7 KonMari Method Ideas for a Decluttered Home

What is the KonMari Method?

The KonMari method is a simple yet effective organizing technique created by a Japanese organizing consultant, Marie Kondo. The philosophy behind the KonMari method is to let happiness into our lives by decluttering the spaces we live in. The method invites its practitioners to experience gratitude by letting go of any unnecessary possessions. Decluttering the KonMari way takes a mindful, systematic and ordered approach towards organizing spaces that works by making its way through predefined and predetermined list of categories, like clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous and, lastly, the sentimental items.

The method helps bring great transformations in the lifestyles of those following its decluttering rules. Another area where this method can be useful is when you plan to move or relocate. Following the KonMari method of packing coupled with these Moving Options, you’d find packing for a move a lot easier.

Using the KonMari Method for a Decluttered Home

Here we discuss some of the ideas on how to tidy up an already cluttered home using the KonMari method.

1. Imagine Your Dream Home

According to the KonMari method, decluttering starts with you imagining and visualizing the home and lifestyle you want for yourself. Visualization is key when trying to get the house looking exactly like you want it to down to its details, like themes and lighting. Think deeply about the look you want, the decoration, and what would you feel living in your ideal home.

Most importantly, don’t forget about your motivations behind decluttering your house and life. To help you keep track, and add details as you go about the decluttering process, write down, or sketch, your thoughts in a journal.  This will help you stay committed.

2. Declutter Your House by Categories Instead of Rooms

Most of the other organizing methods out there suggest decluttering your house, one room at a time. Decluttering this way might seem faster, but that’s simply not true. If you have to pick up and tidy clothes each time you go into a separate room in your house, won’t that take more time than if you had to first take care of all the clothes in the house, all at once? Doing the same thing over and over in each and every room only increases the amount of work.

Marie Kondo’s method follows a category-by-category decluttering, meaning that you’d take care of all the items belonging to one category before you move on to the next. For example, collecting all the books from every room at one single place. An added advantage of using the method is that it allows you to clearly see through the clutter and know what is worth possessing and what needs to be discarded.

3. Create a Checklist

In order to tidy up your house the KonMari way, it is important to create a checklist of things from each category. Creating checklists makes the cleaning process a lot easier and efficient. Doing so will also give you a bird’s eye view of how many items, from each category, you own.

If you go through the KonMari’s 8-Week Tidy Challenge, you will notice that the categories are further divided into sub-categories. When doing the challenge, you’ll organize items from a different sub-category each day.  Here is the checklist from the challenge:

• The category of clothes includes tops, bottoms, dresses, pajamas, jackets, intimates and athletic wear, handbags, shoes, belts, scarves and jewelry.
• The category of books consists of general books, magazines and practical books.
• Papers include letters, greeting cards, coupons, business cards, junk mail, tax return papers, financial records and legal documents.
• Komono, also known as miscellaneous items, comprise of office accessories, cleaning supplies, tools, athletic equipment, kitchen appliances, bedding, bath and beauty supplies.
• Sentimental items consist of personal diaries and journals, love letters, photos, any family heirlooms, memorabilia, souvenirs and trophies.

4. Tidy up Your Clothes First

Clothing is relatively easier to take care of when decluttering. After dealing with several clients, Marie Kondo landed on clothing as the first order of business for decluttering as picking up, folding, and tidying previously scattered pieces of clothing clears up a lot of space in no time.

In order to declutter clothes, the Marie Kondo style, first gather all the clothes and pile them in one place. Make sure you grab all your clothes from all the rooms of the house, including the ones you have put away in the attic.

Once you have gathered all the clothes, it’s time to sub-categorize them according to the checklist you created. After that, pick each piece of clothing and honestly ask if you really need it in your life. By separating clothes on the basis of this method, soon you’ll have two piles of clothes– one containing clothes that you actually enjoy wearing, and the other containing clothes that are no longer of any use to you. Now, discard the pile with clothes that you no longer need, but do it with a sense of gratitude.

When you are left with only the clothes that you actually want to wear, you start folding them in vertical stacks to make it take as little space as possible. The clothes that get easily wrinkled should be hung.

5. How to Tackle Cluttered Book Shelves and Coffee Tables

In order to tidy up your house, it is important to organize all the books. The KonMari method suggests organizing your readings by first dividing them into sub-categories of magazines, books, guides et cetera. After that, you can start separating the books that you need and enjoy reading from the ones that you no longer need. If you have books that you’ve already read or don’t plan reading in the near future, then consider donating them. For a tidy looking bookshelf, put in the books vertically, and avoid stacking books on book shelves or coffee tables.

6. Using the KonMari Method to Declutter the Kitchen

Kitchens get messy really fast. In order to declutter kitchen, the KonMari way, only keep those kitchen appliances and utensils that you use every day. Gather up and discard all the appliances and tools you have kept in your kitchen either because they’re expensive or you might use them someday.

Empty out all the cabinets and drawers, and wipe them with a cleaner. Do the same sifting exercise that you did with the clothes and books. Put back the items that you’ve decided to keep in vertical stacks based on similar features and purpose, i.e., plates would stack over plates and so on with the other items. It is strongly recommended that you get rid of the expired food items from the refrigerator and pantry. If you feel that a food item is going to rot if not used immediately, use it in preparing your next meal to avoid throwing it out later.

7. Tidy Your Bath and Beauty Supplies

The KonMari method recommends that if you share your bathroom with family members or roommates, don’t take up all the bathroom shelf space with your cleaning and beauty products because that’s just rude. Keep everything off the floor except the toilet brush and trash bin. Add shelves and hooks to keep things off the bathroom floor.

The Takeaway

The KonMari method is an efficient decluttering technique used for tidying up your house by eliminating the unnecessary and unwanted items from the necessary ones.  Decluttering your space by categorizing things is an innovative method introduced by Marie Kondo, which achieves the tidy look with little effort.