Tidying Up with Marie Kondo: My Analysis and Personal Journey

A couple weeks ago, I decided to watch this show that's on Netflix, and so far, I'd say it's a good show. Marie Kondo's infamous book "The Magic of Tidying Up" definitely gives good guidelines that you see in practice with the different people that she helps out. 

When I first started my own decluttering journey, I used a combination of the KonMari method as well as the minimalist approach. It took me some time to declutter, but what I struggled the most with is visualizing the end goal. I feel like social media and YouTube has been helpful since I'm more of an audio/visual learner rather than reading the material myself, so after watching different videos of other people's thoughts and reviews, I started with my closet as Marie suggests. 

So since I did rely on other people's reviews instead of reading the book myself, I also had allowed myself to be exposed to other people's environments and what that looked like, which was a setback of struggle when I think about it now. Had I read the book for myself and not look into other people's examples so much, I probably would have had a clearer vision for what I wanted my space to look like in the end. However, with the combination of the two philosophies (KonMari and minimalism), I was able to see what sparked joy as well as what wasn't adding value to my life. My first initial purge was done last year when I got home from job training school. 

So after I purged my closet, I went into other hidden clutter catchers in my bedroom. This included my desk, my bookshelf and other furniture that I had kept at the time (a storage bench, ottoman, night stand and other miscellaneous items). Turns out I didn't need that extra ottoman; I just needed to declutter more of my stuff. This was also the case with everything I've collected in my bathroom. At one point, I had a big collection of travel size items that was organized as well as my body care products, but half of what I saved wasn't being used. So after I had purged all of that, I found that there were certain products that weren't necessary for my daily routine, so that helped me to see what I needed to stop buying. 

When I finally started working on my sentimental items, I felt confident enough to get rid of whatever wasn't valuable to me, but of course, it took some time for me to consolidate and pair down. For a while, I had been slowly collecting different room decor items that were sentimental at the time, but once I took the time to really examine this one category of stuff, I realized that most of what I was holding onto was more out of guilt than it was out of sentiment. Dealing with that feeling wasn't easy, but what I've learned is that the relationships we have with friends or family should be more about the experiences and memories we've shared together than it should be about material items. 

Seeing other people go through this process on this show has helped me to see that I'm in a better place now than I was a year or two ago. The experiences that I've been through personally were mostly positive, and even if I struggled a lot in my 20's, at least I can say I stuck through to the end, even if it was difficult. Life isn't easy for anybody, but when we come home at the end of a long day, we shouldn't have to feel stressed or burdened by the amount of stuff we have. Our homes should be this oasis that allows us to feel relaxed and at peace, so I hope that my story helps encourage you to take that first step if you haven't already.