THAT MINIMAL LIFE
If ever there was a perfect time to start decluttering, it’s now. Here’s our guide for some lockdown therapy
With the lockdown affecting millions of people across the globe, it seems as good a time as any to think about thinning out the clutter in your home. While decluttering yields neater cupboards and drawers, leading to greater efficiency, psychologists also say a minimal approach to our “stuff” brings a sense of lightness and wellbeing.
Sustainably speaking, opting for quality over quantity results in us leaving a lighter footprint on the earth. Plus you can donate your extra belongings to charity organisations that really need them.
1 SPARK JOY
Marie Kondo, who is a major advocate of minimising clutter, rose to fame after the airing of her Netflix series Tidying up with Marie Kondo. She has a characteristically Japanese respect for things — such as thanking items before parting with them, which brings a rare element of gratitude to our materialistic society.
The KonMari method in a nutshell:
Make mountains:
Making a physical heap of all your clothing or hauling out all your kitchenalia puts things into perspective before you embark on the journey.
Have a vision: You need to know what you want to achieve and be able to envision the results.
Tidy by category: Sentimental items or books should be tackled separately. Finish each category before another is started. Fold: To save space, Kondo folds clothing smaller and smaller and stores items upright on their sides, rather than piled flat.
Spark joy: This is classic Kondo — hold each object and ask yourself just one question in deciding whether to keep it or not: does it spark joy for you? konmari.com
2 ENLIST A PRO
Louise Park-Ross is a Cape Townbased personal stylist and a stylist in the advertising industry. She supports having less and only having what you love. On Instagram @lovingthelookbabe, ParkRoss broadcasts fantastic styling videos, one of which is a wardrobe cleanse for artist Michael Chandler. “I help curate what you own, to maximise your wardrobe and your life,” she says. We asked her for some of her top tips:
The cull
Make Yes, No and Maybe piles and cull by category (ie pants, tops, dresses). Be quick and decisive. Don’t get distracted with the Maybe pile — this can be dealt with when you enlist my services and I hand over my secrets ;)
The storage
Hang what needs to be hung and fold what needs to be folded. Hanging T-shirts and jerseys compromises the integrity of the garment and, anyway, nobody likes droopy shoulders.
The organising
Organise your hanging and folding by category and by colour, moving from darkest to lightest, longest to shortest and left to right. This makes it easy to find what you want.
The night before
Plan to wear those special clothes more often. Lay out tonight what you’re going to wear tomorrow. In other words, you can’t trust your morning brain. louiseparkross@gmail.com
3 TAKE A CHALLENGE
Created by Courtney Carver, whose Project 33 Challenge went viral last year. Essentially, you select and wear just 33 items of clothing (including shoes and accessories, but excluding sleepwear, underwear and lounge wear) for three months. At the end of that time you’ll realise just how little you can live with. bemorewithless.com/project-333
4 DONATE & GIVE AWAY
There are many charities to which you can donate clothing and household items. These are just a few: Hospice, Salvation Army, Nkosi’s Haven, Joburg Child Welfare and animal rescue organisations like Kitty and Puppy Haven and SPCA.