Tidying Up

Last month I was casually scrolling through my Facebook feed.  I saw something about watching a show on Netflix called Tidying Up.  I was instantly intrigued.  My house was a clutter factory, with piles of paper and miscellaneous things everywhere.Within minutes, the show was on and I was engrossed in it.  I watched one episode, and then another.  I couldn't stop.  I won't tell you exactly how quickly I binge-watched the first season...but it was fast.  Unfortunately, the show left me wanting, needing more.  I only had a glimpse of what this woman was offering!  I needed more information.I needed her book.  I looked it up at my local library, but there were no copies available, and the waiting list was 6 people long!  I didn't have the patience for that.  I went to Amazon and purchased The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (on the kindle, of course.  I was learning already!)I started reading.  Once again, I couldn't stop.  I read and read and read.  Everything else became secondary to the book.  I vaguely remember my kids asking about dinner.  Dinner?  What's that?  I absentmindedly pulled out everything edible from my fridge and let everyone choose what they wanted.  Just let me read!Thankfully, the book wasn't long.  I closed the final page and looked around me.  I was so tired of the stuff, and the piles, and the overall disorganization of my life.  Every drawer and every cupboard was just full of things.  At that moment, I decided to go for it.  I was going to tidy up.So that is where I have been for the past five weeks.  Tidying up.Honestly, I have tried multiple times to get organized.  I've purchased e-books about how to do it, read magazine articles by the hundreds, and I even have a Pinterest board dedicated to organization.  None of it worked.  The piles, the junk, the overstuffed drawers...they all came back.  I was disappointed in myself.  Why couldn't I get it together?Then I remembered something I had read in the book: Storage Experts are Hoarders.  YES!!  I had bookshelves and boxes and bins and all kinds of organizing containers.  So why did my house (and my life) feel so cluttered?  I followed Marie Kondo's method exactly, even down to the folding of my clothes.  I donated so much stuff it's embarrassing.  I've thrown away even more.Brian and my kids are worried.  If something cannot be found immediately, all eyes turn to me.  Brian has even turned her last name into a verb."Did you throw it away?   Did you kondo it?"They don't get it.  Yes, I have rid my house of a LOT of things, things that don't spark any joy for me.  The whole process has been so much more than organizing piles.  Every bag that left my house felt like losing weight, like they were somehow lifting the burdens weighing me down.For example, in my attic, stuffed in a rubbermaid container, were all the parts to make 20 to 30 I-spy bags.  The fabric, the filler pellets, the little beads and buttons and puzzle pieces and pennies...all of it stored away.  I had been keeping it for about 10 years.  Initially, the supplies had been purchased for a crafting day at church, but we decided not to do it at the last minute.  So I kept it all.  I'd make the bags myself...I'd give them away as gifts...I'd give one to each of my little kids...I'd sell them on Etsy.Nope.Something clicked.  I hated that tote andeverything in it.  It was a reminder of things I hadn't finished and money I had wasted.  I opened it up and dumped the contents into a garbage bag.  I took it straight outside and never looked back.  And guess what?  It felt GREAT!Even Brian admitted that the house is much cleaner now.  I found that it is easier to clean less stuff.  Not surprising, right?  It's awesome.  The only problem is that I now have several empty storage containers.  Time to go shopping!  Who's with me?!Just kidding.