APRIL: Konmari, Dan-Sha-Ri or Döstädning?

It’s been over a year that we have been coping (or trying to cope) with the consequences of the pandemic and the various social restrictions. Since then, many people have been finding it difficult to spend their days at home. Surely, during this period, your own perception of your home has changed and at best, you have become more aware of the importance of beautiful surroundings. But now, April is here and with it, a new energy that makes us all look forward. I hope that this urge for renewal will last for a long time and that insights are also followed by actions…

Here is what astrologer Monica Kissling tells us about his month: RENEWAL, please!
In the sign of Aries we need a new start, our living environment reflecting such decisions too. Perhaps moving again could be an option, furnishing and redecorating everything from scratch. Whatever the reason, you could truly redesign your home completely so that you’d hardly recognise it. And when in other periods of the year, we might find it difficult to give things away, April seems to be the month in which we tend to do this without much hesitation. Reduction creates space and our longings for novelty are great. Aries, the sign of power, stimulates this drive to act even more, strong and bright colours underlining a new dynamic. Aries is the pioneer in the zodiac hence small adjustments will not suffice, but an all-round renewal could.

Tabling on April’s energy also implies some… spring cleaning! And what could be better to revive the spirit of your interior than cleaning out? Spring cleaning and clearing out combined can be done in one move and thus, you only have to handle objects and items once. Also, after having given and thrown away this and that, there will be plenty of room for something new so: renew!

How does it work?
There are various methods for structured clearing out one’s home, not even to mention the many books and lenghty blogs written about them. Here is a small overview:

The three-box method is based on, precisely… 3 categories: To keep = the YES box. To discard = the NO box. To give away or sell = the MAYBE box.
The Konmari method was founded by Marie Kondo and according to her, we should only have in our home the things that we really enjoy and/or absolutely need to live.
The Dan-Sha-Ri method was developed by the Japanese Hideko Yamashita. The 3 terms she used to define the concept of tidying up are: to renounce (Dan), to discard (Sha) and to let go of the material belongings (Ri). Thus, when clearing out, the first question we should ask ourselves is: “Do I need this now and does it (still) suit me?” Therefore, it is also important that possessions match the lifestyle of the owner.
The Death Cleaning method came from Sweden where it is called “Döstädning”. The term is composed of the Swedish words for “dying” and “cleanliness.” It involves reducing and organising one’s possessions in such a way that one could die tomorrow and not leave a huge mountain of paperwork and junk for one’s survivors to sort through and get rid of. Instead, after tidying out, only some selected things should remain and serve as mementos for relatives and friends.

My own categories are:
KEEPING: all items that make me feel good and are used regularly can stay.
GIVING AWAY OR DONATING: clothes or shoes that I haven’t worn for at least 1 year are donated.
SELLING: sometimes, when I start clearing out, things with a material value turn up. As I often do not have the time to sell them on the web, I also give them away – according to the RI mindset.
DISPOSING: all items that are broken, no longer function and won’t be able to provide much joy as a donation or as a gift can be disposed of with a clear conscience.

Link to the monthly lookout by Monica Kissling