January 15 - 2017 – Marie Kondo’s tidying up magic

          One of my New Year’s resolutions was to clean, put everything in its place, and get organized in order to get on with living well.

          One night last week I paid attention to O’Reilly’s list of top New York Times Best sellers – of course, his book was No. 1 – but he mentioned The life-changing magic of tidying up the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing by Marie Kondo.

       I went on-line and ordered it immediately as it was touted as helping me crack the code on how to clean and get organized and move on with life.  That is my personal quest at this moment.

          As soon as the book arrived a few days later, I used the detailed table of contents to pick and choose certain areas to get a grasp on what was in the book.  Then I launched in with a quick read that evening.

          Very early the next morning,   I actually took all my clothes out of my closets and tossed them on the bed and took the rest of the contents of the closet and stuck it in the corner. I wasn’t keen on tossing my clothes on the floor as I’ve a cat and dog that would want to play in them.

          Marie Kondo’s premise is basically, “Does this item give you joy?”   That is how you decide to keep it or not.

          I, much like the author, have greedily read every article about cleaning and organizing, etc., for the last 40 years and seem to not have gotten into the right grove about how to keep a house clean and organized.  It seems to last between 3 days and two weeks, but no more.

          So, this is actually round three on this house since Christmas.  I obviously have too much “stuff” that I am not utilizing and is giving me HEARTBURN, not JOY.

          The other premise that “spoke to me directly” was: “Are you living in the past or living in the future.”   I have to admit, I don’t really know the answer to that.  I am still floundering around in the sharp realities of the past and the unknown of the future which can seem terrifying.

          So, taking her question to heart I decided to work on just the PRESENT putting it in the context of “What do I need to wear in the present”.  I can safely say, I easily parted with  lots of “past life” clothes.

         

          But, unlike the author – it took me more than one pick up and put down and stroking to “listen to the article – to absorb the “joy” from each article. Those that I wasn’t certain about I put to the side because I hadn’t really learned how to listen to them yet.  I’d been sorting past from present I guess.

Those that I knew were my favorites gave me instant joy.  They have always given me joy.  And, the reason I know that is when I buy things it has to be “gorgeous” or “perfect” or it doesn’t come home with me.  At least I got the “buying joy” part right.

One hurdle seems to be the well-meaning gifts of my husband and close friends that I can’t seem to read well.  Some of that is tied up in the cost of the article, some in the sentiment of the item and I found it hard to wade through that loyalty landmine field.  Finally I got down to “does it give me joy” and then it became easy.

          Another hurdle was I haven’t figured out is when you wash something for the first time and it is never the same, what do you do. I’ve always handled it as an immediate disappointment and I suffer in silence as I wear it in between the two or three outfits that are perfection. I had dozens of this example and didn’t hesitate to toss them in the OUT PILE. But, how does one handle this issue in the future? Do you immediately pitch it? 

          I did a lot of “when did I wear this last?” questioning as well.  It took me a while as I held each item up and stroked it to listen to myself and the item involved.  Then I would remember – the arms are too tight – the collar feels scratch – it wrinkles so bad in 10 minutes – the color turns me my face puke green – it is stifling hot even on the coldest day – it rides up – the sleeves can’t be pushed back and then they don’t stay, etc.   The goodwill pile got bigger and bigger.

         

Now, I know I can do this because it comes down to “JOY” or “PERFECT”. It comes down to the “go-to” always clothes that I own.  I’ve never really needed or worn the rest of them.  A terrible thing to admit - but it is a refreshing break through.

I'm still working at this . . . I will advise my progress tomorrow.