Tidying Up
By Marissa Wong | She/Her/Hers | Sacramento Betsuin
August 15, 2021
I am a pretty messy person. If you enter my room at any given time, you’ll likely find piles of random things scattered about, or if I know people will be over, I shove them into random nooks and crannies. I really try to be neat, but it’s so hard to find a place for every little thing I own and it feels like I’m endlessly putting away things. Last month, I graduated from Seattle University and had to move all of my stuff from Seattle back to Davis. I had accumulated so many things in the past four years since moving to Seattle that it was really difficult to pack everything. I did, however, go through everything there and I gave quite a bit of clothes and other things to friends, local mutual aid groups, and Goodwill. After cleaning out old papers, tests, and clothes I hadn’t worn since freshman year, I still had a lot of boxes and they barely fit in the car we rented to drive home. It was so stressful and the entire move I kept thinking that I just wanted to get rid of everything so I wouldn’t have to deal with moving.
Once I finally got home to Davis and unpacked everything, along with everything I left at home, it was overwhelming. Over the past 2 weeks, I have spent the majority of my time going through everything again, but using the KonMari method this time. This method was developed by Marie Kondo, a famous Japanese tidying and organizational expert you might know from her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, or her #1 New York Times bestselling book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I watched her Netflix show when it came out and was briefly inspired to go through everything I owned, but I wasn’t in quite the right mindset and I quickly forgot because of school and all my responsibilities. However, this summer I have to clean everything because I am moving.
The KonMari method, which can be found on Marie Kondo’s website, is about tidying your stuff and thus tidying your life. She says: “The true goal of tidying is to clear away clutter so you can live the life you want. When you put your house in order using the KonMari MethodTM, you have no choice but to listen to your inner voice – because the question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want to live your life. When you reassess your belongings and organize your home, you set the stage for a huge transformation. This is the magic of tidying!” Marie Kondo’s catchphrase is, does this spark joy?
If something doesn’t spark joy, then you should think about getting rid of it.
My mom helped me use Marie Kondo’s method and go through her steps. The first step is to imagine your ideal lifestyle. Then you can have a plan in mind when you start sorting through your stuff. This was very helpful to me, because I had to constantly remind myself that I will have to move everything multiple times and there is a limit to the amount of stuff I can carry. Another helpful tip my mom uses is if you haven’t worn or used a thing in the past 6 months, you will likely not use it again and someone else will make better use out of it. Rather than your clothes collecting dust in your closet, they would be put to much greater use with someone who will wear them and cherish the clothes. The second rule I learned a lot from is to ask yourself if it sparks joy. Marie Kondo recommends that you put everything you own into one pile, for example put all of your clothes into one pile, to see how much you’re dealing with. Then you go through each garment and ask yourself; “does this spark joy?” If it does, then keep it and if it doesn’t, get rid of it, because there is no use in keeping things that do not spark joy for you.
I think that Marie Kondo is a great example of the Buddhist idea of non-attachment. I am definitely not an expert on non-attachment, but cleaning out and using the KonMari method has helped me clean my physical space and to “clean” my mind as well, without as much clutter I feel more free and less stressed. It is so hard to practice non-attachment, which is why I have to practice it by doing things like Marie Kondo-ing everything I own.
Letting go of attachments to some things that no longer need to be in your life is hard, but I think it is worth it.
I personally can attest to how difficult letting things go is. One time, when I was around 7, I cried for an entire day because my mom told me that we were replacing our oven. I have always been so sentimental and so attached to everything, even things like our old oven or our minivan that my dad sold.
I interpret non-attachment as the act of letting go of the attachments you have to things, relationships, people, etc. that you really don’t need. That might seem harsh, but in the end I am better off without those friends whose friendships were shallow or those pants I only wore once.
Non-attachment definitely doesn’t mean to let go of all of your relationships and material things, but I think it means to let go of the ones, as Marie Kondo puts, that do not spark joy.
