How would you like to wake up in a tidy and eye-pleasing home? An environment that all family members truly enjoy? A home where the kids can live, play and create a mess in… but also a home that can be peacefully tidied in 15 minutes at night?
Enters… the KonMari Method™
The KonMari Method™ is the name of a home-organizing philosophy. It’s like a little boost that can help parents and children get a tidy and « organized-enough » house in which a family can truly enjoy living together, working and making memories.
Popularized in 2014 by the Japanese expert and author Marie Kondo, the KonMari Method™ is based on the premises that:
• tidying by category (instead of tidying by location) is the most effective approach to create a long-lasting change in your environment.
• joy is the one criteria that help us decide what to keep
How does it work?
With the KonMari Method™, we complete a « tidying festival » to create a joyful life and environment, once and for all.
During this « tidying festival », we will go through all of our belongings category by category: we start by tidying clothes, then books, then papers, then « komono » (miscellaneous items) and, finally, sentimental items.
The process is extremely simple:
- first, we look for all the items that belong to one category,
- next, we gather them in one space.
- then we hold each item in our hand and assess if this item sparks joy/belong to our ideal lifestyle/fulfils its purpose in our life (choose the wording that resonates the most with you!)
Let’s give you an example. Going through the clothes category, we would gather all of our clothes from our dresser, our closet, the entrance closet, the laundry room, our out-of-season bins, even from under the bed or the ones stored in the attic. Next, we would place all these clothes on our bed in one big pile. Then we would hold each clothes in our hand and assess if it makes us smile, brings joy to our life or fulfils a purpose for us. We would keep with confidence all that sparks joy and say goodbye with gratitude to the clothes to let go. To finish tidying this category, we would fold and store our remaining items, using good-enough temporary storage solution until we finish tidying all of the categories. At the end of the KonMari festival, when all 5 categories of items have been tidied, you would organize your belongings in the simplest way that sparks joy for you.
Each family member tidies his/her personal belongings only. So, no, you won’t go into your husband’s stuff! But don’t worry: even when only one family member embraces the KonMari Method™, one will experience a joyful change to his/her living environment… plus a set of surprising and positive domino effects on the whole family.
Who is it for?
A tidying festival will require hard work, dedication and time. It’s neither a magic wand nor a fit for everyone. But, the before & after is stunning! The process is straightforward, the change of mindset guarantees no rebound… and life-long life skills for our children.
Learning about the KonMari Method and applying its principles to a home is like embarking on a new adventure. A journey that can and will transform us and our family, for good.
Each person will embark on this adventure their way: one can complete their « tidying festival » by themself when another person will benefit from the gentle support and the accountability of a certified KonMari Consultant.
A Certified KonMari Consultant is the accountable guide who provides the “how-to”, giving you a head-start and supporting you to stay motivated all the way through – maintaining the momentum until the end.
Practically for each item, a consultant helps you saving your sanity and sticking with you even when you “just don’t know if this sparks joy”. A consultant will make sure that you complete your tidying festival in a way that adds joy and gratitude to your life. Your consultant will be there for you hand-in-hand when it gets tough and cheer you up for every progress you’re making. Last but not least, a consultant will give you visibility on how long your tidying festival will take, depending on the size of your house, your family and your unique needs – providing convenient resources and best practices to donate all the items you wish to discard.
As a KonMari Consultant-in-training, it is my joy to serve my clients in-person in Glen Ridge and Montclair, NJ or by Zoom with Virtual Tidying Sessions: please contact me at elise @ vaidis.com
With a thankful heart,
Elise
Official resources about the KonMari Method™:
