I’m not an overly tidy person but I do like to see things tidy or not see them at all.  Toys are easy enough to be tidied away and the mess of our toys is usually hidden from view because we use the ever so practical and great Ikea Kallax.  It doesn’t really matter that the toys are randomly tossed into the boxes or cupboards since the way our kids play with their toys, it would all simply be taken all out again the next day anyway.  However, when it comes to clothes, it used to drive me mad that I would fold the kids’ clothes away and after just one day it would be messy again. I can't blame anybody else except myself since it was me who'd be rummaging through the drawers looking for a particular top or grabbing any combination of clothing I could reach first. 

Do my kids look scruffy?

Late last year, we had some friends stay with us and as anyone with kids will know, washing and clothes drying on the clothes horse becomes part of your household decor. One evening, I came home from work and was 'pleasantly' shocked to find a pile of clothes neatly folded into small tiny parcels. My initials thoughts were ‘this is somebody with too much time on their hands’ and then embarrassingly how untidy they must think I am. They had obviously seen the state of the kids’ wardrobes and drawers and I felt bad incase they thought it represented the state of my kids and how they are presented. Oh, the shame.  Still. I thanked and appreciated the kind gesture. I put the neatly folded clothes away into the drawers, too worried incase they fell out of place and I daren't do a wash load again until they had left!

6 months later they came to visit again and I was actually looking forward to having someone put some order into the kids' drawers and fold away their clothes. I realised, when you have kids, any help you can get is a bonus.  It was one less job for me to do. 

The Marie Kondo way

It dawned on me that, going forward, I should try to do what my friend did.  She raved on about this style of folding clothes so that the clothes would be stacked in a row rather than on top of each other.  This way each item of clothing could be viewed when a drawer was pulled out.  It is a method by Marie Kondo - a way of folding up your clothes into small parcels and placed side by side in sections, rows or columns so that you can see each time of clothing.

How my life has changed

6 months on and I’m still using her method. It does take a little longer to fold and put away the clothes but the drawers are tidy and they stay tidy.  I don’t need to rummage through piles of stacked clothes to look for an item. The Marie Kondo way means I can glance through the clothes when I open the drawers. I’ve converted and even for my own clothes.

This is the reason I spend longer folding up clothes so I can save time from having to refold them again and again. It's definitely worth putting the time in to do it properly and definitely saves time in the long run.