I'm not the messiest person you'll ever meet but I'm in no way a clean freak either. I'm mostly just super lazy (at least I'm honest lol). I don't have clothes all over the floor or garbage overflowing from the bin, but I do have a basket full of clean clothes that should have been put away a few weeks ago and a collection of cardboard boxes by the door that is waiting to be taken to recycling.

I used to think that there were two kinds of people in the world: those that are naturally tidy and those that would rather get a root canal than deal with a mess. It wasn't until I was recommended this book that I thought I could actually learn how to keep a tidy house.

If you've never heard of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, it's a book written by Marie Kondo, a Japanese organizing consultant. She's written multiple books about organization and this one has done extremely well all around the world. It teaches you a unique process to transform your house by simplifying and organizing your possessions.

I've heard about this book in random conversations but never gave it another thought until I heard about it from Youtuber, Brittany Vasseur. She does a lot of cleaning and organization videos that feature her GORGEOUS, tidy house. I could have sworn she would have been a natural clean freak all her life but that's not the case. She also claims to be a fellow lazy girl that doesn't like to take those extra steps to be tidy. Once I saw her video about the KonMari method (the organizing method named after Marie Kondo), I knew I needed to read this book.

It didn't take me long to finish the book and I haven't yet put all of Marie's practices in place (I'm lazy after all, remember?), but I figured I should share Marie's ideas about organizing that I agree with, and the few that I don't.

Discard first //

She's a huge advocate of getting rid of stuff you don't need before even thinking about organizing it. This is something I tend to have a problem with. For example, after watching so many organization videos on Youtube I'm obsessed with buying colorful bins at the dollar store. When cleaning out my bathroom drawers a few months ago I ended up buying all these storage bins before I even went through my stuff.

Marie points out that organized clutter is still clutter - now it's just hiding in a cute container. Go through all your stuff first, so you'll only be organizing the things you really need.

Go through everything by category, not by room //

Doing things this way never even occurred to me before, but it makes so much sense. In this book, Marie outlines a list of categories for you to go through one by one (starting with the easiest to discard, like clothes, and moving to the more difficult, like memorabilia and sentimentals). You have to collect ALL OF YOUR ITEMS in each category and lay them out in front of you. That means when you're looking through your clothes, get the ones in your bedroom closet, your hall closet, any coat racks, your gym bag, under your bed, in the laundry room, etc. This is how you can get a clear picture of all the things you own and "hey, I have 6 black t-shirts when I might only need 3". See what she means?

Discard intensely and completely //

Tidying is a one-time thing. In order for you to really feel the "life-changing magic", you gotta see a dramatic change within your space and that will, in turn, create a dramatic change in your mind. Marie claims not a single person she has worked with has rebounded or returned to their messy ways. That's a pretty bold statement.

I think this really plays into the thought that a clear space equals a clear mind. You can't concentrate on the other aspects of your life if you're living in a mess. When I'm making dinner and my sink is full of dirty dishes I don't enjoy cooking because all I'm thinking about is the additional mess I'm going to be stuck with later.

I'm not totally convinced that tidying is just a one-and-done thing but I'll keep you posted once I finish KonMaring my house.


Does this bring me joy? //

Marie wants you to hold each object in your hand and ask the all-important question "Does this bring me joy?". If it does - great! If not - throw that sh*t out!

This is an easy thing to do with clothes, books, photos, decor, etc. but harder to do with things like kitchen items, tools, and paper items. Can everything really bring joy? I'm not convinced. Some things I just plain need to have. I just NEED those twist ties in my junk drawer and I NEED that property tax bill.

It's also really important to hold every object in your hands when you're making the decision whether or not to discard it. I know you're probably thinking "ain't nobody got time for that", but trust me, this makes a difference. I have to confess, I didn't pick up the stuff I knew I was going to get rid of right away, but there were a few items I thought I wanted to keep and once I held them in my hands to asked that most sacred question, I totally changed my mind.

Have a place for everything //

I'm sure you've heard of the basic concept of having a place for everything in your home. Marie's ideas might be a bit different than what you've been doing, though. In my recent search for organization tips, I found quite a few people saying to "put items where you use them". Marie doesn't agree with this. I shouldn't put my purse by the door, I should put my purse where my purses go. Marie says "Clutter is caused by a failure to return things to where they belong. Therefore, storage should reduce the effort needed to put things away, not the effort needed to get them out." This woman is smart!

She also goes a bit too far with this, in my opinion. She recommends some things like emptying all the items out of your purse when you get home and putting them away and taking everything out of the shower once you're done. This just doesn't make sense to me. It's a huge time saver to have everything in my purse ready to go for when I leave the house and I'd probably end up forgetting my shampoo every time I got into the shower if it wasn't in there waiting for me.

It's a fair suggestion, just not realistic.

Appreciate your possessions //

This is the one thing in the book I thought was a little weird. It might just be a cultural difference, though. Marie treats her items almost human-like, thanking them for their service and organizing them in a way that they can relax and breathe when they are stored. While I like the idea of appreciating what I have, I'm never going to think that the socks on the bottom of my drawer feel suffocated and neglected.

Other than those two small things, everything else in the book has been very helpful and insightful for me. It's really a unique way to look at tidying your home.

The book also gets into further detail on how to fold your clothes for maximum storage, but I'll let you read about that on your own, or if you Google "KonMari Method" you'll be sure to find a ton of videos showing you her method!

If you're a fellow lazy girl or just looking to find a system that helps you stay tidy once and for all, then I would definitely pick up a copy of this book.