MOUNTAINS of Clothes…Tackling the First KonMari Category

This post contains affiliate links and our family may earn compensation when you click on the picture links at no additional cost to you.

I admit, my house is a mess. I won’t use the excuse that I got nine kids. I won’t use the excuse that I work full time. I won’t use the excuse that I’m tired all the time. I will stop my excuses and take full responsibility for the condition in which my children live. I am their mother and need to live by example.

I’ve done lots of reading on decluttering and getting organized. I’ve made many attempts but nothing has ever lasted. When you got kids, especially little ones, as soon as you turn away from the area you just cleaned up, the little ones do their magic and it looks like you were never there at all.

A few weeks ago I read and listened to Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. For the first time ever, I read that she GUARANTEES no relapse! I need a cure for my mess! With that kind of guarantee and promise, I’m convinced to do exactly what she says because she says she can guarantee no relapse IF we follow exactly how she suggests we should tidy up.

In my last blog, Fed Up: Beginning Our KonMari Journey, I share before pictures and my decision to start Marie Kondo’s method of tidying up. I am determined to prove to the world that the impossible is possible! Ha!

The first step is to envision your ideal home clearly. My vision is…

1. Our home could be compared to a temple, peaceful and calm.
2. Everything will have a “home” and we can find anything within a few seconds.
3. There is room to play games or dance.
4. Everything around us are things we love and have stories to tell.
5. Our home is a place where everyone wants to be and where friends and family want to come.

With a clear vision of our home, the first category we are to tackle is CLOTHES. Marie Kondo says to gather all your clothes in one big pile, except for the clothes in the laundry. With our laundry looking like this…

I decided we better do laundry before starting the KonMari tidying up process. So within 3-4 days, we did about 10+ loads of laundry. Since we don’t have a dryer I had to time each load just right so it could dry well.

So we went from piles of dirty laundry to piles of clean laundry. Now that most of our clothes was clean, I felt we were ready to begin.

So Saturday morning, after I got back from a 6am session at the Laie Hawaii Temple, we prepped the garage by laying out my husband’s painter tarp and started sorting and piling up all our clothes. It took about an hour and half to get my five oldest children and my clothes all out and sorted into six piles. The two baby’s clean clothes went on the counter to be dealt with on another day.

We were all shocked at how much clothes we each had! All this time, I’ve been worried that my children didn’t have enough clothes because I was not able buy them new clothes often. Obviously that is not the case! The truth was we have been showered with blessings of wonderful hand-me-downs through the years and we are NOT lacking. Marie Kondo says her method is a “shock treatment” to help our minds to want to make a change. We sure felt that ‘”shock!”

My pile was the biggest. I’m not a shopper but I LOVE hand me downs! Almost everything I have is hand me downs. When I was in middle school, I realized that my parents couldn’t afford to get me name brand clothes like my classmates wore. It wasn’t my personality to complain or demand to be like everyone else. I decided I would find a way to be happy with what I had. I have one older cousin that I would get hand me downs from. She had nice clothes, some were a little outdated by the time I got it but it was all new clothes to me! So I decided I would be different! I would wear a different outfit everyday for as long as I could. I remember keeping track on a calendar to see if I could wear a different outfit everyday for a whole month. I was able to do it, thanks to hand me downs! I don’t know if anyone noticed but this made me, ME, unique and special. Obviously, I still have that clothing identity of myself.

After we got all our clothes out, we took a break and had lunch. After lunch, I explained to my children that we would take each piece of clothing and hold it and ask, “Does this bring me joy?” If it did, we would keep it. If it didn’t bring joy, thank it for the time it did bring joy and put it in a trash back to give away.

We talked about what “joy” meant. It means, it’s something that makes us happy. It’s clothing that we love to wear and makes us feel good when we do wear it. My high schoolers and middle schooler seemed to catch on really quickly but my 5 and 10 year old needed more help and guidance to understand. When my teenagers were done, my husband got home and decided to go through his clothes too.

After sorting through their clothes I told them to watch Marie Kondo’s video to learn how to fold their clothes and put it away. Most of my children do not have dresser drawers due to lack of space in our home. So we used the containers and boxes we had to put away their clothes on shelves. I LOVE that Marie Kondo says, “Don’t buy anything! Use what you have in your home.” This is a temporary solution but it works for now and the kids clothes look great!

After one day of choosing which clothes sparks joy and which do not, we filled this many bags of clothes to give away! I still had to finish my clothes and help my 10yr old and 5 year old with their clothes! I didn’t even touch the two baby’s clothes yet either!

It took me three days to go through all of my own clothes while helping my 10yr old with his and working around my library work schedule. My funny and odd motivation was not enjoying going to the garage to get my underwear after a shower. When I finished my clothes, it felt amazing! I LOVE getting dressed and only seeing clothes that I love to choose from! Here is a video of my finished clothes!

One thing I really love about the KonMari method is that it got me to reflect about HOW I think about clothes. Why do I hang on to so much clothes? I have been able to conclud these things about myself.

I have always been a pretty obedient child. I’d listen and learn from my parents, grandparents, and other adults. My Grandma taught me a lot about clothes because I went shopping with my Grandma the most. My Grandma’s parents were immigrants from Japan and she grew up on a plantation. They were very poor and didn’t have much. With her life experiences, these are the things my Grandma taught me…

• Bargain shop and always check out the clearance section first
• Wear it because it fits well
• Look for brand names at thrift shops and hand me downs because it’s more expensive and better quality
• Pay attention to good quality material because it will last longer

I remember a time that I was between 9-11 years old when I went shopping with Grandma for my birthday. We found some pretty pink corduroy pants. It was on sale and Grandma said, corduroy is good material. It fit nicely so we bought it. When I wore it to school I notice no one else wore corduroy pants, especially pink corduroy. Corduroy was not the style then. I also realized that whenever I walked, my pants made a funny sound. The sound bothered and embarrassed me. I was uncomfortable in my pants, it did not bring me joy but I kept them because my Grandma gave it to me and said it was good pants. I didn’t wear it much but it sat in my drawer till it didn’t fit any more.

The things my Grandma taught me were good things. Life now is different though. Clothes are more affordable, abundant, and easy to get so it’s not necessary to keep everything that fit my Grandma’s rules. I found myself teaching my children the things my Grandma taught me and having them hang on to things they might use later. After learning the KonMari method, I realize I need to add one more thing to teach my children, “Does it spark JOY?”

Before we started sorting our clothes, I promised my kids, I won’t force them to take or keep any clothes that they don’t want. I will only encourage them to keep the things that “spark joy.” My kids were very grateful for this news! They hated some of the things I made them hang on to because I felt they needed it.

The last thing I came to realize is that hand me downs are wonderful but I don’t have to keep all or most of it! It’s clothes people don’t want any more. They don’t care if I don’t like ALL of it, it’s clothes they are getting rid of. It’s ok to only keep the clothing items that “spark joy” and give away the rest. It is OK. Fear of not having enough kept me hanging on to unnecessary clothes but now that I know we have what we love and it is enough, I know my children and I are all ok. Do we still love hand me downs? Yes! And that’s ok too.

Do you know what kind of relationship you have with your clothes?

Related Blog Posts:

Fed Up: Beginning Our KonMari Journey

Tidying Up KonMari Style: Toddler Clothes