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Carolien is happy to give you a crash course in the KonMari decluttering method

Living together was one of the most exciting events of my life: all personal space becomes shared space and there are also some new rules to consider. I can no longer leave last week's laundry lying around, that pile of papers on the table needs to be cleared away every day, and my husband hates all those knick-knacks and trinkets that I consider decoration, but he sees as ‘visual noise’. And so I gradually said goodbye to my strange gadget addiction and the singing dog cookie jar, two beautiful Katherine’s Collection dolls (‘either those creepy dolls go or I go’, well, then I really had to make a choice) and frog paintbrushes as curtain holders are now at the bulk waste... The big downside: within a year, the amount of ‘trinkets’ was back to the old level and I had to quickly come up with something so that my husband wouldn't throw me out of despair at the bulk waste.

Entering Marie Kondo: a slender, lovely Japanese woman who claims her method will declutter both your home and your inner self. This decluttering guru believes your life will change if you bring order and peace to the space around you. You guessed it: after this discovery, Jon showed up the next day with a gift for me. The book also contains a few hilarious passages, in which according to Marie, you must personally thank every item you use each day, from keys to the floor and spaces in your home, for their services. I’ll skip that part for now, but the KonMari decluttering method has now been fully integrated into the Karthaus-Spoor household and we rid ourselves of all material ballast once a year. And believe me: your home literally feels a lot lighter as soon as those garbage bags full of items cross the threshold. I would love to give you a crash course in the KonMari decluttering method so you can get started at home right away.

  1. The first and also the hardest step is ‘getting rid of stuff’. Marie Kondo teaches us to be very strict about this. ‘I'll keep this for later’ is absolutely no excuse to not throw something away. Everything you haven't used in the past years must go.
  2. Work by category. I downloaded a handy checklist online (google ‘Kon Mari checklist’) and work through the list from top to bottom. This way, you declutter more thoroughly. Items from one category are often spread across several rooms.
  3. Extremely important during decluttering: bring out all items and lay them out in front of you. This way, you can see much better how much you have of something
  4. Very important according to Marie Kondo: everything in your home must bring you joy. When in doubt about whether something should stay or not, you should ask yourself each time if an item makes you happy. I kept asking myself about all my clothing items: does it feel good, does it make me happy when I wear it? If the answer is no, then it goes away.
  5. With papers, photos, and books, you should ask yourself each time if it still has value. You can find every manual online, and that one postcard from a friend has already served its purpose when you read it for the first time; now it’s just ‘emotional ballast’.
  6. I found rearranging the closet the most fun: from now on, you roll your clothes up and store them ‘standing’ in drawers. This way, you have more space and a better overview of what you have.