Declutter Project: KonMari Style - Clothes, Paperwork, Photos - Part 1

I've been wanting to declutter my house FOREVER! I've gotten "better" about keeping stuff, but I still have a bunch of stuff from college, sentimental items, and a lot of kid stuff. I just had enough! I saw a thread on the SMC boards on decluttering and I thought, I need some motivation - so I decided to read through it. Someone mentioned Marie Kondo's book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It was available at the library for checkout by audiobook. I got through the audiobook in a few hours and took notes! I felt so motivated, I just jumped right in.

The interesting part of the KonMari style is that she suggests going by "category" of items and not by room. For example, all clothes in the house, all books, all paperwork. Leaving sentimental things for last. The process:

1. You lay all the items out in front of you on the floor and ask yourself, "Does this bring me joy?"
2. Discard or purge all the items that don't bring you joy. For me, that means donating or trashing. 
3. This is the important step - do not "sort as you go". Marie Kondo suggests purging everything first, THEN when everything is out - then you can find a home for everything. (I think this is where I have been going wrong all this time.) 

It was such a different approach to decluttering, that I wasn't really sure if I would be able to implement it! I have gone through stages of clearing things out, but I always end up with a bunch of crap again. It made me start thinking that maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time!

So, I jumped right in! I didn't do the KonMari style "perfectly" - but I followed it very closely.

Clothes (Part 1)

I started on Clothes on Wednesday 7/22 - this step is still in process. My closet was a MESS, so before I started digging into my clothes, I removed all storage boxes from my closet & into the spare room (they were in the way and I will sort to them later when I get to those categories). Since I knew I wouldn't be able to get through my clothes in "one shot", I decided to take sections of my clothes at a time and only tackled enough that I knew I'd be able to get through in that particular sitting. That way, my entire room wouldn't be a mess and it would still be functional. Here is how it went down: 

1. Clothes in closet (master bedroom): dresses, suits, jackets, shirts, pants, t-shirts, skirts. 
2. Clothes in drawers: t-shirts, pants. 
3. Clothes in storage boxes: t-shirts 
4. Storage closet (downstairs): jackets, shoes. 
5. Tackled bathing suits, socks, undergarments. 
6. Went through Purses, belts, hats, scarves, beanies. 

Clothes Totals: 

• Donated bags: 13 
• Trash: 3 

The KonMari also has a special "folding method", that I decided to try. I wasn't sold on it... But wanted to give it a shot. So far, I'm extremely happy with it! Marie Kondo also suggests keeping all "like" items in one place. I didn't realize before this, that I had jackets/hats/purses in my closet in my room, in the storage closet, and in storage bins. So now, all "like" items are together and in my personal closet. 

I need to finish this category. Still pending: 

1. Backpacks 
2. Bags 

NOTE: I still have a lot of "sentimental" clothes items that I just couldn't let go of. So, I'm holding onto them for now. I have a plan to turn my old college T-Shirts into a quilt. My friend makes quilts and has offered to help me with it. So, maybe after all this decluttering - I'll be able to tackle that project. 

Paperwork (Part 1)

Marie Kondo suggests doing one category at a time. However, I started tackling paperwork concurrently as doing clothes. I also skipped books. Not intentionally, only because it was convenient to work on paperwork. I work from home and while I was on conference calls, it was just so easy to sort through my file cabinets at the same time as participating in calls!

Started Thursday (July 23) while on conference calls at work. Got through:

1. All papers on my desk. 
2. All papers in my filing cabinets. 
3. All papers laying around in my room. 
4. Some papers from the kitchen (Hot Spot for collecting stuff). 

As I was going, I sorted into the following categories/boxes:

1. Recycle 
2. Shred 
3. Need to keep - sort through later. These are papers related to foster care, health records, etc. 
4. Pictures (there were a lot of pictures in my my paperwork). 
5. Office Supplies - to sort through after. Will most likely ended up donating most of it (folders, file folders, etc.) 

I got rid of almost all my product manuals! I had many from appliances I no longer had! Marie Kondo suggests having 3 categories for paperwork: active files (needs attention), short-term files (access frequently), and long-term files (hardly ever look at). I created a little variation of this. I have: 

1. Using my Tickler folder for "Active Files": bills, items that I need to take action on, and reservation paperwork for trips (tickets, reservation confirmations, etc). 
2. Short Term Items (renewed/changed every year): Car Insurance, House Insurance, Health Insurance Policy, Warranties, etc. 
3. Tax Items (current year): I have a separate folder for tax items, so that I can keep them all in one place and it's already categorized since I've been using it for the last few years. So, this one would be considered "Short Term" and then after I file taxes, all these items will go in my "long term" folder with a copy of my tax return. 
4. Long Term Items: Tax Returns, beneficiary information, Legal Documents (Will, Living Will, etc), Passport, birth certificate, shot records, etc. 

I've only made it about half-way through the paperwork. Still pending:  

1. Remaining kitchen papers. 
2. Boxes of old paper from college in spare room - these might end up being moved to "sentimental". 
3. Boxes sitting in the garage - these might end up being moved to "sentimental". 

Recycled: 2 bags 

Trash/shred: tbd - haven't had time to shred yet. Two boxes of paper for shredding.

Photos (Part 1)

I haven't really "sorted" through the photo category yet. This will be one of my last categories to go through. I just wanted to note that I found my first foster daughter's photos and my first foster son's baby photos. They were on CD and I downloaded them to my computer. I cried... brought back so many memories of my first foster babies. See, too sentimental to go through NOW. That's why it's going to be one of the last items I sort through. 

Totals: 

• Donated bags: 13 
• Recycled: 2 bags 
• Trash: 3 
• Shred: TBD

Next Steps in the KonMari Method

I really like the KonMari style of decluttering! Loving it so much, that I actually am having fun with this project. I felt so good after I started purging things. I have this "vision" of how my house is going to look after I get through this process. This process will probably take me about 6 months to complete every single category. The vision of my home is a non-cluttered place where each item has a home and brings joy to us. Here's the roadmap of my next steps on implementing the KonMari method: 

1. Clothes - Finish pending list 
2. Paperwork - Finish pending list 
3. Books 
4. Kids 
1. Clothes
2. Toys 
3. Books  
5. Kitchen
1. Food Items
2. Kitchen Supplies
3. Kitchen Utensils/Dishes 
4. Kitchen appliances 
6. Small Articles:
1. CDs
2. DVD 
3. Skincare 
4. Makeup Accessories
5. Valuables 
6. Household equipment 
7. Household supplies (cleaning items) 
8. Other - figurines 
9. Disposables - gifts (i.e. Key holder) 
10. Electronics - boxes, manuals, Unidentified cords, broken appliances 
11. Beddings, sheets, pillows 
12. Toiletries 
13. Spare buttons (toss?) 
14. Free novelty goods 
15. Small change - get rid of, into my wallet, deposit into bank? 
16. Small Furniture 
17. Tools 
18. Jewelry 
19. Artwork 
20. Pet Supplies 
7. Sentimental Items
8. Photos 

Seems like a long list, and it is! But it'll get me through everything that needs to be gotten through :) I'm excited to tackle the list and have my home be where I want it to be. Will update next time after I make more progress.

I'd like to add, that I did all of this over just a few days! While: working full time, taking care of my son, doing extra curricular activities, attending meetings after work for my son, and attending social events. It's possible for even the busy person. If I could do it as a single mother - anyone can do it! 

All the donation bags made it to Goodwill today and all trash bags are in the trash bin.