Decluttering More than Space
Keeping things tidy by decluttering the home is merely scratching the surface of what being orderly really means. Here's some thoughts on why we want to strive for it.
CARE
Nicole Lasam
8/19/20253 min read
When Marie Kondo shifted her mindset about mess, there came a great sigh of relief from parents everywhere. “There were as many reactions as there were followers and fans that I have around the world,” said Kondo in the article linked above from The Guardian. “But the overwhelming reaction was relatability rather than shock, surprise, or betrayal. More than messages saying: ‘What happened?’ were ‘Oh, I completely understand what you’re going through,’ and, ‘I thought so, too.’”
Kondo has reached a different stage in her life: having three children who would play with their toys and forget to put them back to the proper boxes on a constant basis can really change one's outlook about tidying up! More than that, she’s realized that spending time with her children was what really sparked her joy.
Putting things in order
I appreciate her comment because it helps moms remember the main reason for tidying up in the first place: we want a place for our families to be safe, healthy, and happy. Reading between the lines, I realize that (whether she meant to or not) Marie Kondo just showed her audience how to put things in order, that is, in perspective.
Orderliness does not just cover the physical space, after all. It digs deeper than simply tidying up and keeping things clean. Here, I list three ways to “declutter” not just the surroundings, but life in general.
1. Decluttering time. Space and time are peas in a pod—if you can declutter space, you can do the same for time. How does one “declutter” time? Making a schedule, keeping to it, and making good use of time. I know some friends who carry books in tote bags so that they have something to read while waiting in line. But more than simply knowing what to do with the little pockets of time we find in a day, decluttering time or being orderly with time means to be deliberate in planning out the day so that you are able to do more. This is crucial for busy people because everyone needs to put in a healthy amount of sleep and rest on top of all the work and caring that need to be done.
When you are deliberate with how you spend your time, fewer minutes will be wasted on doomscrolling or wandering aimlessly in shopping apps, and more can be put into, say, exercise or cooking a nicer meal for the family.
2. Putting thoughts in order. Do you forget many things? Do you need to stick a note on the door of the house so you don’t forget anything when you leave? That’s a symptom of not keeping one’s thoughts in order. We don’t remember every little thing, so it helps to write down notes—whether it is in a notebook or on your cellphone’s notepad is up to you!
Another way to put thoughts in order is to focus on the task at hand. Sure, multitasking is something many people are able to do these days with the help of technology, but the result of working on many things at once is often not the best anyway. Working haphazardly on something only to have to repeat it later is a recipe for wasting time (and that doesn’t help with number 1 above).
Keeping thoughts in order also means not having too many distractions. I don’t understand how some people can work on, say, a paper while having a video playing on the same screen. Again, multitasking might mean you’ll need to spend more time editing later than if you just focus now.
3. Priorities. If you know your priorities, it helps a lot in deciding which tasks to do first, and it puts in perspective why we do any of the daily tasks in the first place. Why do we work? cook? clean? take care of ourselves? When she “embraced the mess,” Kondo reminded many of her followers that it’s not about being “queen of clean,” it’s about knowing what really, really sparks joy.
Amid the hustle and bustle of things that need to be done (and the things we want to do) we know in the deep recesses of our consciousness (in the soul!) the things that really matter: staying true to the good, spreading the truth, appreciating the beautiful—all the while spreading love to our family, friends, and neighbors. This is the big “why” behind keeping things tidy: we want to create an atmosphere around us for others to feel welcome and loved. A simple chant we learned from school is “When I do something, I think of God first, others next, and myself the last.” When we put things in this perspective, everything falls in its place.