How to Declutter Your Car Like Marie Kondo

(Photo Credit: Marie Kondo)

The whole world is going on this decluttering craze, spurred on by this new Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. While she mainly focuses on tidying up homes, we took a look at how her key tips can be applied to tidying up our second home on wheels.

In case you have been living under a rock these past few weeks, Marie Kondo is a Japanese organising consultant and author who has a new show on Netflix that made its debut at the start of the year.

On the show, she helps family declutter and tidy up their homes by following a few key principles called the “KonMari Method”. After watching how she helps families with their messy homes, it got us thinking, how can her tips be translated to helping people declutter and tidy up their cars?

In this article, we will be sharing some of her tips on tidying up and how we can apply them to our cars.

Commit Yourself to Tidying Up

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Cleaning up your car is a big commitment, especially if you are the type who likes to chuck all kinds of stuff in the cabin and boot. Look, we understand when you say you are too busy to clean up your car, but if you are serious about tidying up, promise yourself that you will see it through and not give up halfway!

Imagine Your Ideal Lifestyle

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Marie Kondo tells us that before you start tidying up, you should take a moment to imagine what kind of life you want to lead. How you want to live your life is tied directly to what you want to own. In this case, what you keep in your car should relate to how you want to feel while driving.

By doing this, it will help you remain motivated while deciding what specific items should remain in your car in order for you to have the ideal time in there.

Finish Discarding First

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While it may seem faster to discard and organise the items in your car at the same time, Marie Kondo advises us to finish discarding first. Have you ever heard of the saying, “if you work in a mess, you will produce a mess”? Just like how your end goal is to be more organised and have your car be less in a state of mess, the journey there should be just as organised too.

That means, complete one part of the tidying up process before moving on the next. By doing this, you are also guaranteeing that the items you want to throw away do not get mixed into the pile of stuff you are keeping.

Tidy by Category Rather Than Location

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Some drivers like to store their items of the same category, or use, in various locations. In other words, things go wherever there is space in the car. An example would be the tools to clean your car (polish, towel, duster, etc.), you might them scattered around the car, in the glove compartments, door pockets and/or the boot.

So, instead of handling the glove compartments or door pockets first, handle the cleaning supplies first. Take out all the cleaning tools and lay them out together, and then decide where this group of items should belong in the car.

Tidy in a Certain Order

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Marie Kondo has found the ideal order for tidying up the house. It starts with clothes, followed by books, papers, miscellaneous and ending with the sentimental stuff. Although this may not seem to apply to your car, think about it, sans the clothes, everything else can be found in a typical car.

You can even break the categories down to sub-categories. Paper can be broken down to receipts, letters and vouchers, for example. By creating sub-categories, it makes it simpler to visualise what you have, what you need, and what brings you joy. Speaking of joy…

Does It Spark Joy?

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This is inarguably, the most important step of tidying up, according to Marie Kondo.

In an interview with USA Today, she was asked how would we know when we have decluttered enough. She said, “You will know when you go through every single item you own, and ask yourself whether each item sparks joy for you. If you do this even once, and reaffirm what sparks joy for you, you will learn to trust your decisions in choosing what sparks joy, thus finding peace with what you have left.”

While a tyre repair kit, for example, does not actually bring drivers joy on the surface, you would definitely thank your lucky stars for keeping one on board. This sure beats cursing and swearing if your car’s tyre gets a puncture.

Wouldn’t that spark at least a little joy in you?

Designate a Space for Everything

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This is a key step to prevent a relapse in cluttering. After tidying up everything, Marie Kondo advises us to designate a space for everything you own. That way, with each item having a ‘home’, all you will need is return it back to its designated place after you are done with it. No clutter will then be allowed to form again!

We hope that us interpreting and explaining Marie Kondo’s “KonMari” method of tidying up will motivate you to declutter both your home and car.

Have you tried the “KonMari” method to tidy up your house or car before? Share with us your experience in the comments below!

Read more: 10 Simple Cleaning Hacks Every Car Owner Should Know