My life + apartment 4-months after reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
It’s been 6 years since I moved into my tiny, one-bedroom (that used to be studio) apartment. As much as I love my apartment, it’s small. Having lived here since college, I’ve also accumulated a lot of unnecessary stuff.
I’ve never been a messy person, per say, and my apartment was certainly not dirty prior to my tidying binge. The issue was everything just felt cluttered. There’s nothing wrong with that, but for me clutter makes me so freaking anxious. I’m the kind of person that CANNOT get work done if my desk is a mess.
My entire apartment felt like a mess. Especially my closet and dresser situation. You might not guess this about me considering most of the pictures I post are of me in black yoga pants, but I LOVE shopping and cute dresses and cute outfits, period.
In my 6 years of living here and 10+ years of being the same size, I’ve accumulated A LOT of clothing. Clothing that I struggle with letting go of. As much as I like to think that I was a trendy 20 year old, some of my dresses from college feel WAY too young for me now. I try really hard to dress my age considering I look like I’m 16.
I forgot I took a “Before” photo. Dudes, my closet was a HOT mess. Keep reading for “After” photos 🙂
So, my closet needed a MAJOR overhaul. And my apartment needed to be decluttered.
Everyone and their mother has read Marie Kondo’s organization manifesto The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I was skeptical about the book and the infamous KonMari method, who the eff needs to fold their socks? That’s a waste of time.
I’m here to tell you, 4 months later, to believe the hype. Well sort of, I haven’t followed the whole book 100%, but what I have done has made a huge difference and yes, arguably changed my life.
I read Marie Kondo’s book at the right time.
In March I was at a bit of a crossroads after losing my full-time job. I had to decide if I wanted to go through the whole job application process (again) or figure something else out.
After much soul searching and thinking about what I really really wanted as the next step in life, I realized I like being my own boss and want to do my own thing.
With this in mind, I applied for grad school and signed up for Yoga Teacher Training. I felt these two things would help propel me forward in this trajectory towards a freelance lifestyle that combines marketing, social media and fitness.
Okay, what does this have to do with tidying?
Right around the same time I picked up The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Imma get a little “woo-woo” on you for a second, but hear me out.
As skeptical as I am about most mystical things in life, I do believe that organizing my apartment with the KonMarie Method helped me organize my life. Getting rid of all that clutter gave me the space to figure out what I really really wanted in life.
I won’t pretend anything truly magical happened. Pace University didn’t knock on my door and say hey, we want to you attend our masters program! I had to do the leg work, but the change I needed did happen.
By creating balance in my apartment, I was able to figure out the other messy things.
It’s crazy but the same thing happened to me after I read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I ended up having the most amazing summer of my life. It’s also the summer I became friends with Jeremy and we eventually started dating.
It’s embarrassing to say this, but I’m still convinced that my happiness that summer also made me more attractive and confident. I guess it worked, Jeremy and I are still together 5 years later.
The KonMari Method: My 7 Takeaways
Take EVERYTHING out at once.
I’ve done mini “spring cleaning” binges before where I quickly leaf through all my dresses and decide to part with a few.
This time around I went ALL OUT. I went category by category (i.e. workout tops, leggings, t-shirts, dresses), took out every article of clothing in that category and then really sifted through each article of clothing I owned.
I was also forced to do this with everything in my closet because it got remodeled during this time. I’m SO happy I emptied out every nook and cranny of my closet instead of just quickly glancing at dresses or sweaters I no longer wear.
Ask yourself: Does it spark joy?
Here’s where the good stuff happens. According to the book, you’re supposed to hold each article of clothing and ask yourself out loud Does this spark joy? I didn’t do that, because I’m weird but not that weird.
What I did do was spend time with each and every article of clothing I own and I thought about if that article of clothing did in fact make me happy. In many instances I was just keeping a dress around because I felt guilty about throwing it away or I realized I purchased it 4 years ago and never wore it.
I realized I didn’t like a lot of the clothing I owned. That sweater is itchy so I never wear it. That dress no longer fits right so I avoid wearing it at all costs. I got this work out tank for free but it’s not my style. These undies have a huge hole in them.
Obviously there were some exceptions to this rule. No, this Hanes white v-neck does not bring me joy, but it is comfy and a good thing to have around.
