The KonMarie method

GreyQueen

:T mavvymoo, that is an awesome bit of high-speed kondo-ing, and such a good (and appropriate) cause, too. Be justifiably proud of yourself.

I was once given a cuddly toy by a friend-of-a-friend who happened to be in town the same weekend as my birthday, and attended a party where we were all crashing at someone's house. I'd never seen her before, wouldn't be likely to see her again as she lives abroad, but she felt she had to give me a gift because it was my birthday.

It was a nice soft toy from a chazzer, and I dropped it off into another chazzer on my way home. Double-bonus for the charitable sector and no clutter for me (sorry if you like cuddlies, but they haven't floated my boat since I was about 12 years old).

Have gone to visit family and shown Mum a rather nice baking tray which I bought from a chazzer but which turned out to about an inch too wide for my oven. Her oven is wider and it's a good fit, plus she thinks she might have a baking tray surplus to her requirements which we'll look at tomorrow. We have also traded a bedsheet and a chopping board is being cast-out from her kitchen to live at my allotment, to assist with the initial stages of veg prep, which I do up there before taking stuff down to the flat. I was looking for a secondhand one to serve this purpose, and she mentioned she doesn't want this one as it has warped a bit.

Anyone else play swopsies between their own home and their Mum's? It seems to be a pretty commonplace thing from what I can gather.

ali-t

mavvymoo wrote: »

Kondo story coming up ----My dad turned up at about 4.30 with a big box in the boot of his car :eek::eek: Took two of us to lift it out it was so heavy. Well my dads friend who has so much stuff in his house is having a clear out ! Has kindly given me a dinner service which is about an inch thick with evil looking chickens on it :eek: Just as I keep Chickens everyone gets me chicken things :mad: As I like them they think I need them everywhere in my house.

Mav x

I keep chooks too and have a feeling that this years birthdays and xmas' will be filled with chicken tat. Its going to mess up my kondo unless I put a stop to it esrly on.

Susan1962

Souvenir jug from CS (used for topping up fish tank) - not my taste and certainly doesn't spark joy - now in donation bag along with a few kitchen bits and pieces that I noticed after my third weekend in a row decluttering the blasted room!

silvasava

Not much kondo'ing but I did go to the tip with 2 plastic window boxes and 2plastic buckets that were old,brittle and broken along with my clock radio that had given up the ghost and the upstairs telephone that had also gone on the blink. Do need to sort out all the plant pots I've accumulated that I don't use - I've gradually been getting rid of plants in pots as they take so much time to keep watered & whittled them down to the ones that give me joy

VJsmum

Wedding cards, acceptances and gift tags have gone. I did look at it all and mentally thank it.

OH happy to let it all go after another look

Another space cleared in the filing cabinet :T

But, I still have a slight nagging feeling that I should keep them, even though they've sat there for 24 years and never been looked at and I don't even recognise the names on some of them. I guess I am just worried that I will regret it.....

Ah, it's fine - the last thing I would want is the kids feeling that they then have to keep them in due process. They don't spark joy,they don't need to. They did their job 24 years ago.

Anyone recall the plastic daffodil dilemma? OH had planted them in the garden as a joke.DD came home and saw them there - oh help, I thought, she'll think we are mocking her present. Nope, she said "why on earth have you still got those - I hope they are going in the bin" :rotfl:

mavvymoo

ali-t wrote: »

I keep chooks too and have a feeling that this years birthdays and xmas' will be filled with chicken tat. Its going to mess up my kondo unless I put a stop to it esrly on.

Why do people do this it I had Chook stuff ranging from fridge magnets to a Giant metal Rooster for the garden (which I do love BTW and he gives me joy :)But I did buy him myself :rotfl:

I know a lady who does so much for everyone else and everyone loves her so she gets a lot of gifts.
Someone got her a Poppy picture which she loved and put it on the wall where it looked lovely.Since then she has been gifted another 15 :eek: Poppy pictures which are up on the wall and look awful

She asked people not to get her anymore as she had no room to display them.

Then someone gifted her an Elephant ornament now the flood gates have opened on that one to and she has been gifted about 20 since :rotfl:

I always buy her Wine,Chocolates or Flowers bet she wishes everyone would do the same

Mav x

PollyWollyDoodle

:mad: So I'm not alone in this - 'ooh, you like cats so you'd love a tea-towel/plate/picture/bag/cushion/mug/ceramic representation ...' No, actually I like real, live, furry, mewing, purring cats and I don't need to be reminded of what they look like! Mugs and tea-towels I can cope with as they can be used but some of the other stuff ...

Then I got chickens. Guess what followed. And then I got bees ... go figure. I sound really ungrateful, and sometimes people are thrilled to bits that they have found something unusual ('look, I found this hairslide, and guess what it's got on it!') and sometimes the things ARE really pretty and useful. More often than not, though, I am left feeling that I must be really hard to buy presents for. Honestly guys, a book, a voucher or a large bottle of gin are always welcome and they won't take up valuable shelf room!

I have had a rule for a few years that unless I know someone wants a particular item, I will only buy consumables - food, tickets, vouchers or drink. Within the family I do home-made vouchers sometimes, for example this year my sister got a 'garden visit' voucher - she chooses the date and venue, I drive and pay the entry fee and buy a cream tea.

