The KonMarie method

emg

Poor old Ed :-( But hooray for The Archers omnibus helping my kondo all my paper. Four filing drawers down to one. Now I just have a mountain of shredding to deal with!

GQ - Im really looking forward to doing tools/diy stuff. I know I have lots of those funny shaped bits of metal with no idea what they are for as well as every pot of paint I have ever used.

System

Morning lovelies
Just having a little rest, have been finishing off the random carp in my bedroom, sold a small desk, taken down some shelves and replaced them with the spare cod hoping that will hold all my fabric , which will free up umpteen plastic crates
Decided the bedroom still wasn't joyous so although it's not in the right order it's getting done today
More rubbish and stuff for the chazzer, it seems never ending doesn't it :eek:

GreyQueen

emg wrote: »

Poor old Ed :-( But hooray for The Archers omnibus helping my kondo all my paper. Four filing drawers down to one. Now I just have a mountain of shredding to deal with!

GQ - Im really looking forward to doing tools/diy stuff. I know I have lots of those funny shaped bits of metal with no idea what they are for as well as every pot of paint I have ever used.

Tool bags/ boxes/ sheds are inevitably salted with WTH?! items. We should all arrange a meet, gather a tub of our most random items, spread them on a table and try to ID them. Someone, somewhere, must have a clue.:D

Trouble with UFOs is that They Might Be Important. As in, they're a critical part of the dooda-ma-thingy, and if we discard them, summat turrible will occur.

I've called to mind a superb cartoon in one of Don Aslett's decluttering books where there's a headshot of a bloke captioned What's the worst that could happen if I got rid of it...........? and the think bubble over his head has a mushroom cloud.

Lovely peeps, you will probably not cause the end of civilisation if you get rid of some random gubbins. Going forward, when some activity has generated some bit of gubbins which Might Be Important I have put it in a small sealed clear placcy bag, with a piece of paper saying in big letters what it is, what it came off/ out of, and what it does. Even down to the make and part number if it relates to an appliance.

That way, should you come across it when you've forgotten what it is, you can cleverly say to yourself Egads, I do believe that is the doofer for the thingummy which broke and went to the tip last year, get thee behind me, satan! :A

I'm hacking away at the undergrowth of the carp in my tiny sitting room. Most of it is there with a reason:

1. Pair of PJ bottoms identified 2 days ago when ironed as having torn during the wash. Needs a repair.

2. Pile of egg boxes, for use in the potato chitting which will start in the next 10 days when I buy the seed spuds and which will be redundant and into the recylcing by end of March. In meantime, a PITA.

3. Several books, one garment and a placcy tableclloth to go to the folks' place end of next week. In meantime, cannot bury or will forget. Have head like a sieve, side-effect of ME, I guess.

4. Part-made hand-knit HWB cover. Actually, I might take that out tonight with me to pal's house, we're hanging out watching movies and eating pizza. I can knit at the same time. They've known me over 20 years in one case, about 10 in the other, and have seen me knit socially before. One of them sent me a text last night, part of a bit of back-and-forward banter, declaring I was 'weird' - my response was 'pot calling kettle' - :rotfl:

5. A piece of archery kit which I've arranged to sell to someone at the club I go to on Tuesday, so mustn't hide that up. Have already stuck a memo on inside of front door so I don't forget to take it.

6. Growing bag of c.s. stuff. Might take that out now, the sun is shining, I could do with stretching my legs and it'll be one less thing underfoot.

If you have paint which you don't use, it can't go into domestic waste unless you leave it with the lid off long enough for it to dry out. If it's usable, you may be able to rehome it via Freegle/ Freecycle, or by a community project. Failing that, many local tips have a harzardous waste amnesty day, so if you have some well-dodgy Stuff in your shed, you may want to look out for that and trot along with it.

I was once clearing out the cubby at the folks where they keep the decor stuff and picked up a metal can of chrome cleaner, only gently, and my fingers went through the side. This stuff isn't inert, some of it is actually trying to escape its containers!

jinny

Clearing the clutter in our lives: http://youtu.be/csY4_VgQ2gAQ


GQ
Then I must be weird too.... I sit crocheting grannie squares on the shortest of bus journeys. I have even been known to do it at the bus stop. I couldnt give a flying I quite like the attention sometimes.
Im usually met with lots of smiles and remanissances of watching mothers and grandmothers knitting and crocheting.

