KonMari: Clothes

The first category to work through with the KonMari method is clothes.  I figured it wouldn't be so bad as I had already given a bunch of clothes away throughout 2016 but I was really surprised at how much more I was able to get rid of after following the KonMari method.

In our room, Joey and I had a closet, 6-drawer dresser, 3-tier shelf, stand alone clothing rack (which extends to more than our closet width), and a heaping pile of clothes in the far corner of our bed.  After pulling all my clothes and piling them up on the living room floor, I was able to see how much I still had after all the purging I did last year.  Once I held every item, asked myself whether or not it sparked joy, and separated it into the yes and no piles, I downsized dramatically.

 All the clothes I owned (minus the ones in the laundry) piled on the floor, our 6-drawer dresser (of which my clothes took up half of the drawers), all the hangers that used to hold my clothes on the stand alone rack (lined up on the 3-tier shelf I mentioned).

Once I got rid of the items that didn't spark joy, I was able to fit almost all of my clothes (underwear, socks, tops and bottoms) in a little 6-drawer cart and less than 2 feet of closet space (dresses and outerwear).  The only clothing items I couldn't fit in here are my workout clothes and swimwear which are in a separate shoe box (I'll give them a permanent home once I finish decluttering everything else).  I was able to disassemble the stand alone clothes rack and put it into storage, which freed up so much more space in our bedroom.  I'll be taking that 3-tier shelf out soon too, once Joey goes through all his crap that's piled on top of it.  I'd like to get rid of the big 6-drawer dresser as well, but that will have to come later as I still have makeup, papers, and other random things in there at the moment.

The 6-drawer cart I'm currently using now, our closet space now (Joey's stuff is to the left, to the left), clothes really do just look so much nicer when folded properly.

Going through my accessories was a breeze because I instantly knew which pieces I loved because I wear them constantly.  I had one of those hanging jewelry organizers but I hardly ever touched the things I put on it.  The pieces that sparked joy were the ones I kept on my side table next to my bed.  I got rid of most of the items and kept only one pair of sunglasses (the cute cat-eye ones in the bottom corner from Bando.com next to my regular glasses), and about 6 necklaces.  They're currently in that little brown box and also don't have a permanent home yet so I don't really have an "after" photo for you.

My biggest hurdle in this category was shoes.  If you've been following along for a while, you'd know that I have a major shoe addiction.  Browsing JustFab was like checking my email - something I had to do every single day.  It finally got to the point where I had no more room in my shoe closet and had to start storing shoes in my bedroom (which was obviously overflowing with clothes already).  I had actually put off this sub-category for a few days because it was freaking me out just thinking of having to go through my shoes.  Once I finally dug into it, and separated the ones that sparked joy from the ones that didn't, it felt SO good.

All of my shoes on the floor and in the boxes (some of which are still brand-new, never worn) before and my happily organized shoe closet after.

All in all, I got rid of three bags of clothing, a shoe box of accessories, two bags of purses, and about 30 pairs of shoes.  Honestly, I didn't think that starting this would make that much of an impact but I'm glad that I was wrong.  My bedroom feels much more open and spacious, not cramped and cave-like which it did before.

So far, I seem to be on track with my progress.  The next category is books and I know that one will be easy since most of what I read is digital and I only started collecting actual books last year.  Plus, I can think of only two right now in my mind that I know for sure I'll be keeping.

What about you?  How many pairs of shoes do you currently own?  How much space do your clothes take up?