I pride myself on keeping my house clean and organized, but I'll let you in on a secret. My clothes closet is a disaster. You can walk in my house and see everything (mostly) in its place, but open the door to my closet and be prepared for a shock. In addition to the clothes you actually see me wear, you'll also find the first business suit I ever owned (woefully out of date!), maternity clothes (I haven't been pregnant for over three years) and at least 20 pairs of shoes that haven't seen the light of day since I became a stay at home mom.
My dresser drawers aren't much better. I cringe every time I open them. I know I have a lot of clothes, but I wear the same thing all the time because I just don't want to deal with combing through the clutter. And I have a feeling that I'm not alone in this.
This post contains affiliate links. See my Disclosure Policy for details.
When I was given opportunity to review Marie Kondo's Spark Joy, the companion to her #1 New York Times best selling The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I knew I had no excuse to finally tackle decluttering my clothes.
I'll admit that I haven't read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which Ms. Kondo recommends tackling before reading Spark Joy. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up explains her KonMari tidying system in great detail, while Spark Joy is more of a step by step manual to implementing the system. Since I have long run out of patience with my clothes situation, I decided to go straight to Spark Joy. It's a really quick read with lots of illustrations to help you along (including diagrams on how to fold everything from dresses to underwear). I love the straight to the point instructions and step by step suggestions on how to tidy every facet of your home. Reading Spark Joy has definitely inspired me to work on decluttering and simplifying all the "stuff" that has accumulated in my home over time.
Spark Joy recommends that you declutter and tidy by category, not by room. Fortunately for me, the tidying journey starts with clothes. She breaks down clothes by type, but you need to gather ALL of your clothes of each type at once - from the dresser, closet, or anywhere else they are hiding. When they are all together in a pile, you need to go through each one and ask, "does it spark joy?" If the answer is yes, keep it. If not, discard. She gives a bit of an explanation on how to decide if something "sparks joy" but it is really up to you to decide where your "joy line" is.
To get myself started and to stay on track, I put together a printable checklist based on her recommended order for tidying clothes. She does have a particular order (I'll let you to read the book to learn why). I've made my checklist available as a free download here so that you can purge your clothes along with me! Click here to download the checklist.
Armed with my copy of Spark Joy and my printable clothes tidying checklist, I am now ready to tackle my closet purge. Do you want to join me? Grab a copy of Spark Joy (check out an excerpt below), print your checklist, block out a few hours, and let's get those clothes under control!
Are you ready to join me on a journey of tidying your home? Leave a comment below and let know!
Want even more Organizing ideas & printables? Find them here!
I received a copy of Spark Joy for free through the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Check out what's new: