KonWee and Me.
Jun. 19th, 2015 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
parasitegirlI'll admit it. I've drank the kool-aid. The KonMarie "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying" blend of decluttering, or as she calls it "tidying". Decluttering is a term avoided in book because she doesn't want to focus on the idea of getting rid of things...preferring to put attention on what people feel is worth keeping. It's all about gathering the items for category X or Y, putting it all in one place so you feeland see the amount you have, and handling each thing to feel if it "sparks joy." If it doesn't and there isn't another reason not to keep it (like "it's a work uniform and I can't go naked" or "I really want a new X that doesn't SUCK like this one but cash is tight and I use it everyday.") you discard/recycle/whatever.
I've seen the backlash articles. I've read people who go on about the objects they have and the stories behind them and the emotional attachment they feel about those things even if no-one else does. To use that to retaliate against KonMarie is absurd...because she states that you keep those items. They are yours. They spark joy. Enough said. No one else in your family gets to tell you to ditch them...just like you don't get to tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't have. Your sense of what is right for you doesn't apply to others.
The basic Konmari catagory list is clothes, books, papers, komono (various) , and nostalgia....An obsessive version a KonMari catagory list is here. I've found it helpful.: http://jershaanddup.com/konmari-checklist-free-printable/
I've had my decluttering adventures before. I find most of the decluttering advice/tips/pages out there to be sanctiomonious as fuck. All about the "zen/minimal/pure" ...I like stuff. I like to be surrounded by bright things that bring me joy. I'm never going to be in a finnancial bracket where I CAN live in bright, spartan, luxury...and I don't want to.
I MAKE stuff. I need things to make things. I also have things I've made. I enjoy objects and colors and clash.
I also find that decluttering tips can be random as fuck (lists of what clothing you need and what you don't...this isn't about survival living it's about living and enjoying things) or complicated systems of sorting/storage/knowing when you used or wore or contemplated X.
People have been recommending KonMarie to me for a while...first in Japan and then online. Why? Because I HAVE AN ISSUE WITH CLUTTER. Maybe those people don't know that I...like her...was once guilty about throwing away other people's belongings with the self-justification of "if they don't notice I threw it away...I was right...and if they do notice I was probably still doing the right thing." I did this in the studio. Marie did this to her family. It was wrong, wrong, wrong! It breaks trust. Period. I needed another way.
Yet I didn't pick it up until it was mentioned on the Judge John Hodgeman podcast. Every podcast starts with an obscure cultural reference...and one started with a quote about sock abuse regarding her reaction to a sock drawer that included "I could not suppress a gasp, It was full of potato-like lumps that rolled about."
(The case was Legalhosen :http://www.maximumfun.org/judge-john-hodgman/judge-john-hodgman-episode-199-legalhosen )
KonMarie is very passionate about how socks need time to rest, a vacation from the hard work they do. She must repress the desire to explain to high school girls with drooping long socks what they are doing wrong.
Such joy she gets from folding things until she can make then stand up by themselves. SERIOUSLY. Watch videos on youtube of her folding things.
I like to think of KonMarie as PeeWee...KonWee. Pee-Wee's playhouse is all about "things that spark joy" for him. His belongings want to be of use to him. "First I unlock the door and announce to my house, 'I'm home!" Picking up the pair of shoes I wore yesterday and left out in the entrance way, I say, "Thank you very much for your hard work," and put them away in the shoe cupboard."
“When you are choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you are choosing where to store something, ask your house.”
“Through this experience, I came to the conclusion that the best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?”
She's my KonWee. I have enjoyed her appearances on Japanese TV and find her adorable and goofy in her own way.
I've been at it for a month. My apartment is chaotic but as each week passes there is less of everything everywhere. Items are finding like items and staying in places I find for them to live. The many places I have stashed packs of hooks and eyes, and they were astounding and numerous, have been cleared and they now all live together...and next time I am at a fabric store I will not think "hmmmmm...I always need more hooks and eyes."
