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The KonMari Checklist
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The KonMari Checklist

Use this checklist to declutter your home, Marie Kondo-style.
1
Introduction:
2
Initial preparations:
3
Confirm start date
4
Write down your goals
5
Read the KonMari Method rules
6
Declare gratitude to your home
7
Beginning the process:
8
Clothing:
9
Sort through clothing
10
Books:
11
Declutter books
12
Papers:
13
Tidy up papers
14
Put remaining papers into three distinct categories
15
Komono (Miscellaneous items):
16
Organize miscellaneous items
17
Sentimental items:
18
Sort through sentimental items
19
Moving forward:
20
Consider if goals have been achieved
21
Confirm the next tidying up session
22
Sources:
23
Related checklists:

Introduction:


“Does it spark joy?” – Marie Kondo

You may have heard the above phrase while watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, but have you considered if your belongings spark joy when tidying up?

If not, you could be ineffectively tidying your home.

With Marie Kondo’s process, known as the “KonMari Method“, you can declutter your home of unnecessary belongings efficiently and effectively.

And considering that a truly tidy home provides mental health benefits, encourages productivity, and provides inhabitants with an all-around cleaner space, following this checklist will help you to reap those rewards.

This KonMari Checklist – which follows Marie Kondo’s very own process – will prompt you to visualize what you want to achieve, and then ask you to note those goals down. Then, you’ll be asked to clean by categories, not by rooms. Once each category has been finished, you’ll reflect on the tidying process and consider what’s been achieved.

For a clean, organized home, launch this checklist at the end of every season (every 3 months).

Are you ready to spark joy yourself?

Initial preparations:

The first few steps of this checklist focus on pre-tidying rituals, such as visualizing your ideal lifestyle and declaring gratitude to your home.

Once these steps have been completed, you can dive straight into tidying.

Marie Kondo advocates for following processes – just like we do at Process Street! Therefore, stop tasks have been added to crucial steps, ensuring you follow the process exactly.

Learn more about stop tasks by watching the video below.

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Confirm start date

Confirm the start date of the cleaning process by using the date widget below.

You may be ready to start tidying straight away, or you could be pre-planning your next tidying session. Whatever the scenario, ensure you input the correct start date and time in the date widget below.

This will not only help you to remember when you should start tidying, but it will also provide extra motivation for you to get started.

No matter if the start date is within the next couple of days, weeks, or months, don’t lose track of time! Set a task due date so you receive email reminders informing you the checklist must be completed.

Write down your goals

Write down the goals you’d like to achieve during this tidying up session.

If you’ve launched this checklist – be it for the first time or 100th – you’re wanting to achieve something. That something could be a cleaner home, a better-utilized space, or a general decluttering.

In the text boxes below, write down the goals you wish to attain during this session. 

If you have more than 3 goals, add more long text form fields by editing this template.




Read the KonMari Method rules

Read Marie Kondo’s 6 rules for tidying, then tick them off in the subtask checklist.

According to Marie Kondo, there are six basic rules of tidying. These six rules will aid you in your quest to declutter.

Read the 6 rules below, then tick them off the subtask checklist once you’ve fully understood them.

  • 1

    Commit yourself to tidying up
  • 2

    Imagine your ideal lifestyle
  • 3

    Finish discarding first
  • 4

    Tidy by category, not location
  • 5

    Follow the right order
  • 6

    Ask yourself if items spark joy

Declare gratitude to your home

Declare gratitude to your home, then write in the text box how you declared gratitude.

Before Marie Kondo helps people to declutter their homes, she will find a spot either in the main reception room or the hallway, kneel down, and introduce herself to the home.

She also asks the inhabitants to declare their gratitude to the home; this could be a ritual as simple as taking a moment to think about how useful the home has been, and internally thanking it for providing those benefits.

Before starting the tidying process, do the same; declare gratitude to your home. 

Then, use the text box below to write down how you’ve declared gratitude to your home this time around.


Beginning the process:

Now it’s time to begin tidying.

Marie Kondo believes the best way to tidy is by category, not by room. So, with this KonMari checklist, you’ll be tidying by categories.

They are as follows:

Clothing.

Books.

Papers.

Komono (Miscellaneous items).

Sentimental items.

For all the items in these categories, you’ll be figuring out if they spark joy. To understand if items spark joy or not, watch the video below.

