Back in 2003 I was pregnant with my first child and after her *baby luau we were blessed with so much stuff. [*Hawaiian culture we celebrate their first birthday in a BIG way.] Over time the items felt overwhelming and her little world filtered into every space.
Then one day my Mom introduced me to a book she got from Barnes & Nobel. It was a declutter workbook and I got right to work. It didn't take long when I started researching more about the philosophy of FengShui. Eventually I started reading Asian Master's like Lillian Too, and dove deeper into it's culture.
For the next decade I would welcome and raise seven little ones, and boy was it messy, but it never stayed that way. Everything had it's place and some things had significant meaning in it's place. For instance; toys had a bin while a big leaf plant stood in a certain corner.
Every year the cycle would change and you would re-fresh your space, according to your astrological characteristic. Wow, that was a mouth full to say.
“BALANCE is an earned trait, one that takes persistence, consistency and constantly letting go!”
I stuck with my FengShui books for awhile until my Mom went home to Hawaii and met Master Lee. He's a Chinese man who moved to Hawaii to practice Feng Shui. Charts, numbers and ancient characters swirl in his brilliant mind. He has reasonable rates if your goal is peace and prosperity. I mean who can put a price tag on peace?
Eventually I began to venture outside of the FengShui realm because I wasn't interested in placing mini-figures or a smiling Buddha. That's when I opened my eyes to Minimalism. The beauty of less is more has a lot to do with value. Minimalism isn't a wall void of art, but it is a wall that defines space. It allows the viewer to rest their eyes on a simple image. I once met a woman who told me she was a Minimalist, I asked her about her practice. Basically her walls were bare and she had one couch. Yikes. And then she wondered why no one came over.
After a few years I found myself in transition. I had teenagers and needed to teach them how to keep their space organized and tidy. Imagine teaching teens about minimalism. That didn't work the way I imagined. Then an angel appeared in the form of a fairy like Japanese woman, Marie Kondo. She made a manga book to help people understand the JOY of tiding up. In fact her catch phrase is, "Spark Joy!" This tiny manga book revolutionized my home life.
My family wanted to learn more so we watched Marie Kondo share her KonMari Method on YouTube. I also found a video by Lavendaire about the folding process that Marie Kondo describes in her book. Here's a playlist of a few of my faves. I've also included a few books below.
