The KonMarie method

Dustykitten

Hi I can I join you please.

I have 'the' book on loan from the library (there were 26 people ahead of me in the queue but my turn is now)

I've read up to the end of the clothes section and made a start yesterday. Positives were the folding and sorting it all together, I have socks, tights and swimwear still to do. I didn't 'feel the joy' with it all, but hate clothes shopping so for now I have kept all stuff I wear, don't have a massive collection but I feel I'm not getting it - tips please.

Books will be next and already dreading paperwork, I think it will take months! Do I stick at it rather than move on to easier things like ornaments, cutlery etc?

You'd think having been a flylady for almost a decade I'd have a grip on all of this.

GreyQueen

Welcome, Dustykitten.

Regarding the clothes, don't panic if not everything feels joyful on the first cut. I'm not in the financial position to jettison every single thing I don't feel 100% joyful about, either, and I also detest shopping for clothes.

What I found, and others have posted the same, is that you will gradually find clothes which made the first cut and which later reveal themselves as being unsatisfactory, and which you'll release later. You may end up acquiring replacements or you may make the mental adjustment to a smaller inventory of clothing and still feel safe and that you have Enough.

Re books, I am a real book-lover, but have a very small home, so that imposes a form of discipline in itself. I use the following self-questions to assist me in my decision-making about what stays and what leaves.

1. If I were to be stuck at home with no access to fresh books, would I really want to re-read this again? Errrr........

2. Am I holding onto this book as an aspiration; Mark Twain famously described a classic book as something everyone wants to have read but no one wants to read. Am I holding onto some books because I think not having read them will make me an uncultured lout?

3. Are some of these books how-to books for things which I have lost interest in/ simply don't have time for? Am I hoping that the knowledge in them will somehow evaporate out and slip into my sleeping brain, without the stage of reading. comprehension and practise? Buying a book on something doesn't cause you to acquire an extra chunk of life to do whatever it is, any more than buying a surfboard makes you a surfer.

4. With books I've already read and enjoyed, would I enjoy re-reading them more than I would discovering new books?

5. Is this a widely-available book by a popular author? If so, there will be a lot of them about and could I get one for a few pence online/ from a chazzer/ is it in the library system? Do I need to keep my own personal copy?

6. Have I sufficient space to store my books in the ways which will prevent them getting damaged, or are they all over the place in teetering piles? Do I really want to own a second or third bookcase, or could I enjoy using that space for something else?

7. If it's a cookery book, could I go through it and mentally tick off recipes which I won't make because I don't like the ingredients/ they're too fiddly/ I'm not eating fattening stuff like that. You might just have 1-3 recipes per book which you'd ever use, in which case you can scan/ copy out/ use an online version and donate the book.

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Re paperwork, I'd do it in small tranches, say a folder at a time, or set a shortish time limit, say 30 mins once a week. Too much in a short time can lead to overwhelm and an inability to make effective decisions.

I taught Mum to deal with what she felt was an unmanageable heap of opened Important Post and mixed bumph. With her watching, I sat on the floor and triaged the paperwork into piles.

1. Obviously unimportant stuff, like the envelopes, enclosed flyers for additional products you didn't want to know about when they arrived and are still not interested in now. Sales flyers for sales which ended 16 months ago.

2. Stuff which needs a bit of consideration - T& Cs etc.

3. Stuff which was important briefly, such as mini bankstatements and can now be shredded.

4. Stuff which really should be kept.

Of the 4th category, I have some stuff which I consider should be kept but which I don't want to have in live storage. I also like to have my life set up so that if I died/ became temporarily or permanantly incapable of handling my own affairs, I wouldn't leave my family in a pickle. So, I have obsolete, closed bank accounts sealed up in envelopes inc with their closing statements and corralled in a plastic pocket labelled Old Accounts. HTH.

Clutterfree

Welcome Dustykitten.

I'm also dreading paperwork.
Hubby is self employed so I need to keep his papers for 7 years (I think!). I also feel I ought to keep our personal bank statements, etc for that length of time just in case he ever got investigated because this shows everything is "above board" and nothing went into our personal accounts instead of through the business.
Does that make sense? What does everyone else think?
Also I used to work in a bank so I know I'll find it very hard to discard things that I may need!
My personal papers are in boxes all over the place and haven't been sorted or filed for years.
Business stuff is all bundled up in tax years but need to find a home and just keep the past 7 years. I am sure there must be a further 10 years of business papers at the back of cupboard of doom (aka the understairs cupboard! :eek: )
I think it will be a mammoth bonfire session because our shredder died years ago.

Not ready to tackle paperwork yet though - I am sure it will take me at least a week.

Have a good day xx

VJsmum

I am not ready for paperwork yet either.

Or photos

I am concentrating on the big - physically big- stuff.

I have made a decision /plan that, rather than messing about doing DDs room bit by bit, I have a week and a half to clear it into the conservatory. Then a week on Saturday, while OH takes his mum away for the weekend and DS is revising, I am going to paint paint paint. DS is moving in there and he wants it cream which is great as we have loads of that. Though it all may be differnt shades. But the first covering coat can be a mixture and then the top coat will be the shade he wants.

That way some of the blasted paint gets Kondoed too.

DS room gets Kondoed on moving when the painting is done, and we can paint his room ready for when DD comes back from uni in July. She can sort her stuff into the new, considerably smaller, room - hopefully discarding as she goes.

