1) How Many Belongings Do You Have?
First of all, you have to take into account the number of items you own and thus have to go through. The more belongings you have, the longer it will take you to perform a joy check on each item. I want to note here that you have to take into account ALL of your belongings to make it a true KonMari tidying festival. Yes, even the box with mementos that is still in your childhood home somewhere. Also, don’t forget about your storage unit, your vacation property, you name it.
2) How Big Is Your Space?
Another factor that determines how long it will take you to “konmari” your entire home is the space you have available. Tidying in a cramped room in an apartment that you share with two other roommates likely takes longer than tidying the same amount of belongings in a larger 2-bedroom apartment that you call your own and can roam about freely. The reason for this is that you have more space to sort, organize and store things (in the interim) than in a tiny room.
3) How Fast Are You In Making Decisions?
Some people have an easy time making decisions about what items to keep and some have a more difficult time. The latter might ponder over certain (or all) things a little longer than the fast-decision-makers. There is no right or wrong; it’s just what it is and you’re on your own journey. But decision-making time is a determining factor when it comes to the overall length of your tidying adventure.
4) Are You Able To Maintain?
The KonMari Method™ only works if you maintain your newly implemented organization. Therefore, it’s key to maintain the tidied categories. That means, return items to their (temporarily) designated homes after usage AND only bring new items into your home if you’ve joy checked them and immediately assign them a home. That’s it. But changing habits can be hard, so getting used to a new routine can take some time. Thus, you might want to go at a slower pace and practice maintenance with tidied categories before you move on to new categories.
5) How Focused Are You?
How efficient you’re working is also an important factor. First, you want to make sure that you’re well-rested and in a high-energy state when you tidy. For many people this is the earlier part of the day and when they’ve slept well. Second, if you can work without interruptions you get a lot more done than if you were interrupted constantly. Interruptions can take the form of having other family members/friends around, listening to music or having your phone around (calls, texts, notifications, checking social media, you name it!). Do your best to limit those kinds of distractions and interruptions so that you can work as focused as possible. The more distractions and less well-rested you are, the longer tidying will take.
6) How Long Are Your Sessions?
Lastly, the length of your individual tidying sessions/days can play into the overall duration of your KonMari tidying festival. For each session, you have to take into account set-up and wind-down time if you will. When you get started you have to pull out all your stuff and get organized and then, in the end, you’ll have to put stuff away again. That takes some time. So the shorter your sessions, the more time you spend setting up and putting away overall. The longer your sessions, the more actual tidying work you get done and thus will typically finish more quickly. Now of course, you shouldn’t exhaust yourself by drawing sessions out too long. If you’re feeling tired and exhausted, you should stop. Typically, 4-5 hours are when my clients start to fade.
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