This is a link to a couple describing their decluttering.
They want to move to England from Ireland.
its so beautiful where they live I wouldnt want to leave there.
I have the book they talk about in the video its good but again MK had had more effect on me.

WeeMidgie

GreyQueen wrote: »

If you have paint which you don't use, it can't go into domestic waste unless you leave it with the lid off long enough for it to dry out. If it's usable, you may be able to rehome it via Freegle/ Freecycle, or by a community project. Failing that, many local tips have a harzardous waste amnesty day, so if you have some well-dodgy Stuff in your shed, you may want to look out for that and trot along with it.

Just a wee heads-up that you risk paint getting frosted and splitting irredeemably (the paint itself, not the container!) if you keep it in sheds or garages. Having learnt the hard way, I now keep spare paint in the cupboard under the stairs. I don't have much storage space in the house, but paint is too dear to risk outside.

GQ, I envy you having a CS open on a Sunday. I used to live about 12 miles from a pitcuresque village (tourist magnet, hence the Sunday opening) that had a CS open on Sundays, and it was a great feeling to go there, drop off at the CS, then have a cuppa in a local tea room and a wander in nice surroundings as my reward.

soon2bjobless

My dd has now Kondo'ed all her books and dvds.....gone from 5 shelves to 3 and shes adamant she wont get rid of any more so thats fine - dead pleased she got rid of the ones she did! lol

Off to my stepdaughers this afternoon - she has 5 kids (6 if you include hubby as he is at college!) and is drowning in clothes so has asked me to go along and help her sort out stuff - its the 8 years olds room we are doing today - fair looking forward to it! sad eh? lol

lilahloo

Just stopped for a coffee and energy inducing muffin.

Feeling very pleased with myself. This morning I've tackled the papers drawers in the dining room. Two large deep drawers. I found a folder of performance reviews, application forms, job descriptions from somewhere I worked over 10 years ago. Had no idea I'd kept them!

The discarding part is done I now need to put back. Think I might walk the dog first as it looks lovely out there.

I'm particularly pleased to have this job done because it's part of my envisaging. I want to redecorate and get new furniture for the dining room. The plan is to replace the sideboard with a console table so the paperwork will need a new home. Now there is less of it that should be easy.

DawnW

jinny wrote: »

Then I must be weird too.... I sit crocheting grannie squares on the shortest of bus journeys. I have even been known to do it at the bus stop. I couldnt give a flying I quite like the attention sometimes.
Im usually met with lots of smiles and remanissances of watching mothers and grandmothers knitting and crocheting.

I expect people are interested. Speaking as a person with two handfuls of left thumbs and no skills at all in this department, I always wonder what people are making if I see them knitting or crocheting on the bus or train. Sometimes I ask them. It is amazing how many young women you see doing it, teenagers even Not being sexist - just that I haven't seen any young men doing so!

My mum taught me to knit when I was 4 years old. The trouble is, I never got any better at it. I am sure I could still knit a mean teddy bear's scarf which varies in width along its length, and is peppered with holes from dropped stitches though :rotfl:

emg

Thanks for the heads up about the paint, I just checked the council website and it looks like I can take it to the tip. Some is stored in a cupboard in the bathroom (!) and some is in the attic (so probably suffered very low temperatures up there). Someone else suggested I just keep a jam jar full of each current one for 'touching up' which seems sensible and would only be four jars - I might even actually do some touching up if it is all a bit more accessible and less cumbersome!

For now though I am much nearer the beginning of the list. I have done my main paper pile but there are a couple of other places I need to quickly do too (the place I keep instruction manuals, MK made her views on that very clear!) and the place I stash 'need to keep' mail before it gets sorted. Still have loads to shred, the shredder is being very unhelpful and insisting on lots of rests, I obviously havent been thanking it enough for its service to me

emg

GreyQueen wrote: »

I was once clearing out the cubby at the folks where they keep the decor stuff and picked up a metal can of chrome cleaner, only gently, and my fingers went through the side. This stuff isn't inert, some of it is actually trying to escape its containers!

Eek! :eek: