Having had multiple chronic illnesses myself for several years, I’ve learned to adapt. I observe others, take away what I find useful, and twist it to fit my own life. I make it work with my current energy and pain levels, or my available time.
Let me show you how you can conquer the KonMari Method with chronic illness. I can show you how to break it down to make it work for you.
If you’ve heard anything about the KonMari Method of decluttering and organizing, you probably thought to yourself, “there’s NO way I can do that”, or “that’s only for normal, healthy people.”
First of all, let me apologize to Marie Kondo, for what I’m about to tell you. Don’t get me wrong, I love her philosophy and her methods. How she shows people how they can transform their lives by purging and getting organized. However, these methods need a little a LOT of tweaking if you or someone in your household has a chronic illness.
Who is she?
First of all, if you don’t know who Marie Kondo is, you should. You can check out who she is and what she does on her website here. There’s also her show, “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” you can find on Netflix. She has written several books on organizing, including the New York Times #1 best selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and she is the founder of KonMarie Media, Inc.
I’ve watched the entire season of her Netflix show. I’ve read both of her books, “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, and “Spark Joy”. Most of her clients had large blocks of time and space to dedicate to going through her process. Don’t let this keep you from trying it out for yourself. I highly suggest giving it a go.
If you don’t have a lot of time, space or energy, you can still apply her methods to your home with some creative adaptations.
If you are someone like me and you have limited spoons (energy/brain power) from dealing with chronic illness, you’ll have to make some adjustments to suit your needs. The end result will be the same, and only you and I will know how you got there!
The KonMari Method, with a twist
So, when you read the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, it outlines how to tackle your belongings, step by step. One category at a time, go through items one by one, donate what you can, thank the items you’re getting rid of. Seems easy enough, right?
But you don’t get the full scope of just how big of a project using this method can be. Until you watch the show. In her books and on the show, the clients she had were assigned a task of gathering everything in one category, and putting in one place.
I mean everything.
When you can see just how monumental this task is, it becomes very daunting for someone with chronic illness. When you see everything in one place, the entirety of a wardrobe piled up on a bed and you can’t tell there is a bed under all of those clothes, or the stacks of books that swallow up a room that make it impossible to get from one side to the other, this can be overwhelming.
I don’t know about you, but that’s what I’m trying to avoid!
It’s a great idea, and it works for many people and their families. But when it comes to someone with chronic illness, utilizing this organizing style can be challenging, but with a few tweaks, it can be done.
First, it would take a huge amount of mostly uninterrupted time for a normal person/family to sort through their belongings this way. For someone with chronic illness, it would be impossible to do in the same way. I understand why she does it, it’s just the how that’s not feasible for you and me.
Having chronic illness means being super careful about how we use what little energy we have, and not overdoing it. If we overdo it, we could end up physically or mentally paying for it the next day, or it could put us out of commission for days.
Break it down
So let’s look at it this way:
Alternatively, instead of tackling all of your clothes all at once, spending precious energy carrying clothes (if you can) into one location so that you can sort them, tackle them one, I repeat, ONE location at a time.
For example, if you have only 30 minutes to spare, pick ONE area. One dresser drawer. Maybe 10 clothes hangers worth of the clothes hanging in a closet, or the clothes you’ve accidentally left in the dryer for three days. (I’ve never done this I swear. Okay maybe just once. This week. Or today. Yeah, just once today.)
If I am waiting for the dryer, or watching a show on Netflix, I’ll take out one entire drawer of my dresser. Or a box from when we moved here four years ago *shudder* and dump it out on my bed. I sort through it while I’m watching a show, or watching a class online.
I love and regularly put into practice her folding methods, which are fantastic. It allows you to see everything you have at a glance, and makes the use of storage space much more efficient.
Plus you’re not spending precious time looking for something in a mess.
Bonus.
I have been using her folding techniques for clothing for about a year. I’ve been doing it now for long enough that it’s almost second nature.
Spending 5, 10, 15 or even 30 minutes at a time working towards decluttering, purging and organizing belongings, is better than not spending any time making progress. Any progress is GOOD progress.
Conquer it
Pick one shelf, one box, one drawer, one cabinet, one closet. Whatever location you choose to tackle, make sure it’s just ONE. Take everything out. First, take what doesn’t belong there and go put it where it should have gone in the first place.
Then, go through what’s left.
Take out what doesn’t fit or doesn’t make you happy or feel good. Donate those items if they’re in good repair. What is in disrepair, fix it, or toss it.
Put back only what you need, what makes you smile, sparks your joy. Try to organize it in a way that makes sense for you.
Baby steps people, baby steps!
Let’s talk about laundry
This is where the plot twist is…
So the idea of purging and getting rid of an overabundance of belongings is great. However, I believe some items we should have a little more of than normal. Especially if you have to use a laundromat or a friend or relative’s washer and dryer. That’s an ordeal in itself.
If Marie Kondo saw my underwear and sock drawer, I’m guessing her skin would crawl. It’s not easy for me to do laundry, I’m not feeling well enough or I don’t have the time. I needed to find a way to either A – make it easier, or B – make it so I didn’t have to do it as often. And not leave me wearing dirty clothes. I do have one trick up my sleeve for you. Well, okay. Maybe two.
Stock up on the basics!
I have probably more than 20 24 pairs of underwear, and probably just as many pairs of socks. (Don’t judge me!) They don’t take up much room, in the dresser, shelf or hamper. It’s totally worth it to me to have so many.
Having a stockpile of the basics ensures less frequent laundry days!
Having so many in your stockpile ensures that you’ll still have clean underwear and socks to wear. However, if your chronic illness is on overdrive and you aren’t able to do your laundry every week, it’s okay. I promise, if you’ve stocked up, you’ll still be good. You won’t have to sweat not being able to do laundry. every. single. week.
For instance, I sometimes wear a shirt or jeans a couple of times before they need to be washed. Having extra underwear and socks means I can go longer in between wash days. (I’m certainly not going to wear those items more than once before they get tossed in the hamper. Ew.)
Who wouldn’t love to stretch out the time between laundry days?
There will be days when you don’t feel like folding, or putting away, and that’s totally okay! I came down with Covid last November, and since then has taken me until now to be well enough to tackle laundry. The whole wash, dry, fold, carry upstairs, AND put away my clothes.
The good news is, I didn’t have to do laundry very often. Because I still had clean clothes to wear. The ones I did need to wash, got washed, dried and folded and left in laundry baskets. Lots of laundry baskets.
Did I mention these laundry baskets ended up being stacked three high while I was recovering from Covid?
It’s not just for clothes
I focused on talking about laundry today, because it applies to EVERYONE. We all have laundry, unless of course you’re a caveman. But still. It’s something we all have, but the KonMari method doesn’t stop at clothing.
You can apply her methods to any area of your home, inside or out. The garage, the basement, the kitchen, your office, anywhere you have stuff.
The takeaway
Her philosophy on organizing encourages people to be more mindful and introspective about their belongings. About what they choose to keep in their home and in their lives. This is something that we can all apply and it takes just a little effort.
Don’t let something that seems monumental or impossible discourage you from getting organized and decluttered. Just look at the situation with a different perspective, and remember to break it down into bite sized pieces.
One step at a time!
Andie