Clothing:

The first category to tidy is clothes.

Watch the handy video below for tips on how to fold and store your clothes neatly and easily. The tips Marie Kondo provides will be very useful once you’ve decided what to keep, and what items should be discarded.

(Source)

Sort through clothing

Sort through your clothing by following the subchecklist below. Then, use the text widgets to write down what clothes you kept and what you threw out.

Depending on your relationship with clothes, this may be the hardest or the easiest category. 

Luckily, if you follow the KonMari Method steps in the subchecklist, it will make the process simple, easy, and fast.

After following the steps in the subchecklist, then write down what you kept and threw out in the text boxes.

By writing down why you kept certain clothes and why you threw out others, it will help you to be more reflective, and ensure you’ve only kept the most essential items, and that you’ve thrown out items that truly no longer bring joy.

  • 1

    Gather all items of clothing
  • 2

    Touch each item and consider if they bring you joy
  • 3

    Create a “keep” and “throw out” pile as you go
  • 4

    Thank the items you’ll throw out for their service
  • 5

    Fold each item you’ll keep and give it a specific place (drawer, wardrobe shelf, wardrobe hanger) to live

If you decide to throw out clothes you no longer have use for, remember that others may find them useful.

Think about where you could donate clothes before throwing them away – a local charity or second-hand clothing store, for example.



Books:

For the second category of this todo list, you’ll be decluttering your books.

If you’ve read a book and technically no longer have use for it, but seeing it on your bookshelf still brings you joy, don’t throw it away! Watch Marie Kondo’s explanation for this in the video below.

(Source)

Declutter books

Declutter your books by using the subchecklist, then write down what you kept and didn’t in the text boxes.

Now you’re going to follow the exact same process as you did with clothes but for books. 

Remember to complete the subchecklist in order, and then fill out the text boxes below.

  • 1

    Collect all the books you own and create a pile
  • 2

    Pick up your books, considering if they either spark joy or have a purpose
  • 3

    Create two piles: One “keep” pile, one “discard” pile
  • 4

    Thank the books in the “discard” pile for the role they’ve played in your life
  • 5

    Put the books from the “keep” pile back, neatly, in their original place

Books are great second-hand items. You could choose to donate any unwanted books to a nearby school, library, or bookshop.

You could even sell them on second-hand marketplaces such as Amazon, as students and avid-readers alike buy second-hand books to save money.



Papers:

In the third category, you’ll be sorting through papers. This means tidying documents such as bills, reports, letters, cards, manuals, and important and non-important documents alike.


(Source)

Tidy up papers

Tidy the papers you own, considering what’s essential to keep and what should be discarded, and then make notes in the text boxes.

The initial process for tidying papers follows the same principles as the clothing and books categories.

To keep your personal information safe, consider using a shredder or cutting the paper up by hand.

Follow the subtask checklist and then write down your post-paper-tidying notes in the text boxes.

  • 1

    Gather the paper and paper documents you own
  • 2

    Sort the paper into categories – e.g., one category for greeting cards, another for thank you notes, another for bills, and so on
  • 3

    Begin with one category and make your way through
  • 4

    Pick up each bit of paper in each category and read through them. If the paper isn’t valuable or is no longer necessary to keep, thank it for its service and place it in the “shred” or “burn” pile
  • 5

    Discard the unwanted papers


Put remaining papers into three distinct categories

Put the remaining papers in three distinct categories, then use the short text boxes to note down where you put the papers.

Because the papers you keep will be utilized at different times, Marie Kondo suggests putting the papers into three different categories:

  • Category one: Needs attention. These are documents that need to be looked at in a matter of hours or days – like a rental tenancy agreement form that needs to be signed.
  • Category two: Are needed for the short-term. These are documents that need to be looked at again, but not immediately. An example would be a birthday card you need to write and send in the next two weeks.
  • Category three: Are needed indefinitely. These are documents that need to be kept at all times, but not necessarily looked at often. The completed tenancy agreement contract, once you’ve fully-moved in, would be an example of this.

By putting things in separate categories, it will help you to access different documents more easily.

Once you’ve put them into three distinct categories, store them appropriately and choose an apt location for them.

  • 1

    Put remaining papers in categories for “needs attention”, “are needed for the short-term”, and “are needed indefinitely”
  • 2

    Place the papers in storage e.g. folders
  • 3

    Choose a location for the organized papers to go



Komono (Miscellaneous items):

The fourth category is where you’ll tackle miscellaneous items. 

