Here’s What To Do If You Want To Get On The Marie Kondo Bandwagon

Bella Breakdown

Women (and men) everywhere are emptying their closets, gutting their homes and ditching piles of their belongings. And it’s all thanks to one inspiring lady, Marie Kondo. Now, Marie Kondo has been around for a while, and her methods for de-cluttering your life are tried and true. But once her Netflix special hit the scene just a few weeks ago, an organization revolution began.

The basic principle of her teachings, the KonMari method, is this: go through your belongings, and get rid of anything does not bring you joy. Simple enough, but surprisingly difficult in practice.

“The point of this process isn’t to force yourself to eliminate things,” Kondo says. “It’s really to confirm how you feel about each and every item that you possess.”

So if you don’t want to invest hours in the Netflix special, but you want to give this a shot, follow these steps to achieve Marie Kondo calm in your house.

1. Start with your closet. When doing the “does this bring me joy?” test, it’s easier to start with clothes, that tend to actually have certain memories and feelings attached, rather than household items. So purge your closet, and put anything you don’t want anymore into a pile to donate.

2. Tackle by category. Instead of going room by room, make a list of categories to sort through, such as books, kitchen wares, linens, etc. That way, you can decide which items in the category are worth keeping, and which are superfluous.

3. Find a place for everything you are keeping. This is one of the keys to this practice. Find a home for every item, and avoid just throwing things in storage bins or in a closet, which just promotes hoarding.