You Don't Know Your Apartment: Cleaning Secrets From Marie Kondo

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

If this is the first time you hear the name Mari Kondo, then a wave of fascination with fashionable Japanese cleaning techniques swept by you. The book Magic Cleaning, written by a home improvement consultant, has been published in 30 countries and has become a bestseller in Europe and the United States.

The principles outlined in the manual are surprisingly original and run counter to the generally accepted rules of putting things in order.

Reading is fun and educational. But there is one drawback - the large amount of material presented. Not every modern housewife will find time to study a book from cover to cover. However, this is fixable. For our readers, we have made a squeeze, leaving the most interesting and useful. So, let's get down to the basic postulates!

Down with the "reverse effect"

How many times, sorting through the next rubble of things, have you caught yourself doing deja vu? Alas, no matter how hard you try, rubbish accumulates over and over again. Things scattered by households nullify all your efforts. Active traces are everywhere. But what can you do?

Is it possible to take advantage of the traditional advice circulated by glossy magazines, the Internet and numerous television programs - "Clean a little bit every day, and you will be happy"?

Marie Kondo believes the principle is outdated, categorically stating, “Don't be fooled! The reason you feel like cleaning never ends is precisely because you are cleaning a little.”

In her opinion, the key to solving the “reverse effect” problem is cleaning in one fell swoop. If you are already beginning, then hold on to the end until all things are in their place!

Reboot Life

The main idea of the book is that unnecessary things in the house do not allow you to rebuild, making your own life better. Marie's opinion: "A mess in the room is a mess in the head."

Well, there is something in this. Being involved in endless harvesting cycles, most do not have time to solve other problems. Moreover, Kondo believes that many subconsciously create chaos around themselves in order to distract from true problems.

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Here is a quote from her book: “When the room is clean and not cluttered, you have no choice but to study your inner state. You gain the ability to see what you have avoided and have to deal with it … you have to reboot your life."

But how do you determine which things are worth keeping and which are not? Let's figure it out.

Selection principle: happy or not?

If other innovative methods are to the liking of the majority, then the method of sorting things according to the principle of "throw away everything that is not happy" causes a very mixed reaction. At least for Russian readers.

Perhaps it's the mentality and the habit of keeping everything in reserve. Those who decide to transform their home space according to Kondo's rules will have to step on their throats and rebuild.

You can't do without it. Half measures will not help here. After all, Marie believes that real cleaning is throwing unnecessary things in bags. Yes, you heard right. Moreover, the book contains specific figures of the achievements of its clients - at least 30 huge packages from one apartment!

Often, when assessing the end result of cleaning, Kondo states: "You could have thrown much more!"

The suggested procedure is simple. First you need to collect in one place all the things that correspond to one of the categories: clothes, accessories, books, documents, photographs, souvenirs and other sentimental trifles. True, the book does not say anything about household appliances, kitchen utensils and other numerous things that are present in every home. But perhaps the author is suggesting that the unmentioned groups of items are subject to the same rules as the others.

What's next? You take one thing at a time from a heap and listen to it - whether it feels good or not.

Marie argues this approach as follows: “When you touch a piece of clothing, the body reacts to it. His reactions to each item are different … the best criterion for choosing what to keep and what to throw away is to answer the question of whether keeping the item will make you happy. You must live in a space that contains only those things that carve sparks of joy from your soul. This is the only way to "reset" your life."

Image Credit Flickr Emma Story

What is important - according to the KonMari method, you cannot plan the cleaning process based on the arrangement of things: first the drawers in the living room, then in the bedroom, then in the nursery.

So you run the risk of delaying the sorting process, as you will constantly come across things that belong to the same category, but are stored in different places. This means that you will again and again return to the analysis of the same type of items. Sooner or later it will tire and the desire to get out further will disappear.

Another advice to Marie - do not be distracted by thoughts related to the subsequent storage of things that have passed to the final of the competition "They make me happy." Follow through with all categories. Otherwise, you will find yourself playing Tetris with the first batch of objects instead of sorting, trying to arrange it as compactly as possible. And a huge pile of everything else lies untouched … and it is already night outside the window.

By the way, when parsing clothes, it is forbidden to leave things under the pretext: "I won't wear this on the street, but maybe I will wear it at home." For household use, things are also selected according to the principle: if you don’t like something - to be discarded.

And it is also impossible that relatives interfere in the sorting process: husbands, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers and others. This is especially true of the older generation, which is inclined to collecting.

Marie believes that if they participate, a large percentage of the items prepared for recycling will be returned to their place. Cleaning will take place to the accompaniment of comments: “Oh, but this blouse hasn't stretched out too much - why throw it away?” let it lie”and so on.

The rest of the rules can be summarized as follows:

Do not leave things that do not fit the parameters of your figure (changed weight, ordered the wrong size via the Internet). Better make room for what will actually be worn

• Do not donate unnecessary wardrobe items to relatives. The space of their apartments is also limited, why clutter it up with your luggage?
• Get rid of the magazines you read, numerous promotional materials, presentation kits, leftovers from seminars and other events. All this is unlikely to be useful to you.
• Go through the documents. Put your passports, insurance and other important papers in one place. Sort out the rest and throw away everything that is no longer needed.
• Transfer photos from boxes to albums. Space constraints will force you to sort your images carefully. Scan the rest and throw it away.
• Do not keep instructions and other manuals left “just in case”. If you need it, you download it from the magic Internet.
• Finally, throw away all unnecessary trifles: makeup samples, promotional gifts, parts from unknown gadgets, gadgets of unknown purpose.

How to store selected items?

Marie Kondo believes that things should not be stored in the places where they are used, but based on the principles of belonging to the same class.

For example, all cords from electrical appliances should be in one box, and not in different boxes: from mobile phones here, but from laptops there.

Or, suppose, bath accessories - is it worth placing them on the sides of the bathroom or on open shelves?

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The author of the method assures that either of these two choices is a Big Mistake. A lot of time will be spent washing bubbles and jars from drops of soapy water falling on them during hygiene procedures. It's best to put everything in one closed cabinet and take it out as needed.

By the way, Marie believes that one should not make stocks, citing as an example her clients who had deposits of toilet paper, cotton swabs and other things. She insists that everything in the house should be kept to a minimum: you need something - you can always buy it.

Well, the Japanese view of the world is different from the Russian one. So it's up to you - to heed this advice or not.

Other helpful tips

• try not to store things on hangers. So they take up a lot of space. Fold and store your clothes on the shelves
• don't stack things. The lower wardrobe items will crumple under the pressure of the upper ones. Find a convenient way to fold your clothes and store them vertically

• do not stretch the elastic of the socks by pairing them. Better roll them up.
• Store your bags … in other bags. So they are less deformed and take up a minimum of space.
• do not use irregularly shaped boxes for storage. The space will not be used efficiently. It's a paradox, but it is most convenient to put things in shoe boxes, and not in specially purchased storage systems.

The Con Marie cleaning method is not just a set of practical tips for organizing your home space, but a guide to changing your lifestyle.

Here is psychology, esotericism, and feng shui. Everything that can help change the world around is used. Even if not all at once, then at least within the framework of the dwelling. Perhaps not all readers need a “reboot,” but those looking to upgrade will benefit from the know-how in this article. Happy changes!

Photo: facebook.com/konmarimethod, @mariekondo