Hey all! I know, I know, I stepped away from the blog last March, leaving you all in ANTICIPATION of what happened in the Great Satchel Hunt of 2017, but I swear, it was for reasons. Good reasons for me, good reasons for this blog, real reasons! (Spoiler alert, he chose a Roots bag, happy?)

Over the last six months, there's been a lot of change in my life. Health wise, I had something taken care of that has been affecting me for years and that took a bit of an adjustment. I also ended my last job and started a brand new one in late March! I travelled a bit for training for my new job, started really digging in and then poof, it was May and I was exhausted!

And during this time of change, I realized a few things. I think on top of all these changes, one of the reasons I haven't been blogging in awhile was because I constantly felt anxious and irritated at my living situation because my condo has been teeming with STUFF. Clothes, shoes, books, dishware, paper, boxes, yada yada. And a lot of the 'stuff' I've been carrying around has been from the more nomadic times in my life. Now that I own my own place, I've found myself being a lot pickier with what I bring into the house, but I still found myself surrounded by way too much of everything that I had brought along with me.

Fast forward to this spring. After spending over a year and a half in a job where I worked from home three days a week, my new job required me to be in the office. and I found myself wasting so much time with outfits in the morning, because I had so much unflattering/boring CRAP stuffed in my closet and dresser. So, in typical Danielle fashion, I took it to the next level. I needed a drastic kick in the butt to get things started, so I picked up an audiobook of Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and got crackin'.

For those who haven't heard of Marie Kondo or the KonMari method, it's basically an organizing and decluttering method based on Japanese values, which includes concept of minimalism and Zen, and I find it's REALLY GOOD for people who live in small homes or condos (or those in big homes who are tired of being a receptacle for everyone elses storage!). It helps you to stop relying on having 'places' to store all the stuff you don't want or even necessarily need, while also making sure you're organizing what is left in a useful and efficient way.

Those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook may have seen my posts from a few weeks ago of PILES of clothes, shoes, bags and coats. The method is very simple but it does require dedication. To rid myself of excess I needed to literally CASCADE all items of a certain type in front of myself visually while I purged, and while I've purged clothes before, I've never been this disciplined.

Instead of trying each item of clothing on to determine if it fit BEFORE I determined if I liked it, I did the opposite. I looked at items and if it didn't spark joy, I chucked it. THEN once I had picked all the stuff I liked, I purged even further by trying those items on to see if they even still fit. Thanks to this twist, I ended up filling over four blue Ikea bags of shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, belts, hats, shoes, purses and more. I'm literally down to THREE skirts and I got rid of EIGHTEEN PAIRS OF SHOES.

And I've never felt better. All the clothes I currently have in my closet are things that, as the book says 'bring me joy'. While I know there are things I will continue to move through (a blouse that's become too tight, or a dress that is out of style) the stuff I currently have is stuff that I can trust to fit, work well, and be something I like to wear. I've cut down my wardrobe planning, I've stopped stressing myself out in the morning, and I've learned how to make my oddly-shaped sock and underwear drawer SO MUCH MORE EFFICIENT.

I think the best thing about this project was that I've managed to rid myself of all kinds of 'in-between' things I received as hand-me-downs, or in swaps. These were often clothes I brought into my house when I didn't really have money to buy clothes I actually liked. So it's great because I don't have to live like that anymore and can enjoy what I own.

While I find myself doing periodic purges of my makeup collection (life is too short to spend trying to finish a shitty eyeliner that smudges or mascara that clumps!) I've also taken this method around the home and completed a purge of our kitchen-ware, and next up is what will be a PAINFUL cull of our books, sentimental items, paper and 'Komono' (miscellaneous items) in the coming weeks. I am seriously going to dread ART as we have so many signed paintings and pieces that are just collecting dust.

Have you ever done the Kon Mari method? Did it help? What would you recommend next? I'm itching to get my home into order!