2017 was a year of many changes for me – it felt like I had entered a new level in a game, in terms of … maturity? Life skills? Something along those lines.
But as with many things, this manifested in the form of several external changes – namely an itch to attempt a minimalist lifestyle (or at the very least achieve some sort of ‘mediumalism’).
Now I should preface this by explaining that I had a lot of ‘stuff’, and knickknacks, and a substantial junk draw – yes, you know the one. My room had been a beautiful bright blue colour (called Malibu, if that explains anything), which I had picked as an 11 year old – and still adorned my walls at the age of 22. I had (and still do) a mismatch of furniture; a rimu bed my dad made; a blue bookcase I have had since about the age of 7; and two (misc) wooden sets of drawers, next to each other; one about 10cm taller than the other. And a white desk… that at least has some semblance of ‘polish’.
I think my parents would describe me as having mild hoarding tendencies, though I of course always disagree. I like stuff, and am really very sentimental (to my detriment). I also think that part of this comes from that fact that when my parents and I moved to New Zealand, we barely had anything. So, the ‘stuff’ and the ‘junk’ we accumulated since, acquired a certain subconscious value and ‘preciousness’.
Enough back story though. This chapter concerns itself with my beginning interest in minimalism and scandi aesthetics.
I knew deep down I had too much junk, but I never confronted myself on this – until the end of 2016. The thing is, I wasn’t ever a neat maximalist either – I am very much a messy person (yet also quite pedantic, thus I encounter a lot of inner conflict). My first step on this journey included borrowing from the library, Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Yes I know, how original of me.
Disclaimer: I didn’t finish it because I had to return it and didn’t get around to getting it out again – I am but a human.
She advises going through categories of stuff, from easiest to hardest to tidy – i.e. Clothes, then books etc – I won’t relay everything to you, go read it yourself.
She advises to get rid of anything that doesn’t ‘spark joy’, but to still thank it for its use – feels a bit funny, but a good way to practice gratitude if you are into that. She outlines a useful folding method too.
A sweet pano of the ‘it can only get better from here’ part of the wardrobe purge.
I started with a MASSIVE wardrobe/ clothing clear as per KonMari’s suggestion. I pulled out everything from my wardrobe and draws – as you can see in the sweet pano, it was a sight to behold. By reducing the amount of clothes I had, and folding and sorting them with the KonMari method, I, a messy maximalist, managed to keep draws and wardrobe neat and organised for A WHOLE YEAR!!!!
Exercise gear – tops left, bottoms right
Tops – long sleeve tops to sleeveless, and ‘around the house tops’ (left to right)
Yes, the folding is a bit more laborious than chucking a shirt into a random draw – hence why I still am battling with the ever-forming clothes pile… but at least my draws have been spic and span.
Knits
I also organised my hanging items by category, and attempted to by colour – which has made it more organised. A tip I found handy, was to (attempt to) use the same type of hanger, because it makes it look more uniform. Having them all face the same way helps too.
Shirts (mainly)
Jackets (and shirts)
I previously had used a plastic 3-tier set of draws for my shoes but had always found it frustrating, so I replaced that with a shoe rack, which for sure worked better.
Shoes
I did do a bit of a clear out of my bookcase too, but I feel there is still a bit of work to be done there. I jokingly refer to it as ‘the shrine to my former self’, because I kept a lot of my old knickknacks.
I have had a couple of other smaller clear outs since – when I painted my room (the next instalment in this series), and when I was heavily procrastinating on an assignment. I am probably due for another bigger clear out, so please let me know if you would be interested in that process.
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Bo
Bo Begins 