Have you ever tidied madly, only to find that all too soon your home or workspace is cluttered again? If so, let me share with you the secret of success – this is the start of the book called ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying’ from Marie Kondo. Thanks to her appearance in Japanese TV shows and my mother’s hint, I decided to buy and learn, how to tidy up my room. Since I read it and tried it, I have much more fun to clean up my room and keep my space free from things, which doesn’t make me happy anymore. At the beginning it was quite hard to say goodbye, but the longer you do it, the easier it gets to let your things go.

I think a lot of people struggle with tidying. How matter how much you tidied, it doesn’t take long until every space is a mess again, right? Then try the KonMari method! All you need to do is to look at each item, one at a time, and decide whether or not to keep it and where to put it. The solution is to discard your belongings and not to storage them. Discarding and deciding where to store things – these are the two essential actions for effective tidying!

The easiest way is to start with clothes because their rarity value is extremely low. Things that brings back memories (like photos) are not the place for beginners to start. The most important thing is to tidy by category and not by place. So if you start with your clothes in your bedroom, go and search for every clothing piece you have in your whole house or apartment! Collect them all and throw them on one spot. At this moment, you will finally realise, how many stuff you own. I did it with my clothes and the amount was enormous! At this point I asked myself: do I really need all this things? If you gathered everything, you are ready for the next step.

Take each item in your hand (this is essential! You need to touch the item) and ask yourself: does this spark joy? Be honest to yourself and do not try to think, ‘I might need it someday’ because this day will never arrive. It sounds hard, but do you really need so many stuff at home? When you come across something, that you really cannot throw away, so think carefully about its purpose in your life. Marie Kondo will say: You’ll be surprised at how many of the things you possess have already fulfilled their role. By acknowledging their contribution and letting them go with gratitude, you will be able to truly put the things you won, and your life, in order. In the end, all that will remain are the things that you really treasure. To truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose. To throw away what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful.

The KonMari method in a nutshell:

• Tidy up in one go
• Tidy by category not by place
• Take each item in one’s hand and ask: does this spark joy? If the answer is YES, keep it. If  NO, throw it out!
• The best order for tidying is: start with clothes, then books, papers, miscellaneous items and at the end sentimental items and keepsakes.
• ‘Sometime’ means ‘never’!
• Create a quiet space. If you need some background music, choose ambient music with no lyrics
• The best time to start is early morning
• Things will still work out even if you are lacking something. So don’t worry!

In the book, you will also find more details about how to fold your clothing or tights, how to handle paper material, komono (miscallaneous items), how to storage bags or how dangerous it is to show your items to your family members. If you don’t like reading, you can also search for KonMari – there are a lot of videos out there.

If you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order too and you will be finally surrounded only by the things you love! Trust me and try it.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, Marie Kondo
ISBN 9780091955106 (English) | ISBN 9783499624810 (German)

PS. I am selling my clothes on Instagram @mihoscloset!
Every piece  is 5 CHF (USD) and I sell world wide!
Check out my page :)

Before… Such a mess!! No space… omg take out everything and put it one spot incredible isn’t it?
heaps of scarfs (front hill)bye bye trousers Hana… doesn’t mind hahathree bags full of clothes and…
…some more, which I am selling on my second Insta account …After I can finally see which clothes I have in the back Let me show you the difference: this one is a better example: And in the other cupboard:
I arranged my tights!Never ever tie up your tights! tops and socks Thank you Marie, you helped me a lot!