I “KonMari”ed my wardrobe

During the extensive lock down, I finally succumbed to the popular decluttering expert method. Honestly, I am a pack rat, my drawer still holds birthday cards friends sent from ages ago, not to mention boarding pass and entrance tickets from different countries, in different languages.

With the guidance from Marie Kondo’s book, one day in the afternoon, I just suddenly decided to give it a try. I gathered all the clothes from every corner of my house and put them into a pile in the center of my bedroom. The sight of it was jaw-dropping. Honestly, I never realised I owned this many items. From the pile I started checking every piece of my clothes, and I sent them to different piles. One pile was straight to the bin, another pile was for donation, and one pile was to keep for my aunties who are sharing my size.

Then the sorting began. I also learnt Marie Kondo’s clothes folding method so all my clothes were folded in the same way. I also took the advantage of the empty wardrobe and cleaned them completely. I used old boxes and card boxes for reorganizing. Items are arranged into pyjamas, gym clothing, inner wears, dress, pants, casual tops and work tops.

What I realised after months of this method is, I have cleared out many used clothes, and with the new organising method, all items can be retrieved easily now, without messing the wardrobe up. Now, even after months, I am astounded that my wardrobe is still quite organized. All pants are still lining perfectly in rows, all tops and workout clothes are still nicely arranged.

The best part? I have not had the strong urge of purchasing any new item since the lock down from 18th March( till this post written). Mainly because I have come to realization that I own too many clothes. Secondly, sending them away is tremendously hard (no buying means less throwing). I would like to further reduce the number of my clothes, so that my wardrobe will only house items which are really suitable for my style.

Some have mentioned this method produces lots of waste, but for me, it helps to reduce my “future” waste. No matter how pretty some clothes are, they may no longer be suitable for you now. Hence, no point stuffing them in the deep corner of the “constantly running out of space” wardrobe. When it comes to wardrobe, "out of sight, out of mind" does not really apply.

After the “KonMari” mission (I have confessed, it took me 3 days to complete the mission), I am proud of myself for starting it (especially, when I open my wardrobe). Lessons learnt? Obviously, I have the necessary workout clothes even if I am hitting the gym daily. For pyjamas? I do not think I would need any new till some decided to give way. By having each and every piece in your wardrobe "yanked out", "filtered" and folded back the survivors, you would definitely appreciate all items that pulled through and become more careful with your future buying.

My Pj's section after "KonMari" method.

I did not know that I would be sharing this when I was decluttering my wardrobe months ago. I could only show the photo of "after" decluttering and not the "before".