KonMari Method | My Method

Originally I was going to brag about the pound and a half that I lost this week BUT something else trumped that.. 

I woke up yesterday morning and I did what I normally do after I put out a new post - I check my views. I know I'm pathetic, I really am. On a good day, I get about 200-300 views per post- I'm not sure what other bloggers get but this is my average. That means I either have 200-300 people viewing my post or my mother-in-law is trying to boost my views by opening and closing my page (she's my biggest supporter). The most views I have reached is over 400 - which amazed me. Yesterday morning I open my account and I have over EIGHT HUNDRED views! I have absolutely no idea how this happened, most likely it is a glitch in the system getting me excited over false information.. 
This morning I am just under ONE THOUSAND views (on one post) people! I literally can't even. 

The irony of the timing of this is that after my post on Friday, Hubs says I am a great writer but  suggested that I need to be more "mainstream" which caused us to get into an unnecessary argument in the middle of our local Chipotle. Once we got our food we forgot what we were yelling about and continued on our burrito bowl binge. The next morning - boom. Karma.

So, there's that...

. . . 

Recently a friend re-introduced me into the Marie Kondo book series. I saw it all over the internet and heard people raving about how great it was and how organized she is blah blah blah. Why would I need this when I am a tremendously organized person already? Well as soon as my head shrinks, I'll tell you why. 

There are a few areas or things that I don't fully feel satisfied with at our house. Some of our cabinets or closets don't feel like they are being used to their fullest potential. My designer cousin, whom I have looked up to my entire life, came over last weekend and she pointed out that our house really has no closets - which is not news to me but when someone else notices it, it makes you really realize it. (She said it in kind spirit - no feelings were hurt:)) Though, she was right - our entire main level has ZERO closets and it kills me. I'm a closet queen. Our apartments in the past have had amazing closets. HUGE. Spacious. 

Although, when I get challenged with a small space - eg. our Chicago apartment of 600 sq ft - I really rack my brain to come up with a solution for the space to work seamlessly. We had everything we owned in that apartment, aside from some storage items - Holiday decor, a few pieces of furniture etc.  It was an extremely livable space and yet I didn't have to go to my parents basement for measuring cups or my ironing board - everything was right there in the apartment. 

As you can see I felt pretty organized - making me ask myself - what could this silly book do for me when I already have my own method? 

I figured it was time to give something new a try. I didn't have to do everything she told me, I could mesh our two theories together and throw out what doesn't work for our lifestyle. 

Marie Kondo has 2 books in this series - the first really honing in on her method and why and how it works for others and the second (which I am just starting now) goes more into detail about how to maintain and do the folding techniques etc. 

I can fully give my personal review on the first book of this collection as I recently finished it. Of course I have strong thoughts about it: 

MK really has it down with asking yourself "does this _____ really give me joy?" every time you set out to organize a space. Duh - why didn't I think of this earlier.. Although it really doesn't work in the kitchen - does this spatula give me joy? - uhm no? But that's me being a smart ass - I was really good at that in class - ask any of my teachers. Other theories she has - such as thanking your shoes for the hard work they put in for the day - I found a really hard time putting into my daily routine. It also seemed like she had no sympathy for sentimental items. Hub and I have 2 storage bins each for our childhood memories, which shrunk over the years of us being together - more so on his end. I think that is pretty good for us and I am satisfied with it. MK, however, thinks that we should dump everything - or at least that was the vibe I got from reading. I, on the other hand, will be cremated with my memories - I already told hubs that's what I want.  

I also don't agree with her displaying method - she likes to put things in shoe boxes and cereal boxes etc and I like to have a visually appealing organization approach. I DO buy cute bins and containers because it makes me happy and doesn't make my drawers and surfaces look like a recycle bin.. That is just a personal opinion but I can still respect someone to save the environment one shoebox at a time. I also found her philosophy on having a home for everything. Her wallet is stored in a box under her bed - bizarre.. I, however, keep my purse, with everything left inside, near the back door - like a normal person. 

I can honestly picture her home nearly empty with only the essentials and possibly a few cats. In a way that is something I can look up to but on the other hand it doesn't seem very practical. It does sound like I am giving this poor girl a hard time but I have taken some of her words and thoughts into my organization method. Of course, mine is better than hers:) I will combine the good parts of each theory and I have come up with the KenMari Method - sounds catchy huh? Debating on writing my own book about it -- oh wait, I have a blog for that! 

Again, these are my personal opinions.

Now, when I am out shopping, whether it be for clothes or things for the home, I really think to myself, "Will this give me joy" before I put it in my cart and sprint to the register - mainly I have to do this at Target.. It's actually stopped me from buying quite a few things. 

. . . 

The KonMari method works perfectly with clothes. After starting this book I just wanted to jump out of bed and organize every storage space in our house - hubby groaned when he saw I was reading this in bed after enjoying a double shot on ice, he knew he was in for a long evening. What can I say, I do my best work late at night;) 

My issue is hanging on to those shirts that really looked cute on the rack but in my closet just look dumpy - still hanging with the tags, why can I not get rid of this? After reading TLCMOTU I can say that I was fairly successful in doing so! 

I went through the "pink" room and got rid of piles of things I was just holding onto for a rainy day. Since this is the room connected to the Jack and Jill bathroom and our room, I wanted to make at least half of the upstairs look like an actual lived in space. I begged hubs to help me turn it into the guest room! He sighed but after he saw it put together, he was okay with having to move everything between the "blue" and "pink" rooms:) Poor guy has to move some sort of furniture piece or another on a daily basis. I can't help that I change my mind or find a better solution:/ 

This is not necessarily part of our OCD Challenge, but it was nice to pull a space together with things that we already had - i.e. no money was spent on our guest room! Score! 

Up until now, the "pink" room was used as a catch all for things that didn't fit in the bathroom or in our closet. We realized it was time to be adults and really make our house feel like a home and not a temporary living space. We have to work with our small spaces and make them work seamlessly. We did just that with one day of effort and a couple of donation bags later! It isn't necessarily how I would want it to look design wise, but it is finally a livable space for guests to come and stay:)

Here are a couple photos from the space - nothing special :)

This is what the space looked like when we purchased the house. I'm assuming this was a child's room of some sort. I'm a little freaked out by the door jamb that looks like had a lock on it! 

Again, we did not do any trim work, we just did cosmetic stuff here. 

The walls were painted right when we moved in but the room was still used as a catch all essentially. 

Now we have a bed, dresser for storage, new window treatments and a rug - so happy it all pulled together! 

What do you guys think?!

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I lost one and a half pounds this week...