Using the Konmari Method to Reduce Clutter in My RV, Again!

Do the fall season and upcoming holidays make you want to clear out all the clutter in your home? Have you dreamed of a simpler life? Well, if you live in an RV or motorhome like I do, just a little bit of clutter can make you feel like you are being buried alive in stuff!  It isn't that I'm a slob, really I'm not, it's just that there isn't a place to put everything. So, stuff sits around on the back of chairs, on tabletops and even on the floor until it is time to move to a new campsite. Then I throw everything into the backseat of my car until I get to the new place. Then, it all comes back out again to make a mess.

This isn't the life I imagined when I decide to travel full time in an RV. No, I imagined a beautiful, peaceful, simple, amazing life.

TIME TO CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER!

Having just read, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo, I decided to use the Konmari method to make decisions about the things I would keep, those that I would donate and the things that I would throw away.  Her method requires that you sort all of your belongings by category and choose to keep only those things that bring you joy or that are tools to experiences that bring you joy. Since I already downsized a lot of my belongings when I moved into the RV, I really couldn't imagine what I could possibly eliminate from my life.

Well, wasn't I surprised!  What I discovered through this process of decluttering is that my life and priorities have changed since I began living full time in an RV.  My needs are simpler. The things that "Spark Joy" are not the same as they were when I lived in a "sticks and bricks" home.  My desire to live more simply outweighs my need to hang on to "stuff".

Let me warn you, the Konmari method is emotionally and physically intense. It will make a mess of your home. Marie Kondo says that you need to start and end the process all at once. Now, I don't mean you will complete it in one day. Absolutely not! I have been working through the process for over a week now and I am still not finished.  However, I can honestly say that I feel a difference in myself in how I think about the belongings I chose to keep in my home.

Come back to read my few next blog posts to see how I did with the process.  There are five main categories and I will blog my thoughts and experiences on each of these: clothing, books, paperwork, Komono (tools and household) and sentimental.

So, are you ready to take the challenge and begin the process of tidying your own space? 

If you've used the Komari tidying method or something like the "Art of Swedish Death Cleaning" method to downsize and clear out the clutter, share your thoughts in the comments below.