Clean Sweep: KonMari expert reveals secrets to a tidy and organised house
An Australian de-cluttering expert has shared the simple rule she follows to rid homes of junk — and it’s so easy, you can use it too.
Welcome to Clean Sweep, news.com.au’s fortnightly home organisation series featuring exclusive advice on how to declutter your home direct from Aussies who have spruced their way to success.
We’ve all got that space in our homes.
For me, it’s the area on top of the fridge. That’s where I’ve left tupperware to be returned to friends, that cute print bought at a weekend market that I am (eventually) going to buy a frame for and a work skirt that needs to be rehemmed among, ahem, other things.
While most of us probably have the best intentions when it comes to our ‘junk spaces’ it’s easy to forget what’s there if it’s out of view and it can get out of control (which is why I now have a ‘junk space’ with fridge underneath, rather than the other way around).
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Fortunately, there’s an easy solution to keeping on top of things that needs to be put away and household to-do items, according to KonMari master consultant Gemma Quinn.
Ms Quinn is Australia’s leading expert on the Japanese organisational method created by Marie Kondo, who is the star of Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.
Here, Ms Quinn shares with news.com.au her best tips for a tidy home and ultimately more organised life.
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‘GIVE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING A HOME’
One of the most important organisational principles Ms Quinn believes in is to “give absolutely everything a home”.
Her way of doing this is to have a designated container in which you can move things along to their proper place.
“Have a to-do box or basket so this is a thing that requires an action. If you have something in your home that requires an action don’t put it in the fruit bowl, because it’s never going to get fixed if it’s there,” Ms Quinn said.
“If you put everything together in one spot and next to it you might have another box which is a return box … this prevents anything being jammed in the back of a cupboard or whatnot, and it just being stuck there because you don’t remember.”
Following this rule also helps you assess whether the item is really needed.
“The other thing is it allows people to see the volume of things they need to do, and very often people go, you know what, it doesn’t make us happy enough to want to fix so I’m going to let it go,” Ms Quinn said.
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WHAT IS THE KONMARI METHOD?
The organisation system is a way to tidy a home according to what makes you happy and aligns with your values.
Homes are decluttered and tidied according to five categories: clothes, books, paper, miscellaneous items and sentimental stuff. Items are gotten rid of if they don’t “spark joy”.
“The KonMari method is a tool that people can use to tidy up, to declutter the things in their home, their life,” Ms Quinn said.
“But the tool is based on their ideal life, their own personal values and what sparks joy for them, that is the criteria.
“And then (the KonMari method) provides a way for people to store and organise things in a way that is efficient and easily accessed.”
Always meticulously organised, Ms Quinn was working as in business operations when she came across Kondo’s book and it changed her life.
“It was an interest of mine, but I didn’t realise the impact it would have on me and I felt life changing magic,” she said.
In 2016 Ms Quinn was certified by Ms Kondo as a KonMari consultant, the first in Australia and 18th in the world.
She now works for Ms Kondo’s company certifying other consultants in Australia and around the world as well as working in people’s homes.
Ms Quinn believes that every client she’s worked with has had a “life-changing experience” and on average gets rid of 75 per cent of their household goods.
“One of my clients said to me, in the third session with working with her, she said, ‘I was waiting to die, I was just at home waiting to die and I feel like I’ve been reborn, I just see life through such a different lens’,” Ms Quinn said.
“And she says that to me now every time I work now. Every single time she does it liberates, it frees her.”
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TIPS FOR A TIDY HOUSE
Use ‘void’ spaces for storage
“I would ask people to look at their homes with a different perspective … there are so many different voids in a house, or vertical space,” Ms Quinn said.
“So for instance if you have wardrobes there might like a five centimetre gap in the side of a wardrobe, you can use that for storage.
“Underneath the couch you can put a really thin box and you can store a huge amount of space underneath that.”
Boxes, boxes, boxes
“This is the KonMari method, but it’s also something I’m a really big advocate for and that’s using boxes almost all of the time. So that’s in drawers and also in shelves,” Ms Quinn said.
“A lot of people put stuff on shelves but they’ll just put it in in a neat way, but if they use boxes, size appropriate ones and especially plastic, they can move them around and they can almost become modular.
“So from a usablitly point of view you make it movable and manageable, and it keeps all of one item or subcategory together.”
Only keep items that are ‘active’
“I don’t have anything in my house that’s not active, actively in use. So I only have one moisturiser,” Ms Quinn said.
“Don’t have five moisturisers in your cupboard, chose which one you want to use right now and just use that, and when that one finishes go and get the next one you want to use and put it in there.”
You can follow Gemma Quinn on Facebook or Instagram
Got a good home organisation or cleaning story to share? Email Clean Sweep at hannah.paine1@news.com.au
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