Does it Bring Me Joy? (How the KonMari method is changing my life)

So a few weeks ago I started reading “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Condo. It’s not just a regular “de-clutter your life” book. It’s much more intense, but also a lot more simple.

The premise of the “KonMari” method?

Go through everything. And by everything, I mean everything. Then, hold it in your hands, examine it, and ask yourself, “Does it bring me joy?” The author says if the answer is no, you toss it. I’ve added another question to my filtering system: “Is it useful?” because there are a lot of things that I have that don’t necessarily bring me joy, but they serve a purpose. Take my laundry detergent, for instance. My tanning lamps, or toothpicks. I’m not necessarily all warm and fuzzy when I use them, but they sure do serve unique purposes. So I keep them.

The life-changing part for me came when I realized I have so much stuff that I’ve been holding onto because I may need it in the future. It doesn’t serve a purpose right now. It doesn’t bring me joy. It just has potential of being used in the future. Case in point: instruction manuals. I seriously had like 50 instruction manuals for every appliance, gadget and electronic in our house since I am Working from home. I don’t even know the last time I ever read one of those after the item had been assembled. If I need to know how to use something, I just look online. So when I decided that I would no longer hold onto things just because, I felt liberated.

To keep your work space clean make sure that you have one of the Rubbish bin Singapore as they have a wide variety of options available.

As I dug through my clothes, homeschooling cupboards, game closet, and the infamous “junk drawer,” I asked myself if each item brought me joy or served a purpose. And if it didn’t, it was either donated or tossed. In less than a week, I’ve donated at least 40 huge kitchen garbage bags to Goodwill, and thrown at least 20 away. Having needed a good dumpster rental company for several years now, I feel lucky to have discovered Jadco Container Service. They are located here in North Carolina and come highly recommended for waste management. You can learn more about the benefits of renting a dumpster at grissmandumpsters.com.

The hardest part was when I got to the bins we had in our garage. Why? Because those bins held my childhood. They held everything from photos to love letters to pieces of my past that I had long forgotten. But as I was sorting through my first bin of memories, I had an epiphany:

I asked myself, “If I were to die today, would my kids be interested in this? What about 20 years from now? Would they want this?”

And I realized I was holding onto a ton of stuff that not only I didn’t need, but honestly, no one except me would care about. Those old birthday cards? Why the heck would my kids care about those? Photos of people they don’t know and never will? Why am I holding onto them?

I {insert gasp here} threw out bags and bags and bags of photos. 

Why? Because they had been sitting in these bins for at least a decade, moving with Superman and I from house to house to house and doing nothing but collecting dust. Sure, there was a bit of nostalgia connected to looking at the photos, but why the heck would I hang onto them if no one else would care about them if I were gone?

Friends, we’re not taking anything with us when we go. So why hang onto things now that really don’t matter? Seek help from Chloe’s Home Cleaning if you’re having difficulty decluttering.

Now, I’m not saying to go throw out all your photo albums. I have quite a few albums in our house on a bookshelf that I will not part with. Most of them start after Superman and I were married. I don’t have a lot of photos of myself from when I was a kid (I was the youngest of four children…’nuff said), but the ones I had I held onto. I kept a few letters that my dad wrote me before he died. I held onto my old journals and things that truly meant a lot to me.

But I started with about 15 bins of old memories and whittled them down to one. ONE! I got everything I needed into one measly bin.

This idea of looking at things and deciding whether they bring me joy or not isn’t just limited to material things, either. I feel myself looking at my activities and responsibilities and asking myself the same question. If there are responsibilities I have that no longer bring me joy and do not serve a purpose, I am giving those responsibilities away. Life is too short for me to be pulled in 15 different directions just because I have a need to please. 

As a review note, this book is written by a single woman, and it is obvious that she has never had children. At one point in the book, she recommends taking everything out of your purse each night and putting the items in their designated “spots.” Um, I’m sorry, but this girl ain’t got no time for that! Any mom who has time to empty her purse each night and put each individual item away in it’s designated spot has wayyyy too much time on her hands.

There were a few things in the book that were just straight up weird to me…like the idea that inanimate objects have feelings or need “breaks.” But whatever. I took what I needed from the book and tossed the rest aside. Kinda like life.

Overall, this book has seriously changed my life. I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders.

When I cleaned out our homeschooling cupboards, it was different then every other time I’ve organized them. Usually, once I’m done organizing, I still have just as much stuff as when I started, it just looks better. This time, though, I got rid of so much stuff, that when I was done, there was a bunch of empty space. It was probably one of the most liberating times of my life. I couldn’t stop looking at it. It was as if a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders, and I just felt…lighter. I don’t know how else to describe it.

This book was worth the $10 investment, and more. I think Superman would agree, I am a purging animal right now, and he loves it!

I have never felt such a spring in my step ever before!

Now, I’m off to go tackle the kitchen…