Who is Marie Kondo?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've all heard of the Declutter craze suddenly taking over many homes across the world thanks to the Netflix show and host Marie Kondo.

I've always lived quite a minimalist life, thanks to moving around very frequently as a child and have regular declutter sessions throughout the year. This sudden urge from people to purge their lives of unwanted things around the their home got me more interested in what really makes us happy.

I think a messy, unorganised house creates and unorganised and chaotic brain which can spill into your everyday life. Keeping you from fulfilling your real potential. Whatever that may be. It can cause you to feel stressed which can cause issues in your marriage, family life and job.

So who is Marie Kondo?

Japanese Author and creator of the KonMari method to declutter oozes calmness and neatness. If you hugged her you'd be scared you were going to crease her.

Her Netflix Show Tidying Up With Marie Kondo has created a wave of people decluttering their homes and lives and filling Charity Shops with all their unwanted goodies.

Her Motto is "If it doesn't spark joy in your life you don't need it'.

She also dedicates a lot of time to folding clothes correctly. As much as I love neatness I'm not sure the majority of the population has time to caress their clothes and lovingly spend time folding each piece so it can stand on its own.

Most things in our life we don't need. Our houses are a lot larger than the average Japanese home that we tend to fill it full of stuff because we feel we need to. 

Start in one room and simplify. My rule for clothes is "If you haven't worn it in a year chances are you never will". Linen closets are the easiest to organise and most satisfying. If you have towels which are so old they feel like sandpaper it's time to update. Fold them the same way so you create more space.

Pantries are also a great way to start. You have to look at it every day, why not feel joy whenever you open the door. Finding the correct containers and labeling them is the key. Make sure the system will work for you and your family. It will also make you use less plastic.

Take a look at your clothes line. Does it have plastic pegs still on the line with others lying on the ground beneath? We are all guilty of this. It leaves the feeling of mess and clutter. Throw them away and get some pegs which will last. Either stainless steel pegs or Bamboo wooden ones. Keep them in a container and store them in the laundry (not on the line)

Jump to our stainless steel pegs here.

I do feel sorry for the Charity shops who have been inundated with hoards of people dropping off their belongings, some of which belong in the rubbish. Think it through, if it doesn't work or has seen better days don't send it to the thrift stores to become their clutter. 

All this declutter talk has my mind racing, I'm off to my happy place of organising and decluttering room by room. Lucky it's school holidays and I have three little helpers. Enjoy.