Last Sunday I decided that I hated having dish rack in my kitchen. The darn thing was always piled with half put together kid’s cups and a random dusty fork.
So I emptied it, took it off the counter, wiped it down, and put it away in a cabinet.
Such a small change made such a big difference. Sounds crazy, but I really disliked it. And now it was gone. refreshing.
Then I remembered The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up that I had read a few months back- “Does it spark joy? or in my slightly less enthusiastic words, “does this make me happy?”
Turned out not many things on my kitchen counters did. When I was done clearing and cleaning I was left with this…
and this. Clear counters topped only with things that make me happy. Yes, my fancy German knives make me happy.
Now, before you get all crazy on me about my house being too clean, my living room looks like this by 8 am
But here’s the difference. Usually I would be going all no wire hangers by 10 am bc I can’t stand all the mess.
But now, when it gets all messy (AKA played in, which it should be), I simply walk into my newly cleared out, happy place kitchen and am all like
Hell Yes. I am instantly relaxed because there’s a place my eyes can settle that feels like my space, filled only with things that make me happy, that is not covered in kid’s items. My son wins because I am happy to leave his play area the way he wants it which really extends his play, and I win because I have a visually peaceful place to take a break.
There are rules from the book I don’t follow bc I just can’t seem to manage it with two kids. I joined a konmari facebook group and, after I had a good laugh about how freaked out people were about following the RULES I promptly exited that situation. We should all know right now that I cannot follow rules.
But the single principle I did take from the book- the idea of focusing on what makes me happy and what I want to keep rather than what I want to get rid of -the book’s concept has really been transformative. Up next, the master bedroom, then the living room/dining room.
Happy nesting 🙂
