I Guess I Really am Tidy!

It turns out that I might just be a tidy person after all. Last month I wrote a column about not being a tidy person, based on the list of 5 things tidy people don’t do. I currently do 4 of the 5, so I resigned myself to the fact that I must not be tidy. With the onslaught of snow days this winter, I found myself watching far too much Netflix. After my February column, I was talking to my coworkers about my inability to consider myself a tidy person based on the blog post I referenced in my column. One colleague asked if I had watched the Netflix show, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.” I had not, but on snow day #9, boredom and curiosity got the best of me and I found myself binge-watching it. Marie Kondo is the organizing guru of the moment. She advocates keeping things that “spark joy” and getting rid of things that do not, (after you have thanked each item for its service). Marie then gives a bunch of helpful tips on how to organize everything from your kitchen to photos. She calls it the KonMarie Method ™.

1.     Commit yourself to tidying up

2.     Imagine your ideal life

3.     Finish letting go first

4.     Tidy is by category, not location

5.     Follow the right order

6.     Ask yourself if it sparks joy

I was inspired. Since I had already organized my closet on snow day #5, I was ahead of the game. I went in the bathroom and systematically organized and tidied until it was like a new room. Next was my dresser. Everything came out and only the joy-sparking items returned. I thought the whole “sparking joy” thing was a little hokey, but it turned out to be a good gauge when I was on the fence about what to get rid of and what to keep.  With the new way of folding, that Marie teaches on her show, I now have drawers that are arranged in such a way that I can see every pair of leggings I own simply by opening the drawer. It’s pretty amazing if I do say so myself. I organized my scarves and bathing suits in the same way using bins in my closet. What I discovered in this cleaning and organizing frenzy, was that I was a little hasty in my decision to reject the tidiness wave and my ability to join in. It took some coaching from a Netflix mentor and a few too many snow days, but I too can say that I’m a tidy person, at least for this month.