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"Does this spark joy?"

I once mentioned something about the Wall Street Journal to my husband and he asked if I wanted a subscription to it. "Oh Gawd No!" I exclaimed. He knows I'm a bit of a personal finance nerd, but I don't read the Wall Street Journal for finance, investing, and other money tips and news. I love clicking over to the WSJ website for the complete opposite reason: to find obscure articles that don't have much related to Wall Street at all.

Not many {fun} articles are available to non-subscribers, so usually the pickings are slim. But this week there was an article about Marie Kondo, a Japanese lady who is apparently the Queen of Organization. I had never heard of her before and the further I got into the article, the more I felt like I was missing out on a recent trend. Organizing. De-cluttering. Tidying Up. Something I always want to do, but never really get around to doing for excuses A through Z.

Check out the article because it's pretty inspiring, even if your home is in decent shape. I'm sure you have a clothes drawer, bathroom cabinet, or kitchen pantry that could use some de-cluttering.

There are a couple gifs in the article of her folding clothes (socks and a sweater) that made me laugh out loud. I literally LOL'd at my desk. Why? Because that's how I fold my socks and sweater!!! And where did I learn such OCD behavior? FROM MY JAPANESE MOTHER! Hahahahaha!

So now I wonder....is this type of organization typical of Japanese women? Marie is a couple years younger than myself, so she may have a mother about my own mom's age. Did she learn these tricks from her mother? I forwarded the article to my mom and she mentioned that she learned how to fold clothes to match the size of the drawer. And that her mother and father were always neat and tidy and that her mother always told her not to put clothes on the floor.

I'm not saying my childhood house was free of any clutter, but my mom always folded our clothes a certain way (including underwear and socks!) and I still do it the same way too. Towels also get folded. First folded lengthwise in thirds, then folded either in thirds again or half depending on the length and where they are stored.

I'm going off on a tangent, revealing too much of my slight OCD tendencies. Oh gosh, how embarrassing. Let's get back on track to implementing the Kondo Way of Organizing.

Given that we're set to have a rainy weekend here in LA, I have decided to tackle a couple drawers and closets that I know need to be de-cluttered. Marie Kondo's main tip for organizing is looking at each item and asking yourself "Does this spark joy?" and if it doesn't? Throw them shits out!

So that will be my mantra as I clean out my make-up stash and huge storage bin in my second bedroom/sewing room closet.

Do you have any special tips for organizing? Or for motivating yourself to organize and/or de-clutter?

Comments

  1. Good luck for the clear out! I read her book a couple of weeks ago and have gotten rid of a fair few things and it feels good - my husbands t-shirts fit in his drawers, and I never realised how much I had to STUFF clothes in my wardrobe for them to fit!

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    Replies
    1. I've seen her book pop up everywhere and now I'm so tempted to buy it. It definitely feels good to purge!

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