Nearly a year ago, when I was scouring Pinterest for cleaning tips, I came across the “Kon Mari Method.”

This method is named after Marie Kondo, a famous organization consultant from Japan. Kondo has published four books, with her most famous being “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up.”

The method claims to be the solution to never having to clean again. Seems too good to be true right?

The method to her madness is the simple philosophy: keep only the items that “spark joy.”

Everything else needs to be thrown out, donated, or sold. Everything that is kept must have a designated home.

In order to begin the organizational journey, Kondo recommends organizing by category, not by room.

This means to take all of your shirts and make one big pile to sort through. She says that this helps you to realize how much you may have accumulated throughout your house.

While it may be annoying to bring all the books from the various rooms in your house to one central location, it will help with the elimination process.

Kondo says that you have to take each item and hold it in your hands. If it "sparks joy," you keep it. If it doesn't, she says to thank the item for its service and to get rid of it.

My issue with this is that not every item I own necessarily makes me excited or "sparks joy."

Holding my toothbrush doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies, but there's no way I'm getting rid of it. The same goes for a lot of basic necessities.

The idea of only keeping the most valuable and your favorite items for clothes, books, memorabilia, etc. does sound realistic to me.

Before the Kon Marie Method, I had a dresser and closet overfilling with clothes. Since then I have eliminated over half of my clothes and shoes. This is something I have maintained for nearly a year and has made my life so much easier.

I do less laundry, have less to pack, and just have more space in general.

Kondo has a very specific method for folding shirts and socks. In theory, these methods make you look so organized and put together.

As your average college student, I don't have time to worry if my socks have space to "breathe."

The toughest items for me to part with were the memorabilia. Old trophies, birthday cards, and pictures were piling up in my closet. I really had to dig deep and find my favorite pieces to keep.

I had to remind myself at the end of the day that all of these things are just "things."

Overall, my experience with the Marie Kondo method has been great. I have purged, donated, and sold several of my belongings over the past year. I have become a more conscious shopper, and always wait several days (or at least 24 hours) before making purchases. This has kept my room more empty, and in turn cleaner without much effort.

If you are interested in downsizing and becoming more of a minimalist, I highly recommend reading Marie Kondo's books.

Some of her ideas may be strange, but overall her message is very impactful.

Here's to making our lives lighter, one donation bag at a time!