KonMari® Category Four ~ Komono

Bring everything to one location

Komono is often scattered all over your home. Katrina can guide you in choosing the correct order to sort your komono once and for all after she has made a thorough evaluation of the volume of items stored in your home. Some of the largest subcategories of komono are kitchen items, bathroom items and toys. When we have chosen which subcategory to start with, the next step is to locate all of your items and bring them to one place to sort and organise. 

Create subcategories

Once everything has been brought to one location, it's time to split it up into subcategories. As komono is the largest category in the KonMari Method® one of the best ways to tackle each subcategory is to subcategorise further. The fridge is a classic example of this. If you count the number of subcategories in your fridge, you may find over ten: condiments, drinks, dairy products, cooked meats, leftovers, raw meat, poultry, fish, salad, fruit and vegetables.

When sorting your bathroom items, Katrina can guide you in creating subcategories such as hair products, dental care, face products and shaving equipment etc. before you start to complete your spark joy checks. You may be surprised at just how many bathroom products you own. Bathroom items are often a popular gift item; coupled with freebies from holidays and the lure of the supermarket multi-buy means it is easy to build excess stock very quickly.

A place for everything

Katrina will offer expert guidance on how best to store komono items. When storing items in your kitchen for instance, the focus rests on how easy your kitchen will be to clean once every item has been put away. One way to achieve this is to keep the worktop as clutterfree as possible ~ oil from cooking creates a film over appliances, spices and caddies without us even realising. There is no need to purchase any additional storage 'solutions' ahead of your sessions ~ Katrina will be able to support you in storing items in the storage you already have in your home. Storing like items together is also an important principle of the KonMari Method®. When items are stored by subcategory, we are more likely to see at a glance what we have and less likely to purchase things we don’t need. It cannot be underestimated that knowing what you own and seeing what you own are crucial to living a KonMari® lifestyle and maintaining it.

Items of dual ownership

A key principle of the KonMari Method® focuses on keeping your own items that spark joy. This is true of every category. Marie Kondo learned this the hard way and was actually banned from tidying up her family’s belongings when she was little. ‘Tidying is naturally contagious, but if you try to force it on someone else, you’ll only be met with harsh resistance.’ (Spark Joy, pg. 256-257).

The hope is that your tidying journey inspires others living in your home, whether it is a housemate, partner or other family member. As important as this principle is, there may be a few exceptions when you will have to intervene, for instance when items fall under ‘dual ownership’ such as those of parent and child. A perfect example of the difficulties of dual ownership can be experienced with toys. Toys can often be bought by someone else so we feel guilty about letting them go. Katrina can support you in choosing to keep only those items which spark joy, and sensitively guide you in the therapeutic process of letting go of the items which do not spark joy. 

Unwanted gifts

‘The true purpose of a present is to be received. Presents are not ‘things’ but a means for conveying someone’s feelings.’ (Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, pg. 128). It is wonderful to receive a gift and if it sparks joy, then all the better. When we keep unwanted gifts in our home however, the spark joy check is no longer ours, it belongs to the gifter. If you want to live and maintain a KonMari® lifestyle, you need to let go of unwanted gifts, and any feelings of guilt which come from letting them go. Through your sessions with Katrina, and as your spark joy check becomes more in tune with creating your ideal lifestyle, you may start to feel differently about the gifts which come into your home. 

Digital komono

Your digital world is no different to your physical world in that you should still surround yourself with things that spark joy. Now you’re familiar with some of the ways to tackle your physical komono, why not try to tackle your digital kimono? Take apps for example; apps should have a home, be grouped by subcategory (or if you’re like me, organised by colour and fitting on to one screen, as you can see in my photo) and of course, you should only keep those which spark joy.

‘By eliminating excess visual information that doesn’t inspire you, you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable.’ (The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, pg. 193). Whilst Marie Kondo is talking about the physical space, this most certainly applies to your digital space too. For example, notifications on our phone can be a distraction, pulling us away from being present as they scream out for our immediate attention. And often when reviewed, frustratingly we discover that what we learnt didn’t need to be dealt with there and then or was a complete waste of time. Katrina has an extensive knowledge of how you can organise your personal digital komono and is also able to support businesses in reducing the amount of digital clutter they may have, allowing them to create a more organised and effective digital system.