You have probably heard about Marie Kondo and her sparking joy method. A friend introduced it to me a couple of years ago and, I wouldn’t say change my life, but it made a difference in the self-perpetuating chaos of my lil den. I listened to the books, watched videos, read articles, joined groups, and a little by little I reorganised some parts of my flat.

It does make a difference!

My t-shirt drawer, the first to be treated with The Method, has been tidy for the last 2 years, and it’s extremely satisfying to watch. All those little cloth packets… Other parts of that same drawer are not as neat, gig t-shirts seem to have the perfect material. Anyhow, albeit being very proud of my t-shirt drawer, so proud that I show it to guests too, this ain’t meant to be an Ode to My Drawer, but a post about my “implementation” of the method. While I think it’s great, there are some parts of it that clash with my attempts to live a more zero-waste life.

Let me explain.

Marikondo is a way to declutter your house so that you never go back to clutter because once you have identified what you need and what you don’t by checking if it sparks joy, you find a place for everything and put it back in the chosen place. Everything has an assigned place, so no more pile of things that you don’t know what to do. No more things hidden in drawers.

I’m messy. The reorganisation hasn’t curbed that side of me, but now it’s just way faster to tidy up. By the way, don’t imagine my house is now like one of those interior design magazine covers. Nope. It’s still messy. Not everything has been marikonded, but slowly getting there. One positive side is the way it offloads your mind, you know what is going were automatically plus clutter is not good for your mind. Also, after taking out everything you own by category, sort it, fold, put it back, believe me, you’d think twice before buying something new.

So, why my way?

Well… There was one thing that stuck with me particularly when I was researching the method before applying it. If I remember correctly, it was in reply to what to do with things that you don’t need now, but you might need in the future. The reply was: get rid of it, you probably won’t need it, and if you do, just buy a new one.

I was like: mhm, no.

In my ideal decluttered world, anything that it’s no longer needed and in good condition should be brought to a charity shop – your rubbish, someone else’s treasure. But even that, what’s the point in keep buying and throwing, buying and throwing?

So, that’s why I do it my way. I have 3 category:

• keep
• charity
• keep to upcycle

In this last category, I put anything that it is not in condition for the charity shop, anything that I think I might transform in something else, anything that I might reuse in some way I still don’t know, anything that I have even a little doubt I might need again.

Believe me or not, this is no more than a bag. Most of my clothes were barely worn and good to go to the charity shop. That made me realise how much I bought without needing it. And once in a while I “review” the bag and some stuff go at the end to charity because I actually didn’t need 56 running race t-shirts.

While I think this method and anything that helps decluttering is great, we shouldn’t be using it to make more room for new crap. And it makes me a bit uncomfortable how easy it makes to chuck stuff away… This article of a few years ago sums it up: Marie Kondo tells us to ditch joyless items but where are we sending them?

Now I’m trying to shop with more awareness. Whenever I am in a shop and I see something I like, my first impulse is to grab it. But then I think:

Do I need it?

Mmm, maybe… I have 67 pens, but not exactly this shade of black.

Really? Do I really really really need it? Where am I going to put it? Can I repurpose something I own already? How much packaging does this have? Do I still need it?

Well, believe me or not… I’d say that 9 out of 10 the reply is no. The 10th time it is cake.

With the end of the world approaching because of global warming, I feel more and more uncomfortable at how our society is covered in “stuff”. And how much stuff I bought without thinking about the consequences, but I’m trying my best to make changes. And with Xmas around the corner, I’ll be back with a festive rant about consumerism, but not yet. It’s still November. I don’t want to see your Xmas tree… unless it’s decorated with upcycled decorations.

P.S.: no, it’s not true. I don’t want to see it until the 8th of December even if you build it out an old sofa and decorated with old tins tied with worn shoe laces.