Why Clutter Happens

tee: Old Navy, jacket: Kohl's, skirt: thrifted, shoes: Target

This post is part of a series detailing what I learned from reading Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and how I'm applying that to creating a simpler, more focused closet of clothing. Check out the "Marie Kondo Monday" tag to see all posts in this series...

This outfit is not the one I intended to wear on this particular day. I had on a royal blue long sleeve, thinking that I would just throw on my denim jacket on the way out the door for work because it was on the coat rack right by the door. Except it wasn’t there. So I figured it had to be in the hall closet then. Checked there and it was nowhere in sight, but this olive jacket was and since it’s another favorite of mine so I grabbed it. But then I didn’t like it with the royal blue so I ran upstairs and quickly just threw on a black t-shirt instead. And you know what? I really like this outfit and feel way more pulled together than I would expect for something I literally threw together on my way out the door. But there’s an easier, less stressful way to get there.

In her book, Marie Kondo describes clutter having two possible causes: too much effort being required to put things away or that it’s unclear where things belong. She even describes goes as far as coming home each day and taking 5 minutes to put everything back in its proper place before doing anything else. I’ll admit that this is one part that I scoffed a bit at and thought about how my first 5 minutes in the door at the end of the day involves being in charge of a baby who’s super active but also a tiny bit whiny and clingy by that point in the day because thankfully my husband is putting his focus on making dinner for us. My purse gets thrown on the couch and I change clothes as quickly as possible to avoid having to deal with a melt down because I don’t have my kid in my arms. Who has time to methodically put everything you used that day in its place, and where even is its place?!

But then this morning happened and I had the thought that just maybe the 5 minute effort the night before would’ve saved me the 10 minutes and stress from running around this morning and that just might be worth it!  What do you think, and what’s your process to avoid chaos in the morning?