UPDATE: This Giveaway is now over! Winner announcement has been posted on my homepage. See more Giveaways being dropped on my blog here.
(This is a new series of articles on Fridays called “Favorite Things Friday” where I’ll be sharing some of my favorite things, products & life tips, in hopes that you might find it useful in some way for your family. Join me back here every Friday. Plus, every Favorite Things Friday article will have a giveaway on it!)
I’ve been on a journey this year to declutter my life and my house. As a child, I didn’t grow up in a very organized household. There was clutter and things everywhere. Every drawer you opened. Every surface… had clutter. And as an adult, I never learned the skills and habits to keep a home organized.
Seeing that my home reflected that of the cluttered environment I grew up in, I felt really determined to take some action this year and to change. I wanted to learn new habits and to invite more peace into our home. Plus, I didn’t want my kids to grow up in and to adopt the same bad habits I did.
While I still have a lot to learn, and changing one’s habit is a process that will take time and practice. I’m really proud of what I’ve started to adopt into my family’s life so far.
Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” was LIFE Changing! I started with the physical book but ended up listening to the Audiobook instead. If you wanna dive in quickly like me, I highly recommend that you listen to the audiobook – You’ll get thru it much faster, plus you can listen and tidy at the same time (that’s what I did lol).
You can get TWO Free Audiobooks here if you are new to audible.
If you listen to the audiobook, I do have to warn you that the narrative is a little dry. Listen for the content and power thru it. It’s worth it. 🙂 Okay. You’ve been warned … so you’re not surprised.
If you follow me on SnapChat, you may have seen my transformation this year with decluttering my closet and re-doing the dresser drawer for each of my kids (and myself). Many of you wrote in and started doing the same (see pics below).
One of the sweetest new habits I picked up from Marie Kondo is her method and philosophy on folding clothes:
- Fold as much as you can instead of hanging
- You can fold almost anything into a little rectangle shape (more on this later below) – Even underwear and socks
- Store folded clothing vertically (standing up)
- Give everything a home
Ever since converting over to the “KonMari” folding method. Opening my drawers each morning to pick out a pair of tees, leggings, and socks has turned into a joyful ritual. I can’t explain it. You have to experience it to understand. And folding fresh laundry no longer feels like a chore. It feels like a peaceful medication that’s calming and fulfilling.
How to Fold Clothes Using KonMarie Method
I had a hard time visualizing and understanding her folding method from the audiobook, so I googled videos of Marie Kondo actually doing it. And it made so much more sense to see it visually. There are tons of video on YouTube you can look into, but here are a few to get you started:
- Marie Kondo: Basic Folding Method
- KonMari Method – Marie Demonstrating in English
- Folding Awkward Items on Rachael Ray Show
- Marie on Folding the Perfect Underwear Drawer
- Marie on the Ellen Show – Teaching Ellen to Fold
- Basic Folding Illustration
I found that by converting to her folding method, not only does it look nice, you can fit a lot more into a dresser than stacking them flat. I used to use 3-4 drawers for the same content I now keep in one drawer.
Tools I Love for Keeping Drawers Organized
While you don’t need to buy any tools for KonMari folding method (you can use cardboards as dividers), I ended up using these Dial Dream Drawer Organizers as dividers for my dressers. It looks so much nicer to have these plastic dividers to separate the different sections. I’ve also tried these wood dividers but didn’t like them (they were hard to use and I don’t recommend it).
For my kid’s drawers, I also got some of these clear storage trays for socks, underwear and swimsuits.
That’s it! 🙂
Here are more pics of examples using the clear trays for my daughter Sophie:
When I started converting our dressers, I first started with my own clothing. I used to have several drawers and shelves, now have two fully converted dresser drawers that fit everything. One drawer each for socks, underwear and bras. And one drawer for tops and leggings. I breakdown tops into tank tops, short sleeve tees and long sleeve tees.
Both my kids dressers are now fully converted too. My kids have a lot more clothes than me. So they have a drawer for tops, a drawer for bottoms, a drawer for PJs, and since we’re in SoCal and swim a lot, a drawer for swimsuits.
My son is on the Autism spectrum. Like all children who has ASD, he needs (and craves) structure. One of our biggest daily struggles is getting him ready in the morning, groomed and dressed. It’s chaos every morning! I started using the dream drawer dividers to carve out a spot for each day of the week in his dresser. I would pick out his clothes (including underwear and socks – not shown in pic above) at the start of the week, so mornings during the school week can go a little smoother.
I wanted to share this pic of my son’s “days of week” drawer, just in case it’s helpful. I have been brainstorming different ideas and found this to be helpful for our family. I think even for children who doesn’t have Autism, this can be helpful in morning routines to get your young kiddos ready for school.
