My Decluttering Revelation and Top Tips!

I have recently documented in my spring Hygge post and on my YT channel that I have started following the KonMari method of tidying our home.  I had seen a few videos a while back that had touched upon her methods, but I wasn’t ready for what is quite simply a revelation in our home.  I’m already half way through sorting the home out and already I can see it’s a journey that you go through.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it has revolutionised the way I do things.

First off the reason why I chose to give this a go, was simply because I was sick each week of spending hours and hours doing housework. I would tidy from room to room before I could even get stuck into the cleaning.  I know we’re a family of 6 and we’ve had a huge sort through when we moved, but this just didn’t feel right to me.  I shouldn’t have to face such lengthy tasks in my weekly routine. I also felt like the flow of the home wasn’t working in terms of school routines, knowing where everything in the house has a set place.  To me there was more that can be disposed of or re-organised better.

I have taken some basics from the book and adapted them into my decluttering so far and there has been times that I have thought twice about doing it in the ways she said, but on the whole I have stuck to the method and I’m seeing great organising results in the house, plus dozens of bags for recycling, charity and eBay.

So far into this process I have learnt several things that I would love to share with you.

1.  Sort out by category, not by room  – This has really been a game changer.  I would have totally just picked a room and decluttered it.  Then not realising that I still have other similar unwanted items elsewhere in the house, that get forgotten about.  So for example stick to sorting through just clothes, or just books.  You take everything you have in various parts of the house and group it by category rather than room.  She advises this is the only way that will stop the endless cycle of tidying.
2. Put it all on the floor and see what you have in one big pile in front of you.  For example empty your wardrobes, drawers, coat racks, attic and anywhere else your clothing is stored.  Put it all out in front of you and you can see how much you really have.  In all of the categories so far, I have been so surprised to see how much we actually have.  I only have certain days that I have time to do this and usually fitted into Florence’s nap times. I have found it easier to further categorise clothing into sub-categories. I have enough clothing to keep me busy sorting through in one nap time, and then move onto 2 of the kids clothing etc.
3. ‘Does it spark Joy?’ Marie Kondo advises that if an item doesn’t spark joy to yourself than get rid of it.  I think this is a great way of looking at your own belongings and the children’s.  This is firmly on my mindset when I attack each category.
4. Don’t have helpful family members watch you!  This refers to my Mum, who often pops over.  She will start going through my charity pile and convince me to keep things or take them to her house, and before I know it, the kids bring it back into the house again.  So I did all my tidying on the days she wasn’t popping in.  I found it easier without Dougie as well, as I found myself get stuck into it quicker, rather than discussing with each other what we should hold onto. I found it beneficial to just send a quick text on a couple of kids toys to confirm to me that they needed to be given to charity.  I also recommend getting it out the house quickly.  I put the kids toys straight into the boot of the car, so I could take to the charity shop before anyone started bringing things back in!
5. Change your mindset about having several of the same items in your home.  This was particularly true of toiletries, as we had several tubes and pots of the same thing, out of date creams and lotions and some just in case items. It felt so much lighter to see just one of each essential toiletry item to go back into the bathroom and our bedroom. I feel we’re stepping closer into a less materialistic way of living, which will be good for us and our children to live by.

I will give a final update on here on how I have got on, when the whole house has been transformed.  I’m also documenting our decluttering in more detail on our YouTube channel so if you’re interested in how we’ve got with this method then please do head over and keep up to date with my decluttering series.