I've spent much time holding what I own and reflecting on how it came to me, what joy it provided for me, and when and if that time of joy has passed. I've thought about how my objects function. I've literally spoken to my belongings about how they came to me and the times we enjoyed..and say goodbye.
I tried to be kind to myself when faced with tokens that asked me awkward questions: "You didn't buy joy with me, but you tried didn't you?" " Who did you think you were? Who did you think you should be?" "How many times will you try to alter me into something you like...and fail?" "What was/am I trying to prove and to whom?"
Why am I doing this?
My new schedule has one or two classes too many and I won't be able to change that for a while. I want...I need.... my time at home to be relaxing. I want to cook food I enjoy, make things I love, and generally feel at home. I'm tired of coming home to so much to clean and put away that I can't do those things. I don't have much social life time, my solitary time must have value.
I started down the KonWee path.
I now have a wardrobe (the object not the concept) that was once full of clothing that is filling with empty things I once put things into.
No storage item is going until the end. Things are messy but the floor is more and more accessible and clean. I've given myself permission to not clean everything and not organize (within reason) until I finish. But things slowly do get cleaner. Putting things away takes less time because things have places to be put that make sense. Chaos was increased by the fact that I painted a book shelf during this...to be finished before rainy season destroys the ability for paint to cure in a timely fashion but last night it had cured enough for me to books on it... and all my books fit on it. That is astounding
Some things have been tossed, some recycled, some regifted if I knew they would bring joy (Hiromi has a few more bling items and silk veils...which she didn't have enough of) or brought to the studio for students to take for free (one student who costumes now has a stash of blue items and fabrics that I have been given but are in a hue that has never worked for me)...I have a few care packages to send when I have more money. (Wiggle!)
My friend, The Jedi Juggler, recommended KonMari to me early on. We met for lunch recently and he was surprised that I was "STILL" working on it. I've figured that 2-3 months makes sense for me...maybe two weeks if my medication wasn't right. He asked more follow-up questions...hadn't I reached the point where things "clicked" to tell me I was at the right point?...no..."I have a lot of stuff." He kept asking if I'd done clothing yet...yup...first..."But...I have a LOT of STUFF."
The next day I got coffee with Wataguy...who has personally been to all three of the aprtments I've had in Japan. He knows me well. I told him about KonMari and my mission.
"You've got a lot of stuff."
"I know.
"I mean...a lot!"
"I know...."
I've seen the backlash articles. I've read people who go on about the objects they have and the stories behind them and the emotional attachment they feel about those things even if no-one else does. To use that to retaliate against KonMarie is absurd...because she states that you keep those items. They are yours. They spark joy. Enough said. No one else in your family gets to tell you to ditch them...just like you don't get to tell anyone else what they should or shouldn't have. Your sense of what is right for you doesn't apply to others.
The basic Konmari catagory list is clothes, books, papers, komono (various) , and nostalgia....An obsessive version a KonMari catagory list is here. I've found it helpful.: http://jershaanddup.com/konmari-checklist-free-printable/
I've had my decluttering adventures before. I find most of the decluttering advice/tips/pages out there to be sanctiomonious as fuck. All about the "zen/minimal/pure" ...I like stuff. I like to be surrounded by bright things that bring me joy. I'm never going to be in a finnancial bracket where I CAN live in bright, spartan, luxury...and I don't want to.
I MAKE stuff. I need things to make things. I also have things I've made. I enjoy objects and colors and clash.
I also find that decluttering tips can be random as fuck (lists of what clothing you need and what you don't...this isn't about survival living it's about living and enjoying things) or complicated systems of sorting/storage/knowing when you used or wore or contemplated X.
People have been recommending KonMarie to me for a while...first in Japan and then online. Why? Because I HAVE AN ISSUE WITH CLUTTER. Maybe those people don't know that I...like her...was once guilty about throwing away other people's belongings with the self-justification of "if they don't notice I threw it away...I was right...and if they do notice I was probably still doing the right thing." I did this in the studio. Marie did this to her family. It was wrong, wrong, wrong! It breaks trust. Period. I needed another way.
