The KonMari Method®
The KonMari Method® was founded by Japanese tidying expert, Marie Kondo, as a simple & effective way to banish clutter forever, teaching that if you properly simplify and organise your home once, you'll never have to do it again.
Marie is the bestselling author of ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ which has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide & been translated into 40 languages. Her Netflix show, ‘Tidying Up With Marie Kondo’ was a viral hit.
The essence of the KonMari Method® is a re-structuring of our personal relationship with our belongings. It uses a unique selection criteria - choosing what sparks joy. By transforming your home into a permanently tidy, clutter-free space, you’ll be amazed at how your life can change. By keeping only those items that spark joy, we can learn to let go that which isn’t adding value to our lives.
Many tidying approaches tackle things little by little but the KonMari Method® approach encourages us to tidy all at once, creating our own ’Tidying Festival’. It is a one time event that deals with all the items in your home in a short space of time, helping you create your ideal life by surrounding yourself with what sparks joy for you & mindfully discarding the rest. We deal with each item in turn, as we work through all 5 categories in order, joy-checking as we go. You have a finite number of items, so there is a clear start & finish.
The philosophy is not only an effective & simple organising method, but it places importance on mindfulness & intentionality. It’s a de-cluttering method that goes beyond possessions. Once you starting assessing what brings you joy, this naturally spills into other areas of your life.
Marie Kondo, founder of The KonMari Method®
“The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life.”
The Six Basic Rules of Tidying
1. Commit yourself to tidying up.
The key to success is to tidy up quickly & in one go. The Tidying Festival is a one time event, working through all the categories in a short space of time. Time invested in the short-term, allows time, space & clarity in the long-term, so it’s important to understand the time & energy required.
2. Imagine your ideal lifestyle.
We work through this step at the beginning of the KonMari® process to clarify why you want to tidy & what you imagine for your ideal living environment & lifestyle. This is a de-cluttering method that goes deeper than dealing with just possessions. It’s also about figuring out what you want in life, defining your vision & doing the work to get you there.
3. Finish discarding first.
Only once have we joy-checked all items do we begin to store. Storage throughout the process is temporary until we have finished discarding. People tend to discard a lot of items, but it’s not the focus. The mission is to choose joy!
4. Tidy by category, not by location.
This is a key principle of the KonMari Method®, that differs from other organising techniques. This is so that you can get a better handle of what you actually own. By gathering all items of a similar nature together, you can accurately grasp what you have, rather than shifting items from room to room.
5. Follow the right order.
Working our way through the categories in the right order allows us to start with the easiest first & finish with the hardest. Your joy-checking muscle will get stronger throughout the process, as you learn to tidy & surround yourself with joy. So we start with the Clothing category, moving onto Books, then Papers, Komono (Miscellaneous) & finish with Sentimental items.
6. Ask yourself if it sparks joy.
By holding each item in your hand, you are able to evaluate the item & assess how it makes you feel. The focus is on choosing what to keep rather than what to discard. If you decide that an item no longer sparks joy, we thank it for it’s service & then let it go.