When people start describing my one-bedroom apartment in Vancouver as “cozy,” I start thinking about apartment-hunting days where “cozy” has often been used to describe a place that is on the small side. Maybe even a place that is somewhat cramped. I have a generously sized main room, where I work from home, with my desk facing a large expanse of windows, work at my dining table (which is not in the little designated dining area), lounge on my sofa, and prepare meals/style Instagram and blog pics (in the “dining room”). My bedroom is fairly large, as well.
Vancouver is widely known as a city where rental prices are high, so I feel guilty for paying so much just to store a bunch of stuff that I don’t even like or need. I love the view from my apartment and the area where I live, but looking around at my apartment full of (what I think is) too much stuff, makes me feel anxious and less than rich.
To me, a rich life is not about having a ton of stuff, but having things (people, and experiences) in my life that bring me joy.
No moving = no tidying/decluttering marathon
With all this space comes the desire to store things and keep things that may not be serving me at the moment. I’ve lived in this apartment for 3 years, this month (happy anniversary to me!), so you can imagine the amount of things that have accumulated.
This is the longest I’ve lived in a single residence, since I moved out of my family’s home, over 15 years ago.
When my best friend and his wife moved overseas, last year, I happily inherited some furniture and small appliances. And since I sometimes (luckily) get to blog about small appliances, I can definitely pair down my collection a bit.
The KonMari Method
I was about to start an August decluttering challenge, when I found myself at my local bookstore. I had heard of Marie Kondo and her book (KonMari Method movement) The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, before, but seeing it on the shelf at the exact felt like nothing short of a sign. It was clear to me that I needed to buy this book!
I’ve mentioned decluttering a bit in the past, like when I was moving from one province to another. I talked about using the “beautiful or useful” guideline to get rid of things so that they didn’t need to be packed. Since I’m not packing anything to move, but creating a more organized and tidy space for myself, I’m going to take Marie Kondo’s advice and go through my apartment category by category, rather than room by room.
Kondo’s category method is different than anything I’ve done things in the past. I’m interested to see how much I will get rid of. I have a few things that I’ve been keeping to put in the home my mom said she’d be buying (which is no longer happening), so I’ll have to decide what to do when I come to that category of stuff.
I’ll check back in at the end of the month to update you on how it all went. If you’re looking for more information on the book and the whole KonMari Method, check out this Tidying Up site.
