Marie’s Magic
For the last few months, I have been obsessed with the Queen of Decluttering- Marie Kondo’s magic of tidying up. I always used to spend hours setting up things in my wardrobe and within a week or so, it would be back to the normal clutter. Finding matching items of clothing and accessories when I had to leave for work used to be a hassle. Though I did not have much stuff by typical urban, working Indian women’s standards, it was difficult to manage. Let me elaborate more about Indian urban women’s dilemma. We have traditional clothing like sarees-blouses and petticoats, salwar kameezes that are purchased on various occasions such as weddings and other functions. If you want to appear westernized at some parties or at work place, you have western wear and there are jeans and T-shirts. You also have Indo-Western wear! The list just goes on. But there is only so much that you can wear and manage! Even if you realize that you need to reduce the stuff, it is not easy! Sometimes, you keep things because they cost you a fortune and sometimes you cannot dump them because they have been gifted. Fashion, waist sizes, and tastes change. No matter how much you have, you keep wearing what you can find on the top of the stack. So most of the stuff remains untouched for years. Then it starts looking old and you do not feel like wearing it! Although, I liked the mantra of three R’s. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. It was not easy to do reduce in the first place. Everything appeared to be either good or useful.
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| Cluttered drawer (Before) |
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| Decluttered drawer (After) |
Like several other Konmari followers, I followed the sequence for decluttering – clothes, kitchen, komonos (small items), documents, books-magazines. I am yet to reach the higher level of clearing up old photographs and other mementos. It was truly blissful to be able to see the back wall of my wardrobe. Earlier, I had the stacks which would touch the ceiling of every compartment and every time I needed something from the bottom of the stack, the stack would topple. I must have discarded about 4-5 large bags of my own clothing over one year and most importantly almost stopped purchasing new stuff. It did not happen in one marathon clean-up as Marie suggests in the book. I realized that there was so much stuff that was not sparking any joy! Sometimes, it was hard to decide what is sparking joy. However, it was definitely far easier to find things which were neither useful nor sparking any joy.
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| Vertical folds of salwars |
I had thought that the books would be the hardest to give away, but I still managed to remove around 70 books. Two years ago, I had removed around 100 books from the collection. With the information being available at the tip of your fingers, the need for keeping books is reducing. There were around 10 cookbooks which were totally outdated because there is so much on the internet.
But why is this so important? There are so many people who love retail therapy and want to purchase new clothes, accessories every month. Also, now it is so easy to buy online? The moment you open your email, Facebook or any other site there are ads which are luring you. There is a constant information about sales and offers that are difficult to resist. During the clean-up process which was akin to detox, I figured out the pieces of clothing that I really like. It opened up my eyes and I am able to sense the temptations. I am able to value what I have and care for them personally.
Travel on a lighter note
Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy and Switzerland with my husband and my in-laws who are in their eighties. Although the airlines allow 30 kg baggage for each overseas traveler, four of us together had 30 kg. We decided to keep it low because we were going to travel to five different places within a matter of 2 weeks. To my surprise, we managed to eat home-cooked food (for breakfast and dinner) at all the Airbnb apartments where we stayed. Also, surprisingly we returned without purchasing a single piece of clothing or accessory. All we got was a few chocolates and some Swiss cheese which I relished for a few days later! The memories and photographs are enough to remind of the joy we had. When I saw the pictures after returning, I noticed that we were changing the cities (backdrops) and wearing the same attire! The traveling was very smooth as we were traveling light. Except for the day 1 when we reached Rome, we never hired a cab. We could easily move around in public transport. As we reduced our luggage, the luggage of expectations also reduced.
Clarity & Calmness in the kitchen
Earlier, in the kitchen, some items would go rotting in the refrigerator and in the cupboards. I would have purchased them with great enthusiasm and even made some exotic dish earlier but the remaining ingredient would still be waiting to be used up. After decluttering, I started enjoying the process of household work. Grocery shopping became more mindful after the clean-up. The consumption became sustainable and waste reduced. During clean-up process, several plastic containers and damaged steel bowls which were removed. The counters and shelves have lesser items and it is easy to peep in and decide the menu. I re-arranged things so that I can access and clean effectively. Now the place is so easy to clean that I have stopped the pest control service which charges around ₹4500 p.a. I am using sustainable methods to keep the pests away. The waste is being minimized with a little bit of awareness. I feel there is a direct connection between clutter-free home and energy efficiency.
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| Kitchen drawer organized |
According to Marie Kondo, the reasons you do not want to part with something are only two. It is either the attachment to the past or the fear of the future. There could be people who peacefully live in the present at all times while being messy surroundings. However, the exercise of clean-up has helped me to become peaceful to a great extent. It was a self-discovery of likes and dislikes. It had a very soothing and cleansing effect on my mind as well! I am not sure if the methodology will work for everyone but there is no harm trying.
Although there has not been much scientific research about Marie’s methodology of decluttering, looking at her massive tidying up business and best sellers there must be some truth to what she is saying. Also, her claim that “Once cleaned up, you will never revert to clutter!” has not been tested. As years pass by, we will know.
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