Fresh Year, Fresh Start
How can the KonMari® Method help us start the new year with intention and clarity?
Let’s Begin Anew in 2022
It’s January. And while some feel a let-down from the happy whirlwind of the Christmas season, I have personally always loved the fresh start.
It’s like a snowy landscape where no footprints have yet broken the smooth perfection. I can create a new path wherever I want to go!
BEGINNING THE YEAR WITH CLARITY & INTENTION
January is my month to set our household organizational path for the year.
It’s my month to clarify what’s important, to clear out what has served its purpose, and to clean things up so the house feels open and prepared to support our families goals for the year.
As a mom to five boys, ages 10-24, there has been a lot of variety through the years in how I set the house up to support our goals. Now that only two boys live at home full time - one of which is a senior in high school - we don’t need as many dishes, towels, groceries, and extra packages of toilet paper as we once did. So I can set the house up to live ‘lighter’ than in years past.
Here are a few tips if you’d like to join me and set the year off to a great start in your own home!
1 — Spend some time envisioning what you want this year to look like.
Get creative and bold!
What step would you take in your life if you didn’t have to explain it to anyone?
Maybe it’s a big goal that is accomplished over time, but what steps can you take this year to move in that direction?
A vision board is a great way to help identify the things that really resonate with you.
2 — Ask yourself - do the items currently in my life support my goals? Or am I spending unnecessary time handling things that I’m not actually using?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately as I work with clients to help them pare down and bring their houses into alignment with the life they want to live - you can choose to ‘have stuff’ or ‘do stuff’, but it’s nearly impossible to ‘have stuff’ (in excess) and be free enough to ‘do stuff’ - travel, start a new business venture, take dance lessons, learn to sail…….. whatever ‘that thing’ is for you.
Because taking care of excess stuff takes a big bite out of your time and energy - you have to find places for things, then clean things, clean around things, then move them again and find new places to store them when you get More things. It’s exhausting, both physically and mentally!
3 — After you’ve spent some time considering your life goals, go through your home and edit the items that don’t support your new goals.
Marie Kondo’s five categories tend to be ideal in the way they guide you through discovering your own priorities.
She recommends starting with clothing - which is normally the easiest category.
Next comes Books, then Papers, then Komono, which is the Japanese word for everything that doesn’t fall into the other categories.
At the very end comes Mementos and Keepsake items. This category tends to be the hardest, which is why it is so wise to have a lot of decision making experience in all the other categories before you work on this one.
4 — When you start, gather all clothes in a given category such as sweaters, into one place - maybe on your bed - and that way you can get a grasp of how many you actually have.
Do you have 30 sweaters but love them all? Put 10 in a bin for a season.
If you truly miss one, go get it out and wear it! But if you get to the end of the season and never missed it, then spark joy for someone else, by passing it along to someone who will love it!
I work with the charity Life 4 Real, which helps women that are rebuilding their lives after escaping domestic abuse. It sparks so much joy for me to be able to pass things along, knowing I’m helping someone in a tangible way through one of their darkest hours.
5 — Sometimes my clients want me to recommend an amount they should let go. That is way too subjective for anyone to decide for them.
The balance point of ‘functional joy’ is different for each person. However, as a rule of thumb I have noticed that if a person is able to let go of roughly 30% of a given category, they will almost certainly feel a significant ‘lightening’ of their possessions, and decreased stress in their day to day function.
6 — As you make your way through the categories, use your newly stated goals as the filter for whether an item aligns with the life you want to create.
You will gain clarity as you go along! Most of all, take your time and enjoy the process as you set your home up for success in the new year!