Nice People 13: Nice Save

PasturesNew

I've always thought the answer to an uncluttered kitchen is one GOOD, proper larder.... even if that means a ceiling to floor shelved cupboard in a utility room. Trouble is, if you don't have it, or don't have the money to do that, then you end up with horrid cabinets containing things that you can't get at. While I've just about cracked the kitchen storage issues and jiggled things around so the things I use are accessible - I still struggle to remember what I've got as everything's in different cupboards. If you could open one big door and see everything - all food, all stocks, all storage containers, all gadgets, it'd be much easier to decide what to use that day and keep on top of what you've got/need.

SingleSue

I've got a floor to ceiling larder cupboard in my kitchen, unfortunately, I can't reach the top of it or the 2 thirds to the left of the door! It is cut out of the kitchen and utility room and the door is on the extreme right of the space, the rest is wall, so unless you are 6 foot with arms the same length, most of it gets wasted or stuff stays there forever more. To get to the stuff right inside on the left, I would have to find someone who could pretty much literally climb inside and crawl to it.....very bad design.

Come to think of it, that is next on the list to sort out before it is hopefully removed in the kitchen refit.

lostinrates

SingleSue wrote: »

Ah, 6 months is more like it. I could never finish a room in one day, I would do one corner or one little bit and that would be it for the day. If I had been more mobile, I suppose I could have got the one room done in a day.

It wouldn't be every day either, decluttering for that small time on one day would leave me incapable of doing anything else for a couple of days....so very very slow progress.

Good thing my house is not that big, it is one of the smallest 3 bedroom houses I have ever known!

This is where Marie kondo differs. She doesNOT ( in a most vehement way) want people to do things by rooms or areas, which is how I always do it too.

But by catagories of stuff.

She wants people to start with clothes.

So, you start be gathering ALL your clothes and putting them in one place. Anything not gathered at this point that is not in the laundry she makes her clients DISPOSE OF . She says when this is made clear they remember some other stuff, but that if they don't remember things after this point it was not giving them joy or contributing to their life. It goes.

Just gathering up all the clothes would tucker me out tbh. ( and I don't have that many clothes)


She gives a further breakdown of how to sort clothes from the heap created.

I'm folding scarves now.

I'm wishing I had time to launder and iron as I went. I'm finding it quite hard to fold in the upright system but it IS making better use of space.

SingleSue

I have to do bits of room or it just doesn't work....we're all different I suppose and that is just the way it works for me.

And the not giving joy or contributing, when we cleared the loft, there were things I had completely forgotten about but when I saw them, the memories and joy they evoked was amazing. Some were silly things like a drawing one of the boys did or a mothers day card they made, others were more poignant like the hospital band James wore when he was born.

I made myself a memory box for those items rather than throw them out but I was absolutely brutal with other stuff. From a full to overflowing loft, I whittled it down to 4 small boxes, everything else was either donated or went to the tip.

Spirit_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I have one coat - it's on a hangar on a hook on the bedroom wall.


That's it.

Coats are a bit of a downfall here and all over the place. In the utility, in the hall, in wardrobes, on the outside of wardrobes

I have four full length coats and a barbour jacket. OH has about 10 and DD has at least 4 full length coats plus riding coats.
Both DD and I have coats we bought in2014 that neither of us has worn. Last summer I threw away my old wax proof barbour and a winter coat so it is not as if I don't try.

PasturesNew

SingleSue wrote: »

... when we cleared the loft....

I've a "nothing, EVER, in the loft" policy. I hate them, they're scarey - nothing's going up there. If I did put something up there, even, say, my small Xmas tree in its box, with the edges sealed with packing tape ... I'd still be petrified that when I brought it down it'd be grubby/dusty - with the added horrendous option that it might have friends up there - and be nibbled, or show signs of past/present nibbling, that'd petrify me ... and .... if that's a potential, then what if something'd decided to nibble inside and make a nice home in there?

