The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo (and sorting out my photographs)

I recently had a sort through of my possessions, and as a little reward to myself I treated myself to a new book (for my Kindle of course to avoid more book clutter!) which I'd seen talked about in various places - The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo (affiliate link).

Now I am regretting that I didn't buy it in paperback, because this little book has inspired me so much that I just want to run out and lend it to everyone! Marie Kondo's methods don't align exactly with the way that I've been decluttering, as she advocates doing a big sort out in a short period of time rather than getting rid of things gradually, but the way that she focuses on choosing things to keep rather than to give away really resonates with me.

Related article - Some organising and decluttering books that I've enjoyed lately

Marie Kondo's method is to examine each item from a particular category, starting with the easier categories like clothes and books and moving on to more personal ones, like photographs. You should take out one item at a time, touch it, and say to yourself 'does it spark joy?'. If the answer is no then you should get rid of it. Many items that you keep around have served their purpose, and so you should thank them and then pass them on. You'll learn to appreciate your remaining possessions because you have chosen them, and therefore your home will be happy because it is filled only with the things that you love.

You can find plenty of information about Kondo's methods online, and there are many videos on YouTube showing her folding techniques for clothes as well of course as the recent Netflix documentary. But I'd really recommend getting hold of the actual book if you can, I can honestly say that it's been a life-changing read!

Related article - Marie Kondo and managing without things that you've decluttered

This week I tackled one of Kondo's more challenging categories - Photographs. My Mum recently gave me a big stack of old photographs of me, and I loved looking through them, they were definite keepers. All my photographs are stored in two photo boxes, and I was going to just add them in, but I couldn't help going through my old photos while I had the boxes down from the top of the wardrobe.

To my surprise, with Kondo's voice in my head, I found it easy to go through them year by year and discard heaps of photos - many that I took when I was younger of random, blurry wildlife, along with duplicates and unidentifiable landscapes. I got rid of photos taken at various university events, where I can't remember the name or even the face of anyone in the photograph, and photos taken of stages at festivals in the dark where there is no hope of recognising a singer or band.

I kept many of the photos that contained either me or a family member though, as long as they weren't duplicates. Some of them were a little blurry, and others weren't that great but they all triggered a happy memory. We hardly ever print out photos any more, so there was plenty of space to store them, along with making room for any more that might crop up. Now that they aren't quite so crammed in it's easier to leaf through them, and I enjoyed revisiting them so much that I'm determined to keep them in a more accessible location.

I picked out a few favourites to put on display by my desk, with the plan to rotate them around. It inspired me to make some cool Hama bead frames for them and I also saved some of my many duplicate baby photos for other crafty projects, like a page for each of the children's baby books and for my smash book.

Finally I purchased a small photo album which holds 100 photographs. I chose my favourite photos to keep in this album in chronological order, and it now sits on my desk where I can easily pick it up and leaf through it. This was something that I was inspired to do having read Marie Kondo's second book, Spark Joy (affiliate link)

Related article - My Marie Kondo approach and Sparking Joy

I'd love to hear from anyone else that has read Marie Kondo's book and how it has worked for them, because it has really been amazing for me!

If you enjoyed this post, you may like some of my other articles about how the Marie Kondo method has inspired me:

My approach to Marie Kondo and Sparking Joy

Working out my own interpretation of the Marie Kondo method

How to keep on top of your clutter

Sorting through some of my sentimental things

Some organisation and decluttering books that I've enjoyed lately