Konmari and minimalism as concepts have captured the popular imagination of many across the world. The hit netflix series Tidying up with Marie Kondo released well over a year ago has further fired up many homemakers as well as professionals to…. well…. tidy up.
So, just what are these concepts?
Minimalism as a concept simply means avoiding unnecessary material things around you. Simply put, less is more, as per Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, who first introduced minimalism as a way of living more than a decade ago. According to them, the very act of decluttering your living and working space as well as letting go of material possessions that isn’t essential to your lifestyle helps the minimalist to declutter his/her lifestyle as well as their mind. Their lifestyle website lays out the related concepts in detail.
Konmari as a lifestyle choice was put forth by Marie Kondo (Konmari is simply an amalgamation of the last and first names of Marie Kondo) was essentially similar but the emphasis was on decluttering, not wholesale paring down of possessions as the minimalists suggest. Konmari classifies all posessions into five main categories: Clothing, books, paper, miscelleneous and sentimental items. Marie Kondo doesn’t ask followers of her Konmari method to minimalise but to simply declutter, organize the possessions in her trademark method and get rid of those items that doesn’t spark joy.(her term)
Personally, I found minimalism a tad too difficult to follow as someone who takes comfort in her…. well… creature comforts. But I did like the konmari concepts of decluttering and organizing especially those around my clothing cupboards.
I loved the outcome of my decluttering efforts of my clothing cupboards and organizing my undergarments drawer but my husband is still rather partial to shirt hangers vs my attempt at organizing his t shirt cupboards (see pic below)
The downsides of too much minimalism has always been apparent to me – paring down of useful or sentimental items may lead to regret later. Having a comfortable, organized home and office spaces however, can go a long way towards enhancing the quality of your lifestyle and help to maintain an aura of tranquility in the spaces that you reside/operate in.
Bibliography:
thelavmuse.wordpress.com 
The past year has made realise there are a number of things in my wardrobe that I dont need and I often wonder when things were normal how much have I actually used them? More than material possessions, getting rid of toxic people be it relatives, friends or someone dear is more important for leading a happy life I feel. And yeah getting that wardrobe in order is important too!
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I can go on and on about how decluttering helped me aesthetically as well as clearing cobwebs from my mind but that’s a conversation to be had offline😄
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