February 6, 2019

The Art of Continuing To Tidy Up, Again and Again


I am sure you are all now familiar with Marie Kondo’s Art of Tidying Up since her Netflix show came out and every radio station, magazine and social media site got wind of it.  I read her book last year and took a half-hearted stab at tidying up my life.  Keep in mind I am not a super messy person and probably fall on the low end of the hoarding scale however my home did not suddenly become the Japanese oasis that I longed for.  I set out to clean at least one cupboard in the kitchen a week and try to keep it that way.  I love having tidy, organized everything and the book did help me with giving myself permission to get rid of things that I don’t use.  I did NOT throw all the stuff in a garbage bag and send it to the landfill, as Ms. Kondo suggested in the book.  It goes against my moral compass to throw perfectly good things away that others could use.  To the donation centre we go!  Actually, on that note, since the Netflix series started there has, apparently, been a record number of household goods and clothing donated to local charities so one might say this Tidying Up Craze is a win for many people.  As usual I digress…. Back to me and my mess……  after about three weeks of cupboard/closet tidying, I gave up.  It also doesn’t go well if you are the only one super pumped about the tidying/super clean cupboards.  So frustrating to clean out a cupboard only to come home from work and find crap piled back in it!    This leads me to a few weeks ago when I heard on a couple of different radio stations about the Netflix shows so I got on board and watched one episode and fast forward watched a second.  This was an exercise in patience for me for sure.  All I wanted was for the homes of the people at the end to be so super tidy and zen like I would want to take a week off work and do this myself.  This is not what I got, at least in the two episodes I watched.  I found myself yelling at the people on the tv and telling them to damn well get over it and get rid of that book you have not read in ten years and most likely will not read again.  Seriously, the piles of clothing the people had when they dumped it all on their beds astounded me!  I would be lucky to fill half a twin size bed with my clothing, let alone a king size!  Anyway, I stopped watching and started organizing…. again… one drawer at a time. 

 

I get most of the concepts that Ms. Kondo describes although it would not fare well for me to have someone come home and see me talking to my things.  That would certainly be a one way trip to the psychiatric ward for this girl.   Oh, and I don’t care if my socks want to be respected and lie flat in my drawer.  Them bitches are being balled up together with their, hopefully matching, partner.  So much easier that way.  Sorry Marie!

 

(PS – I will most certainly NOT be reporting back on this one.  With four boy humans, two cats and now a dog there is not a hope in hatracks this will be a success!)