So, nothing goes in a loft, EVER.

lostinrates

Spirit wrote: »

Coats are a bit of a downfall here and all over the place. In the utility, in the hall, in wardrobes, on the outside of wardrobes

I have four full length coats and a barbour jacket. OH has about 10 and DD has at least 4 full length coats plus riding coats.
Both DD and I have coats we bought in2014 that neither of us has worn. Last summer I threw away my old wax proof barbour and a winter coat so it is not as if I don't try.

You see I see excess coats as something to be kept in a cupboard/boot room for weekend guests from Town to be chucked on with various old but not leaky boots and worn on dog walks.

But I don't have four long coats. I have a winter weigh and a summer weight drizabone , but er....haven't seen winter weight for ages, ( maybe not um, since fir came a long?) And not sure where my summer weight one is. I have a very dodgy purple horse jacket and a smarter one.....which I have only worn once. . I have accepted an invite to go to a stallion show so I might try and find it and wear it then if it fits. Other wise. I'll try and find summer weight drizabone and pile layers on under it and wear it open if it doesn't do up :o

bugslet

LydiaJ wrote: »

or to be ungrateful that the GP is still saying that what is wrong with me is not depression, but nevertheless, burnout is not a fun way to live.

So, all you NP with masses of stress and crazy over-busy lives, take a warning from my example, and don't let yourself get to the stage I'm in. It took me several years of excessive stress to get to where I am now. Don't let it happen to you. You are not invincible for ever.

Please don't tell me that my life is actually working fine and I shouldn't worry about it. Trust me, my life is not fine. It's not a total disaster either, but it's really not OK.

The trouble with burnout is that it is insidious - you have no idea until everything starts piling up. I was definitely exhausted and frazzled last year following on from the dual demands of international haulage and even more so, Mr Bugs gradual demise over 3 years.

If you fell that you should worry about it, then you definitely should, possibly more than you are doing. Try just tackling one thing at a time, the sleep being the obvious. I just cannot function well if I am up after 10.00 more than occasionally ( 5.15 wake up) and enjoy going to bed with all the little routines that entails. Just try going to bed at 11.30 if you aren't going to bed earlier, see if that small change would help.

Doozergirl wrote: »

I'm not sure. She looked a bit taken aback once she'd made it across and laughed nervously, until I yelled at her like a crazy woman.

"Don't EVER do that again!"

.

Heart-stopping. My lovely Dad onbly smacked me once and that was when I did exactly that; it's not till you get older that you realise the overwhelming fear. Deep breaths Doozer!

lostinrates wrote: »

Yes, The all at once can take months though. .

I never got on with the Konmari method ( or whatever it's called - read it and thought waffle, but well done for making a ton of money out of it.

Much prefer this idea

http://www.theminimalists.com/packing/

TL;DR version:

Packed everything in boxes. Next three weeks unpacked what he needed and then ditched most of what was still in boxes.

lostinrates

bugslet wrote: »

I never got on with the Konmari method ( or whatever it's called - read it and thought waffle, but well done for making a ton of money out of it.

Much prefer this idea

http://www.theminimalists.com/packing/

TL;DR version:

Packed everything in boxes. Next three weeks unpacked what he needed and then ditched most of what was still in boxes.

But what about the stuff you only use in summer , or winter......no no no, that wouldn't work for me at all. Nor does the ' if you haven't worn this in a year bin it 'approach'.


Tbh, I could go three weeks without pretty much most things, rather than unpack them....I'd have to, I'd be worn out from boxing stuff up :rotfl:.

Well. I seem to have decided to throw away a lot of things with polka dots on. Some slips and stuff. I'm not I love with the folding method, I cannot do it neatly ( not helped by the fact I have started with hard things to fold, silks and stains etc.)

bugslet

I think you have to adapt it a bit, but I am quite drawn to the extremism of it.

It wouldn't entirely work for things like bellydance costumes that only come out of their boxes occasionally and millinery stuff that is stashed for future use.