If you are anything like me, you love Marie Kondo, inventor of the KonMari method, and can watch “Tidy Up” all day (literally, I finished the whole season in a weekend) but have trouble putting all her practices into action. Some of it is because I have ADHD and some of it is because I am a true blue American and I don’t claim much knowledge on feng sui or what “sparks joy.” Plus, where the hell am I going to make a Megan Mountain of clothes in my house to where we can actually live and move around it and finish it up in one day? That’s not feasible. And as far as sparking joy, I would love to throw out my scale and bills, but I don’t think that is what she means. Yet, in my defense, they do NOT spark joy.

The problem is that sometimes, words and ideas get lost in translation between languages and cultures. In Japan, where Marie Kondo is from, homes are tiny and technology is very different.  Japanese people are very traditional and honor their Japanese culture. Feng Sui, which Marie Kondo often employs, is important in their culture. It isn’t really a custom that most Westerners embrace.

 Here are some ways you can KonMari the ADHD, frugal, American way. #Murica

You Don’t Have to Follow the Exact Order

Marie wants you to organize by category rather than room. She also wants you to organize the categories in the order she has set out in her plan because it helps you become more sensitized to joy and what will and won’t bring it for you. Her method is these categories in this order:

Clothing
Books
Paper
Komono
   -Kitchen
   -Garage
   -Miscellaneous
Sentimental Items

 I get it. I also get that in America, typically people have larger homes and closets and sometimes need to have the things they don’t really want. For example, you may not want to wear your current jeans and they may be boring and not bring you joy, but you need to have jeans and your current jeans fit, so you split the difference and pare down to a reasonable number.

You could also go room by room (the typical American way) but organize in the order she outlines per room. For example, you start in the master bedroom with clothes, then books, then papers, etc. that are located in that room. Of course, you probably don’t have clothing in your kitchen. Or do you? No judgement.

Forget the Feng Sui

Marie suggests that you thank each item before throwing it away or donating it. Thank your clothes for letting you wear them and thank the books for providing knowledge or entertainment. She likes to greet homes and tell them who she is and what she will be doing, and encourages the family to thank their home for sheltering them. This really isn’t necessary. You can still organize your house without those steps.

Also, apparently it isn’t feng sui to store items under your bed. Hey, if you have a way around it, go for it. If not, store some items under there within reason.

Edit as You Go

If you go full KonMari, you are looking at approximately a month’s worth of straight cleaning and organizing. At. One. Time. For me, and for others like me, that is too overwhelming. My mind wanders. I bore easily. My kids lose their shit—both literally and figuratively in this house. I need to break down my time into a weekend here and a weekend there or it won’t happen for me.

 Instead of making a massive mountain with every article of clothing in your house, start with whatever season you are in. Yes, it will take longer, but it is definitely more manageable. As you are putting out a new season of clothing, edit it. Did you wear it last season? Does it fit? Are you going a different direction in your wardrobe? You will find items to keep, toss and donate. When you take down your Christmas decorations, the same applies. Edit! Do you need 10 reindeer towels? Probably not. Same applies with paperwork. As tax returns come in, throw out ones older than 3 years to make room for more current ones. Update the kids’ school paperwork by semester or year and recycle the rest. 

Make your edits as you go. It might take longer and you may have to be more ruthless in your edits, but it will happen.

Storage Options

Marie strongly objects to storing items in garbage bags. She suggests boxes of all different shapes and sizes. I agree for the most part. She does make some excellent points about buying duplicates if you can’t easily find/see your clutter in the storage boxes or bins. If it looks nice, I think you feel more inclined to keep it all neat and tidy if it looks neat and tidy; however, if it is in the attic, it is out of sight, out of mind. Sorry, but that is the reality of the situation for most of us. Adulting in America consists of having bags stored in other bags. If you are guilty, raise your hand.

I have a sizeable collection of assorted gift bags sitting like nesting dolls in my attic. I also reuse plastic shopping bags and have collections of those scattered throughout my home. My OCD won’t even let me mention all my hiding places for those lest someone find them and throw them out. I am reusing them, damn it! I honestly probably have a lifetime supply even though I try and use cloth shopping bags. The plastic ones still accumulate and I happily hoard them.

That said, every item needs a home and almost all those homes need some sort of container if you want your home to look neat and tidy, but you can be a little more flexible on what that container is. I love basket sale day at Michael’s and I know I am not the only one. Be creative with it to fit your home’s size and décor or the look that you want to achieve. I am enamored of the pantries filled with labeled white bins and glass canisters. I will never actually do that in my pantry because $$$, but I drool at other people’s.

Don’t even get me started on laundry rooms. I am not one of those bloggers who gets some sort of thrill out of designing a pretty, drool-worthy laundry room. That room has one purpose and one purpose only. To store dirty laundry and laundry accoutrements, and serve as a place to clean and dry said laundry. Luckily, the former owner of our home did a great job at organizing in there, so we literally did nothing to it other than buy a new washer and dryer and install them. I am great with the space being functional and organized, but I don’t need it to be pretty. 

I did organize my pantry with elements I learned from the KonMari method and containers I reused or bought at Dollar Tree. Ya’ll, it still looks damn decent and it is organized. I can find everything. My husband can find most things. #malepatternblindness

Miscellany

Some other takeaways:

You may be able to get away with more quantities if you have a larger home.

Her folding method is good, obviously, but if you have larger furniture, you may not need to make each garment as small. For me, when I really do her method on adult clothes, they come out more wrinkled than if I folded them the way I used to, but it works for the kids’ clothes. I also use her folding method on linens and can almost proudly display my folded fitted sheets! What a time to be alive! And I am sorry, but have to fold my socks together. Sorry, Marie. Curling them into a ball doesn’t work for me. They just drift apart and I can’t find my socks. Try Marie’s folding method, but you don’t have to be married to it.

You still have to prioritize tidying to remain tidy. Read that one again. I had to. I had kind of hoped that since it is called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up that this method would be magical and I could do it once and forget it sort of thing. Nope. It does make it easier to do, but as always, there is still work to be done.

The KonMari method is definitely viable, but needs a few tweaks to appeal to the American market, at least in my humble opinion. Any of her methods you have tried? Were they a success? Comment below!