I'm certified in Marie Kondo's tidying methods and have been helping people declutter their homes virtually during the pandemic — here's what a typical day is like

• Erin Mursch is a certified master KonMari consultant and the owner of her own professional organizing business in Austin, Texas.
• Since 2015, she's worked in over 100 homes to help people say goodbye to items that are taking up too much space in their lives using the tidying principles of KonMari Method founder Marie Kondo.
• During the pandemic, Mursch has been working with one long-term client in person, and meeting virtually with new clients.
• When not at work, she runs her business from home, practices yoga, and cares for her dog and five chickens.
• This is a recent day in her life.

You may be familiar with Marie Kondo's trained army of joy-sparking certified consultants, whose mission is to "Organize the World" according to her popular method of decluttering and organizing method. As a certified master KonMari consultant, I've worked in more than 100 homes and have spent more than 1,500 hours helping people let go of what no longer brings them joy.

To become a certified consultant, you must employ the approach in your own home, attend a training course, complete a minimum of 30 hours of practice and help a client complete the method, then pass a final exam and an interview. Training can take anywhere from months to more than a year.

Those who complete the KonMari Method in its entirety begin to see a major shift in their life and perspective. I experienced this myself when I employed the method in my own home in 2015. Now, as a KonMari consultant, my first priority is to live a joyful life, and my second priority is to support my clients to do the same.

7 to 7:45 a.m.: I wake up and go to the living room where I sit with Dewey, our dog.

I usually sip on lemon water followed by coffee, while my husband Eric makes breakfast with fresh eggs produced by our five backyard chickens, which we've had for about a year. We eat breakfast in our small (but tidy!) home as we share our plans for the day.

7:45 to 9 a.m.: We clean up after breakfast and take Dewey for a walk.

When we get home, my husband, who works for an educational tech startup in Austin, begins work in his "office," aka a bright corner of our living room, and I head to the backyard to feed the chickens and water the garden. Afterwards, I check emails, post to social media, and take care of business administration in my office, the second room in our home which also serves as our guest room and my yoga studio.

At 9 a.m. most mornings, I practice yoga.

I practice yoga several days a week (via Zoom), which helps me manage stress through the mind/body/breath connection. After class, I shower and dress for work. I pack my clean fabric facemask, apron, label maker, water bottle, and snack, and say goodbye to Eric and Dewey before leaving.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m.: I meet with my first client of the day and get to work.

When I arrive to my client's home, before ringing the doorbell, I put on my mask and greet the house with the palm of my hand for the 'home greeting' as it's called in the KonMari Method. Then I ring the bell and greet my client (sans hug or handshake thanks to COVID) and she updates me on her homework since our last session, which is usually continuing to sort something we began together, like a box of photos. I've been working with this client for 10 sessions, since late January. We take a moment to celebrate her progress, I offer some feedback, and we move on.

I put on my apron, equipped with Post-its, a Sharpie, and hand sanitizer, and we begin by gathering our chosen category of items into one place. Today's focus is sentimental items, so we gather bins of photos and mementos into her dining room to sort through. As we're sorting, she identifies war medals of her late father, her mother's crosses and prayer books, a silver baby cup and fork, miscellaneous documents, photos, journals, albums, artwork, and yearbooks. Once it's all sorted into categories (cloth items, books, documents and correspondence, miscellaneous artifacts, photos and media), we take a break for some water.

I explain to the client that the sentimental category is the final one of the KonMari Method because it's the most difficult, so if she's feeling overwhelmed or uncertain, it's normal. Previous categories were as much functional as joyful, so she became practiced at determining each item's role in her life, thanking whatever no longer served its purpose. But sentimental items don't serve a functional purpose in our lives; their purpose is to help us understand our life story and recall precious moments. Each artifact represents an experience or a person who has been significant in our story. What story will be told, and which memories do we want best remembered?

After chatting, the client announces she's ready to get started. I share some suggestions:

• Remove photos from albums to review one by one
• Sort by occasion, trip, chronologically, or by person you want to remember
• Discard duplicates, out-of-focus shots, and people you don't recognize
• Once in categories, one pile at a time, try to curate the "best of," to recall the essence of each experience, time, or person
• Thank the photos that served their purpose and bid them farewell

Before our session is over, we discuss her homework, confirm our next appointment, and cheers to her progress so far in processing her past and putting her life in order.

2:30 to 3:30 p.m.: When I get home, I toss my mask and apron into the laundry.

I take a shower, change clothes, and make myself a smoothie.

3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: I meet with more clients over Zoom.

I have a virtual session with a young couple to help them declutter and organize their books and media. I coach them through the process and provide guiding questions as they determine what to keep. I ask that they send me before and after photos, and text me if they get stuck.

4:30 to 6:30 p.m.: I spend time in my office following up on emails and phone calls.

I write some blog posts, touch base with the young couple from earlier via text message to check on their progress, and catch up on social media.

6:30 to 7:30 p.m.: I make dinner and we catch up on our day while we eat.

My husband is on evening dish duty (in truth I come behind him to wipe down the counters and place things how I like them).

7:30 to 8:15 p.m.: We gather the eggs, and get the chickens inside the coop for the night.

We also take Dewey for another evening walk and water the garden.

8:15 to 10:00 p.m.: We like to wind down with an hour or two of Netflix (COVID life).

I enjoy the lighter stuff like "Grace & Frankie," "Queer Eye" and "Dead to Me," while my husband prefers the darker stuff like "Ozark," "Mind Hunter," "Russian Doll," and "You." We compromise.

I also enjoy reading in the evenings. Some favorites are Marie Kondo and Scott Sonnenshein's "Joy at Work," Glennon Doyle's "Untamed," Marie Forleo's "Everything is Figureoutable," and lately I've also been reading anti-racist works like "White Fragility" and "Me and White Supremacy" to educate myself and become a better ally.

10:00 to 10:20 p.m. Before bedtime we have "tidy roundup."

We take shoes to closets, water glasses to the sink, and put other things away around the house. Afterwards, I spend twenty minutes in my office to look over my calendar for the following day, make my list of to-dos, and in a journal, list three things that I'm thankful for.

Erin Mursch is a certified master KonMari consultant and owner of Austin-based Organized for Good, an environmental and community-focused professional organizing business. In addition to KonMari Method™ Consulting, Mursch is a public speaker, chicken keeper, student and teacher of yoga, AirBnB host, clothing swapper, traveler, and major joy enthusiast. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook.