This is my introduction to the extensive fourth category of the KonMari Method: Komono, and a guide to help you get started.
The fourth category of the KonMari Method is Komono, otherwise known as miscellaneous. It can be either exciting or stressful (or both) to reach this category – depending on the state of your home! After touching every article of clothing, every book, and every scrap of paper in your home to decide what sparks joy, the rest of the home still beckons.
The Komono category is literally “everything else” in your home. When Marie Kondo designed her Method, she was tidying Japanese homes, which are much smaller than western homes. It was probably a bit of a shock to her when she became popular with western audiences and discovered how much junk we had in our homes.
Personally, decluttering Komono is the reason I started KonMari in the first place. As I wrote about a year ago (in my post about how my previous decluttering efforts still felt like failures – click here), I was going crazy seeing clutter everywhere I looked in my home. It seemed (and still does) that there isn’t a single flat surface not covered by stuff.
There’s quite a lot to go through. There’s an entire kitchen’s worth of cooking implements, rooms full of kids’ toys, tons of electronics, and an entire garage worth of stuff. Maybe you have a hoard of crafting supplies or gift wrapping supplies. Maybe a mountain of stationary. Then there’s the little bits of pervasive clutter that seem to be everywhere no matter how often you try to find a home for it.
Down below I’ll outline how I am breaking down the Komono into manageable amounts that I can tackle in small amounts of time. Feel free to use this as a guideline for your own Komono.
Managing Komono
Break it down
I’ve broken my Komono down into manageable subcategories to make it easier to sort things. Some of these subcategories are further broken down into subheadings to further simplify them and help you do them in a smaller amount of time – much like how I broke down my clothing.
For example, the kitchen alone is its own subcategory. Under kitchen are several subheadings. I have it broken down like this:
Kitchen
- Food
- Food storage
- Cooking and eating utensils
- Dishes
- Drink ware
- Bake ware and baking sheets
- Pots and pans
- Kitchen appliances
- Miscellaneous kitchen stuff
Depending on how much time I have, I could either knock out several subheadings at once, or just tackle one larger one.
You can dispense with the subheadings and just do the subcategories in a big go if you don’t have an enormous amount of stuff to go through, have spare time, and want to get Komono done faster.
Move the stuff to a different space
I’ve learned from doing the previous categories that I’m the most successful with discovering what sparks joy when I take the things I’m going through out of the room they usually belong in. Moving things from their “home” allows you to see them with fresh critical eyes. Spoiler alert: I had great success with paring down my crafting supplies by moving them out of the closet they were stored in to my bedroom and doing them there.
If you’re doing your Komono in one big go, this is still an important step. I recommend setting up a part of your home as a “staging area” where you can set all the things you’re going through as a large group. Choose an area that you don’t use quite as much, like an extra room or even a corner of the living room. That way your entire home isn’t disrupted while you do this category.
Allow plenty of time
For each subcategory (or subheading), allow at least two hours to go through everything. You may think it will only take half that long, but it will almost always take longer than you think it will (unless you already have very little stuff to begin with).
Allow time to clean up when you’re done. Put away the things you’re keeping. If you have spare time, this is a great opportunity to clean the area they’re stored in and reorganize them. Otherwise just put them back. Put the things you are discarding into bags for trash or donation. Put the donation bags in your trunk so you can drop them off at the thrift store. If you had everything laid out on the floor, sweep or vacuum once you’re done. Trust me, you’ll need to do this.
Decide where to start
Where you start with your Komono is completely up to you. I started small, with CD’s and DVD’s, and I’m working my way up to the more extensive things. If you’re good at figuring out what sparks joy for you, then feel free to dive right in to the largest Komono subcategory and get it done!
I will be posting about my progress with Komono by each individual subcategory. I hope this will help you break down and manage your own Komono. If you want to read about my progress with the other categories of the KonMari Method, I have them all linked down below.
I’d love to know: are you looking forward to doing Komono, or is it stressing you out? Would you like me to write a (free) ebook breaking down the Komono subcategories for you? Leave a comment below!
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My Other Posts on the KonMari Method
The KonMari Method: Clothing, Part 1
The KonMari Method: Clothing, Part 2
The KonMari Method: Clothing, Part 3
The KonMari Method: Clothing, Part 4
The KonMari Method: Clothing, Part 5
Resources:
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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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