Clutter. It’s something we all deal with, or, at the very least, something we’re in a constant battle to avoid. Normally, the hardest part of cleaning a messy room is the decision-making process. What should you keep? What will you get rid of? Esteemed organizing consultant, Marie Kondo, has designed a globally recognized tidying method to completely declutter your home or office.

What’s difficult about getting rid of the old items is the fact that many of them are attached to important memories. Saying goodbye can be tough—you’ll wonder down the road if one day you might feel a longing for a certain item or a whole group of items. Kondo understands the mental hurdles involved, in addition to the physical labor. The KonMari method can be broken down into a few different parts to help you understand the basics.

Asking the right question

Instead of leaving you with anxiety about what to trash and what to keep, the KonMari method asks a simple question: “should I keep this?” All Kondo asks is if the item in question sparks joy for you. If it does, the item is worth keeping. This has proven to be an extremely effective way to handle the emotional and sentimental aspects of tidying a space.

Dividing up the work

When cleaning up a home, the most common way to approach things would be to clean room by room. The KonMari method takes a different approach. Kondo says to tidy your clothes first, then books, papers, miscellany, and mementos. These can be broken down into subcategories, as well. For instance, clothes should be broken down by tops, bottoms, jackets, socks, and so on. The idea here is to have all of one type of item tidied at once, so that when considering which items to keep, you have all your options in front of you.

All about the details

There are many parts to this process that might seem tedious, but Kondo insists that each detail is essential to the way your home looks and how you’ll feel about it. The KonMari method is keen on taking care of the entire tidying process in one go. By doing this, it’s less likely for you to give in to old habits along the way, and you can spend all your time tidying in the right mindset. Another detail Kondo includes is that this should be a private experience. She mentions to avoid letting your family be included in this process unless you are deciding whether to discard one of their personal items.

Saying goodbye to things is difficult, but the KonMari method is something that anyone can benefit from. No matter if your home just needs a bit of tidying up for a change of season, or if it needs a total overhaul, the KonMari method will leave you and your home looking and feeling totally refreshed.