As the weather starts to warm up, it's that time of the year again to bust open your doors
and frolic under the sun.
But before you do, you may wanna organize your home base first, and if you wanna get
a head start on the hectic seasons of spring and summer, you may begin spring cleaning
as early as now.
The biggest part of spring cleaning is getting rid of clutter.
Back in 2013, Marie Kondo (or Marie Kondo--as how she likes her name pronounced) has a book
about decluttering titled The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up which surged into popularity
and became a #1 New York Times best-seller.
Now she has a Netflix show called Tidying Up, and her trademark Konmari method of decluttering
achieved global reach, and her book now became an international bestseller too.
However, not everyone is comfortable with her method which in all honesty can get pretty
extreme.
In her book with 103 pages, the word "throw" (and some variations of it) appeared 39 times
while the word "donate" was only used 6 times.
With many people particularly in the 3rd world countries not having enough, throwing instead
of donating doesn't exactly sound like expressing gratitude.
Some aspects of the Konmari method are actually effective and this video is by no means a
hate video against Marie Kondo which is an amazing, sweet and lovely person overall.
It's just a matter of compatibility with your belief system and those who don't really need
an extreme way of doing spring cleaning and simply want a more balanced approach may find
actual peace and joy in applying Feng Shui instead.
In Feng Shui, the general approach is to ensure that all natural elements are working harmoniously.
That means everything should be in a state of balance.
While there really isn't a step-by-step method on how to deal with clutter in Feng Shui like
in the KonMari method, clutter is also problematic in feng shui, and it should be avoided because
it blocks good chi or energy from flowing easily in our homes, and prevents us from
fully welcoming abundance in our lives.
To help you decide which method works best for you, this video will show a side-by-side
comparison of Feng Shui and Marie Kondo's Konmari method in decluttering our homes.
#1 The right sequence of decluttering
In the Konmari method, there is the best sequence of tidying up things which is the following:
clothes first, followed by books, then papers, then knick knacks or miscellaneous items,
and finally items with sentimental value.
She states that following this order will train you to discern better on which items
to keep and which ones to discard, and starting with something easier like clothes versus
sentimental items like old letters for instance will help you progress faster.
Marie Kondo also stresses that organizing little by little or even per room is not effective
because it will leave you feeling less accomplished compared to tackling items per category in
your home all at once.
In Feng Shui on the other hand, though there isn't an exact rule to declutter per room,
there is an unspoken tendency to do so one room or location at a time since you're not
merely addressing clutter in a certain space, you're also actually finding cures and optimal
position of objects in a certain room for a certain period.
Depending on factors such as the direction of flying stars in a year, as well as your
kua number and even your own intuition, you may prioritize whichever room, or zone, or
bagua is most dangerous or problematic and deal with that first.
For some people, this feels more encouraging because they not only immediately see but
also directly experience the effect of a tidy and "cured" room, and it's just a matter of
being disciplined enough in maintaining that state as they proceed in tidying up and "curing"
the next room or bagua.
#2 The schedule for tidying up
Though Marie Kondo preaches that "Tidying is a special event.
Don't do it everyday," in page 20 of her book, she mentioned that there are two types of
tidying: one is the daily tidying which is simply putting things back in their place
after use, and the second one is what she calls as "special event tidying" which she
dubs as a "once-in-a-lifetime task" of tidying up and putting your home in order.
She states that once you're fully done in decluttering per category all at once--either
once in your lifetime or once in a blue moon, you'll finally achieve the spic-and-span lifestyle
that you want.
Having this peaceful orderly lifestyle is the #goal, and once you achieve it, the Konmari
method ensures that you won't suffer from struggling daily in trying to maintain order
in your home.
Feng shui on the other hand doesn't approach decluttering as a once-in-a-lifetime task.
Aside from having a proper one-on-one consultation with a feng shui master being encouraged before
every special occasion such as Lunar Year, moving to a new home and having a wedding--
applying feng shui should be done actively, at least once a year especially since the
flying stars fly in different directions every year and have ever-changing impact not only
in our homes but also in our lives.
Having a spic-and-span highly organized home isn't the main goal of feng shui--it's just
a means to another end, and that end is having a #blessed life filled with abundance.
Speaking of abundance...
#3.
The philosophy in decluttering
In page 90 of her book, Marie Kondo shared how she realized that "letting go is more
important than adding."
For natural hoarders who want to switch into a minimalist lifestyle, her approach may be
more appealing.
The KonMari method encourages people to be not attached and let go of things that don't
bring joy and purpose anymore in their lives, and only stick to a few items that do.
In page 50, she mentioned that she currently keeps only 30 volumes of books for example--
which is her personal ideal number but not necessarily everyone else's.
This caused a major uproar among book lovers and has even become a meme on its own.
Before anyone raises more pitchforks, Marie Kondo clarified in an interview with IndieWire
that she doesn't encourage people to get rid of their books per se.
She simply wants them to look within and discover what they value the most.
