Are you a conscious declutterer?

06 Mar Are you a conscious declutterer?

The KonMari craze is everywhere. I visited a client last week who has been ‘KonMari-ing’ and rediscovered many photographs she hadn’t seen for a long time. And a Mum at school was telling me about her progress with decluttering after watching the Netflix series recently.

I read Marie Kondo’s book ‘The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up’ several years ago and many of her suggestions weren’t for me. Being an ironer, I couldn’t get on board with her method of rolling/folding. And I am probably not going to thank my handbag for its service at the end of each day before emptying all contents and putting it away – who has time for that! And let’s face it, I didn’t really need to read the book or watch the series for inspiration – I have always been a ‘chucker’ as my family call me. ‘Stand still long enough and she will throw me out’ is a regular joke in our household; clutter has always made me anxious.

But I did watch the Netflix series earlier this year, and it got me thinking about two key points that need to be highlighted on the path to ‘tidying up’.

1. Conscious disposal

For those who have been following Fairytales for a while, you will know that Mara and I have similar views on simplifying, the environment and sustainability. It’s all good and well to ‘tidy’ and I am all for regular decluttering, but once we have decided what we want to let go of, we need to be conscious about how to dispose of each item. Can it be gifted, repaired, recycled, upcycled, sold or donated before we lump everything together and send it off to landfill? Yes, it can be time consuming separating everything you wish to let go of and delivering them to various drop off or recycling centres. But you worked hard to purchase these items you no longer have a need or use for, and maybe someone else could use them. And you will be saving our environment at the same time.

2. Conscious consumption

One of the big points for me that has come out of regularly decluttering my possessions is being a conscious consumer. We are all victims of good marketing, Kmart’s low prices for current trend items and Aldi’s middle isles for a bargain. But in recent years, I have stopped before buying something new on a whim, put it back on the shelf and walked away. If I still think about and want that item a week later, then I go back and get it. But 95% of the time, I never think of it again.

Tidying up certainly makes us look at what we already have – often multiple and excess of many items. And makes us realise how much of our hard-earned money we have wasted on buying household or fashion items on a whim or because they are ‘on sale’ or going cheap. Only to store them away in the cupboard unused or throw them out when the trend changes.

So how do these two points tie in with organising or disposing of your photos (once they are digitised and backed up of course!)? If you have ‘tidied’ your physical photo collection and have photos to dispose of, we have previously shared ideas for how to reuse unwanted prints without sending them to landfill. And what about conscious consumption of photos? Take fewer photos in the moment!

Are you inspired by the KonMari Method of tidying up? Or is it not for you?

Have a magical day!

Jo