Beautiful.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Look at the light in this one!
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
What a lovely day this was.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Why do you want braces? Look how beautiful your teeth are! They’ve got a personal touch.
My dad sat by the kitchen table. The early autumn sun was intense and he held up a hand to cover the photo he was scrutinising, from the bright light.
He went through the photos to choose which ones would have the honour of ending up in his photo album. I can tell you, it was not many at all.
Recap
We have reached the last category of the KonMari Method™: Sentimental items/memories.
Marie Kondo is the ultimate declutter queen, and if you’re new to tidying and decluttering, I urge you to first read these blog posts: clothes, books, papers and miscellaneous, where I go through the previous categories in her tidying process.
There’s a reason why Kondo wants you to go through the categories in this order and do the sentimental items last. As you work yourself through the different categories, you’ll hone in on the skill of keeping what «Sparks Joy», which is the main object in The KonMari Method™.
So when you get to the last category, sentimental items/memories, you have already been practising and confronted such a significant number of things, so you will now be capable of judging sentimental items without being overwhelmed.
In short, The KonMari Method™ main object is to keep what «Sparks Joy».
And the first step is to tidy by category, not by location.
The second step is to determine a place – a home - for everything you decide to keep.
Sentimental items / memories
Some things we don’t want to be reminded of and some things bring back sweet and fun memories.
Kondo says, if you cannot bring yourself to throw something away, keep it with confidence. Trust your instincts, which you have already honed by choosing what to keep and what to discard. The day will come when you know that it has fulfilled its job. Memories that are truly precious will never be forgotten, even if we discard an item associated with them.
And she continues, this question will help you along the way:
“Will the future me need this to spark joy?“
Use this as your criterion to confront each item and put your past self in order.
Some tips:
Here are some of the common subcategories within sentimental items:
Spiritual Kondo
At the end of the day, Kondo says, people are unable to discard things either because they are attached to the past or afraid of the future.
I don’t need it but should I keep it in memory of… it might come in handy one day…
This part is really why I’m such a big fan of Kondo. Her KonMari Method is not just very practical and quite radical; it’s also so spiritual. You confront yourself, your past and your future, in a very tangible way.
Kondo explains, when we hang on to the past and are scared of the future, decluttering becomes blurry. We can’t see what we need, what will satisfy us, or what we’re really seeking. This spills over into other areas such as our relationships, our jobs and actually our whole lives.
Kondo points out that your life “now” is more important than memories of the past. We live in this moment.
Photo albums
I used to think that my dad was too harsh when selecting the photos for his albums. But over the years I have gone through them so many times, and I don’t get bored, because there are not 50 pictures of the same object
I love to flick through them, get thrown back for a few minutes and then continue with the day.
I like picking up an album and seeing my old Dracula smile, even if I am actually so glad that I ended up getting braces. My dad agreed, since he is a dentist after all, it’s much easier to clean between the teeth if it’s a bit less crowded.
Today, in the digital world, I have and I presume you have too, thousands of photos. And personally, I seldom go through them, which is such a shame.
Well, since I’ve been practising the KonMari Method ™ for a while, I’ve got no excuse. I will be doing some scrutinising myself of all the digital photos, and maybe print out a paper photo album or two, since I like flipping through them.
And by the way, as always when you’re tidying and clearing out, don’t forget to do some ground cleaning at the same time. As always, I’m recommending our all-purpose cleaning product Ecoclean, which you’ll find right here.
