The Purge | Part One

Fun fact: I am an obsessive purger when given the time. I hate clutter and I hate knowing there are things in closets and cabinets that are disorganized or stagnant. I have always been this way. Since I have been a little preoccupied with new(ish) baby for six months, I have definitely let my tidying skills fall behind. I mean, I wouldn’t say that I was bordering on being a hoarder or anything. I stay pretty “purged” for the most part. This is by far the longest I have gone without assessing what I need to give away/sell/trash. It’s already February which is basically Spring in Georgia, so I’m jumping in head first and starting the big clean out.

I consider myself relatively smart about organizational tricks and strategies, but I have been dying to read the ever popular book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo. I’m about half way through the book and I definitely recommend it. I have read mixed reviews about her method that she calls KonMari. A lot of the negative has been from moms who laugh at her ease of tidying when she is single with no kids… However, I think that as with anything, you can take some and leave some. I have heard of some of her techniques and mantras before, but some were new to me.

One philosophy of hers that I am truly loving (and adopting) is one that she uses to help get rid of things. I don’t normally need a push to purge. Like I said, I love it. It literally gives me a high. Sometimes, though, I struggle with whether or not I used something enough or wasted money on it (if the tags are still on for example). I am also one who tries to think if I will need it “one day” or “when I have more room”. Kondo encourages us to only keep things that spark joy. Part of this idea is being aware of whether or not an item has already fulfilled it’s purpose. This might seem dramatic, but it made so much sense to me. We attach things to emotion because everything has some kind of energy attached to it. An example she gives is: if we have a shirt we never wore but in the store we got excited about it and bought it, it made us happy at that moment. Maybe that shirt’s purpose was to give us a thrill at that moment and it’s purpose is fulfilled. For some reason, this is helping me purge a lot more efficiently.

I just want to show you guys what I have come up with so far in a house that I thought was moderately “purged” already.

This doesn’t even do it justice. It is a ton of stuff. The next hard part comes with deciding what to sell, what to donate, and what to trash. I scheduled a Salvation Army truck to come pick up in two weeks so that I would HAVE to finish my purge by then. I’m excited to get a jump on my cleaning and organizing and go into the new year feeling clutterless. In my case, a cluttered house definitely equals a cluttered and negative mind and I HATE. THAT. FEELING.

How do you stay organized? How do you keep it all purged so that you don’t have to tackle a HUGE project once a year? Have you read this book? I want to hear how you manage!

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