As the days get longer and temperatures increase, many households will be undergoing some form of spring cleaning. Homeowners remove the final remnants of winter from their houses, following Mother Nature’s lead on the seasonal refresh. Snow gear is packed up and stored away until next year, and windows are wiped down and left open to let the fresh spring breeze fill the house.
The two most common times a house gets deep cleaned is during seasonal cleaning and before it’s listed for sale on the local market. Why do homeowners so readily clean and scour when about to sell their house, but are reluctant to tackle everyday clutter and mess?
This spring, if clutter is getting in the way of your ideal life, consider trying the KonMari Method. Go beyond your seasonal cleaning regiment and regain control over your home and life by saying goodbye to what no longer helps you achieve your ideal lifestyle.
What does your ideal life look like? Does the state of your home help or hinder your efforts towards attaining this goal? Have you ever felt like if you could just get your house in order, the rest of your life would fall in line? While the jury is out on why people keep clutter – most of the reasons boil down to attaching emotional significance to inanimate objects – society can collectively agree that clutter is a burden that inhibits growth and interpersonal relationships.
Marie Kondo has taken America by storm with her recent Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, and patented KonMari Method . Her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is dedicated to living a more fulfilling life by getting your house in order has sold over 11 million copies and has been printed in over 40 languages. The KonMari Method opposes the philosophy of cleaning a little every day, instead encouraging one full-house purge, reviewing all of the things you’ve accumulated category by category, and removing any object that ‘does not spark joy.’
The Rules:
- Commit yourself to tidying up.
- Imagine your ideal lifestyle.
- As you get rid of items, sincerely thank each item for serving its purpose. Finish discarding before giving anything a home.
- Tidy by category, not location.
- Follow the right order.
- Ask yourself it it sparks joy.
The five categories to tackle in order:
- Clothes
- Books
- Papers
- Komono (a.k.a. Miscellaneous Items)
- Sentimental Items
While the KonMari Method helps you declutter, there is a larger underlying concept that removing clutter is serving; living a more fulfilling and prosperous life. This is where imagining your ideal life becomes important. Your ideal lifestyle is the motivation and end-goal for the whole-house purge, which at times may feel like it will never come.
What would you do with your time if you didn’t have the constant weight of clutter throughout your house? Perhaps you’d entertain more because there was less of a process to get ready for a house full of guests. Maybe your spare room would finally become your art studio instead of holding all of the things you ‘might need someday.’ When you feel stuck, imagine the joy your ideal lifestyle will bring you to maintain your momentum.
One concept Kondo incorporates is to treat your objects as if they’re alive to properly respect them. Caring for and respecting your things for the purposes they serve reinforces their importance and places value on them. This is as simple as making sure everything has a place to be put when it’s not in use and can be easily located and accessed when needed. Clutter is in direct opposition of this philosophy by its very definition; a large mass of unrelated things where it doesn’t belong.
The belief behind the KonMari Method is that by removing clutter from your home and only keeping objects that spark joy, you will have more time to enjoy your interests and relationships, rather than manage your accumulation of stuff. By purging all items that don’t convey happiness, you are reclaiming the space in your life – both physical and mental – that was occupied by clutter. Your house now has room for you to enjoy your interests. Your mind is free to create and discover. Your schedule has free time because you’re not constantly managing things that have no value.
If while conducting your spring cleaning, you’ve realized that your house no longer helps you live a fulfilling, prosperous life maybe it’s time to say thank you, and move onto the next chapter of your life. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty has experienced real estate professionals throughout Florida who understand the local housing markets and can help you find your perfect home in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and more.
Contact us and one of our experienced real estate professionals will help you complete your next real estate transaction in confidence, so you can establish yourself somewhere that sparks joy in your life.
