I’ve read “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up” quite a while ago. I haven’t watched the Netflix series yet, but it’s on my watch list to watch eventually. But I am familiar with the idea of what Marie Kondo says in both even though I haven’t read the book in a long time. A lot of it is stuff that I already do, but it seems like every so often I have a big push to do some extra cleaning and organizing.
Right now, I’m in the middle of doing some organizing. But instead of doing it in a big effort, I’ve slowly been doing it. In the past, I have gotten rid of things that I probably should have kept or I forgot where I stored something until I found it again months later. I don’t want to have that issue again because there’s no need for it. And I don’t have any sort of deadline to when I need this to be done so I can take my time.
Since I’ve been in this long cleaning/organizing habit, I’ve debated about going back to the book or watching the Netflix series since so many people have been raving about how it has changed their lives. But I remember when I read it the first time how I really didn’t connect with everything in it. I don’t have a ton of stuff I have to get rid of. My issue is just making sure that I am putting things away in places that make sense and can be done over and over again. If the place I decide to store something isn’t the most convenient option, I probably won’t be doing it as needed. I’ll wait until things get bad and then I’ll have that mad rush to clean.
I know one of the big organizational things in the book and series is about how to store clothing. I love the file folder idea of storing shirt and pants. But I actually don’t have clothes like that in drawers. I have a drawer of workout clothes where I have one pile of workout towels, one pile of workout pants, and one pile of workout shirts. This drawer is just what I use for Orangetheory so I only have exactly what I need in there. I don’t have to dig through things to find what I like to wear in class. I found it the easiest way to store things compared to having a drawer for tops and for bottoms. I do have another drawer of random workout/lounge clothes that probably could be organized in the file folder style, but since I don’t go into that drawer that often I don’t feel pushed to do it. My bra/underwear/socks/pj drawer has dividers and is organized, but I know it could be better and that will be something I will be tackling soon. But besides that, all my other clothing is hung up so I don’t have a way to fold them. Everything is on the same type of thin hangers and is organized by type and color.
With everyone raving about how they love the system in the book and series, I felt like I should do it to. But the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me to do it. There’s nothing wrong with her method, but it doesn’t have to be for everyone. And for my system in my current house, it’s not right. Maybe when I move one day I’ll revisit it and decide to do it, but not now.
I think letting go of the idea that I should be doing what everyone else is doing has been helpful. I don’t feel the same pressure as I did before about what I should be doing with cleaning and organizing and making sure it’s done quickly. I can take my time and there’s nothing wrong with that. I probably could be working a bit faster and that’s something I’m going to try to focus on this weekend. I have been doing little bursts of cleaning and sometimes I use that as an excuse to not do more.
I know the idea of spring cleaning is usually a big to-do with a huge day doing everything. But I’m enjoying taking my time and allowing myself to test out different things with how I want to store stuff around my home. And I have a feeling this won’t be just spring cleaning but a longer, ongoing thing. And that’s fine too. With such a small house, I know how quickly things can go from a little messy to a big disaster and working on it each day helps prevent that.
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