Almost exactly 3  years ago I wrote about the book “The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up.” I got through a lot of the author’s de-cluttering steps, hitting a wall when I got to the “papers” stage. This past year, I tried it again, rereading her original book and also reading her sequel. Again, I was really gung-ho when I finished both books and de-cluttered my clothes but haven’t really moved on from there.

In the three years since I started this process I have experienced regret, and it sucks. I mostly regret getting rid of certain books. In fact, I actually bought back two books I previously gave away to the Friends Of The Library book sale, and I am actively keeping an eye out for another book that I regret giving away. I have had this same kind of regret over clothes, and I have repurchased certain items that I decided that I needed to have again. And the items weren’t cheap!

So this is the problem I am having with the KonMari method. Regret.

I think the problem for me is that this method is based on asking yourself the question, “Does this spark joy?” when you decide whether or not to get rid of an item. Joy is a very tenuous emotion and it’s hard to even know what joy is. And I think this is especially hard for someone like me, who is ultra sensitive and experiences a wide range of emotions in any give day. I think I am only very recently understanding what joy really is.

I think deciding what to keep and what to discard on something as tenuous and hard to pin down as joy is a fallacy. I think it’s better to use the rational mind when de-cluttering. Though, I am still trying to figure out how to do this. I want to tackle the clutter in my home, but I need to find a way to do it that works for me.

Have you undergone this process? What has worked for you? Do you know of any alternatives to the KonMari method?