DECLUTTERING IS THE NEW HOARDING

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the new Netflix program, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” You may have even seen an episode or two, or watched the entire season. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but plan to watch the entire series. I love programs where people declutter and tidy up. I find it very inspiring, though I really need to watch them on a weekend morning, instead of just before bed for maximum impact.

I read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing many, many years ago when it was still somewhat new. My former neighbor, a professional therapist loaned it to me. In return, I reviewed it and shared my thoughts with her.

Here’s one anecdote I shared with her [what's in [ ] are my thoughts.]: "The Moment you start you reset your life." [This section is so true.] "Have you ever found yourself unable to study the night before an exam and begun frantically tidying?"  [You could substitute tidying with some other project, but we've all done it. In an effort to avoid the chore at hand we resort to some other project that's a slightly lower priority, but suddenly gets bumped up to prominence.]

Marie Kondo is probably best known for her quirky way of introducing herself to a house at the beginning of a program and teaching people to thank an item for its service before sending it back out into the world. That might be more of a Japanese or Zen thing, and certainly not something I’ve ever done, though I have wistfully gotten rid of things feeling a bit sad about it, but ready to part with the item nonetheless. Of course I have regrets about getting rid of things (my first camera, my Alf doll, certain items of clothing, etc.), but that’s really just a tiny percentage of all the things I’ve once owned and gotten rid of.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the concept Marie Kondo is best known for, which is only keeping an item if it “sparks joy” for you. I agree with that in principle, but I think there are lots of items we all keep because they’re practical on some level, even if they don’t all spark joy (my work wardrobe for one). Also, let’s face it, we all have items we’ve either been given or inherited that we don’t absolutely love, but keep out of some sort of guilt, at least while the giver is still alive. I think Marie Kondo would give us permission to let go of those items.

Besides just wanting to be part of the current trend, it’s probably more relevant that my husband and I have reached the tipping point in some areas of our house with no more room for storage, so something has to go. This makes me sad, but not so sad I want to own a bigger house just to store all my stuff (which I’ve certainly seen on more than one episode of “House Hunters”).

My best friend has been decluttering for at least a year and blogging about it. I'm not exactly sure what inspired her, but decluttering has become trendy, and there's certainly no shortage of books, blogs, and TV programs to help inform and inspire you before you undertake this arduous task.

Speaking personally, I am my father’s daughter. We are both pack rats, whereas my mom and sister are definitely not the sentimental type to hold onto things. My brother kind of falls somewhere in the middle, though he doesn’t own much, so he’s definitely not a hoarder. My dad and I are among those who could pull out something from our childhood

This is the owl candle I inherited from my Grandma.

that we’ve managed to hold onto for a lifetime and certainly have no plans to ever part with. In my case there are quite a few items from my childhood, but that amount is slowly dwindling as I try to get with the program and embrace the whole “less is more” concept.

For a while my best friend was using the system of getting rid of things exponentially by doubling the amount every day for about a month, though I don’t think she actually completed the month, in a month. She still sends me periodic updates when she’s decluttering, and I do the same as I guess we’re accountability partners.

Following the Kondo method of sorting all of one kind of an item at a time, I recently got out all my candles, old calendars, games, plastic leftovers containers, and scarves, and some of my art and office supplies. In the interest of full disclosure, the amount I am keeping is still more than is going out, but my drawers and cupboards have a little more breathing room, so that’s something. Last year I went through my books, cds, and dvds and filled three boxes which I took to Half Price Books. Not only did I get a decent amount of cash for them, I got complimented on my excellent taste in books. You can’t put a price on flattery!

This weekend I took a bit of a break from decluttering and decided to drive a few of the items to our local branch of Goodwill so I could clear a little space in the basement. My husband and I have made a list of how the other discarded items will get divided up (American Cancer Society thrift store, Flower Child Antiques, Half Price Books, garage sale, etc.) once I am finished going through everything else.

You might ask, “If you’re decluttering, why do you have so many items on your Amazon.com Wish List?” I never said I was perfect, and I try to make it easy for people who want to buy me birthday/Christmas presents, though I would never say no if any of them wanted to make a donation to a charity or buy an “experience” present instead.