Tidying Clothes: Tops

The first thing you'll tidy using the KonMari method (as Marie Kondo calls it) is tops. That's because she divides things according to how difficult they'll be to sort. There are three major categories, to be sorted in this order: clothes, books, and papers. There are more categories after that.

Since this was my first category, I went through the whole house, looking for all of my clothes, no matter what the category. I was surprised to find that I had my mother's wedding dress! I also dug up my own wedding dress, and the tutu I wore for my ballet recital in second grade.

Somehow, I did not get too distracted by all of this to get most of my top tidying done.

First, I did a load of laundry that consisted exclusively of tops. I also ironed any wrinkled tops. Then I took all of the tops I had stored away in my drawers and piled them all on my bed.

I believe Kondo wants us to pile every piece of clothing we own on the floor and not even put them away until we've completed that category. I could be mistaken. In any case, that would have driven me batty, and I'm okay with the basics of where I put my clothing, so I simply sorted, purged and stored my tops. I did not complete the task, but I did get most of it done in a few hours, so I'm happy about that.

What was it like?

My tops were already more or less separated into t-shirts, sweaters, etc. So it wasn't too hard to keep things organized.

I had a large trash bag next to me. I picked up a top and asked myself "Does this spark joy?" I wasn't always sure of the answer. But in many cases, it was very clear that I couldn't care less about the item and I happily put it into the trash bag.

Kondo says it's important to handle each item as you ask this question. In a few cases, I was sad to see that something fairly new and find myself saying "no," it didn't spark joy. In those cases, the item was so useful that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it. I'm on a tight budget, and I got rid of so much. I'm okay with that. I'm never in favor of anyone feeling obliged to part with something they own due to someone else's rules or guidelines. And Kondo herself says that these are guidelines. We get to adjust them to suit us.

I started by going through tank tops, then t-shirts, then sweaters. I have some big shirts that I wear to hang around the house and I did sort through them, but I didn't store them. I also had about five or six items that I couldn't make up my mind about, so I plan to look at them today before I move on to tidying bottoms.

Folding

Once I had sorted through all but three t-shirts that have some sentimental value (Kondo actually puts items with sentimental value last on the list of categories, because they're the hardest), I started to fold and sort.

This was my favorite part. I've actually wished there was a way to store tops that didn't involve stacking things. You end up with half your clothes hiding and sometimes I wouldn't wear something for a whole season because I forgot I had it!

Kondo's folding method allows you to stand your things on end. Then you store them in the drawer so that they're next to each other rather than being stacked on top of one another. You can see everything you have! It's exactly what I've wanted to do, but I didn't think there really was a method for doing it.

I had trouble understanding this folding method just by reading it, but a young woman has posted some really helpful, short videos that show just how to do it. Here's her video on how to fold shirts and tank tops:

I didn't think I'd be able to figure out hoodies, but she also has a video on folding sweaters and hoodies:

Right now I'm drying a load of pants. When they're done, I'll move on to the next category which is - you guessed it - bottoms. 

My New KonMari Experience

I am not the neatest person in the world. In fact, I hesitate to allow friends into my home. So when I came across a beautiful little book called "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo a couple of weeks ago, I was very interested.

I picked up the little book and read a bit. I liked what I read. And I'd already heard good things about Marie Kondo. But I'm on a tight budget, so I decided to put off buying it.

One week later, I was out with a friend and she gave me an unexpected Christmas gift. It was the book! The poor woman hasn't been allowed in my house since I met her this past April. Thank you, Lorraine!

The book is as calming to read as it is to look at. That helped me get into a "tidying" mood. Although I haven't quite finished reading it, I read enough to get started yesterday.

How It Works

It's important to read the book, but here's an overview of how it works:

First, she splits things into categories and subcategories. In each category, you find everything you own that fits into that category - seriously, go into the attic, the basement, anywhere you might have stowed your things away.

Then you put everything on the floor (I'm "cheating" and using my bed). Next, you pick up each item and ask yourself "Does this spark joy?" If the answer is "no," discard it. If the answer is "yes," keep it.

There's more to it in terms of how each items is stored. But since that's different for each category, that's as far as I'll go with that for now.

The main ideas are to:

1. Tidy your entire house all in one go. Kondo says that if you do it bit by bit, it will never get done. She says that takes about six months.
2. End up only with items that bring you joy.

I don't agree with everything about her method, so I'm tweaking it just a bit to suit me. I'll explain as I go along.

As I go through each category and subcategory, I'll create a post about my experience in that category or subcategory in the hopes that it will help you with your own KonMari experience. I'll include things like:

• Videos I've found that show how to fold the KonMari way (this is an important part of it).
• Places where you can donate particular types of items.
• What worked well for me.
• What about the method did not work well for me and how I handled it.

I hope you enjoy this and find it useful!

Janet