I love what your DD said about the daffodils, VJsmum! She's obviously a natural Konvert. I bet if you asked her about the wedding cards she'd have said 'chuck 'em out'.

Igamogam

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

:mad: So I'm not alone in this - 'ooh, you like cats so you'd love a tea-towel/plate/picture/bag/cushion/mug/ceramic representation ...' No, actually I like real, live, furry, mewing, purring cats and I don't need to be reminded of what they look like! Mugs and tea-towels I can cope with as they can be used but some of the other stuff ...

Then I got chickens. Guess what followed. And then I got bees ... go figure. I sound really ungrateful, and sometimes people are thrilled to bits that they have found something unusual ('look, I found this hairslide, and guess what it's got on it!') and sometimes the things ARE really pretty and useful. More often than not, though, I am left feeling that I must be really hard to buy presents for. Honestly guys, a book, a voucher or a large bottle of gin are always welcome and they won't take up valuable shelf room!

I have had a rule for a few years that unless I know someone wants a particular item, I will only buy consumables - food, tickets, vouchers or drink. Within the family I do home-made vouchers sometimes, for example this year my sister got a 'garden visit' voucher - she chooses the date and venue, I drive and pay the entry fee and buy a cream tea.

I love what your DD said about the daffodils, VJsmum! She's obviously a natural Konvert. I bet if you asked her about the wedding cards she'd have said 'chuck 'em out'.

Totally agree with the consumable presents unless something specific has been asked for. My nan was a victim of 'cat' presents. She was also a lady who did lots for others and a stalwart member of church,Mothers Union, WI, Girl Guides - you name it she had a role in it:rotfl: However people gifted her cat related gifts all the time and she was of the same opinion: she liked real ones ( there was always a cat of some description in the house) not ceramic/textile/magnetic ones:rotfl: She always said that she would rather people donate to a charity in her name or buy some tins of cat food and donate so I would say to those who are burdened by an overload of poultry themed gifts ask people to buy you a sack of chicken feed or donate to a charity who deal with re-homing ex battery hens. Nan died over 15 years ago now. When my aunt and I cleared the house we had a special crate for cat stuff.........we divided the useful tea towels and mugs between us and the rest went to a church spring fair..........it was only afterwards we thought that maybe the people who had bought the cat tat in the first place may well have seen it again on the bric-a-brac stall:eek::rotfl: I did keep a cat teapot which she never used other than to keep the electricity bill money in. I brought it home in a box which it stayed in for 15 years. During my first KM round it was one of the first things to go to the CS using the principle it brought me no joy whatsoever, just as it hadn't brought my nan any........she just used it, not for its intended use, out of obligation:o

cpt574

Hi, just checking back in. It's been a hectic week with work and to be honest after feeling so overwhelmed last week I needed a break to recover. Feeling better and woke this morning itching to do something! Started on my spice cupboard while making breakfast, will go finish now and then linens and cables are on my radar for today, watch out house - I'm back! :T

iQueen

VJsmum wrote: »

Anyone recall the plastic daffodil dilemma? OH had planted them in the garden as a joke.DD came home and saw them there - oh help, I thought, she'll think we are mocking her present. Nope, she said "why on earth have you still got those - I hope they are going in the bin" :rotfl:

Great idea planting the daffs in the garden! For a short while, they could feel like real daffs, and no doubt brought a joyful to everyone's face!

Just goes to show that our kondo decisions should be based on what we feel, rather than trying to second-guess what others might (or might not) feel. They are our possessions and it's our lives we are de-cluttering.

Two friends of mine are having a Civil Partnership and don't want presents as they have everything they need.

I'm embroidering a sampler to celebrate their union, because I think they will like this kind of memento, filled with all the things they enjoy in life. On the other hand, if they bin it immediately, I won't mind, (although I might ruefully regret the wasted hours that went into it!) :rotfl:

mavvymoo wrote: »

Why do people do this it I had Chook stuff ranging from fridge magnets to a Giant metal Rooster for the garden (which I do love BTW and he gives me joy :)But I did buy him myself :rotfl:

Mav x

I have an Am@zon Wish List - open to everyone who knows me email addie. It lists items that I genuinely need, plus some favourite consumables, and vouchers - with a note that I LURVE vouchers. Some people think vouchers are a naff, lazy present, but they make it possible for me to buy either things I need or things that bring me joy, but can't afford.

At Christmas I got a pair of walking boots (SO comfortable and warm) and my favourite perfume - both way beyond my means! :rotfl:

(Hmm, that reminds me I need to weed my private Wish Lists - I know there are lots of 'wants' on them that are not necessary for my happiness! )

cpt574 wrote: »

Hi, just checking back in. It's been a hectic week with work and to be honest after feeling so overwhelmed last week I needed a break to recover. Feeling better and woke this morning itching to do something! Started on my spice cupboard while making breakfast, will go finish now and then linens and cables are on my radar for today, watch out house - I'm back! :T

I've got that itch too, cpt!

There's a local Jumble Sale coming up (they won't know what's hit them!) Although Saturday is my chillaxing day, I'm going to do a Mav tornado - fast decisions and plenty of action! :rotfl: