I will admit, my house is a mess. I am a stay a home mother of two boys under 6 years old, as well as my mother and future mother-in-law who live with us. We are a family of 6 with 4 cats and 1 wiener dog. My house is the home my fiance and I went out and bought ourselves, but within it lies the possessions of 3 households; ours, my MIL's, and my mother's. That is a ton of stuff. And while our home is a 2 story (plus a basement, so I guess that's 3 floors) 2400 sqft house, you'd be shocked at how cluttered it is, even with so much room.
I suffer from Bi-Polar Disorder, PTSD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which has drug me down a lot for the last 5 years. I am finally in treatment and feeling better more often than worse, so I've begun making changes in my life that before now seemed too daunting or that I simply didn't care about like I should have. I'm taking control of my eating habits (need to lose about 60 lbs for my health), starting to exercise more and now I'm addressing a large issue; the clutter and mess in my house.
So I started searching the internet, looking for the best ways to declutter. I've always loved the idea of minimalism but it seems like a task I am no where near ready to attempt, especially having two other adults in the house who is very attached to their stuff. (My mother is almost at hoarder status, but I choose not to say a word unless it escapes her room and starts to creep into the rest of the house). After a few hours of searching, I stumbled across a blog from a woman who just finished the KonMari Method in her own home and her before and after pictures were very impressive. She spoke highly of the book, "The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo, the creator of the KonMari Method. So, after a quick Amazon search, I found a copy of the book for $4 plus $4 shipping. For $8 I may find a way to declutter my home forever? Heck yeah! I waited on pins and needles for the book to arrive.
It arrived this afternoon and, thanks to a rare southern snowstorm, I found myself stuck at home with a perfect opportunity to read it! Seriously, 3" of snow here in North Carolina shuts EVERYTHING down. Being originally from the Pacific North West, I'm in awe of how small of an amount of the white stuff can bring an entire state to it's knees...
Anyway, here I am halfway through the book and it is totally changing the way I look at my clutter, as well as how I approach the idea of cleaning. The idea that the only maintenance I will have to do after decluttering is putting things were they belong and cleaning like mopping and vacuuming sounds HEAVENLY. Marie Kondo claims that everyone who completes her program never rebounds back into clutter. That's a big claim, but after reading her steps and theories, I can honestly say that I believe it. And I'm excited to join them.
I titled this blog "Trying to Spark Joy" because one of the key points to the KonMari Method is only keeping items that "spark joy" and discarding everything else. It seems like a daunting task, but with the way she breaks the process down, it sounds very doable. I wanted to share my journey here, not only for myself so I can judge my progress, but for anyone else like me who has struggled to find a solution to their clutter and wants to make a serious change.
Tomorrow I begin. My first task is clothing. I have paired down a ton of clothes already, but I know I could stand to get rid of a ton more. Thanks to freezing temperatures, I highly doubt that the snow is going anywhere any time soon, even if we don't get any more, so I'll definitely be home tomorrow. And there is no time like the present, right?
Here's to sparking joy!
~Stefanie~
I suffer from Bi-Polar Disorder, PTSD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which has drug me down a lot for the last 5 years. I am finally in treatment and feeling better more often than worse, so I've begun making changes in my life that before now seemed too daunting or that I simply didn't care about like I should have. I'm taking control of my eating habits (need to lose about 60 lbs for my health), starting to exercise more and now I'm addressing a large issue; the clutter and mess in my house.
So I started searching the internet, looking for the best ways to declutter. I've always loved the idea of minimalism but it seems like a task I am no where near ready to attempt, especially having two other adults in the house who is very attached to their stuff. (My mother is almost at hoarder status, but I choose not to say a word unless it escapes her room and starts to creep into the rest of the house). After a few hours of searching, I stumbled across a blog from a woman who just finished the KonMari Method in her own home and her before and after pictures were very impressive. She spoke highly of the book, "The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo, the creator of the KonMari Method. So, after a quick Amazon search, I found a copy of the book for $4 plus $4 shipping. For $8 I may find a way to declutter my home forever? Heck yeah! I waited on pins and needles for the book to arrive.
It arrived this afternoon and, thanks to a rare southern snowstorm, I found myself stuck at home with a perfect opportunity to read it! Seriously, 3" of snow here in North Carolina shuts EVERYTHING down. Being originally from the Pacific North West, I'm in awe of how small of an amount of the white stuff can bring an entire state to it's knees...
Anyway, here I am halfway through the book and it is totally changing the way I look at my clutter, as well as how I approach the idea of cleaning. The idea that the only maintenance I will have to do after decluttering is putting things were they belong and cleaning like mopping and vacuuming sounds HEAVENLY. Marie Kondo claims that everyone who completes her program never rebounds back into clutter. That's a big claim, but after reading her steps and theories, I can honestly say that I believe it. And I'm excited to join them.
I titled this blog "Trying to Spark Joy" because one of the key points to the KonMari Method is only keeping items that "spark joy" and discarding everything else. It seems like a daunting task, but with the way she breaks the process down, it sounds very doable. I wanted to share my journey here, not only for myself so I can judge my progress, but for anyone else like me who has struggled to find a solution to their clutter and wants to make a serious change.
Tomorrow I begin. My first task is clothing. I have paired down a ton of clothes already, but I know I could stand to get rid of a ton more. Thanks to freezing temperatures, I highly doubt that the snow is going anywhere any time soon, even if we don't get any more, so I'll definitely be home tomorrow. And there is no time like the present, right?
Here's to sparking joy!
~Stefanie~
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