When two Kelowna mothers met at a spin class back in 2015 they never knew their friendship was about to spark real joy that in turn would launch a business.
“We enjoy road biking together, we have a great network of friends in the community and we like to tidy together,” laughed Wendy Chamberlin.
Tidying for Chamberlin and Barb Haymour isn’t just picking up after yourself it’s a life-changing event.
The idea that sparked the change for Chamberlin and Haymour came from Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Marie Kondo, also known as Konmari, is Japanese and was named by Time Magazine as one of 2015’s most influential people.
“We decided to read her book and declutter our homes,” explained Chamberlin. “While we were decluttering we learned how we wanted to live in our homes, how to tidy by category and not by location. We learned how to choose items that spark joy and we also learned how to cherish the items we did choose to keep.”
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After the tidying, Chamberlin said she felt lighter, calmer and had more gratitude for the people and things in her life.
The two women were so inspired by their life-changing tidying that they took a trip to San Francisco to meet Konmari herself.
“We trained with Marie Kondo and learned the methods so we can now teach others,” said Haymour. “We are now the only two certified Konmari‘s in Kelowna and most often clients seek us out if they are feeling overwhelmed in their homes with all the items they have accumulated over the years and they don’t know where to start.”
There are four steps to the Konmari tidying, starting with visualizing your ideal lifestyle, then you must set a deadline for how long the decluttering process will take, from there you tidy by category not by location and finally only keep items that spark joy.
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Now the two women are going on another journey and will be writing a column for Black Press Media where they will be advising how to change your life with the magic of tying up. If you have questions or suggestions for column ideas contact Chamberlin and Haymour at barb@simplysparkjoy.com or wendy@simplysparkjoy.com.
