The KonMari Method, Pt. 2

Part 1 of my series on the KonMari Method can be found here.

I’ve spent the majority of this long weekend (Whoop! 3-day weekend for President’s Day!) continuing the process of KonMari’ing my stuff. Yes, I’ve made it in to a verb. And it is one for me. This has been an entire lifestyle change, to be honest. But it’s everything I’ve been looking for. Each time I shed something new, I feel lighter, clearer, and ready to tackle the next category of items.

In this second post, I wanted to share the remainder of the process as I finished going through my clothing. My hope is that this will give you a general idea of the sheer volume of items that have left my house in the past month. Last time, I shared the process of going through my tops, and they were only the beginning. Marie Kondo separates each category of clothing into Tops, Bottoms, Dresses, Outerwear, Socks, and Underwear. Then, I still needed to do my Accessories and Shoes.

Here’s the rest of my clothing, by the numbers:

Before: Started with 70 skirts/pants/shorts/yoga pants (“bottoms”)

ba22aa30-e441-4e7a-971a-be460052cad6IMG_0564 (1)

After: Kept 38 total items

IMG_0574IMG_0570

Before: Started with 57 dresses

IMG_0576

After: Kept 14

IMG_1215

Before: Started with 61 pieces of outerwear

IMG_0581

After: Kept 34 (This is Chicago after all. One does need a certain amount of outerwear. Not 61 pieces, though.)

IMG_1216

Before: 79 total pairs of socks

IMG_0589 (1)

After: Kept 34 pairs (I got rid of all the boring white ones!)

IMG_0591

Before: 11 Bras, 89 pairs of underwear
After: 3 Bras, 42 pairs of underwear
(No pictures, of course. I couldn’t believe I had 89 pairs of underwear. Who even needs that much?! I still think 42 pairs is probably a little high but most of them were pretty new and I couldn’t reconcile pitching them. I’ll just get rid of them when they get old.)

Before: (accessories) 19 pairs of tights, 40 bags, 18 belts, 27 scarves, 20 hats, 16 pairs of gloves

IMG_0621

After: 6 pairs of tights, 18 bags, 11 belts, 18 scarves, 9 hats, 2 pairs of gloves

IMG_1217IMG_1218

These went from being stored in a huge box from Ikea and a nearly full to bursting Rubbermaid tote to one and a half small drawers and a ¾ full Rubbermaid tote (bags stored there). Marie Kondo recommends storing your bags stacked inside of one another, and folding those that can be folded (canvas, reusable, etc.). I’m still clearing closet space for room to store them in this way.

And now for the grand finale. BEHOLD:
Before: 72 pairs of shoes

IMG_0780

After: 33 pairs of shoes (And look how organized they are! I’ve added a couple of pairs to replace some of the more worn ones, but still have plenty of room.)

IMG_0783

All in all, nearly 14 full trash bags of items left our house and headed to the Salvation Army. (A couple of those included some of Damon’s stuff, as well!) I had about 2 small grocery bags of items to sell online, and that’s been going pretty well. And remember: this is just the clothing portion of KonMari. This is Step 1.

IMG_0584IMG_1213

My whole thought process about my clothing has changed. I mean, look at the spaces between the coat hangers! I’m much more cognizant of my available space when I make purchases, because I actually do know how much I have. Everything is now so organized that when I do laundry, each item has a “place” to go back to. No longer am I piling things in drawers on top of each other, stuffing them to the brim. No longer am I on the hunt for some article of clothing that I know I have, not knowing where it is. For the first time, I know where everything is. And I know that if I look for something and it’s not in its place, it’s in the laundry. I’ve never had a situation like this before, but I love it. The shift has begun, and I’m never going back.

 

Ready to start your own KonMari journey? Pick up The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. It’s worth it.

2 responses to “The KonMari Method, Pt. 2”

  1. I really respect how many socks you had!

    1. Haha! I love socks. One of the few categories I expect will expand again at some point.

Leave a Reply