If you have not had time to catch up with the latest lifestyle trend – KonMari, then let us introduce it to you. KonMari is a method of organising your home and life. It was first introduced in the New York Times best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo.

 

Watch Marie Kondo introducing KonMari on her YouTube Channel

The core principle of KonMari is to keep objects that spark joy and discard those that don’t. It also consists of interesting techniques to organise your stuff and declutter your life. With thousands of people sharing their #KonMari experience on social media, Marie Kondo has taken the world by storm. In addition, the Netflix show, Tidying Up with Mare Kondo, has made Marie Kondo a household name.

Marie Kondo’s Netflix special ‘Tidying Up’ has gone viral after seemingly changing people’s lives, but experts stress a clean space isn’t for everyone https://t.co/p5R4uqPe5D

— Business Insider AUS (@BIAUS) January 20, 2019

What does it mean for the smart home?

With the growing adoption of the smart home devices in Australia, we are going to be surrounded by more tech than ever before. In addition, these smart home devices will be communicating and collaborating with each other 24/7.

Therefore, if you want your smart home to spark joy, you need to design them with care. This is where Marie Kondo’s decluttering methods can come in handy.

Based on Marie Kondo’s methods and the smart home automation design principles, we have put 3 important learnings that you can implement for your smart home.

Lesson 1: Go by Categories, Not Rooms

Let’s start with the fundamentals of KonMari, go by categories and not rooms. When we are decluttering our home, Marie Kondo recommends that we organise our stuff by categories like clothes, books, papers and so on. Same is true for the smart home automation systems.

When you are designing your smart home, start with the categories of experiences like lighting, weather, entertainment, security and so on. Focusing on experiences ensures a strong foundation for your smart home system. This will also ensure a better smart home experience.

For the smart home, the main categories are as follows:

1. Lighting
2. Weather
3. Entertainment
4. Security
5. Other home appliances

If we follow this method, we will have a smart home that sparks joy.

Lesson 2: Clear out Sentimental Clutter

The other big theme in Marie Kondo’s method is letting go of items which have sentimental values. This can be difficult for many of us, but for the better smart home experience, it is necessary.

But what do sentiments have to do with the smart home? For example, let’s say you have an old antique pendant light hanging in your living room, or that old music system ignored at the corner of your house. These devices may have sentimental values, but they are hindering you from having a complete smart home experience.

Therefore, you need to either upgrade or replace your old devices with new smart home devices. This will ensure efficient energy usages and smart control.

Lesson 3: Bring some focus

Lastly, let’s talk about focus. Right now, if you go to the Amazon store you will find a whole range of smart home devices. You have smart switches, bulbs, rings, cameras, air purifier, cleaners and so on.

Even for voice assistance, you have to choose among 3 tech giants – Amazon, Apple and Google. Therefore, you should choose your smart home devices properly, otherwise, you will end up cluttering your home with incompatible devices.  

First of all, choose your voice assistance because they are the central part of your smart home system. Some devices are compatible with Alexa, but not with Google or Apple. Each of these voice assistants has their own preferences, you need to know about them and invest accordingly.

If you buy different types of smart home devices, even if they are smart, you will not be able to experience complete smart home systems.

Tidying is better together – share your #mykonmari moments!

So that brings us to the end of KonMari lesson for your smart home systems.

Remember that it’s all about bringing efficiency, safety and smartness to your home.

If you want to know more about the art of decluttering, please refer to this great post on the topic:

The Art of Tidying Up: A Complete Guide to a Decluttered Life