SIMPLIFY has been my “word” for the past year. Although I have taken many steps in the right direction, I needed some more inspiration to tackle the clutter that kept rearing it’s ugly head.

We’ve all been there; you get motivated to tidy up a space (that spot in your house that you’ve already tidied a gazillion times) and once again … only a few days later, a disorganized mess shows up again in that exact same place! Seriously?!! What gives?

I’m learning that reoccurring messes are not a reflection of our “inability to tidy” but are the direct result of these two truths:

1. we have too much stuff

2. we don’t put our stuff away in the right spot

Yup, I said it.  And, I’m definitely guilty of the above two sentiments!

My tidying dilemma recently found its match when I finally got my hands on Marie Kondo’s best selling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”  I was immediately inspired and couldn’t wait to get started on a simplifying journey that is proven to have a rebound rate of zero. (pretty good odds, don’t you think?!)

Using the “KonMari method”, the hubs and I did a major overhaul of our closets and dresser drawers first & then moved onto the kids clothing and it has made a noticeable impact on our journey toward a more simple life.

In the span of 3 days, we purged & then tidied the crap out of our clothes. We literally touched every.. single.. item of clothing that we own. And, survived a 24 hour flu bug at the same time!  (True story).

The basic idea behind this method of tidying is to A) imagine your ideal reality first, B) commit to the process, C) discard first & then put items in their place, D) tidy by category not location (GAME CHANGER!) and E) follow her suggested order (hint: leave sentimental items till the end!)

I’ve compiled a list of seven recommendations that helped us during our clothing purge:

1.Make it a family affair

The more people in your family you can get on board, the better.  If your kids are old enough, get them involved too! Taking ownership of this dramatic purging process will make sure it has lasting effects. Commit to completing this challenge over a short period of time so you don’t get discouraged & give up! As a family, choose a fun reward to look forward to after everyone’s clothes have been organized.

*Side Note: changing your focus from a tense military style “GETTER’ DONE” approach (I may or may not be guilty of this one) to one that is focused on choosing what you want to KEEP is what will bring you JOY in the process.

I love how Kondo tells us to be thankful for the purpose that each piece of clothing had at one point of time in our life and then you can discard it & MOVE ON guilt free!

2. Listen to her advice and actually touch EACH piece of clothing that you own

Touching each piece of clothing allowed us to see if items were ripped, stained or worn out.  It is true that touch can elicit a feeling of joy, complacency or even disgust!  Follow your gut feeling and only keep the items that make you feel a spark of joy.

*One exception to this rule is if you have bins stored away with clothing for your younger children. I would suggest you wait and go through the purging process when your child is ready for each new bin.  Now that I’m a pro at discarding, it should only take a few minutes to go through the next set of bins for Claire and decide what to keep.

3. Don’t forget about jackets, shoes, seasonal clothing & that bin of clothes that is 6 sizes too small but you are hanging onto “just in case”

I tackled that bin I was hanging onto for “some day”…  and I ended up keeping a whopping 2 items out of a whole bin of clothes! After touching each item I realized that even if I did lose 20 pounds, I wouldn’t wear most of the clothes I was hanging onto as I wore them before kids and am in a completely different season of life now.

4. Ignore the desire to come up with nifty storage solutions in the middle of your purging process 

I admit, this was a tough one for me.  I had to remind myself several times to stay focused on the task of choosing what to keep and what to give away before thinking about where to put my clothing.  You will be surprised at how many clothes end up in the garbage or donation pile and how much room you have in your closet and dresser when you are done. Magically, my basement even seemed less cluttered as I had originally kept many of my seasonal bins there.

We found the storage bins in the picture above at IKEA and they store Ava’s Maplelea doll accessories perfectly.

5. Fold and store clothes vertically

It may seem like a lot of work initially, but it is SO worth it! Storing items vertically in our dressers has proven to be a very enjoyable experience each morning when its time to get dressed. Ever wondered what is under the first layer of clothes in your drawers? This method exposes each piece of clothing in a neat and aesthetically pleasing way.. and that alone can spark joy each and every day!

6. Colour code your closet

This is my personal go-to way of storing clothes in the closet. In a previous post, I had mentioned that hanging clothes by category was the way to go. But, I recently discovered that when you have a whole family’s worth of laundry to put away, colour coding not only makes the process of putting away more efficient but it makes your closet look and feel like a million bucks.

Ava’s before and after:

 

7. Keep track of how much you discard, donate or sell

It is an eye opening experience to track just how much you choose to give away after selecting only those items that bring you joy and that you will actually wear.  We discarded 2 garbage bags, 6 donation bags and 3 bins of clothes were handed down to friends and family.

After this process, we ended up with dresser drawers completely empty! I used the bottom dresser drawer in Claire’s room to hold her special blankets.

Honest Review: Let it be known that our bedrooms have remained clutter free since completing this process (currently on week 4). I am finding we have more respect for the clothing that we chose to keep and therefore take the couple extra seconds to fold or hang and put away clothing rather than throwing it on a pile on the floor.  That reoccurring mess that I was talking about earlier has yet to find its way back into our bedrooms. Now that is a success story for the books!

If you are interested in even more minimalism with your clothing, consider trying a capsule wardrobe!