KonMari Method: What Is It and Is It Worth Your Time? (With Time-Lapse)

Have you ever wanted to declutter your house but just the mere thought of doing so overwhelmed you?

Or maybe you’re tired of dealing with cabinets and drawers that are overflowing yet you can never seem to find what you need.

Or are you just holding on to too many things and your nice-sized house is starting to shrink somehow?

With busy lifestyles, exercising and keeping a tidy house are usually two of the first things to fall off the to-do list.

Often times they get added to the I’ll do it tomorrow list instead and just become a nagging task that never comes to fruition.

While I (thankfully) can’t say my own personal clutter was to the point of hoarder status, I definitely wanted to cut down the amount of stuff I had and live a bit more minimally.

And this past weekend, Eric and I decided to finally do just that by using Marie Kondo’s famous KonMari method (which is named after her, Kon – her last name and Mari being part of her first name).

In this guide, I’ll share what that is and my experience with this decluttering method on our kitchen.

Even if your house is neatly organized, I’d urge you to still read this article to ensure that everything you own is bringing you the right amount of joy and really worth keeping.

So this makes more sense, here’s what I’m talking about:

What is the KonMari Method?

If the KonMari craze hasn’t hit you yet, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m referring to and why anyone would bother.

Here’s the gist:

Marie Kondo is an adorably tiny New York Times best-selling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
While her book has been out for years, she recently launched a new show on Netflix all about helping clients use her KonMari method to transform their lives (all from cleaning, I know it sounds weird but hear me out on this)
The Netflix show, titled Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, debuted on the first of this year and everyone is talking about it because it really works

Marie’s organizational method is a little different than most but it really is effective.

First, she sits down with her clients on the floor and encourages them to thank their house and everything that’s in it.

So she pauses for a moment before tackling the daunting task of decluttering.

From there, Marie explains that everything should be sorted by the following categories:

Clothing
Books
Papers
Komono (miscellaneous/house stuff)
Sentimental items

Next, she has her clients take everything out from their hiding place and she makes them pile it high in the center of the room.

Using clothes as an example, Marie instructs her clients to pull every single garment they have, whether that’s from the closet or in dresser drawers, and has them pile the clothes on the bed.

She then has them take a step back once it’s all finished to assess the mountain staring back at them.

Most people — including me — are often shocked by how much stuff they have.

Once reality sets in, Marie gives her clients a way to tackle each item and this is where the magic really starts to set in.

Instead of simply separating each item into a keep, donate, or trash pile, Marie asks her clients to hold each and every item in their hand and ask: does this bring me joy?

One simple question that requires a quick 10-second reaction.

As her clients hold their items, it was easier to decide what brought them joy vs the items they felt nothing for.

They continued this until each piece of clothing was evaluated.

For items that don’t make the cut, Marie’s next part of her KonMari method is to thank it…yes, thank the inanimate object.

Thank you for providing me warmth.

Thank you for so many wonderful memories.

Thank you for our time together.

While it sounds cheesy, I could definitely understand creating an attitude of gratitude as you essentially throw out and donate your stuff.

These key ingredients make it that much easier to part ways with things.

From here, Marie shares her tips for folding clothes and organizing pantries so that you can easily see and grab things instead of not realizing what you even have.

Her simple folding method allows you to quickly see what you have to wear each day.

She also shares tips for sentimental items such as photos — make sure each one brings you joy and toss the ones that don’t. You should also toss similar ones and only use the one that brings you the most joy out of the bunch.

If it doesn’t put a smile on your face, it’s not worth surrounding you.

Marie’s book has been on my reading list for years but because it was about cleaning and organizing, it always seemed to get pushed aside which is unfortunate.

I’m so grateful that she partnered up with Netflix to create a show that shares her method in a much more fun and interactive way.

It was also less daunting because you could see it in action vs reading about it and imagining it.

After just one episode, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to give it a try on our kitchen.

Here’s how that went…

My Journey with the KonMari Method

Before seeing her show on Netflix, I decided to declutter my closet a few months ago by trying every single piece of clothing I owned on one day day.

If the item didn’t fit right or lacked feel good vibes, I tossed it.