I Want to See Your Progress
If you plan to adapt this folding method into your life, I would LOVE, love, love to see pictures of your progress. Here are some pictures some of you already sent to me on SnapChat. I love seeing your pics. They make my day. ❤️
Thank you @isabel_mn and @bluebudderfly for sharing these pics.
Giveaway Time! Win a Set of Dream Drawers + Tray
As I mentioned last week, I’m gonna include a Giveaway to go with each of these Favorite Things Friday articles every Friday. Check back every Friday for more of my Favorite Things.
For today’s giveaway, I’m giving away a Prize Pack to THREE People. Each Prize Pack includes:
- TWO packs of Dial Dream Drawer Organizers (each pack comes with 2 dividers. So you’ll get 4 dividers to help you get started)
- One Clear Storage Tray
This giveaway starts on Friday 8/31 and will end on Monday 9/3. Winners will be announced on this blog only on Tuesday 9/4 before 12pm PST. You’ll have 48 hours to claim your prize.
To enter in this giveaway: leave a comment below with a useful tip you use at home or something you recently learned or tell me about one of your favorite products. Or you can tell me about some of your frustrations that you would love help with. And tell me where you’re reading from (city and state). Let me know by leaving a comment on this post.
This post is NOT sponsored by anyone. I just really love this product and wanted to share my experience. All prizes are paid for by myself.
Do You Have a Favorite Product or Life Tip? Want to be published in a future “Favorite Things Friday”? Shoot me an email with your write up and pictures. If I accept your submission and publish your tip, I’ll also send you a $50 Gift Card to the store of your choice. Send an email to tina@FreeStuffFinder.com with subject “Favorite Things Friday Tip”.
Akron – OH
Living in Ohio requires you to have an array of clothes for the unpredictable weather. The best way I have found to navigate through my wardrobe is to store off season clothes in totes. Approaching “fall weather”, I will switch out my spring/summer wardrobe with fall/winter clothes. While I do the switch I donate all the clothes from the season that I did not wear. It helps reduce the items I have and less amount of time deciding what to wear.
I’m in Rochester, NY. I just came across this blog today and it was PERFECT timing! I removed all the clothing from my drawers and closet in my bedroom, placed them in my living room in order to “purge” and “organize”. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. I just watched the videos you linked above and have put together my plan. Love the drawer dividers. I definitely am going to incorporate them! Thank you for taking the time to guide us!
From Framingham, MA. When husband said all the drawers are over flowing with clothes, I knew I had to straighten things out. Adopted the Marie London method. Still trying to perfect it, winning the drawer organizers would be a great help in keeping things neat and organized.
Love these! I have four year old twins that share a dresser, so organization is not only key, but a lifesaver!
Isn’t her method of folding wonderful? I used it in my drawers, then showed it to my husband and asked if he was willing to try it. Before her method, I would fold his t-shirts and polo shirts and set them aside for him to put in the drawers. I couldn’t put them away for him, because his drawers we’re so messy. Stacking the shirts meant he would pull a shirt from the middle of the stack and leave everything around it balled up and awful. I would go into the drawer to put stuff away and find that all the neatly folded shirts were an awful mess, and so I’d take them all out, refold and put away and then do it again the next laundry day.
With Marie’s method of folding, starting over a year ago, that has literally NEVER happened since. I used other aspects of the advice in her book too, and am very glad I did, but her folding method is my favorite.
I am so overwhelmed with the clutter in my home. Thank you for recommending the book. A neat trick I lwanna send recently is that most public libraries have access to audiobook apps. I checkout various audiobooks a month for free using a free app sponsor d by my public library. So run to your library and see what they have to offer. I was able to borrow the Marie kondo book!
I get frustrated with KEEPING my room clean once I clean it! I’m here from Edison, New Jersey!
Too much! The stuff and the feelings when look in my kids drawers and closets. I’ve tried the method of folding but think the dividers are great way to keep it organized Thanks from AnaLiza in Corpus Christi, Tx
Omg this is awesome! Clutter is my families middle name ! Its horrible… onky rhing ive been able to keepnear is the sheets pillo2 cases & quilts with the extra spaxe storage sealable bags.. i need help maintaining the organized drawers in my kids rooms because holey moley their disasterous. Btw fan from Jersey City, NJ
This summer I had my kids start picking out their clothes for the week on Sunday evening. It has made weekday mornings so much easier! They each have 5 bins that go under their beds labeled with the week days so their clothes are right there when it’s time to get dressed.
My next challenge is meal planning! I do some dinner planning, but I’m inconsistent about it. My twins start Kindergarten next week, so now I need to plan for ALL 3 meals each week so they can pack lunch & I don’t have to run to the grocery store every other night!
I’m in Midlothian, VA!