Tuesday 10 November 2015

KonMari Method in Action

Last week, I took a break from crocheting owls to organize our closets and drawers. I haven't yet read Marie Kondo's book, "the life-changing magic of tidying up", but I have watched videos explaining her philosophy and demonstrating her methods. I was inspired to give it a go.

I spent a couple hours each evening three nights in a row sorting through our closets and dressers kondo-ing the contents. Over the weekend, I tackled our linen storage areas. The difference is amazing. I absolutely love the results. Even my husband is impressed.

Before this, most of my clothes hung in our closet. The rest were folded and stacked in drawers with my cycling and workout gear all jumbled together in two big drawers plus a clear bin for winter wear. My husband's dress shirts, collared casual shirts and pants were hung. His tee shirts and sweaters were folded and stacked on shelves in the closet. I thought it was organized, but honestly it's so much better now.

I'd love to show you our newly kondo'd dressers and closets. Perhaps you'll be inspired to apply the KonMari Method too.

I started with this dresser full of underwear, socks and such. Marie Kondo recommends keeping things you either love or use and getting rid of the rest. Since I can apply these principles to my stuff ONLY, I simply organized ALL of my husband's things without discarding. 
Marie Kondo's folding method saves space and keeps everything visible in the drawers: top (underwear and ties), middle (casual socks, belts, sports socks), bottom (dress socks, swim trunks, navy dress socks to the right).
 
My side of the dresser is similar: top (underwear, socks and belts), middle (tights, tank tops, pj's and bras), bottom (long sleeved tee shirts to the left and short sleeved to the middle and right). 
I also have a large 5-drawer dresser for my clothes: top (swim wraps, travel towels, swimsuits, scarves), 2nd (cycling shorts, jerseys, sports bras, workout tank tops), 3rd (sweaters), 4th (pants on left, shorts and capris on right), bottom (winter cycling clothes and running gear). 
 
 
 
 
The closet still holds some of my things, but the bulk of it is devoted to my husband's clothes. His dress pants hang to the left with his casual pants, tee shirts and sweaters folded on the shelves above. My few things (jackets and dresses) hang to the right.
 
Almost all of my clothes used to hang on these two racks in our closet. I left a few fleeces, hoodies and tops but there are a lot of spare hangers now. My husband's tee shirts are folded in box lids on the shelf to keep them contained. Further to the right are my husband's dress shirts and casual shirts. He has more than enough shirts to last until we retire. Let's hope he can resist shopping. Our closet is an odd shape with angled shelves to the right of the door where I store slippers, shoes and sandals. 
 
 
I was so happy with our kondo'd clothing, I moved on to linens re-folding the towels in our en-suite. The remaining cabinets look fine to me.
 
In our upstairs hall closet, most of the linens had already been sorted. I refolded the sheets and corralled the bags. I might revisit this space to sort the bins of cycling gear belonging to my husband. It'll do for now.
 
Our cat's (used to be kids') bathroom upstairs doesn't have a lot in the cupboards: cat food and spare light bulbs. I refolded the towels and facecloths in the linen closet. I'm not sure if Marie Kondo recommends stacking towels, but I think it works well.
 
We also store towels in a trunk near our patio door where they are handy for our pool and hot tub. I refolded both the towels and swim trunks leaving a few out for use. They will fit in the trunk if necessary.
 
I even refolded the towels in our two piece washroom off the kitchen.
Wow, what a difference. Everything looks so tidy. Seeing the results of the KonMari Method in Action inspires me to continue kondo-ing our whole house. I'd like to read the book first though to fully understand her recommendations concerning discarding stuff prior to organizing.

Are you ready for "the life-changing magic of tidying up"? It's much like crochet. Once you start, you're hooked.



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6 comments:

  1. Awesome, my underwear has finally made it to the internet. And yes, the house is far more organized

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  2. Well done Beth. I haven't heard about this lady or her book. But I came across a YouTube channel called Home organizing with Alejandra. And I have also been organising and folding clothes in to drawers like you have and I am totally hock. I have also been reorganising our kitchen. Thanks for sharing, I am going to look up on your book.

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    1. There are so many helpful suggestions on-line. What did we ever do before internet and YouTube?

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  3. Good for you Beth , looks awesome!

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  4. Good work Beth now the trick is keeping it that way.

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