Post 10/ Start with Skin
Photo of “The First Cut”, Custom to the Psyche Butterfly Method, taken by Tori Klotz
2024, Example of the PB Method showing only skin care items that I found I needed every day to function properly and with joy, while the 9 remaining Komonos categories were gathered on the tidying workspace.
“The Psyche Butterfly Method refines KonMari by documenting kept and sold items, retaining detailed records on what truly matters—essential clothing, transformative books, and self-defining papers—while streamlining the rest of the categories thereafter.”
The calculation
Days tidying: 10
items tossing: 15
items donating: 201
items selling: 67
items kept: 520
Total items tidied: 803
Total $ from sold tidied goods:
$449.12 [no change from last week]
My tidying cost equation:
(sold tidied items) - (tidying supplies cost) = net cost:
$449.12 - $653.74 = (-$204.62) [No change from last week]
The confidence I can complete this project:
100%. I’ve been traveling this week, giving me a break from physical tidying after gathering all the Komono categories. Starting with skincare feels right—it’s smaller, personal, and impactful, making it manageable, before I hit the road. According to the KonMari Method, CDs/DVDs and skincare come first as easier subcategories witin Komono, so tackling skincare now gives me a satisfying head start.
Disclaimer for This Weeks’ Blog
This week, we’re diving into the Komono category—starting with Skin Care. We’ve got real skin in the game behind the scenes, working hard to make your blog and website experience simpler and more seamless. While we’re busy, I hope you’ll dive in with your own skin in the game as you tackle your skincare tidying this week.
Tackling Komono: Starting with Skincare
With all the Komono gathered over two nights, it’s time to dive in and tidy. After gathering, remember when we started by tidying only the daily essentials we absolutely love and can’t go without - we called it “the first cut”? I hope that exercise helped ease you into this overwhelming category. The goal was to confront the sheer volume of Komono, soak in its overwhelming nature, and then begin sifting through the chaos to uncover only what truly brings you joy, each day. It’s a simple, powerful reminder: you don’t need much for your daily delivery of happy basics.
I found it refreshing to start by tidying the basics I love and use every day. Congrats for completing the heavy lift in all the gathering. That approach didn’t have to stop with the as we tackle tidying; we can still prioritize the subcategories that matter most to our daily routines and spark the most joy. For me, that meant starting with skincare and kitchen. Kitchen will be next week.
A Shift in Documentation
Now, let’s address something you may have noticed: the overall number of items tidied hasn’t changed much in the overall calculation in our purple calculation section above. Here’s why: I decided it’s unreasonable to document every single item in the Komono category. Many of these are consumables or repeated items, and documenting each decision (e.g., how many tweezers I’m tossing) would take away valuable time from the tidying process itself.
To keep things efficient, I’m making a slight, yet critical, adjustment to how we document. Moving forward, the calculations section in our Tidying Google Sheet and at the top of each blog post will focus on recording individual kept and selling items, while items tossing and donating will simply be thrown into a box. This will effect your calculation as such: total individual items so far (through clothes, books, and papers)+ boxes for komono onward” (e.g., “15 items from clothes, books, and papers + 1 box for Komono onward”). This allows us to maintain physical momentum as we tackle the 9 Komono subcategories.
The Psyche Butterfly Method refines KonMari by documenting kept and sold items, retaining detailed records on what truly matters—essential clothing, transformative books, and self-defining papers—while streamlining the rest of the categories thereafter. The benefit of this is re-visiting your Google Sheet whenever you have an impulse buy to remind yourself of the plethora of what you already have, or see your favorite brands, etc. At the Komono stage, however, we shift to only individually documenting keeping and selling items, while donating and tossing items simply get placed in a box and conglomerated into how many boxes we gather. This simplifies the process, letting you quickly sort donating and tossing piles without slowing down. Plus, documenting what you keep and sell adds a layer of accountability, encouraging you to keep only what truly sparks joy.