This simple act — that took a few hours mind you — literally cut my closet down to a ⅓ of what it was.

It felt amazing but also scary because I had even less options when it came to what to wear.

But, thanks trying everything on, I actually had a closet that was more efficient — I always knew I didn’t have to try 5 things on to find something to wear.

With this momentum, my boyfriend and I had decided that we would do the same thing for the kitchen.

Fast forward a few weeks and we still hadn’t tackled that item on our to-do list yet.

But, after seeing that one episode on New Year’s Day — which was brilliant on Netflix’s part — we knew we had to try her method out on our kitchen.

To preface this, our kitchen isn’t huge so we really need to utilize the space well and efficiently.

But, we’ve only been here for less than 4 years now so I had assumed there wasn’t much we could do.

Boy was I wrong.

4 hours later, we realized that we desperately needed the KonMari method and couldn’t be happier with our results.

Here’s how it went:

Our 4-Hour KonMari Kitchen Clean Up

After watching the episode, we set a date to spend the following Saturday tackling the kitchen (we had a baby shower that weekend and plans on Sunday).

Throughout the week, my boyfriend and I kept reminding each other that there was no backing out of this commitment.

So when Saturday rolled around, I got up and out early to get a quick rollerblade session in before we decided to overwhelm ourselves with the kitchen.

Our first order of business was to thank our house, and especially the kitchen, which we did with less than a minute of silence.

Then came the task of opening every cabinet and drawer and emptying the contents of those plus the pantry and shelves outside of the pantry and placing it in the center of the room.

As we started pulling everything out, the overwhelm started to sink in since we were quickly running out of room.

Holy crap, we have so much stuff.

How do we have all of this crap?

Are we really going to be able to do this?

What were we thinking?

And why are we doing this again?

Despite that we powered on and dumped everything out.

From there, our next step was to separate the things we were keeping with the things we were either going to donate or toss out.

As we asked each other whether or not the item brought joy, making the decision became the easiest part.

Where the real leg work came in was creating donation piles and changing out the garbage bags.

We also kept forgetting to thank each item — our momentum was so fast that it propelled us.

So, every so often, I tried to make it a point to thank the piles while holding things individually.

As we sorted through the mess, we began to organize everything using some of Marie’s tips:

All of our tupperware was stored with a lid and on a tilt so that we could easily see and grab what we need
We sectioned off things of like sizes in drawers using plastic separators
And we made sure everything was visible without having to move things first

We also tried to store as much stuff inside the pantry and cupboards — including appliances — so that our counters were free from clutter.

And since we got rid of four trash bags worth of garbage, two black garbage bags and three boxes for donations, we had so much more extra room.

Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method Time-Lapse Phase 1

So it became easy to find a place for everything and we were able to stow away some things so that are counters are now more open and inviting.

o it became easy to find a place for everything and we were able to stow away some things so that are counters are now more open and inviting.

As magical as the end result is, it definitely came with some hard work.

We spent four hours, had a few disagreements on the process and where things should go, and I felt like it was 100 degrees the entire time …but it was 100% worth it.

Just like the people in her show, the KonMari method really does have a ripple effect into other areas of life.

We felt so good afterwards and know that we are way better off without the stuff we thought we actually needed.

It was really gut-wrenching to see how much stuff we accumulated in such a short time.

But, thankfully, a lot of it is going to a better home thanks to donating them.

The KonMari Method Verdict

After all is said and done, we are definitely fans of Marie Kondo and her KonMari method.

Not only was it effective and simple, it really made the whole process that much easier.

Despite being overwhelming at times, the end result is really something that motivates you to power through and see it to the finish line.

While Eric hoped to tackle the kitchen and our guest room, I had a feeling it was a bit ambitious and it was.

We were only able to do one room so far but we made a huge dent in that one space that we use all the time.

We also have plans to tackle the next room fairly quickly so I’ll keep you guys posted on how that goes.

We made sure to do all of those things and we had a great experience as a result.

I will say though, you’ll need to give yourself space and time to tackle this project if you do plan to do it.

You don’t want to sit with mountains of clothes or other items for a few days and be overwhelmed by it so it’s best to set aside the right time and be in the right mindset for this.

Here are some of the after pictures: