Inspired by a newspaper article by Rachel Johnson, the need for wardrobe space and an imminent house move, I sorted a couple of bags of clothes for charity shops this weekend. It felt really good and I’d meant to get around to doing it for ages. I can now get the clothes I actually wear into the wardrobe and hopefully someone will benefit from my cast-offs.
I’m also a believer in the adage that a clean and tidy home equates an efficient mind. However, I’m a naturally idle person, living with an untidy husband and two muddy spaniels. My vision of the perfectly clean and tidy home never seems to happen.
The article featured the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Japanese writer Marie Kondo. It sounds intriguing. A method of tidying and de-cluttering, the book recommends that you tidy by category rather than room. This makes sense. I find I tidy by room, only to end up shoving stuff in another. Not solving the problem, just putting it out of sight – for a while. The Marie Kondo way is to start with clothes, move onto books, papers and then all the other stuff you have hanging around.
I’m not sure I’ll go as far as thanking my shoes when taking them off and putting them away but I might adopt the method of folding t-shirts and storing in drawers upright rather than laying them on top of one another. Apparently, you can fit a lot more in.
I’m also not sure about the concept of picking up an object and waiting to see if it holds a spark of joy – and therefore worth keeping. Some things in my house certainly do that – a few books and DVDs, my car keys for instance. I can’t say the apron I put on to cook dinner has it, or the hand cream dispenser. Am I supposed to throw those out because they don’t spark me with joy? And what do I do with all my elephants?
For most of my life I’ve tried to follow the Arts and Crafts ideology of having nothing in my house which is neither useful nor beautiful. It hasn’t stopped having two extremely ugly wheelie bins foisted on me by the local authority. It could be argued they are useful but we managed perfectly well to put out our rubbish and recycle without these monstrosities. At least in Herefordshire we only have two. In Devon each home is decorated with three.
But, back to de-cluttering and tidying. It always makes me feel virtuous if I’ve cleaned and tidied. My brain feels fresher and my heart lighter. Why then, is it always something I hate to do?
The bedroom currently (but no doubt temporarily) looks a lot less cluttered. Next stop: the study and my desk. I may need to gather my strength to tackle both!
What do you feel about this? Are you naturally tidy or a hoarder rapidly running out of space? And are you going to ask your belongings if they spark you with joy?
Here’s the link to the book:
Love,
Georgia x