There are minimalists, and there are hoarders, and those who fall right in the middle. I’m one of the middlers, but since I live in a cozy studio apartment, one might think I lean toward a hoarder when it comes to clothes, shoes and accessories. Cozy really means tiny in terms of real estate in NYC, and it’s NOT conducive to someone who has a penchant for the above items. I’m much better with my “hoarding” compared to my 20 something years, but I definitely have room for improvement, especially since I plan to move to a new apartment soon. And as they say, moving is the best time to detox and throw out things you no longer need.

Enter Marie Kondo. When her series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” debuted on Netflix over a year ago, Kondo inspired the world to clean their homes, making it trendy and joyful to tidy up. Her KonMari method tackles home organization by dividing it into five categories: clothes, papers, books, komono (miscellaneous items) and sentimental items. The method encourages you to keep only the items that speak to you and discard the ones that no longer “spark joy”—but before letting them go, you must thank them for their service.

Like many of her fans, I too was inspired to Marie Kondo my life (yes, she’s also a verb). At the time, I wasn’t moving but I wanted to get more organized. Her method resonated with me, although I didn’t follow it to a tee. I opted to tackle my massive eyewear collection first. As an eyewear editor, I’ve accumulated hundreds of glasses and sunglasses in all styles and shapes. My eyewear probably fall under the komono category, but they really can also fall under the sentimental category, since they are the blood, sweat and tears of my career and certainly meaningful to me. I quickly realized eyewear could easily be an entire separate category for me. I tried on every pair, delighted when I came across an old favorite I forgot I owned. Trying them on definitely gave me joy, I was having fun modeling them and taking selfies like a carefree teenager. There was just one problem: EVERY pair sparked joy. While I have always been mindful about gifting frames to family and friends if they didn’t fit me well or weren’t my style, or if I knew someone else would love them more, I also kept many for myself, mostly because I have a very diverse personal style. I was finally able to weed out a few pairs I knew I could part with but I wasn’t ready to thank the rest and say good riddance. If Marie knew, she would have given me an “F.”

A year later, I’m enrolling myself again in the KonMari method due to my impending move. I’m fully committed to all the method’s categories and live a more clutter free life. While I plan to take another shot at “tidying up” my self-made category of eyewear and make a conscious effort to let some go, I already know I’ll break some rules. Can you blame me? I love my eyewear, and if they spark joy for me, I’m holding on. Because that’s what do we every day at 20/20, not only do we spark joy with eyewear, we spread it to you—our readers.

•Christine Yeh
Executive Editor
[email protected]