Marie Kondo-ing the Victorian House.

Before Marie Kondo got her own Netflix show I was on a holiday in Thailand and listening to my friend Zita telling me that tidying could change my life. Zita was, at that time, living out of a backpack and only carried about 30 things. That was extreme of course and necessary for someone who was constantly on the move. But the philosophy of minimalism and reducing the amount of things you own started with read Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. 

Zita had given most of her things to charity. She then gave the book to her Mum and came home to find a massive pile of her belongings in the garden. Everyone I spoke to who had read the book said it was transformative. Which is a strong thing to say about a book on tidying.

When I asked my best friend to move in with me and I realised there was no room for her belongings in my house I knew that the time had come to turn to Marie Kondo.

There's no room to swing a cat in here! 

Reading it sounded like a mission so I listened on Audiobook whilst tidying and found it amazingly inspirational. If something didn't spark joy and wasn't necessarily needed it was gone.

The clothes I got rid of...although my wardrobes are still SO full. 

Bailey gets involved in some Marie Kondo scarf folding -
notice how much more room Bailey has in these drawers.
 

Marie Kondo recommends taking everything out of cupboards and putting categories together so that you can see how much you really have. Here is what my bathroom looked like when I put everything on the floor. Yeh, wow. Things only get put back if they spark joy...so all those sample size bits you get from hotels because you have to get your money's worth that stay in the cupboard for years were gone. 

Actually the bit I found the most revolutionary was the idea that you didn't have to keep gifts. I remember once walking past a shop when my friend turned to me and said, "Every time I pass this shop I think 'Oh! It's the Aimee shop". I was mortified. It was not my taste at all. But looking around my house I could see why she got that impression. Well meaning friends and exes had bought me some things that weren't my taste and then others had seen those things and though that was what I liked and bought me more. Marie Kondo gives you the permission to recognise the love that gifts were bought with yet still remove them from your house. It was such a wonderful feeling to thank these things and feel gratitude to the givers and give them to charity to be loved by someone else. And I didn't feel guilty at all. 

And when I was finished I had not only cleared an entire kitchen cupboard, several drawers, two airing cupboard shelves and two bathroom storage spaces for Lisa's possessions. I was now only surrounded by things that brought me joy (plus some functional things too). It was wonderful.  

Tiring work this tidying business.