I love Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. The KonMari method is the only decluttering method that has ever worked for me long term. I tried it, it worked for me, and then I kind of forgot about it. This is like a lot of other good things I’ve discovered in my life.

This week I decided to do something radical. I decided to KonMari my entire house and life and not stop until I was done. I had a vision: I was going to systematically work through the house and do nothing else until I was finished.

I figured it might take a week, maybe a week and a half, but it would be so worth it. For the first time ever, we would only have things around us that we loved and needed. There would be a place for everything. There would be nothing unnecessary. We would only have the things we really cared about for our life together as we are living it now, having jettisoned the baggage of the past and discarding everything no longer meaningful to us. The endless to do list in my head would still be there, but it would be short a bunch of tasks that had become permanent residents on the list. I would be able to open any cupboard in my house without shame or threat of injury.

So, it’s Friday. I’ve done one cupboard. Actually that’s not quite accurate. I have almost done one cupboard. However I really don’t care that life has got in the way and I haven’t got as far as I wanted. Who cares? I am going to brag about it anyway.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER