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The first episode of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo probably seemed like a familiar story. It featured a family with two young children trying to deal with all the clutter that seems to appear out of nowhere as soon as your kids are born. And just seems to grow with them.
As a mom of twins, I felt the pressure of two of everything when my boys were born. And I realized very quickly that if I didn't find a way to manage the clutter that it would overtake us all. My boys were just toddlers when I first discovered the Konmari method for decluttering and organizing the home. As much as I loved the concept, I knew it would take a little modification to work into my life as a busy mom.
If you're a mom who is ready to clear the clutter here's how to make the Konmari method work for you too.
How to Make Konmari Work When You're a Busy Mom
Start with something easy
There is a reason Marie Kondo’s method has you start with clothes and end with sentimental items. When you are decluttering with the Konmari method, you want to start with clothes because this is usually going to be the easiest place to purge. We are often far less attached to our clothes than our books or sentimental items. But if you think there's another area that might be easier, go for it. No matter what category you are organizing in, start with something you are 100% sure you can do and work from there.Grab my free printable Konmari clothing checklist here.
You don’t have to do it all in one shot
In Marie Kondo’s book, she suggests doing decluttering and organizing in one day so you don’t lose momentum. The reality is that this is probably unrealistic for any person, and especially for moms.It’s okay if it takes you a whole week to sort through your clothes, and it may take you even longer to sort through your Komono items. Take your time and move at your own pace. The key is to completely declutter one category before moving on to another, so be sure to finish your clothes before moving on to books (for example).
Grab this list of 50 things you can declutter in 15 minutes to get started.
Tidying should be a family activity
Marie Kondo’s method focuses on getting the whole family involved and making each person responsible for their own items. This means that you shouldn’t be doing your whole family’s tidying for them. For this method to work, each person needs to be responsible for their own items, and really do it themselves. This will take some of the stress off of you too.Need a super fun way to encourage little kids to purge their toys? Try this!
Focus on the items you want to keep, not the items you want to eliminate
If you are worried that you aren’t going to be getting rid of enough items or that you won’t be able to get rid of what you should, you may be too caught up in the whole elimination part of the process. When sorting through your items, focus on the items you want to keep. This will make things move a lot quicker!Make a place for everything in your home
Marie’s method works because she challenges you to make a home for every item in your home. Having a home for every item is going to save you time when picking up and cleaning your home (and will encourage your kids to do the same). While this might sound like a pain to do while you’re going through it, this is going to be the one tip that will have the greatest pay off for you.Donate items as you complete each section
When doing the Konmari method you are going to have a ton of stuff to get rid of. Make a pile of stuff to donate and take a trip to the donation center whenever you leave the house. This will make it less of a hassle later on!You don’t have a to have a ton of free time to experience the benefits of the Konmari method. Even as a busy mom, you can still declutter and organize your home without all the stress.
Want more tips for organizing your home and family? Click here to see all my ideas!
And learn how to keep your home clutter free after you declutter here!