Happy New Year everyone!
Like so many others I woke up January 1st with a rough hangover and decided a day of seamless and Netflix was in order! I logged onto Netflix to see the new Marie Kondo show, Tidying Up, at the top of my screen and was immediately sucked in. Since I was the kind of kid who was obsessed with Clean Sweep (anyone else?) I’ve been waiting for a re emergence of the TLC esque shows. While sadly I wasn’t in love with the show it did inspire me to look more into Kondo’s KonMari Method and do a bedroom reset to kick off the new year.
After following the KonMari method with a few of my own updates I filled 2 trash bags of items to toss, 2 trash bags full of clothing to donate, and finally one more trash bag of items to sell on Poshmark! It was insane how many things I was keeping around that I truly just didn’t need. So while I’m embarrassed to show you guys the horrible before photos I knew I needed to highlight my own personal ‘Tidying Up’ transformation!
THE BEFORE
Post traveling for the holidays and then immediately going into New Years Eve my room was at peak level messy. Keeping my room clean was definitely even harder since every drawer and basket was overfilled, so I knew it was time to make a change!
THE DURING
Be warned if you’re following the KonMari method it’s going to be a long process. As Kondo says, you have to create mess before you can really be organized! While I didn’t follow the method exactly, there were two major concepts that allowed me to really reach peak tidiness:
Take Everything Out – This tip from Tidying Up was honestly the game changer for me. While I try to purge items seasonally (that tiny NYC apartment life) it just isn’t the same as truly taking everything you own out and making the conscious decision to keep it. Take everything, yes even the things pushed to the darkest corner under your bed, out and take stock of what you have. While this does take a while I promise it is worth it!- Clean in Categories – I loved the concept of cleaning by categories that Kondo lives by, because I never know where to start in a major cleanout. While Konmari has specific categories to clean by (clothes, books, documents, miscellaneous, and then finally momentos) most of them didn’t apply to me so I created my own categories: Clothes, Shoes, Accessories, Beauty, Miscellaneous, and Mementos. Obviously clothing is a large category so I also broke it down to by type of clothing… sweaters & coats are definitely what I had the most of.
- Drawer Organization & Folding – If you don’t have these organizers or something similar for your top dresser drawer you need to order them right now. I truly don’t know how I would live without them. I’m not totally sold on the KonMari folding method, but definitely recommend testing it out for pants! For bulkier items I say stick with normal folding and organize by occasion/weather.
- Use Accessories as Decorations – My old apartment didn’t even have a closet, so I’ve gotten very used to having many of my items out on display and it’s something I’ve grown to love. Instead of using more storage space to hide away your pretty hats, scarves, and handbags use them as decor for your space!
- Vanity Catch All – I wish all my beauty and hair products could be stored away out of site, but since I share a bathroom that isn’t really an option. Make organizing these items easy by picking up a simple box to go on your dresser or vanity that can hold everything. That way at the end of the day everything goes back in the box and your dresser top stays clean and tidy!
After probably 6+ hours of cleaning spread out over an afternoon and morning I was so proud of the final result! My drawers actually had extra space and my closet rod has space you can even see in photos. The best part of going through the process though was knowing now that everything in my room has a place. If I take out a pair of shoes they have a spot they’re supposed to go back to at the end of the day which makes it so much easier to keep up the tidiness.
I’ll leave you with the one promise I made to myself post my transformation – to end each day with a simple 10 minute clean up so that I never end up back at the before picture!
Have you done your own new year refresh? Let me know in the comments!
