My Quarantine KonMari journey

Hello everyone! Grab a drink, come closer and let's chat! My March has been wild for so many reasons and April is just the continuation of it! What about you? Let's see, Josh and I went with our original plan of visiting Australia and New Zealand mid March which turned out to be one of the best trips, totally bucket list worthy, food goal accomplishing and memories filled adventure. At the end of it, we were so jumping into the last "train" rushing back to Japan as many countries were closing the boarders due to the outbreak of COVID-19. When I came back, all my jobs were cancelled, appointments postponed and 2 weeks ROM (restriction on movement) was upon us. As many of us have quite a bit of free time on our hands, I challenged myself to do projects that I normally put in the back of my list and quite frankly never get to. This girl thrives in an organized space and the older I get- the less items I need around. Another thing that might be contradicting my previous statement but is also true about me, I love fashion and cloths. However let's face it, who needs another vintage oversized sweater or these fun 80's heavy duty jeans that are now only 500 yen at your favorite pawn shop? I want them all, the silky, starchy, flowy and textured, all the black and white, and all the shades in between. Last year when the whole world was swept with the wave generated by this delicate and swift Japanese tidy fairy Marie Kondo I was no exception. After watching the Netflix special, countless YouTube videos and finally borrowing her book from the local library I was determined to test it. It took me a month to go over her 5 categories (cloths, books, paper, komono, sentimental) and the first and the last categories had me crying at least every other day. I remember how I felt holding nice cloths that my mom bought when we could afford them, I remember how I felt saying thank you to the t-shirt I've made to imitate the one my favorite singer had and putting it in the trash. I also remember being shocked how much staff I had that was hidden in the boxes, closets and in the "documents" pile. I felt about 1000 kilos lighter by the time the last bag was dropped at the thrift store and everything else was organized in its place. It was truly a transformational experience. The thing that I never truly celebrated was my commitment to the new folding method I've learnt from Marie Kondo. For the first time in my life I tried to store cloths vertically and what a game changer that was! I'm celebrating, because my sport drawer with all crazy shaped tops and different length bottoms has been meticulously organized through this whole year. Did I mention how easy has it gotten to pack (not that we'll be doing any of that any time soon)? I only have to fold what is hanging in the closet. Another small victory worth celebrating is the amount of cloths that I had a year later after my first inventory. Last brag of the post is that it only took me 2 hours to go through, discard and fold all of my cloths.

So, what's the next step? I took an inventory of all the clothing that I have to my name this day. Before buying new items I want to consider if it will match what I currently have and where do I see myself wearing it in my current life style. Too often do I buy a piece that I think, oh girl, can you imagine wearing this to a James Bond cocktail party or to a Woodstock festival? Really? When, child? Then it just collects dust and couple years later I still haven't received my invitation.

Lastly, I'm trying a new challenge and invite you to accept it with me. For the month of May I'm choosing to wear 6 items not to include undergarments, sport attire, jackets, shoes or accessories. The goal is to keep it easy, to give a chance to an item or two, to get creative with accessory choices. I already know what skirt and jeans I'm going to pick but haven't decided on tops yet. I'll be sharing my journey on Facebook, wish me luck and come along!

Below you'll find my short video of my closet organizing along with Marie Kondo's folding techniques at the end. All the way at the bottom is my closet inventory if you are curious;)

Jackets - 20

Formal dresses - 15

Everyday dresses - 15

Base layer - 5

Sweaters - 14

Shirts - 16

Tank tops - 12

T-shirts - 5

Jeans - 3

Pants - 6

Skirts - 9

Shorts - 4

Underwear - 18

Bra - 8

Socks - 28

Stockings - 17

Swimsuits - 8

Scarfs - 9

Wig - 1

Sport bra - 6

Sport shirt - 14

Leggings - 9

Athletic shorts - 3

Ski jacket & pants

Hats - 11

Gloves - 4