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I will come right out and admit it. I am a pack rat. I keep material things around because I’ve attached feelings and emotions to them. I have tried in the past to go through and simplify my belongings. I end up getting rid of a few things, but I also end up keeping loads of weird stuff like t-shirts that barely fit and a key chain I bought on a field trip in 5th grade. Tidying just doesn’t seem to be my natural strong suit.

Then, two things happened that made me get rid of box after box of my belongings: I had a baby and I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. After that I had the reason to simplify and the push to make it happen. Now after a long winter, I am ready to continue the process. So I am re-reading the book to get more motivation.

This post will focus on the introduction and chapter one, which is called “Why Can’t I Keep My House In Order.” It is so aptly named that I feel like Kondo has delved into my mind to see one of my struggles!

I will start off and say I don’t follow everything to the letter. You are supposed to do all of your discarding first, then organize it and, ideally, you are supposed to do it all in one go. For several reasons, that just doesn’t work for me. But I didn’t let that discourage me from reading the book and loving it.

I didn’t really realize until I started re-reading that after I started organizing and tidying up, I was spurred on to start taking this blog more seriously. Kondo sums it up on page 4 by saying this happens to a lot of her clients because “…when you put your house in order, you put your affairs and your past in order, too.” So once your living space is in order, you feel like you can conquer other things in life. Once I was less preoccupied by cleaning and moving around all of my belongings, I was able to put my time and energy into planning this blog and everything that goes along with it. Making that connection gives me even more motivation to keep up the tidying so I can really get all of my priorities in line.

Upon re-reading, I feel like I have been hit with an idea that didn’t really strike me at first. Kondo talks about how storage solutions don’t help. You can have all of the best organizational accessories in the world, but if you are filling them with worthless junk, they won’t make you any tidier. Kondo says “Putting things away creates the illusion that the clutter problem has been solved,” (page 23). When company comes over, I am totally guilty of shoving most of the clutter in my bedroom and then reveling in how clean the rest of my house looks. But once I go to bed that night, I have to face the fact that I now have to sleep surrounded by a laundry basket full of picture frames, 12 old binders full of Ranger Rick magazines, and a wicker bassinet full of decorative pillows. (Sadly, these are things that are all literally living in my bedroom right now. I’m working on it, alright?)

The basic idea is that you have to discard in order to tidy. Not only do you have to discard, but you have to do it first. The other weekend, I finally had to reorganize the entire kitchen so that we could allow Mac to free-range the entire first floor. The process was so much easier this time because I took literally everything out of the cabinets and sorted through it first. I realized I didn’t need 10 wooden spoons or 3 cake pans. After I got two boxes full of things to donate, I was able to very easily fit everything back into the cabinets in an organized fashion. I don’t have a picture of Mac digging through the cabinets, which is her new favorite thing to do, but here is a picture of her helping in the kitchen because what is a post without a picture of Mac?

To sum up, I feel like the first chapter in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is really pointing out some of the flaws that were in my current tidying plan. I rely too much on trying to find the right storage arrangement. And I need to focus on getting rid of things before I move on to what I’m going to do with them.

Next, up the book focuses on discarding belongings. This is where it gets tricky, but I will continue my tidying and hopefully have a bunch of boxes to show you of things I am getting rid of in my next post on The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you buy through my link, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure page here.