Sounds like a plan..:D

mrs-moneypenny

Welcome dusty.

I've think I'm still on the easy basic areas but it has made such a huge difference already. The Cs is benefitting massively and nothing has gone that I miss. The clothes are so much easier to keep neT and tidy since I've kondoed them and folded rolled etc them neatly, even the boys are keeping their stuff that's been done neat do its lessening what I have to do in their rooms.
I'm also questioning what I buy, definitely less is coming in.

PollyWollyDoodle

MK suggests the particular order for doing things because clothes etc are generally easier, and by the time you get to the harder stuff you will have 'sharpened' your decision-making skills. I would definitely break paperwork down if you can, I tackled it all at once and I had a particular need to do it out of the recommended order, but it really slowed me down.

I agree about keeping things for 7 years, but before I began this exercise it simply hadn't occurred to me that there is 'live' paperwork and 'dead' paperwork. Bank accounts from 7 years ago are unlikely to be needed in a hurry so they can be put in a box-file and parked out of the way somewhere (the loft, if necessary). Insurance policies, utility bills etc are 'live' and need to be handy for reference. Just realising there were these different categories has helped me a lot.

Also, don't be in a rush to sort out storage. Go through it, 'fillet' it to remove unnecessary stuff like envelopes and bumf and put it in an identifiable place, whether it's back in the old file or in an envelope, but wait until you've finished all the paperwork before you decide on the final system. I would never have believed that I could get rid of the filing cabinet, but it's true.

I still haven't quite tamed the paper tiger but at least I know what I have and where to find it. In the past I have, to my shame, stuffed papers into carrier bags because someone was coming and I had to tidy up. That way lies madness, my friends - you'll be searching for ever for the missing cheque book!

clippy_girl

I am employed and also do mystery shopping self-employed on the side. I have my 'books' on a speadsheet which I use for my tax return. However if I was audited I would potentially need to prove how much printing, mileage etc I had claimed for which means I need to keep my paperwork for each job. I work in an office so use the photocopy paper boxes. I have one for each tax year clearly marked on the outside and line them up in the loft in date order. I have not done it for 6 years yet but after 6 years I will chuck the box in recycling when putting the new one up there. I keep the current box in a cupboard so I can add assignments as I do them. Luckily there is nothing particularly sensitive data wise so can chuck in recycling. The rest is in some folders but needs a cull so will do that when I'm on paperwork.

Re recipes, I use an iPad app called pepperplate, it's free. You basically type the recipe into it and can even include a pic. Then you can sort by type eg Indian, soup etc... It's also available on a pc. I am going to go through recipe books and if I only like a few will put them in the app and get rid of the book!

GreyQueen

Right, taking a well-earned teabreak.

As these things happen, I was mending something I'd been meaning to mend for some time, and dropped a tiny 'ponent on the floor and it rolled under the sofa.

Had to drag the sofa out to get at it and found a shocking amount of fluff, since it isn't that long since I last vacuumed underneath, plus a stray reciept and something which may have been a dried apricot once (didn't like to examine it too closely, IYSWIM ).

Anyway, enough of my domestic failures. I then completed the mend and put away the glue etc. Then decided to deal with the bag of knitting yarns which got displaced as part of the sofa moving. They are all bits and bobs of discards from Mum's stash of yarn, some of which are pulled out, and some of which represented a project I started and then thought better of.

I realised that on those occasions where I had felt like knitting, I had been stalled by the muddle in there and the project which needed to be unravelled. So I did that, plus turfed out some non-joyful yarn for the chazzer. Have added three drinking glasses which I don't use and now have filled this week's chazzer bag.

And the shop I donate at is open for a few hours on a Sunday so I shall tootle down there after lunch, drop it off, buy milk and tootle back again.

I feel ridiculously pleased at getting this little bit of Stuff outta here. I have also bit the bullet, stopped swithering about an item which has been hanging around the kitchen for a couple of years and binned it. Not donatable or recyclable, but it's gone into the big communal skip bin and I shall have to write the sunk costs off to experience.

Dustykitten

Thanks very much for the welcome and tips, really handy especially re books and paperwork. I love the if I had no access to new books would I read it. I'm a big library fan so borrow most books or chairty shop buys (which I then usually pass on or donate back) but I will definitely have more to go.

Today I will finish clothes, bags, shoes etc for now, already had another second sort of yesterday's keeps and removed a couple more bits.

Can't believe I'm loving this so mcuh but I'm sure enthusiasm will wane.

Boys clothes are ok, they are all quite good at sorting and chucking regularly including hubbie. I'm not doing the folding thing in their rooms yet but I may start and see how it goes, drawer by drawer as I/they put things away.

Cuppa next and then to the pile of socks - hubby balls all his and PHSL when I told him his socks were tense like that and needed to relaxed. He knows I'm mad as a box of frogs so was not fazed.

Dustykitten

I feel like I've been hypnotised, I cannot stop. I have just decluttered a gas heated hotbrush circa 1989 and a pack of OOD condoms, DH had the snip in 2003 and an electric razor which must be at least 15 years old. These were all in one of the wardrobe drawers.

Clothes etc done, just need to check downstairs handbags

Tomorrow I will finish toiletries, started these as some were in the wardrobe, and then books will be next, starting with the ones in the bedroom. Bedroom will then be done apart from 'sentimental' stuff ie keepsakes boxes and boxes which I'm not ready for yet.