Room Organization

Is your room clean? If you think so, is it truly organized? If you don't think so, would you like it to be?




The most difficult organizational task I've taken on thus far would have to be cleaning my bedroom. Again, like cleaning my bathroom, I did not intend to clean my entire bedroom- I went into the process only intending to go through my clothes. However, I went into a cleaning frenzy, spending three hours on a Friday night and nine hours on a Saturday cleaning my bedroom, which I had thought previously was pretty well organized. I generated seven paper bags of clothing and other items to go to Goodwill (not a sponsor) as well as four Hefty garbage bags of trash (also not a sponsor). However, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let me backtrack and explain what happened...


On a Friday night, I was very bored. My parents suggested that I get a head start on going through my clothes, a fundamental step of organizing your closet ( the project I had set aside for myself that weekend).  I began the process by removing all clothes from my closet (and floor) and placing them in categorized piles in the middle of my room. "The first step is to check every closet and dresser in the house and gather all your clothes in one spot. Don't leave a single wardrobe or dresser drawer unopened." (Kondo 66)

 

This process took me about an hour. The piles you see above, starting from the upper right, are tops, pants, jackets, cardigans, accessories (scarves, belts, etc.) , tank tops, dresses, and shorts. Sorting through my clothes took about 15 minutes with Kondo's method, "does this spark joy?" (Kondo 66) made the process much easier. I compiled 3 paper grocery bags full of clothes to give away. I then began putting the clothing back into my drawers or on hangers.




While putting clothing away in drawers, such as pajamas or athletic wear, I folded them and arranged them in the way she recommends: "The key is to store things standing up rather than laid flat." (Kondo 75) I was amazed to see that this method truly maximized space, especially in the drawer in which I keep athletic wear- I now had much more room, and the space was generally more pleasing to the eye. While putting clothing away on hangers, I used another one of her methods, which I somewhat applied to the organization of my bathroom: "Arrange your clothes so that they rise to the right. Take a moment to draw an arrow rising toward the right and another descending to the right... Did you notice that when you draw an arrow rising to the right it makes you feel lighter? Lines that slope up to the right make people feel more comfortable." (Kondo 79) While I tried to adhere to her method as closely as I could, I also had to make the method work for me. Because I keep my dresser in my closet, I had to alter the process slightly. I hung my tops on the left-hand side of my closet, with heavy winter coats on the far left and tank tops on the far right of the left-hand side of my dresser. I did the opposite with pants, dresses, and skirts on the other side, hanging skirts closest to my closet and dresses furthest away. I learned that you must cater to your own needs to maximize results, rather than follow the rules exactly.




I discovered that getting rid of anything that didn't bring me joy definitely made the kind of clothes I liked more defined, creating a better sense of self-confidence already- in a way, this process was helping me find little parts of myself.




After going through all of my clothing, I found that I wanted to keep organizing. I moved on to the items I kept on the storage rack above my dresser. There was a mish-mash of old birthday present bags and Halloween costumes. I realized I truly needed to do something about the situation when a pile of shoeboxes, a lazy Susan, and a trick-or-treat bag in the shape of a jack-o-lantern filled with old soccer trophies fell on me. I started with throwing away the lazy Susan and the jack-o-lantern. I also threw away all of the costumes and birthday present bags- I realized that if I hadn't needed them in the 2 years they'd been up there, I likely wouldn't need them again. I replaced these items with test prep books, school notebooks from previous years I may need again, and other miscellaneous items that were useful, yet unnecessarily required for daily use and immediate access. I also went through my drawer of art supplies, throwing about 1/3 of the contents away. At this point it was eleven at night and I was exhausted, but I wanted to continue cleaning.




I woke up the next morning and immediately began cleaning again- and I cleaned for about nine hours straight. Rather than stopping with my closet, I went through my desk, my books, my memory box, my bedside table... the list goes on and on. However, for each section of my room I cleaned, my principle stayed the same- does this spark joy? I also found how I preferred to decorate my room and how things I enjoyed displaying in my room sparked joy. Kondo puts this perfectly. "If you can say without a doubt, 'I really like this!' no matter what anyone else says, and you like yourself for having it, then ignore what other people think... I can think of no greater happiness in life than to be surrounded by things I love." (Kondo 202)




I believe that Kondo's method has truly revolutionized my cleaning methods and overall life outlook. Asking myself if something sparks joy has drastically changed the way I view and approach things. I cleaned my room two weeks ago, and it has stayed spotless, proving how truly effective Kondo's method is.