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”.
I’m from Minneapolis, MN. I’ve used the kon Mari method just on my drawers, but I love what you’ve done for your kiddos! I’m totally going to do that too and the organizers look like they work amazingly! Thanks for the ideas!
From Madison Lake, MN.
My biggest frustration is my kitchen! It’s so small that I do not have enough room for our groceries. I’m probably missusing the space, but I don’t know how to better organize stuff to make it look better. Right now you open the cupboards and you feel like all the groceries will fall on you any moment ♀️.
I never heard of this folding method before. If you could see my husband’s t-shirt drawer you’d run for the hills. No matter how I try to organize it, it always looks like an explosion . This system may actually keep me from throwing his shirts away lol
My problem with organization is probably having too much stuff! My guess is if I minimize the stuff, the organization would be easier!
I recently organized my kitchen cabinets, bathroom closet, and hall closets. They greatest change was buying the clear bins for my spices. I love being able to just pull them out to choose which seasoning I’d like to use versus struggling to find what I want in the huddle of spices that I used to have. I am now looking to organize my dresser and closet as I live in an apartment without a lot of space.
I am from Philadelphia, PA
I am on my rise of getting getting organized so I’ve been looking for function and style. For my husband’s cologne collection I purchased a mirrored small tray from west elm that can go on your dresser the tray was affordable and stylish, and functional. I am having lots of fun being creative while incorporating my style into organization.
To avoid clutter in my closet whenever I buy something new I have to get rid of an item I do now wear anymore
Hey there, this is Natashia from King of Prussia, PA
I too grew up I. A very chaotic and unorganized environment. Unfortunately, my attempts ast decluttering began rather late in the lives of my children. However, we are on the right path now. One thing I did this Was purchase a vanity from a thrift store and repurposed it. I grew tired of having makeup and hair products just lined up on my dresser which will turn into a mess anytime I used them. ( sorry I don’t have before pics. I honest didn’t think it would turn out as nice as it did). But when I finished I noticed I still had the same problem but just inside the drawers. So while in Dollar tree, I picked up a few items to assist in organizing my chaos. Below are the items used. I glued the small jars inside the sewer to house hair pins, bobby pins, scrunchees; drawers(glued on top of each other and each item has its own drawer) for concealer, foundations, pencils, etc. I found this to be very helpful I’m organizing my mess and hope you find the same. BTW I got glued bling wrap on them so they can match my vanity
I recently re-worked my closet, I used slimmer hangers and some hanging cubes to fold jeans and sweaters. Although it looks better, it’s still not how I want it. I think if I could fit more stuff in the drawers, it would be great.
3 kids…1 small cape cod with no storage! Would love some tips to “tame the clutter!”