Marie Kondo defines Komono – the miscellaneous items – as all the other items that aren’t clothes, books, papers, or sentimental items. 

Due to this, this will be the largest task of this KonMari checklist.


(Source)

Organize miscellaneous items

Organize your Komono – miscellaneous – items by following the subchecklist, and make notes afterward in the text boxes. 

Marie Kondo’s “Komono” section, which is for miscellaneous items like kitchen utensils, grooming products, or bedding, requires you to be a bit more methodical than in previous steps.

To help you with task management, start at the beginning of your home – the front door – and collect the miscellaneous items as you go, and make a pile of them. Then, use the subchecklist to help sort through them.

Because you’ll have several Komono items to go through, you may want to check and uncheck the subchecklist below for each pile of items you create.

After you’ve organized and decluttered your Komono items, then make notes of what was kept and what wasn’t.

  • 1

    Collect your home’s miscellaneous items
  • 2

    It might help you to group them into certain piles – a pile for kitchen items, another for tech, another for lighting, and so on
  • 3

    Do as you’ve done previously: Touch each item, consider if it sparks joy, and if it doesn’t, thank it for its service and place it in a “discard” pile
  • 4

    Place the items you’ll keep in its original place – if you can’t find a new, better place for it, that is!
  • 5

    Discard the Komono items which aren’t needed anymore, or don’t bring joy

Instead of immediately throwing certain items away, they may be useful to others. Think of any local organizations or charities that could make use of the items you no longer need in your home.



Sentimental items:

In the last category, you’ll be sorting through sentimental items.

For some, this category may be daunting. However, Marie Kondo’s steps will help you keep the sentimental items that spark joy and improve your life, rather than keeping items that may have negative associations attached.


(Source)

Sort through sentimental items

Sort through the sentimental items you own by following the steps in the subchecklist, then make notes in the text boxes.

It’s time to sort through your sentimental items.

These could be photos, letters, pieces of jewelry, toys from childhood, or memorabilia from school. Therefore, if it has considerable sentimental value, it’s worthy of going in the sorting pile.

Follow the steps in the subchecklist, then write down information regarding items you kept, and items you discarded.

If you have an abundance of a particular kind of sentimental item – such as plane tickets from an around-the-world trip – consider keeping one or two that are representative of the trip. You don’t need to keep them all.

This approach can also be applied to photos, letters, and/or childhood toys.

  • 1

    Collect all sentimental items and put them in a pile in front of you
  • 2

    One by one, see if the item in question sparks enough joy to keep, and if it needs to be kept or not
  • 3

    Put the items that are no longer needed in a pile, thanking them for their service as you go
  • 4

    Organize the items you’ll keep and put them somewhere safe, like inside a storage box
  • 5

    Discard the sentimental items

Before putting items such as childhood toys in the trash, if they’re still useable and not deteriorating, think about where you could locally donate them.



Moving forward:

Success!

With Marie Kondo’s tidying up process innovation, you’ve sorted, tidied, and decluttered your home. It should now be a happier, cleaner space for you to live in.

Before closing this checklist, reflect on the process and whether you’ve achieved your goals or not – and schedule the next tidying up session, too. 

The next two tasks will help you to complete those objectives.

Consider if goals have been achieved

Using the text boxes, write down if the goals you established at the beginning of this checklist have been achieved or not.

Before starting the tidying process, you wrote down several goals you wanted to achieve. 

Now that it’s over, consider whether you achieved your goals or not. 

If you feel you have achieved your goals, write down why! Similarly, if there were goals you didn’t reach, write down the reason(s) why.

With thanks to variables, the text you wrote for your goals in task 4 is being pulled through. You’ll be able to see the text below, meaning you don’t have to go back to task 4 to see what you wrote.

Goal 1:

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Goal 2:

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Goal 3:

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Confirm the next tidying up session

Confirm the next tidying up session by using the date widget below.

To keep your home truly tidy, you’ll want to go through this process repeatedly. (Once-per-season – every 3 months – is recommended.)

Confirm the next tidying up session by inputting a date and time in the date widget below. 

You may want to schedule the checklist ahead of time. To do this, read more on the Process Street help site.

Sources:

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