Was there an explosion of paper and packages and pretty bows at your house over the holidays? Grandparents, aunts and uncles dutifully spoiling your little one on their first Christmas or eight days of little trinkets and treasures given? Now the New Year has dawned and you are trying to figure out where to put all this stuff?
You are NOT alone. The first holidays you experience as a family are a whirlwind of delight, excitement, and happy chaos. But January brings a time of reflection and order – at least that’s the anticipation. It’s so hard to part ways with our stuff – some of it useful, some fun, some sentimental, some because we don’t want to upset or offend the gift giver – but there is a way to get a grip on the things and create order! And, studies have been done that suggest a tidy living space is good for your mental health too! Read on for three ways you can clear the clutter and organize the messier areas of your home.
Homegrown Babies birth doula and photographer, Helen Joy, jumped into the book by Marie Kondo, the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing this past summer and what an inspiration! In her own words (and images):
“I like to think of myself as unmaterialistic, earthy, unattached, simple. I take a bag of things to goodwill every WEEK. Every single week. And yet it has become increasingly apparent that is simply not true about me.I have seen an ugly thread of discontentment in my heart and in the heart of my children. And I think it is easily masked with the arranging and rearranging of stuff. Stuff that had promised joy, or organization or upgrade.
A year ago I read Marie Kondo’s book the life-changing magic of tidying up and I was hooked. I immediately purged my closet and found quite a bit of peace and solace in not having to think about it. I even started getting compliments about what I wore much more often. I stopped there. I didn’t finish. Last week I read her second book and I decided to stop making excuses about how busy I am or that I have children. I am ready to win this war on stuff. I’m ready to live instead of rearranging and spending energy on stuff. I’m ready to do the hard work. I’m confident if I am faithful that this time next year will be a lot more peaceful.”
“This is
a pile of every piece of clothing, every shoe, every glove that we own (other than what we are wearing). I searched every corner and bag and closet and drawer for every last sock. The sheer magnitude of it makes me feel shameful and shocked. By Monday this should be drastically reduced and each thing placed in its home.”
“Sort by category, not by location.”
“Ugg uggg ugggg. I hate toys. Honestly my kids mostly do too. They do love that new shiny plastic thing we reward them with for a day or two and then it is long forgotten. We are toy recyclers. We get a lot of things hand me downs or at yard sales and thrift stores.
Toys are hard. And I think a hard thing for me is that people delight in giving my children things but I want to teach them that things don’t matter, that people do! That experiences do!
So giving myself grace and rehoming most of the toys we own-making more room for imagination and taking good care of the toys we do keep.My mama just gave me all our old school little people sets 🙌🏽 my kids love these!”
“Pursue ultimate simplicity in storage.”
Organize things in a way that MAKES you want to put them away.
“These little wire shelves make me so happy. When we were expecting LM and lived in a two bedroom house, we had a corner for her in our room. All her sweet little girly newborn clothes were lovingly folded in them. They have brought me joy since then but were laying around the house and weren’t practice for toys. So I nailed these guys to our shel
ves! It makes me so happy to look at them.”
How to know what to keep and what to get rid of? “Take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If no, dispose of it.”
“This time last year we slept on a mattress on the floor with toys and books and clothes littered about. I really didn’t think it mattered what our room was like. But then I did a trade and had this beautiful dream bed made, which lead me to finding a quilt on eBay that made me want to make it up every day, and then piece by piece our room started being a sanctuary. Even though every day I find Legos in our bed, I take 2 minutes and make up the bed and I just feel like even if it is chaos everywhere (and it always is), this is such an anchor for me.” 
Are you inspired? Ready to tackle your “stuff” and find that your home now sparks joy and peace and maybe even leads you in new directions you didn’t anticipate?
One other huge take away from the book is that the art of tidying is a marathon, not a bunch of wind sprints that you do a little at a time. You have to commit to the process and just GO!