If it's just information from the book, then it's best to extract that information as soon
as possible and discard the book especially in Japan where's it's usually humid, books
don't store and age well.
But if books themselves spark joy especially among collectors and they're able to store
them properly, then by all means keep them.
In feng shui, decluttering isn't really a part of it because for those who regularly
practice feng shui, clutter shouldn't even exist.
To quote Howard Choy, an International Feng shui Master and Lecturer: "Decluttering is
like putting on a clean set of clothes.
But does it really change a person?"
This opens up a discussion on addressing clutter as a possible hoarding issue, and use a different
kind of therapy instead of both feng shui and konmari method to address any underlying
issue that causes excessive hoarding.
Though part of feng shui is prevention and also neutralizing and giving cures to any
inauspicious stars and positions, again the main goal of feng shui is balance and harmony,
clearing any stagnant energy and optimizing "good luck" to allow abundance to freely flow in.
#4 Decluttering with the family
There's actually a lesser known but more controversial section of Marie Kondo's book which is at
page 29 that says "Don't let your family see."
Here, she states to not let your family see what items you're throwing out while decluttering
to avoid feeling guilty yourself and offending them.
Though thankfully Marie Kondo now stresses on dealing with your own items only after
getting strained relations with her family from throwing out items that didn't belong
to her but belong to some of her family members (as she admitted in her book), sometimes we're
not the best judge of what's actually valuable and another member of the family can even
help.
Feng shui on the other hand can also be used to foster family harmony, and feng shui techniques
can even be applied together as a family.
Since it doesn't require to throw away stuff and even encourages fixing things that still
can be fixed, you and your family are free to keep what each of you find valuable and
encourages openness instead of being secretive about throwing out things.
You never know, what you personally find meaningless now, may actually be worth a million times
more once that family member dies, such as a painting, or a drawing back in childhood
days especially if that family member also becomes a distinct figure or celebrity.
As the saying goes: “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.”
If you’re wondering how much your ordinary clutter is worth, websites such as eBay or
Amazon can help.
#5 Approach to tidying up
While Marie Kondo's method of tidying up is more focused on a micro level such as how
clothes should be folded and how other items should be stored as shown in her Netflix videos,
Feng Shui has a more macro approach, always keeping good balance and energy flow in mind.
If you like or find both ways effective and have trouble choosing which one to use, you
can actually use both this way: use feng shui as a general guideline on how to position
certain items in your home such as your bed and what colors or decor elements to use at
a certain direction and period; then use konmari method in sorting items in their respective
containers.
When it comes to paper though, Marie Kondo insists that you keep all papers in a single
spot instead of different parts of your home, and if possible, discard all of them and go
paperless.
But in feng shui, as long as the papers are organized in a way that makes sense to you
and no bills are in sight at your wealth corner then you're all good.
If there's annoyance or any overwhelming feeling caused by some paper clutter, then it means
there's actually an imbalance on the Wood Element which can be neutralized by adding
a Metal Element such as a metal file cabinet for storing highly important documents and
also a paper shredder for transforming other papers into a compost pile or fertilizer instead
of merely throwing them away.
#6 Finding deepest value
The most popular concept in the Konmari method is finding that spark of joy in each item.
If you find it, then good for you and that item, and it means you can keep it.
If not, then you can dispose it.
But there are those who question this method especially for tools that don't necessarily
bring joy but are highly useful such as a screwdriver or toilet brush.
Before you discard an item that doesn't spark joy, the Konmari method also requires you
to say "thank you" to that item for serving whatever it's purpose was in the past.
When it comes to feng shui, while it doesn't require you to ask if an items sparks joy,
it asks for common sense.
Some people even equate feng shui with common sense since most of the teachings there have
an inherent logical basis.
An example would be the feng shui advice of not sitting with the back facing a door.
Of course it makes sense to do this since it's better to see who comes through the door
and avoid any nasty surprises.
There's nothing in feng shui that requires you to thank an object, but in applying feng
shui, you don't only see a certain area as good but also feel it.
And when you and other people feel good in an area, it promotes harmonious relations
that make you feel thankful to those people as well, especially the actual person or giver
of the items that you might say "thank you" at if you're following the konmari method.
Once you thank the person instead of the object itself, you'll experience a shift in perspective.
#7 Discovering the real purpose of tidying up and decluttering
While the KonMari method states that "when you put your house in order, you put your
affairs and your past in order too", Feng shui on the other hand is opening doors to
get ready for what the future will bring.
Both methods never directly addressed the root cause of clutter (which may be consumerism,
and can be addressed by another method which is Minimalism), the KonMari method is simply
a way to manage your existing clutter and at the same time get rid of them, while Feng
Shui actually assumes that you don't have any issue about clutter anymore, and you're
both physically and psychologically ready to optimize the chi or energy flowing through
your home and life.
Though both methods can be inspiring especially during spring cleaning, like any workout,
love or financial advice, the take away of this video is simply do what personally works
for you.
And whatever works for you, let us know down the comments below!
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