On Tidying Up

If you see me barefoot on the streets or in a yellow pair of overalls in the next little while, blame it on a Japanese lady whose ideas about homekeeping are taking over the first world.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has sold more than two million copies even though it's still in hardcover. It's been on the New York Times bestseller list for about two years now.

The theory Marie Kondo posits in her slim book is not about how to make the stuff you have fit more nicely into well-arranged boxes and bags. It's about owning only things that make you happy.

I have taken to heart some of the more practical advice, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the big gesture she recommends. What she says about how best to fold and store clothing in armoires and dressers is indeed life-altering. (why did I never think of this? It's SO perfect!), but I have so far only slightly embraced her ethos of, "gather everything up and throw it all out - except the things that 'spark joy' in you".

That's what she saying: throw out EVERYTHING except those things which make you happy. And: don't buy new stuff unless it thrills you. Kondo suggests gathering up each and every item of clothing from every single closet and cranny, and then choosing what to keep. There's no limit on what to keep except whether the item sparks joy when you touch it. Items to go receive audible thanks for what they brought to your life, and then are shoved into bags and ushered out of your world.

Earlier this year, I did get rid of bags and bags of my 'fat clothes'. More recently, I started getting rid of clothes I no longer like, or which don't make me feel happy. However, as I purge I'm keeping clothes that don't make me unhappy.

The white jeans I loved but which fit well for about five minutes before stretching out to give me what my sweetie calls 'satchel ass': gone. A pink linen suit my mother so lovingly made at my request but which looks exactly like the year it was sewed: 1998: gone. Ill-fitting but expensive suits given by a former friend's mother when I had a 'corporate' job: gone, gone, gone.

The problem is this: my closets are tidier now but they're nearly empty. Seriously, there's just about nothing left. I am keeping three pairs of jeans, three skirts from FIG, two blouses, (also from FIG) one shirt and four dresses (two from FIG - sensing a theme here?) along with my running gear because I know for sure those items make me happy. Nearly everything else I own is on probation. If I continue along this vein, I will have to put my wedding dress into regular rotation, worn with an aging pair of Blundstones, because they are among the very few items which 'spark joy' in me.

The wedding dress and boots are a pretty good look. Just not very practical for mowing the lawn.