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Wrapping Up My Sparking Joy Journey {My Honest Review of the KonMarMethod}

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Good morning!

If you have been following along for the past several Sundays then you know that I have been slowly working my way through our home decluttering and attempting to follow Marie Kondo’s method as outlined in her book “the life-changing magic of tidying up”…

Sparking Joy My Journey in Tidying Up at thehappyhousie

 I’m thrilled to be in cahoots with these bloggers on this #SparkingJoy journey:

A Journey to Sparking Joy:

Anderson & Grant
Making it in the Mountains
DIY Passion
Dwelling in Happiness
Zevy Joy
Cupcakes & Crinoline
The Happy Housie

So far on this journey to a life of magic, I have shared…

 

I have to confess that I am still working on my “Purging and Organizing Children’s School Work” project….

Yesterday I shared 15 great ideas for how to tackle organizing and storing children’s school work and I have found some amazing ideas and inspiration.

I guess now it is time to put it into practice!! I will be back soon with a report on which method I am going to go with.

5 key methods and 15 examples of how to organize children's school work at thehappyhousie.com

And now- for my perspective on this whole KonMar purging and organizing phenomenon.

The BASIC METHOD and PHILOSOPHY:

The basic method of the KonMar philosophy is that you should only have things in your home and in your life that “spark joy” for you. So, essentially, you need to work your way through your entire home (not by room, but by category) and touch/hold each item, asking yourself if it “sparks joy” for you. You need to listen to your intuition or your “gut” on this. Ignore feelings of guilt and obligation that are often the root of why we hold onto things. Instead focus on only retaining those items that are truly precious and create or spark joy for you.

The PROS:

There are lots of advantages to this philosophy. The first is that it is much easier to tackle organizing when you don’t have an excessive amount of STUFF hanging around that you actually don’t need-want-care-about. Sometimes we think we need to keep things out of guilt or obligation or other feelings -but in reality these items are actually clogging up our life and our energy and making our life less joyful. I do agree with that basic premise of her philosophy and think there is a lot of truth to it. Purging those things can truly give us a new lease on our life and allow us to organize ourselves that we can spend more time doing the important things: living!

The CONS:

Some of the statements might feel a little inflexible or over-the-top for you. It can feel a little proscriptive at times.

The reality is that usually we live with other people, and it is not entirely up to us as individuals to ‘get rid’ of their belongings because they don’t spark joy. In fact… their belongings might spark a whole lot of frustration. Like my boys’ toys and sports equipment that seems to multiply on a daily basis even though I promise I am not out buying them anything more. But the point is – their 18 hockey pucks absolutely don’t spark any joy for me. But I still can’t get rid of them, right? While you can go through a purge things that are not being used and are unnecessary, some things are merely practical and you have to figure out a way to sort and organize them even though they aren’t “joy sparkers”. Am I right?!?

My Honest Assessment:

I think it works. But like anything, you have to adapt it to yourself. Your needs. Your beliefs. Your values. Your life. Your reality. And then, if you adapt the basic philosophy and method to your own self, I think it can really work.

Where I need to go next…

This journey is long from over. While we did a good deal of purging, there are several areas left to tackle. I will be sharing these with you over the next few months as we try to make our way through our home and our categories.

A little more inspiration

Ready to see how my fellow #sparkingjoy bloggers made out with tackling their  purge this week?



Have you read it? Tackled any of it yourself?

What do you think?!?! I’d love to hear your perspective!

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5 Comments

  1. I read her book this past summer and I did a major purge. The one thing I couldn’t get on board with was one closet per each member of the family that would hold all of their belongings. With children this just wouldn’t work so I agree with you that we have to make adjustments so it works for us.

    1. Yes, that is definitely an interesting concept. Some of the concepts were a little different then we are used to in North America, I think. So, yes, adjustments needed!

  2. Sounds interesting I like many need to re-organise my house and my family keep telling me to toss out a lot of crap I am tempted to do so and when I need the so called crap that I have tossed out telling Tim or whoever wanted me to get rid of the item buy me a new item

  3. I feel very much the same about things! You’re totally right, like everything, this process needs to be adapted to you and your needs. And, like you, we still have a ways to go, but I think this may be a journey that never really ends.

    1. I agree Kristi- it is a kind of a way of thinking, right, where you have to think about if you really really love something before you bring it in!

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