The Konmari Method: Clothing, Part 1

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After reading about the Konmari Method in Marie Kondo’s book The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up, I was inspired and ready to apply it to my own home, starting with my clothing. In my previous post about my decluttering fails, I told you about ways I tried to declutter my home in the past. Nothing worked very well or on a permanent basis, so I was excited to start the Konmari Method.

When I started the first category of the Konmari method, I didn’t think I’d get rid of much. I already did a couple of wardrobe purges earlier in the year: one back in February when I did my Spring wardrobe analysis, and another when I did my master bedroom closet clean out. Really, what was left to go through?

Plenty, as it turns out. Pulling out every piece of clothing I owned, including things I stored in other rooms, was an even more emotional process I than I imagined it would be. Yet it helped me part with things that I never thought I’d get rid of.

I’m a busy mom of two small children. I don’t have big chunks of time to devote to the Konmari method, so I had to divide each category up into small pieces. That meant sorting by types of clothing and then sub-dividing those by season. For example, I started with short sleeved and tank tops, and then did long sleeved tops, then sweaters.

Ready to see the process in action? Let’s go!

Part 1: Tops and Tees

The Tidying Process

I began by pulling out all of tops from my closet and dresser drawers and laying them on my bed where I could see everything. I tried to follow the method and hold each piece individually to see if it sparks joy.

This is actually trickier than you might think. There’s a reason Konmari has you start with clothes – it’s the easiest category. My barometer for what sparks joy was not set yet. I would hold things and ask if they spark joy, and the answer would sometimes be, “Yes…?” and sometimes, “I’m not really sure.” The pieces that I knew I definitely liked went into a definite “yes” pile, and then everything else took a little more deliberation. Very few things were an immediate “no”.

Konmari advises that when you don’t know if something sparks joy or not, to pull out something that definitely sparks joy, and to use it as a barometer. So I could use my “yes” pile as a barometer for the “maybe” things.

There were a few “maybe”s that I kept because I just wasn’t sure if I should discard them or not. I kept a few shirts that don’t necessarily spark joy for me but that are useful for things like gardening, painting, and messy cleaning. Having something I’m not afraid to ruin while doing those tasks brings me joy. I also kept three “maybe” tops. They hadn’t worn much recently, but it was because they didn’t work in that season of life. I decided to keep them and purposefully wear them to give them a chance to spark joy.

Following the method was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I imagined myself blithely asking something if it sparked joy, and then immediately being able to put it into either a “yes” or “no” pile. It didn’t work out that way at all. It was far more emotional than I anticipated. I found myself in tears over a worn out nursing tank I wore through most of my second pregnancy and then first year of my daughter’s life. Even though the elastic was stretched out and I had dropped a size and it no longer fit me, I had worn it so often that it was hard to part with. Thanking it for all the help it gave me made it a little easier to part with.

On the other hand, there were some things that I felt relief at discarding. I had a couple of sparkly tops I held on to because I felt they were interesting and fun. Yet these tops were also associated with a certain person who bought them for me back in my college days. I didn’t want to have to think about that person when I looked in a drawer, so I was happy to put them in the donate pile.

Surprisingly, I was able to say goodbye to a small pile of tops that had survived all my previous purges, just because I realized they no longer sparked joy. These were tops that I never wore for various reasons: they didn’t fit right, were not flattering, were worn out, etc. I will sell or donate the tops in good condition. The ones that are worn out or otherwise not donate-able will be cut up into garage rags.

Folding

I also experimented with the Konmari folding technique. It wasn’t in my original plan when doing the method, because it looked complicated. I tried it first with my tank tops and tee shirts. When I folded everything properly and arranged them by color (lights up front, darks in the back as Konmari suggests), it looked like this:

I went from a completely stuffed drawer to one half full, and I only discarded four tops from it. I can see all of my tops at a glance.

My long sleeved shirts and light weight sweaters still take up an entire drawer, but it looks much nicer. (I keep the majority of my sweaters in a bin underneath the bed.)

My tops hanging in the closet have a little more room to breathe as well. I don’t have things hung Konmari style (in ascending order from left to right) but by type and season.

I will continue to show the process with the rest of my clothing in future posts. Stay tuned!

Pin it for Later!

Konmari Method: Clothing Part 1 Tops, Tees, Sweaters          Konmari Method: Clothing, Part 1 Tops, Tees, Sweaters

Resources:

The Lifechanging Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Spark Joy by Marie Kondo

The Lifechanging Manga of Tidying Up: A Magical Story by Marie Kondo

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One thought on “The Konmari Method: Clothing, Part 1

  1. I’m very intrigued by this. Thanks so much for showing pics. That really helps me grasp what you did, since I’m a visual learner.
    Looking forward to reading more posts on this.

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