clutter and better storage techniques = more space, right? But remember! Making more space doesn’t mean you need to go out and buy more things to fill the space back up again!!! Enjoy the space you worked so hard to create!
#5. Make some money from selling unwanted belongings.
You’ve surely heard the saying “Someone’s trash is another man’s treasure, right?”. Donating clothes and unused items is a great idea to give to someone less fortunate. Some items you may consider too valuable or in high demand to simply be given away. Selling items (that are still in good condition) is easy, thanks to the multitude of online classifieds, auctions or a good old-fashioned garage sale! Clear out and make money too- bonus!
#6. Less stress and less feeling overwhelmed.
Less clutter every time you turn around means a more manageable household and less stress about making space, tidying up or cleaning. Already there has been a lightening of mood in this house following some organising of wardrobes. Imagine how we will all feel when the entire house has been decluttered!!
#7. Strengthening family bonds.
Decluttering the family household requires teamwork. Decisions need to be made together. Children will probably need some adult support. Showing that a more organised household is good for everyone and encouraging everyone to participate helps strengthen family ties. Remember, “a family who plays together, stays together”! 😉
Last but not least, I bet you are dying to know: Did I also get around to decluttering the clothes in my wardrobe? Yes indeedy I did! And wow! Did I feel proud 😊
Have you been inspired by someone to declutter your household? Did you enjoy the process? What benefits have you noticed? Share your thoughts below!
I enjoyed reading about your families de-cluttering journey sounds like was lot of fun actually. I quite like cleaning out/de-cluttering cupboards, drawers etc I really do, but usually I just go through items one at a time. Thinking about this now, compared to your system, my way is really hit & miss. I agree, to have everything in front of me might just give me a more realistic & satisfying result. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback. We have yet to tackle the rest of the house, but the pressure really is on when everything is unpacked and lying in front of you. Once you start a task, you just have to keep at it until it’s done! Good luck with your own decluttering!
Exactly, with a huge pile of stuff in the middle of the bed/floor/bench it has to be dealt with doesn’t! Or simply procrastinate & ignore it for few more days pushing it around cause its in the way – no that doesnt work does it !!!