So, we started the KonMari Method over the weekend. Step 1: Clothes. Hahahaha. That was fun.
I knew we had a lot of clothes, stored all over our house. It took about three days to gather everything up (and when I say everything, I just mean my clothes and TW’s.) We piled it up in the extra bedroom and it was overwhelming. Just the huge number of socks we own overwhelmed me.
I started while TW was napping — pulling out all of the tops, of which we had thousands. T-shirts. Lord, the t-shirts. Once I’d done that, and TW was still napping, I went back into the extra bedroom and sorted the other items into piles and that took all of about 15 minutes. The shirts, the shirts were what did me in.
TW was STILL napping so I started sorting the shirts into piles. Hers, mine, and the ones that were sentimental in some way. As I sorted, I threw some obvious no joy shirts into a huge box that I’d placed next to the table just for this purpose. It was full before I’d gotten through the initial sort.
TW was STILL napping so I started going through my shirts for reals. What gave me joy? Not much. And here’s where personality traits really come into play here. I have no really strong feelings about clothing. Obviously. If it’s comfortable, I’ll wear it. Mostly.
The things I felt TRUE joy over where not the shirts I would wear. They were the old, old, old shirts so well-worn that they really do need to be tossed out. They were so well-worn because they had brought me joy. They still brought me joy but no, I can’t really keep wearing the long sleeved white thermal style shirt with little lines of pastel colors for the rest of my life. I’ve been wearing it for more than 15 years as it is. Yes. 15 years. Not kidding. When something is comfortable, I wear it forever and ever and ever, amen.
The other things that brought me true joy are the t-shirts made by old friends, the t-shirts that remind me of old friends and experiences with my children. The first Melissa Ferrick t-shirt. The Calliope Fest t-shirt (man that was a great festival, I miss that festival.)
These really are sentimental things rather than plain ole clothing. So many of them went into the “sentimental” pile to deal with last (a la the KonMari method.)
The rest of my clothes — I could give or take. But really, there’s no joy involved in this for me. It’s just not my thing. So this step, it was really hard for me. I ended up with way too many shirts, still. I’ll probably try to narrow it down again at some point. But, I’m super happy with my sock drawer. Those socks BRING ME JOY. Absolutely. Which is pretty damn funny because I actually hate socks. haha.
TW woke up and she went through her shirts… like lightning. This is where she and I differ. She will buy something, wear it for awhile and really enjoy it but suddenly, one day out of the blue, it no longer brings her joy. She’ll generally keep wearing it, because you don’t get rid of perfectly good clothes just because they don’t bring you joy… except she did that yesterday.
I was really impressed with what she got rid of. A few things surprised me. Most things did not. I pulled a couple of her things out of the discard pile because I knew she felt sentimental about them and by then we’d pretty much decided that a t-shirt quilt is in our future. She pulled a couple of things out of the discard pile as I was bagging things up, too.
All in all, it went really well. Our drawers are neat and tidy and we have nine bags of clothes to drop off at Goodwill.
Then, I made the little girls go upstairs with me and KonMari their clothes. This was amusing and personalities absolutely came into play again.
RJ mostly did hers herself. Pretty quickly and without a lot of hemming and hawing. She did look up at one point and ask if it was ok that the socks she got for Christmas last year brought her no joy. I said absolutely fine, discard. Gifts don’t have to be held onto. It’s the joy of giving and receiving that matters most. Being saddled with gifts you don’t love brings no joy, for the giver or the receiver.
Elly, however, yelled “Hey, let me see those socks! I want them!” And that sums up her experience with KonMari.
I handed her each item of clothing and if it was a sock or underwear, it brought her joy and it went into her drawer. I think she tossed two pairs of underwear that she wore when she was 8 and the bras that don’t fit. Other than that, regardless of condition — she kept the rest. The kid slays me. She NEEDS and LOVES her socks and her underwear. ALL OF THEM. (Even the underwear she stole from her sister…)
She was slightly sentimental about some items that she wore when she was little. She fondled a few things and reminisced about wearing them. She enjoyed the memory of stealing something from her sister and getting in trouble for wearing it. She pondered whether items like that might still fit… and then she let them go. The only really sentimental item that she kept, I think, was a knit cap that she sewed bunny ears on to. I think she’s going to take the ears off and sew them back on her bunny, though. (The kid is nuts, what can I say?)
She also had pretty clear ideas of things she never loved and things that she’d love to be able to wear but they don’t fit anymore and she let it all go to the discard pile, without any fuss or regret.
In the end, we added five more bags of clothing to the Goodwill pile.
And yes, we are all feeling pretty darn joyful about step 1 of the KonMari Method.
Yep, t-shirt quilts for sure. Except that you’re moving south so you really won’t need the quilts. But you can buy a rod and make a wall hanging quilt! Problem solved.
You are equal parts inspiring and depressing. 😉
You can also cut off the fronts and staple onto wooden frames or canvases. I did that to some of Dad’s ham radio t-shirts and hung them in the office. Saw it on Pinterest of course.
Here is the Pin link – https://www.pinterest.com/pin/251075747947805703/