For the last few months I’ve been lost in a book bubble. Every spare working hour has been spent writing. And while I love it, when it gets difficult I tend to fantasise about what I’ll do when the book is done and the bubble bursts and I’m freeeeee! This time I’ve been obsessing about decluttering. It started when I read an article about Marie Kondo and her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising.
Kondo’s mantra of only keeping things that bring you joy and her technique of folding clothes has lit a little fire of obsession in my brain. So when I was stuck on a particularly tricky part of my book revisions I took a break and refolded everything in my drawers. I was a folding demon! And am now an upright fold and stacker – my clothes are arranged like a filing cabinet. It’s life altering… Why did I not do this earlier? You can see everything (I found tops I’d forgotten I owned), you can fit more in so you don’t have to ram it all down to shut the drawer and nothing really gets creased. I’m a folding Konvert.
So next up is the rest of the flat. Not the folding but the bringing of joy bit. Room by room everything is going to have to prove its worth. I’m particularly looking forward to the storage cupboard which has become one of those places to shove something with half closed eyes and hope everything else doesn’t collapse on top of you. It most certainly doesn’t bring me joy. I can sense the stuff in there quaking in its boots, praying the book never gets finished.
My clutter shouldn’t worry too much though, I’m pretty sure that as soon as the book is done, and I have the time to do it, decluttering will hold much less appeal!
JENNY OLIVER 