Turn It Up!: Category 1, Clothing

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“I’ve been waiting for this one! Turn it up.

—Lizzo

Who would love to feel the confidence of Lizzo when opening their closet and deciding what to wear? How would even a fraction of that confidence feel? Tidying up using the KonMari™ Method turns up the volume on our intuition and our confidence. 

We may have the volume way up on what other people think we need and what other people have brought into our lives, like that relative who shops A LOT for us or feels free to donate bags of clothing items to us.

Or maybe it’s not the noise of others. Maybe there's more than one voice in your head. The one who says you’ll need those maternity jeans again or what would you wear if you only wore items that brought joy? They might say, I don’t know what I love. I don’t have money to buy all joy sparking clothes, and it feels wasteful to let go of clothes that fit. I need clothes for work, and they don’t have to spark joy. Maybe the opposite. Shoes spark joy for you, and you have 80 pairs that you love. How many do you get to keep? (Answer: All of them.)

It might take some practice to separate the noise from the joy.

Tips for the clothing category:

  • Start by looking for clothes that definitely spark joy. Hold them and feel the joy. It doesn’t matter how often you wear it. That dress you wore to a few weddings that makes you feel like twirling? YES. The old faithful cardigan that returns to you like a trusted friend each fall? YEP. The dark jeans with a little stretch that you sometimes try to wear as work pants? SURE. If you know you love them and are keeping them, start there.

  • Sizes fluctuate? Of course they do…For clothes that are currently a different size from the one you’re wearing, ask yourself, would I be happy to see this return? (This also works for out-of-season clothes.)

  • Put aside sentimental clothing for the last category. (Examples: concert t-shirts, clothing from loved ones.) Don’t force yourself to make decisions on sentimental items if you’re not ready. That’s why the sentimental category is last in the KonMari Method™.

Whatever you are keeping, keep it with confidence. Keep it with all of the confidence of Lizzo and Missy Elliott in “Tempo.”  Even sparking a little bit of this confidence will have you moving through clothing and onto the next category. And if the confidence feels like it’s not there yet, trust that it will grow. Turn it up.

Megan SpillmanComment