The KonMarie method

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Have gone off track to sort out things for a car boot sale that we are going to do on Sunday. Feel slightly fed up, maybe because the house is in a complete mess at the moment and maybe because many of the things I am going to try and sell should have never been bought in the first place.

The one thing that is absolutely crucial is that everything that leaves the house to go to the car boot sale must not come back into the house. It goes to the charity shop or tip.

More of this tomorrow.

mrs-moneypenny

Had a lovely time mo doing photos to DD3 this afternoon, I'd got a bag sorted for her and we all had a lovely time going through them and some other albums with her and her fella, found some mor of her school group ones in the cupboard so she's taken them as well.

maddiemay

Recently returned from a 3 week holiday, touring Scotland in our caravan. Normally I am good at ploughing through all the washing, but the clean stuff hangs around for weeks waiting to be put away, this time it was so easy to "file" everything back into the cupboards and drawers which tidily awaited it:D

OH and I have a load of possessions that are now not needed in our life of retirement, I had earmarked (mentally) things to be sold or sent to CS at some stage in the future, someone close to us is having a tough time financially ATM so it all is going to them to carboot or sell on-line, it will be good to help a little and it gives me motivation to get on with things.:D

Like a lot of others here, I am being so much more selective in what comes into the house, last week I found a lovely silk and linen dress in a CS, expensive make so had quite a high price tag, colour and style were just right, but just a bit too big, so I walked away, before MK I would have thought it fine, but now anything I buy has to be 100%.

iQueen

GreyQueen wrote: »

I've been having thoughts about my spending habits

I realised that I had a mindset that I should always have 'something to show' for money spent.

I'm finally moving beyond this and am now able to actually spend some money on doing things rather than having things.

Today I spent some money I was given on a cinema ticket.

I've splashed out on 3 meals out this week! A sandwich lunch, a rare Mr M's fish and chips, and an equally rare full breakfast! I doubt that I will have anything (extra weight!) to show for it either. :rotfl:

MoonJelly wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome. My house is super cluttered. I find my biggest challenge is toilettries and the lack of storage in my house (my house is tiny!). I have a million books and dvds and unfortunately for me they ALL give me joy -since I only buy the ones I really like and watch and/or read over and over.

It's going to take me some time to go through stuff, right? :rotfl:
654

Yep, it will take time, but if you follow MK's list, you will gather momentum and motivation as you make the journey. You will start tolerating less and less Stuff.

When it comes to books and DVD's, you should aim to be strict with yourself. You may well think you love them all, but you need to focus on (and keep) only the ones that bring you utter joy - the ones that you regularly re-read or watch, week after week... ditch the rest! If that is too hard, move on to the next category (and the next, if necessary), until your motivation and decision-making have strengthened, and your mindset has changed. Maintenance will involve, 'one in, one out'.

Susan1962 wrote: »

Although the journey to a decluttered house isn't any less daunting, at least I can see a path ahead of me now. MK has really focussed my thinking. While there are definitely parts of the book that I don't like or don't "get", overall it's been amazing. Came home from work exhausted and thought I'd never have the energy to do any Kondoing but it sneaked up on me anyway - sitting having tea I realised I'd grabbed a handful of DVDs and was sorting them to see which I still loved and wanted to keep. Despite having purged about 30 yesterday, I found two more today. That gave me a final result which led to organising them. It was wonderful - my inner librarian was over the moon. I have a fraction of the discs but they're easy to find, sorted by genre and then alphabetically! It's a wee bit sad I know but that finishing touch was what "sparked joy" for me so MK is definitely my hero!!

I'm dying to get to that point, with my books, I've been promising myself that I will arrange them using the Library of Congress classification system! :rotfl:

It's not sad at all - organisation and classification make it quicker and easier to find a particular book/disc and, more importantly, replace it! Can you imagine running a library on our current systems? :eek: :rotfl:

VJsmum

greenbee wrote: »

Please can one of you come and do my packing for me? I have to pack tonight for a 2 week work trip and am having trouble deciding what to take let alone how to fit it in (my case is just bigger than BA cabin size). I've worked out the days I can get laundry done, so in theory know how many days I need to have clothes for, but I don't know exactly what I'll be doing for some evenings and the weekend...

Are you me? :rotfl: I am in this exact position

greenbee

VJsmum wrote: »

Are you me? :rotfl: I am in this exact position

Through sheer force of will (and careful folding and rolling combined) I have managed to get trainers, two pairs of heels, a pair of wedges, a pair of ballet flats, flip flops, 2x running stuff, 2x swimsuit, 3 suit dresses, 1 jacket, 1 skirt, 1 pair of trousers, numerous tops, tights, underwear etc, plus jeans, t-shirts, non-work dresses in. Just make-up, jewellery, toiletries, laptop and power cables to go, which should fit in my laptop bag to go under the seat in front on the flight.

I have male colleagues who I swear just take a couple of spare pairs of pants, a clean shirt and a spare tie to distract from the same suit. I have some colleagues who wear their suits in the evenings and on flights to keep the volume of luggage down. And I have others who travel with huge suitcases (some with more than one) that make me feel stressed looking at them.

Rregardless of the length of trip, I think there is a limit to what you can keep tidy in the case/face unpacking and repacking/drag round airports/hotels/stations/client meetings....

Fingers crossed my suitcase behaves and I haven't forgotten something critical...

