I had a special guest come to our home last Monday for Marie Kondo Monday. Her name is Michelle, she has an Instagram called Spark Joy Connecticut. She actually took a training course taught by Marie Kondo on becoming a certified KonMari Consultant. It is a three day course and then followed by hours of course work. I looked it up online and all of her trainings are sold-out. I did see the guidelines below-
1. Read “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and “Spark Joy.”
2. Tidy your home using the KonMari Method™.
3. Submit after photos of your tidied home for verification. You will be given submission instructions after registration.
You have to do the work! I would think that most everyone wanting to be a certified consultant have already did all of the things BEFORE looking into it online.
I did ask Michelle a couple of questions about being a KonMari Consult, that I thought you would enjoy reading!
KonMari Consultant Q&A-
Q- Do you “greet” each home as Marie Kondo does? A- I don’t. Marie Kondo is just so cute that anything she does would never feel awkward, but I feel a little weird doing it. I do it in my own way, and I think everyone should do the way that feels comfortable to you.
Q- Do you help each client go thru each item? In the show it seems like she just gets them started. A- I do. I think Marie Kondo helps them more then it might show on Netflix or a team helps them get going. It takes awhile to get some people going and realizing what items actually bring them joy.
Q– What do you find hardest? A– That we are not supposed to give our in-put. What someone finds joy in, might not be something that you think they should keep! I helped a friend and it was hard to refrain from voicing my opinion of what outfits looked good on her!
Q– Do you “thank” each item after you put it in the donate pile? A- I do! I try to encourage my clients to also, but some find it awkward and just don’t participate. So I try to help and do it for them!
Q– What is the biggest tip you have for applying the KonMari Method on our own? A- Start with clothing first as Marie Kondo advises. You really do need to pull everything out to see how much you have. It is very impactful. And if you start with clothes, I promise it will make parting with sentimental items that much easier. It helps you to realize what things really and truly bring you joy.
Q- How do you charge? Is is a set price, established by Marie Kondo? Or since you are all independent you can charge what you like? A- You can actually gain rank! So the more hours you put in and more experience you get it qualifies you to charge more. You can charge what you like, but having those certifications justify your rate.
You can find out more about being a KonMarie Consultant HERE and about hiring one! Also follow Michelle HERE she is just as darling as Marie Kondo!
KonMarie Review-
While Michelle was at my house I showed her my kitchen and she gave her approval! She said that tackling your kitchen falls under “Komono” basically everything that is not either- clothing, books or paper or lastly sentimental items. And yes, even with your kitchen you should pull everything out! That way you can see how many mugs or spatulas you really own! Easier to donate and helps you to stop buying more of the same thing.
She showed us how to fold a dishtowel. I actually roll mine, because my drawers are not very tall. And Michelle said the Marie actually does roll a lot of items! Marie’s biggest suggestion is to not stack items on top of each other.
You can watch the videos as we shared some tips on the kitchen HERE– look for “Marie Kondo” on the top bar!
KonMarie Folding Clothing-
I actually read Marie Kondo’s book almost a year ago. I loved it. And I started with clothes right away. But I was folding them not as correctly as I thought I was. Basically just made it up and had the right concept. But there are a few tips that Michelle taught me when she was at my home. You can watch the videos HERE at the top under “folding”.
One of the BIGGEST Tips that the KonMarie Consultant taught me was that you shouldn’t go through someone else’s clothes. Obviously babies and toddlers are a different story. But Lola, my now 8 year old is totally capable of doing it with me. The first time I went through the clothes in the summer I did Lola’s clothes on my own. But doing it WITH her was so much better!!! I thought she would be hard and not get rid of anything, and that was the case at first. But once she went trough the steps and realized that we were only keeping the clothes that she REALLY love to wear it was easier. I also learned that she does not like any pair of pants unless they are skinny jeans or leggings and she does not like long shorts. So after going through her clothes it was much easier to then go through the sentimental items the junk drawer. Totally made sense to me of the reason the steps are so important.
Above was the BEFORE of Ella’s swimsuits. I didn’t think they made sense to fold. But they were easy and totally made sense. Because you only wear one swimsuit at a time so the nicely folded swimsuits should stay this way, they are easier to see which one you want to wear! (Go to my instagram highlights HERE to see how we fold them).
Another change we did was took out ALL of Lola’s clothes that were under her bed and decided to move them to the dresser. The toys used to be in the dresser, and a reader actually suggested it to me! DUH!!!! I thought the toys might get lost and be too messy under the bed, but using baskets helped and also donating a lot of the toys she no longer played with helped too.
Make sure to take out ALL the clothes! This is an important step to see all that you own in one spot. It helped my girls to see it too!
Marie Kondo suggests going through your clothes and then you will know what you have and what storage containers you might need. You could use baskets you already have or shoe boxes! I love the SKUBB containers from Ikea for dresser drawers.
This morning Lola had me come up to her room to see if she put her pajamas away right, and she did! She said “take a picture of this drawer, it makes me so happy!” So cute. Make sure to train your kids how to fold their clothes and put them back correctly. They will take pride and ownership in this.
I hope today was helpful! We will be back next Monday to tackle more “Komono” with our bathroom closet that could use a KonMarie Consultants tips!!
Check out last weeks- Marie Kondo Monday- Kitchen Tips HERE
And I have an Organizing Printable HERE
How to Organize Papers HERE
You can Shop our Home and the Girls Room HERE
Thank you for sharing! I find her method to stress me out a little bit because there seem to be so many rules, but I like the idea of going through clutter and getting rid of things that are not needed 🙂
Same! I at first didn’t understand or like the rules. But they make sense, especially for some who have a hard time getting rid of things. Once you do clothes first it is easier to let go of the sentimental items. I learned that with Lola yesterday!
I had no idea they had consultants! My daughter bought the book and loved it! I’ve been watching the show and loving it too. She is going to loan me her book to read. We’ve already gotten rid of so much and love all the organizing!!
I love that your daughter wanted to take a photo of the inside of the drawer. I don’t think this would be a reality for a boy (or not mine at least). Your ideas are so helpful. Do you have suggestions for how to do it if you have unwilling family members? I feel lucky to get my family to put things in a drawer at all.
On a side note, I love, love, love the light in your girls bedroom. Do you have a link to that?
Also, I tried to watch the video on folding technique but there was no link.
Sorry- it is linked here- https://www.instagram.com/nestingwithgrace/ and go to the highlight under “folding”
What light? The lamp on the dresser? Or the ceiling fan?
Love the tip of putting containers to separate things in the drawer! I am always having to re-organize my kiddos drawers and I think containers would help so much to keep it all separate! Also love your girls room!! Where is their rug from?
YES!!! In my dresser I only use containers for smaller items. But for kids I think every drawer needs them!!
The rug is listed here- https://nestingwithgrace.com/shop-our-home/