If you haven’t read yesterday’s post about the KonMari folding method, which includes some embedded YouTube videos with instructions, I recommend reading that first.
Ta-Da!
My newly organized running drawers!
Yes, drawers… plural.
I run 3-5 days a week all year round, that requires some gear, right?!
What a beautiful and colorful investment in my health. 😉
Before
Two drawers of randomness. Even my cat seems to find the chaos disconcerting.
I started with one drawer for long sleeves, capris and running tights, and another drawer for short sleeves, tanks and running shorts, with a healthy mix of socks in both drawers. This quickly turned into me just opening a random drawer and placing the stack of recently washed and folded running clothes on top, then fishing through both drawers to find what I needed before my next run.
Since running clothes are pretty bright, it didn’t seem like it was taking THAT much time to find what I was looking for and run out the door.
But… there were some aggravated moments of searching for matching socks, trying to find capris and coming up with tights, looking for the appropriate base layer, and generally feeling like I was wearing the same things over and over again simply because they kept landing back on top of the pile.
Some of the more delicate shirts were getting wrinkled, so I’d wear them on the treadmill, but not necessarily to spin class.
After
Each drawer now has every item carefully folded and standing up in the drawer so I can see the entire contents of the drawer simultaneously.
It took a little bit of practice with some of the flimsier shirts (technical shirts can be slippery!) but I did get them all to pass the KonMari “sweet spot” test where they would stand up on their own. That way, even when there aren’t a lot of items in the drawer, they’re not falling over like dominoes and becoming messy.
Is The KonMari Folding Method A Space Saver?
Well… yes and no. My running clothes were absolutely smaller and neater when folded, however I ran out of space putting items back in the drawer because I was no longer using the full depth of the drawer. When I had running clothes shoved into the drawers six items deep, the drawers were filled almost to the top. Now that I can see every individual item, there’s a lot of unused vertical drawer space. So I ran out of space for some of my socks (which admittedly should be pared down).
But I can’t consider that a failure; I reduced the amount of vertical space being used by almost half, and yet fit almost every single item into the drawer in a way in which I can see them all simultaneously and they’re not getting wrinkled. That’s pretty fabulous.
If you have shallow drawers, I have no doubt this method will save you space.
Is the KonMari Folding Method a Time Saver?
Well… how long does it take you to find what you’re looking for to get dressed to go for a run?
It does take some time to fold shirts in the KonMari method, but I believe I’ll get much faster and more efficient with time. I also think it’d be worth it to spend a few extra minutes folding in this way and be able to see and wear and appreciate the full range of my work-out gear.
It’s frustrating when I’m rushing off to spin class from preschool drop off and all the tops I have to wear are wrinkled or buried so deep in the drawer I’m not sure if they’re even there. I like being able to see everything I own (also good for curbing impulse gear purchases) and select exactly what I want to wear in only moments.
Happy organizing! Don’t forget to part with the running stuff you never wear… it’ll make it that much easier to find and care for the items you love working out in.
I’ve got to try this. My dresser is hidden away in my closet, so most of my clothes just end up in one big pile on top of the dresser and, like you, I end up wearing the same things because they’re at the top.
I ran into the same proble pm with drawers that are too deep. My solution was to buy narrow and shallow plastic organizers from target and stacked them. Getting open storage containers to compartamentalize deep drawers further worked for me!