The Numbers So Far
As I have captured my skin care products and put this new calculation approach to the test, I’ve documented 520 items kept, up from 453 last week. That means I had a whopping 67 skincare products I chose to keep! As we continue, I’ll share insights, totals, and key takeaways—but the focus will remain on the joy this process brings, not on counting every single item that gets tossed and donated, too.
Looking Ahead to More Komono
With all the gathering done and my tidying floor staring back at me each morning, I’m ready to tackle the rest of Komono next week—and I need to! With Thanksgiving around the corner, I’m aiming to finish the Kitchen and Household Supplies categories so the home feels ready for hosting and full of that comforting, family-friendly vibe.
Since Komono is the bulkiest and most clutter-prone category, and we’re not documenting every single item , I recommend preparing plenty of boxes at the start of your week. This will make it easier to quickly sort items into tossed and donated as you move along and only document those things in kept and selling .
A Quick Check-In On Some of the Suggested Products
As we tackle the broader Komono category and I’m out traveling, I thought I’d share some of the additional items being tested through the Psyche Butterfly approach.
The below products arrived in the mail and I’m still wanting to put them into use. So far, I love their quality and look. They include the Vintage Paper Holder, the Paper Sorter, the Polypropylene File Boxes and some labels. I wanted to report in on how these were sparking joy (or not) so you can determine for yourself if they’d help your home. See pictures of all these products being used in this blogs’ photo gallery.
Vintage Ballanoff Porta-File Paper Holder - O M G I’m so in love with this vintage brand. The sturdiness, paired with being light weight, beats any Office Max brand. I will likely be swapping out my Needs To Be Saved - Frequent Use plastic Office Max box for this green one.
MUJI Polypropylene File Box - I’m also totally over the moon for this product. The polypropylene is almost soft as if it’s non-scratch, the packaging from Japan is keen and sleek making the product feel intentionally well built and delivered with care, and the open nature of the product (without a cap) feels like the papers can breathe with their Needs To Be Saved - Infrequent Use nature.
Stylish Mail Sorter - I’m quite satisfied, yet it’s much larger than the listing picture seems to imply. I should have taken measurements, since now it does sit on my counter, next to my tea pot. I already have mail sitting in it, taken from the Papers That Need Attention paper holder (near the front door by my mail box) and placed in its intentional spot in the kitchen for those Papers That Require Action Items position.
Vinyl Labels vs. Metal Labels - Ok, here is where I recommend one item over the other. Go metal, not vinyl. No matter the material of box you go with, the metal labels will stick like they’re built into the product. The vinyl sticker feels like a child’s sticker for a notebook or maybe even an adults’ for a laptop sticker (only meant to last until the death of the product). I’ll be sticking this metal label onto the MUJI File Boxes soon.
A Week of Decision-Making
As I dive into this week, with my bathroom and bedroom feeling like total perfection (thanks to my newly simplified skincare routine), I’m energized to tackle the kitchen gadgets, utensils, and those pesky junk drawers when I get back from travel. These categories mean that the overall kitchen space will get a face lift. A great timeline match up with Thanksgiving hosting around the corner.
What’s next for you? Here’s the list of Komono subcategories to focus on, aiming for Thanksgiving as our finish line:
CDs, DVDs
Skin Care Products (done!)
Makeup (I ended up tidied alongside skincare)
Accessories (I completed seamlessly with clothing)
Valuables
Electrical
Household Equipment (targeting November 25-29, just before Thanksgiving)
Household Supplies (targeting November 25-29, just before Thanksgiving)
Kitchen (targeting November 25-29, just before Thanksgiving)
Any subcategory not bolded above is what we’ll focus on after Thanksgiving.
No Prep This Week—Let’s Just Dive In
This week, we’re keeping the momentum going. Trust your supplies, stick to your routines, and tackle each subcategory with intention. Start early, dress confidently, and embody your best self as you work toward creating a home that sparks joy.
Good luck with your Komono this week—what subcategory will you tackle first? As I’m out traveling, let me know in the comments and we’ll be back for kitchen together, next week.
