Adventures in Polishland

Happy Wednesday! Today I’m continuing to share my journey implementing the KonMari method with all of you. If you want to learn more about what the method is and why I decided to declutter my home in this way, please read the first blog post in this series HERE. I decided to follow Marie Kondo’s advice as closely as I can, so after decluttering my clothing, I moved right on to the clothing accessories, or what she calls clothing komono. This includes bags, shoes, jewelry, scarves, hats, and so on. Today I will be showing you some photos from this step in my tidying campaign, and sharing the experience I had with each category.

The clothing komono category may be tackled all at once, or in smaller sections. I decided to break down all of my clothing accessories so it would be easier to see how much I had in each category. I used a spare sheet as a drop cloth over my bed again (and you will see this in every blog post!). I find that helps to make sure no dirt or dust ends up on my bed, as that is the best surface in my bedroom on which to work.

 

BAGS

I began decluttering my bags first. This included all of my handbags, backpacks and duffle bags, travel pouches, and tote bags. I used to own a lot of handbags, but I only have a couple right now, so that was easy to narrow down right away. I ended up donating a ton of reusable tote bags, mainly the ones that weren’t very strong or were for brands I didn’t love. I also donated a lot of makeup bags and other pouches. I didn’t love most of the pouches I owned, so it wasn’t difficult to let go of them. While I use pouches a lot, I still only need a few. As for storing my bags, I put the ones dedicated to travel inside my luggage set, and then I stored the rest in a giant canvas tote that lives in my closet.

SCARVES, HATS, + GLOVES

Next up I tackled all of my scarves, hats, and gloves. I used to own a ton of scarves, but was fine with that in the past because I wore them regularly. You can even see what my giant scarf collection looked like a few years ago in THIS blog post! I now wear one scarf regularly, and it is rare I use another one. When using the KonMari method, I found that I was able to declutter many scarves I crocheted myself in the past. While I appreciate the memories associated with each item, they no longer spark joy because they were made with colors I don’t like any longer, or because they have been worn so much they were quite ratty. I donated the ones in good condition. I also donated some hats I no longer like and a spare pair of earmuffs.

What’s really exciting is that my entire collection of scarves, hats, and gloves now fits in a small plastic tote I keep on a shelf in my closet. As shown in the photos above, I used the KonMari folding method for my scarves, and layered other items on top. This allowed me to donate the scarf hanger I’ve used for years and freed up a bunch of space in my closet!

JEWELRY + HAIR ACCESSORIES

I recently did a big clear-out of my jewelry and hair accessories, so I didn’t think I’d have much to get rid of in these categories. I was wrong! I love that the KonMari method forces you to gather items from every area of the home at once. I knew I had some jewelry pieces in my nightstand, but I found a bunch more I totally forgot about in there, too! Same with hair accessories – I forgot I had a stash of headbands in a drawer. I rarely wear jewelry or hair accessories, so it was quite easy to declutter the items that no longer spark joy. In the photo above you can see all of the jewelry I’m donating. The pile I kept is much smaller, and mainly includes family heirlooms and other higher end pieces I’ve been given over the years. As for my hair accessories, I’ve only kept what I really need and a few pieces from my childhood that still spark joy, such as a Mickey Mouse bow.

SHOES

The last category in clothing komono is shoes. Despite thinking I had already narrowed down my shoe collection, I found six pairs that no longer sparked joy for me, including three that were so worn they needed to be thrown away. They might not look too bad in this photo, but in real life they were quite gross!

The shoes I’m keeping include my winter boots, a few pairs of heels, and some casual shoes that I wear regularly. The Converse and Sperry shoes you see in the front row are shoes that I want to declutter because they no longer spark joy, but that I need to keep for practicality’s sake. I no longer want to wear real leather, so once the Sperry shoes are worn out, I will get something new. However, I cannot afford to replace them at the moment. Similarly, I no longer enjoy wearing bright pink Converse, but they are the most comfortable shoes I own, so I am keeping them until I can afford to purchase another pair of comfortable sneakers. I’ve made a note of this in my planner to I can prepare for these purchases.

THOUGHTS ON CLOTHING KOMONO

This category can seem a bit overwhelming to tackle at first because there are so many sub-categories that fall within it. Thankfully, the entire process of tidying my clothing komono only took me one hour and 55 minutes. I know this is due, in part, to me already decluttering many of the items in these categories over the past two years. However, I also think this went quickly because I’m starting to really understand what sparks joy and what doesn’t. Storing these items was also quite easy, as I already had storage in mind. If your clothing komono categories contain many more items than mine, feel free to break up this process over multiple days. Perhaps you need an entire day for just handbags – that’s totally fine! Make the KonMari method work for your own personal needs. I know I look forward to continuing my tidying campaign using this method!

Do you find it easy or difficult to declutter clothing accessories? Let me know in the comments!