The biggest thing for me was letting go of guilt. Yeah, there were some articles of clothing I threw away that I only wore once. But the truth was, I would probably never wear them again. The book tackles this guilt by saying the article of clothing (or book, or whatever) has lived its purpose, but now it’s time to move on.
Have a spot for EVERYTHING.
I accumulate a lot of paper “things” and it drives me insane. Important bills that I want to show my parents. Articles my mom cut out for me from the newspaper. Wedding invitations. Tickets to go see Hamilton in 6 months…
I was storing all these things in 10 different spots. This method was NOT working and I couldn’t find anything.
Everything now has its own place. I have a bunch of folders in the above green box labelled “To Read” / “To Be Dealt With” / “For Parents” / “Invites”. It’s super easy to find what I need. I’m also not freaking out now that I lost something important that I was supposed to give to my parents.
Use boxes and dividers to help organize.
Old iPhone boxes and old shoe boxes are GAME CHANGERS.
iPhone boxes are perfect for arts and craft supplies. All of the above items used to be rolling around in my filing cabinet. Also, I know I own a shit ton of tape — I blame it on making Vision Boards and because I used to stick photos up on my wall.
I’m using shoeboxes for my work out shorts and another for pantyhose.
I had a FIELD DAY at The Container Store finding cute dividers for my underwear and sports bras. I used to just throw all my sports bras in a drawer. When I had to pick one out, I literally went fishing trying to find the one that I was looking for. I can now see everything, which also brings me to…
Fold clothing vertically (underwear and socks too!)
I’ve always sucked at folding clothes. So much so that my mom told me I’d never work in retail because my folding skills suck. Jokes on her (sorry, mom!) because I am now a folding beast.
Kondo’s follow up book Spark Joy goes more into detail when it comes to folding clothes. There’s a few benefits to doing it this way versus the stacks I used to do. One, you can see everything. Two, stuff doesn’t get wrinkled. Three, I don’t feel like I’m playing jenga when I want to grab a t-shirt at the bottom of the pile. Four, it looks pretty and I want to maintain that pretty.
I ended up watching a lot of youtube videos to figure out how to fold everything. Even if you don’t read the books, I recommend looking up how she folds everything.
I originally thought folding my socks like this was dumb. What’s wrong with my old method of just balling them up and throwing them in the drawer? I don’t have a great answer for you except that it looks pretty and in my opinion takes up less room like this.
Side note, I’m obsessed with folding clothes like this so you can just like hire me to fold your clothes KonMari style 🙂 Only half joking…
Organize in a way that makes you happy
It is such a simple joy, but opening my closet and seeing my favorite summery dresses and cute sandals as the first thing makes me SO happy.
Yes it helps that my closet was TOTALLY redone (California Closets FTW) but even just the act of rearranging where things go is huge.
It’s easy to maintain organization
My mom is really great at organizing. She’s a librarian, organization is in her blood. Once a year or so she would come over to my apartment and help me refold and reorganize my closet.
Nothing against my mom and her organization methods, but without fail my closet would always look like a hot mess within 4 months.
The biggest takeaway for me was that once you start organizing like this (i.e. folding your clothes and only keeping the things you truly love) it’s easy to maintain.
Yeah, it took me some time upfront to clean everything out. It also takes a bit longer to fold my laundry now, but it has been really easy to maintain. Ultimately it’s also worth it. And I guess life changing.
Your Turn: Any other KonMari converts out there?
Just ordered the book this week and it should be delivered today, I will be starting it over the weekend. Let’s hope it helps me keep my disaster of an apartment organized like yours!
I really liked it and clearly found it super helpful! Just gotta take some things with a grain of salt
Love this!! I’ve begun doing my clothes and I agree– clothes look so much better when they’re folded/rolled like she suggests. It looks so pretty it makes you want to keep it that way– motivation! 🙂
Agreed! It’s been the motivation to keep my drawers all organized!
It is very encouraging to read other people’s experience/journey through the KonMari method.
I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed not only with the sheer volume of things I am gleefully willing to say goodbye to, but with doing so responsibly. The thought of adding to the landfill burden is equally as stressful as my clutter cage. But, thanks to kind folks like you who show it can be done, I know I just need to keep soldiering on and I will get there.
The bulk of my stuff was clothing and books. I both sold and donated much of what I cleared out — for clothing there’s a great service Thread-Up which I was able to sell some of my clothing to. The rest I donated to goodwill. For the books I sold a chunk of them to a nearby secondhand bookstore and donated the rest.