What KonMari Taught Me About ThredUP
When I started the KonMari process, I never thought I would discover a new appreciation for ThredUP …
Ever wonder if the things you owned – especially clothes – could actually bring joy?
The KonMari approach to belongings is all the rage in minimalistic homemaking circles. Author Marie Kondo asserts you can simplify and add joy to life by tiding up – and purging – your entire home.
Kondo coaches readers exactly how to do this in her two books, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Spark Joy.
I admit that I can’t relate to Kondo on many levels – she wrote her books and developed her method before becoming a mom, follows Shintoism, and she talks to her belongings like they can understand her. I’m a Christian homeschooling mom (my home is filled with belongings for my family – mostly my kids) and I think stuff is just lifeless stuff. But I do appreciate getting rid of whatever’s unnecessary.
This particular culling process always feels like it’s neverending. The struggle is real, folks – stuff accumulates whether you want it or not. So I was ready to jump into KonMari-ing my home if I could.
Does your clothing bring you joy? Can it?
Kondo’s first step is to go through all of your own clothing. Hold each piece and see if it brings you joy. If it does, keep it – and wear it. If it doesn’t – and you don’t need it for something like a funeral – then pass it along.
I was able to KonMari my entire wardrobe within a couple hours, and I have really liked the way I’ve gotten rid of clothing that I don’t truly love or things that just don’t look or fit quite right.
Since I had so many clothes to begin with (I’m a bargain shopper who has the tendency to keep clothes for a long time), I still have a good variety of clothes in my wardrobe. The thing is, now I love everything. I don’t have to wear something because I think I should.
Looking at what’s left …
After I sorted all my clothes, I looked at what was left. I was a little surprised with what I noticed.
A few of my wardrobe pieces were hand-me-downs from friends. A few were things I’ve found at thrift stores. A couple were bought at department stores (on sale). A couple more I’ve kept as wardrobe staples for more than 10 years.
But the majority of the clothes that I kept were things I had chosen from ThredUP – and they had been purchased with referral credits.
(Anyone can get $10 in referral credits when you refer a friend. The great thing is that you’ll get $10 and your new friend will get $10, too!)
Frankly, I was surprised. I didn’t expect to prefer clothing that I picked out by sight alone. I thought I’d be partial to clothing I touched and tried on before buying.
Why do I prefer ThredUP?
I think I’ve figured out why I prefer my ThredUP choices, though.
With ThredUP, I narrow my selection to:
- the brand I like (typically I stick with Ann Taylor, H&M, The Limited, New York & Company, Merona, or Old Navy),
- the size I need,
- the price I’m looking for, and
- colors that are complimentary to my skin tone.
From there, I only choose clothing that immediately pops out to me. If I try to make something work – and settle on a style – then I typically won’t wear it much. Every now and then, I find something that instantly catches my eye – and I add it to my shopping cart.
(Learn from my mistakes – when you do shop from ThredUP, add anything that interests you to your shopping cart right away. You can always remove it from the cart, but clothing can be snatched up pretty quickly by other shoppers.)
More often than not, when I get the clothing it fits well. Since I already know I like the style, it’s a good match.
I never thought I’d prefer ThredUP to going to a physical store and hunting for clothes, but my KonMari clothing process has helped me to see it makes the most sense for me to keep shopping through ThredUP.
So does the KonMari method work? At least when it comes to clothing, I’ve found that it can bring a lot of satisfaction and a little bit of peace in your daily wardrobe. Choosing what to wear now is more enjoyable. But finding joy? No amount of clothing will ever bring true joy to my life.
I’m happy I’ve attempted the KonMari method, though. And I’m happy it’s showed me that for this season of my life, ThredUP is my retailer of choice!
If you’ve tried the KonMari method, what has it taught you about your clothing choices?
Disclosure: Purchasing items through links in this post will result in a commission for Home to a Haven. Thank you for supporting this website!
All images courtesy of Pixabay.
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I enjoyed this post! Going to check out ThreadUp. One thing though, Marie Kondo isn’t childless, she has a baby :) also is she Buddhist? I thought she was influenced by Shintoism? When she was young she served in a Shinto shrine.