GreyQueen

I think I've grasped from both your posts that greenbee travels on business and VJsMum travels as a lecturer. Wouldn't it be funny if you met briefly in Forn Parts to exhange packing tips one day? Perhaps we should have a secret kondo-badge that kultists could wear when out and about. I can see it now, at Changi airport, two women clock each other's kondo-badges and strike up a conversation.........:rotfl:

I loved travelling light, and so did the people tasked with baggage handling, and they never failed to comment joyfully on my small 12 kg rolling suitcase and how easy it was. Postitive re-inforcement like that really helps.

I've been thinking (you'll have to excuse me, I'm in a knitting project atm and knitting is conducive to thought; you lot are safer if I'm reading fiction). Thinking about why I have the Stuff I have. These are my conclusions.

1. Upbringing - coming from a poor family who kept stuff Justin Case. Because if you were rash and offloaded something you'd later need, you'd struggle to afford to re-buy it, or be unable to do so.

2. Greenery. As in not liking to waste anything which could be repurposed. Chatting with a pal last Sunday revealed the same mindset, that it is very important to us both that non-used things are re-homed responsibly. Just chucking stuff in the bin isn't going to be an option for us.

3. Creativity. I blame Blue Peter for a lot of this, but I can genuinely see new and crafty life in the oddest of things, which makes things like gold foil cake boards seem like very seductive items (I am recycling them now, but I'm not finding it easy ).

4. Insecurity. Feeling like I need to be insulated from the lumps and bumps of life. When you're in one of the lower deciles of the socio-economic herd, life can feel a bit bumpy and scary. Plus I am a touch neurotic about some things (and cucumber-cool and laconic about others).

5. Social expectations. Left to my own devices, I'd live in casual trousers and tops. Far too scruffy and casual for my empoyer's liking and not suitable for certain social occasions. Even a homebody like me occasionally has to scrub up and smarten up. A pal keeps mentioning treating me to lunch at a plush restaurant, something he's done before, and I wouldn't show either of us up by turning up in gardening duds.

**********

The knitting project is going well (blanket). Am using some of the pulled-out pullies already on the premises, plus yarn acquired in the past fortnight from pal and from Nan. Of the yarn from Nan, some of it was new and it is being knitted by Mum into a baby outfit. She started on Thursday and it's three-quarters done and will be handed over next weekend. Decades ago, one of my young cousins, marvelling at Mum having bought a knitting machine said You don't need a knitting machine Auntie, you ARE a knitting machine!

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

I think I've grasped from both your posts that greenbee travels on business and VJsMum travels as a lecturer. Wouldn't it be funny if you met briefly in Forn Parts to exhange packing tips one day? Perhaps we should have a secret kondo-badge that kultists could wear when out and about. I can see it now, at Changi airport, two women clock each other's kondo-badges and strike up a conversation.........:rotfl:

I loved travelling light, and so did the people tasked with baggage handling, and they never failed to comment joyfully on my small 12 kg rolling suitcase and how easy it was. Postitive re-inforcement like that really helps.

I seem to remember that We nearly overlapped in Scandinavia a few years ago, but at the moment I'm mostly going west and VJsMum is mostly going east..

I had to travel with my biggest suitcase a couple of weeks ago (taking stuff out to friends who have moved abroad). This is NOT a big case, and was underweight. But I found it very irritating. There was an upside in that I acquired a lot of clothes from a friend who has lost weight (handy as I've lost weight and had very little left I could wear), most of which would have been well beyond my budget. This has also meant that I've been able to use my new clothes budget to fill the gaps with better quality stuff than I would have done otherwise.

My old stuff is slowly making its way to the local CS as its mostly perfectly good, just too big and unflattering and DEFINITELY not joyful!

Clutterfree

Morning All.
Well I had my first post-kondo clothes shop/delivery yesterday.
F & F had 20% off dresses amd there was one I liked so I ordered that plus a few other bits that were in their sale - total of £41.

Tried them all on.
Dress - whilst it was nice and it did flatter me, I liked it but I didn't love it. Being returned.
Skirt - nothing special so knew it was a return.
Shirt - loved it - sparked joy - definite keeper! :T
*Top 1 - colour different to pic - was okay but nothing special.
*Top 2 - loved the colour but scoop neck was low so had to adjust it so bra didn't show.

* Now pre-kondo I would have kept these 2 items because a) they were in the sale and only £3 and b) they'd make do again because they were cheap. I stood in the mirror looking at them having this fight in my head - they're a bargain V do I love it? I'm happy to say that because they didn't spark joy they are being returned.
I realised that the majority of clothing that I had previously discarded was indeed from the "it's only a few pounds so it'll do" category.

So from my online shop I kept one shirt costing £5 that does spark joy and I already know what skirt I'm wearing with it next week!

Thank you Marie Kondo - I've had my epiphany! :j

mavvymoo

Morning Kondoites

I had to go into town yesterday and decided to have a look round the charity shops. Saw so many 'nice' things which I would have brought before KM but didnt buy a thing Tried on the most beautiful trousers which did spark joy but they were to short for me so left them for another lucky customer did debate turning them into 3/4 length but thought that might ruin them.

So came home with a bottle of milton (to clean chicken waterers and feeding dishes :rotfl:) and money in my purse

So like many of you have already said you do really think about what brings you joy and second best just will not do anymore.Which has got to be a good thing.

My house is still very Kondo'd and calm. Still not happy with clothes and shoes so still going with that section I am still thinking why have I got all this 'stuff' I really dont need it.

I still have 13 drawers over the house with nothing in them So with clothes and shoes I am going back to basics and I am going to get EVERYTHING out once again and see if it sparks joy on about the 7th time I have picked it up :eek: But that will not be this weekend as the weather is to nice to be inside


Have a lovely weekend everyone

Mav x