Following the Trend of Tidying Up

I first heard of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo from my sister-in-law Laura.  Then I kept hearing more and more people talk about it.   So, out of curiosity, I bought the book, and have been having a jolly good time tidying up ever since.

The way the author talks about some things sound funny to me.  She talks about how we give our socks pain by folding them wrong, and if we hold something in our hand, and no longer love it, we thank it for its service, and out it goes!  

I still cause my socks pain by folding them wrong, but I got rid of a whole Walmart bag full of socks that I didn't want to wear.  Every morning I would pull out a pair of socks, look at them, and think "oh, these don't have good elastic, my shoes will eat them", or "these aren't very comfortable", or "these are getting a hole in them", and I would put them back and fish for another pair until I found a pair I liked.  After reading the section of the book on clothing I went through my drawer and got rid of all of those socks that I really just didn't want to wear.  Now I get good socks every time I reach in the drawer!

After sorting my socks, I cleaned out the closet.  Against the authors advice, I kept some things I don't love, but for someone who cleans out her closet constantly, I was able to find more than a garbage bag full of stuff to give away.  Somehow this book made me feel okay about giving away the things I have to talk myself into wearing, and helped me see that I still have more than enough clothes to wear, and they are the ones I like.  I did adopt her folding method for clothes, and have enjoyed showing off my interestingly neat closet.  Theoretically the clothes stand on their own, so I can pull one out without messing up the rest.

I started going through papers yesterday too -- including my music.  I had made very organized notebooks full of music years ago, but I rarely used them.  They were full of music I couldn't play, or didn't want to, and it was too much work to find the ones I liked!  Now the songs I like are in the notebooks, and the other songs are gone.  I was really pleased to discover a few old favorites that I had forgotten about!

All in all, I am finding that less can feel like more -- more of what I like, less of what I don't like.  Less of what I don't need, and easier access to what I do.  Who knew that tidying up could be so interesting and fun?