Yet I didn't pick it up until it was mentioned on the Judge John Hodgeman podcast. Every podcast starts with an obscure cultural reference...and one started with a quote about sock abuse regarding her reaction to a sock drawer that included "I could not suppress a gasp, It was full of potato-like lumps that rolled about."
(The case was Legalhosen :http://www.maximumfun.org/judge-john-hodgman/judge-john-hodgman-episode-199-legalhosen )
KonMarie is very passionate about how socks need time to rest, a vacation from the hard work they do. She must repress the desire to explain to high school girls with drooping long socks what they are doing wrong.
Such joy she gets from folding things until she can make then stand up by themselves. SERIOUSLY. Watch videos on youtube of her folding things.
I like to think of KonMarie as PeeWee...KonWee. Pee-Wee's playhouse is all about "things that spark joy" for him. His belongings want to be of use to him. "First I unlock the door and announce to my house, 'I'm home!" Picking up the pair of shoes I wore yesterday and left out in the entrance way, I say, "Thank you very much for your hard work," and put them away in the shoe cupboard."
“When you are choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you are choosing where to store something, ask your house.”
“Through this experience, I came to the conclusion that the best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?”
She's my KonWee. I have enjoyed her appearances on Japanese TV and find her adorable and goofy in her own way.
I've been at it for a month. My apartment is chaotic but as each week passes there is less of everything everywhere. Items are finding like items and staying in places I find for them to live. The many places I have stashed packs of hooks and eyes, and they were astounding and numerous, have been cleared and they now all live together...and next time I am at a fabric store I will not think "hmmmmm...I always need more hooks and eyes."
I've spent much time holding what I own and reflecting on how it came to me, what joy it provided for me, and when and if that time of joy has passed. I've thought about how my objects function. I've literally spoken to my belongings about how they came to me and the times we enjoyed..and say goodbye.
I tried to be kind to myself when faced with tokens that asked me awkward questions: "You didn't buy joy with me, but you tried didn't you?" " Who did you think you were? Who did you think you should be?" "How many times will you try to alter me into something you like...and fail?" "What was/am I trying to prove and to whom?"
Why am I doing this?
My new schedule has one or two classes too many and I won't be able to change that for a while. I want...I need.... my time at home to be relaxing. I want to cook food I enjoy, make things I love, and generally feel at home. I'm tired of coming home to so much to clean and put away that I can't do those things. I don't have much social life time, my solitary time must have value.
I started down the KonWee path.
I now have a wardrobe (the object not the concept) that was once full of clothing that is filling with empty things I once put things into.
No storage item is going until the end. Things are messy but the floor is more and more accessible and clean. I've given myself permission to not clean everything and not organize (within reason) until I finish. But things slowly do get cleaner. Putting things away takes less time because things have places to be put that make sense. Chaos was increased by the fact that I painted a book shelf during this...to be finished before rainy season destroys the ability for paint to cure in a timely fashion but last night it had cured enough for me to books on it... and all my books fit on it. That is astounding
Some things have been tossed, some recycled, some regifted if I knew they would bring joy (Hiromi has a few more bling items and silk veils...which she didn't have enough of) or brought to the studio for students to take for free (one student who costumes now has a stash of blue items and fabrics that I have been given but are in a hue that has never worked for me)...I have a few care packages to send when I have more money. (Wiggle!)
My friend, The Jedi Juggler, recommended KonMari to me early on. We met for lunch recently and he was surprised that I was "STILL" working on it. I've figured that 2-3 months makes sense for me...maybe two weeks if my medication wasn't right. He asked more follow-up questions...hadn't I reached the point where things "clicked" to tell me I was at the right point?...no..."I have a lot of stuff." He kept asking if I'd done clothing yet...yup...first..."But...I have a LOT of STUFF."
The next day I got coffee with Wataguy...who has personally been to all three of the aprtments I've had in Japan. He knows me well. I told him about KonMari and my mission.
"You've got a lot of stuff."
"I know.
"I mean...a lot!"
"I know...."
