The KonMari Method- Clothes

I recently read Marie Kondo's Book,  The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.  There was a lot of buzz in the "Blogisphere" about this book last year.  Since my blog is about a journey to simplicity, peace and minimalism, I thought I should give the book a try.  I really enjoyed it.  It has a few areas that seemed a little wonky to me, but the main message was great.  We should only keep things the "spark joy".  This concept is quite different than the other concepts that I have used to determine what I want to keep in my home.  I have kept items because they are useful and I have like to keep things that I know I use.  It never really occurred to me that I should love the items in my home.

Marie Kondo lays out her method clearly in her book.  She recommends finishing the project in 6 months or less so that the change is relatively quick and you don't backslide.  She tells you which items to start with first and how to go about sorting your home.  I am going to do the KonMari method (it was my New Year's resolution) and I plan to blog about each category that I complete.

The first category is clothing.  Marie Kondo instructs you to grab ALL the clothes in your home, including those in storage.  Anything that you forget to include in your sorting is discarded.  My husband and I each tackled our closets.  Honestly, when we began I thought that I MIGHT get rid of a bag of clothes.  After all, I had been doing Capsule Wardrobes for a year and had pared down my wardrobe considerably.  Like the naughty blogger that I am, I didn't take a photo of my closet before the sorting.  I did take a couple photos of all the clothes laying on my floor.  Here they are:

Yikes!  As I sorted through each item, I asked myself  "Does this item spark joy?".  It is such a simple question.  I was shocked at how much I decided to part with.  As it turns out, the majority of my closet does not spark joy.  It was such an easy barometer of what I love to wear and what I don't.  I donated 5 garbage bags of clothes and threw half a garbage bag of clothes away!  Oh my goodness!  In the end, I only had 18 (non-lounge) tops left.  This was less than the amount that I put in each capsule wardrobe!  My closet looks great and now includes all of my seasonal items and the maternity clothes that I held on to, in case we are so lucky as to have another baby.  It all fits neatly and perfectly in my closet.

It has been a few weeks since I completed this project and I can honestly say that I haven't missed any of the items that I got rid of.  Not once!  It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience and I am excited to tackle the rest of my home!