A day in the life

Folding My Clothes the Marie Kondo Way

September 18, 2019February 14, 2022 by T Whitaker

Well I think so

The other day I read an article in Better Homes and Gardens about Marie Kondo and her success in helping people organize and simplify their lives. People do like to pick apart her methods and there are plenty of “rebuttal” methods out there. Some even criticize her methods as only for the privileged people. There are also many jokes (if I got rid of everything that didn’t spark joy in my life, I would be sitting on the side of the road holding my dog and my coffeemaker), as Marie Kondo tells her clients to throw away or donate anything that doesn’t spark joy in their lives.

Its Spiritual

For Marie, it is more than just organizing, it is spiritual. Her methods were developed when she worked at a Shinto shrine. In fact, one of the things she tells folks is to hold an object in their hands and feel the thing. That way they know if to keep or get rid of. It is “sparks joy” you keep it. When doing her method to fold clothes into “packets” she tells one to smooth the item first and give it ‘love”. She really wants you to be aware of the thing.

Nah you don’t have to be perfect

There were a couple of things that sparked my interest while reading the article. The first is she is a new mom with toddlers that are 3 and 4 years of age. Like most of us who have had children in our lives, she learned that it is near impossible to have the “perfect” organized life. Sorry, but babies and toddlers do indeed change your life and your priorities. Ms. Kondo acknowledges this and admits that perhaps life isn’t always organized and planned out for her anymore. “I have let go of needing to maintain a perfect home all the time”

Packet Folding

4 November 2015 Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit

The whole folding of your clothes into packets had me a bit baffled. I have never seen her show nor have I read her book, so I was totally in the dark. Being the curious type, I did what anyone would do. I googled it. I watched a video, but it really didn’t work for me. Turns out it was not really a Kondo method. I did find her her actual video. Ah HA! it works. I have pics to prove it. I did my shirt drawer and my jammie drawer. Learned a newer, neater way and that I probably have too many shirt and jammies.