The KonMarie method

Igamogam

Well I completed my 8 hours or so in the garden Feeling very pleased with myself too. Its a large garden and had romped away a little this year as we have been concentrating on the house. True to form I kept myself well fed and have eaten loads of strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and a whole mini cucumber.......just helped myself to handful of this and that every time I walked passed or went in the green house Just had a piece of cheese and feeling quite full so no need for food tonight. I think a long soak is in order than a catch up on the 'player with an eye'. off to a music festival with friends tomorrow. It seemed a good idea at the time but now I just want to stay here and kondo kondo kondo..........I think knowing I was going to get at least a week long clear run at it has probably slowed me down.That and itching to get to grips with some big garden jobs and also I finally read the book and was somewhat disappointed:(!! Anyway garden sorted for the time being so there should not be any distractions..............my goal was to be finished in 3 weeks time.........hmmm not sure I will make it but will have a bl00dy good try.

PollyWollyDoodle

Well done everyone - to those struggling with paperwork, yes it is a hideous task and nearly broke me, but believe me once it is done you will not look back. I can find things in minutes, the filing takes hardly any time to do because I know exactly where things belong, and when (as now) I need to phone up and query a bill, for example, I know exactly where to find the relevant paperwork.

I'm so tempted by the idea of a style advisor/colour consultation, can't justify it right now but I might see if I can get together with friends. I'm very envious hearing all the successes!

A salutary thought: a friend has recently lost her mother-in-law. There has been a slight delay over registering the death, as it had to be referred to the coroner, but it's all sorted now and she will be able to register it on Monday. As soon the death is registered, the local authority, from whom MIL rented a bungalow, will automatically be notified and the tenancy terminated. They then have just SEVEN DAYS to clear it.

A week to clear the entire contents of a home, fortunately it's only a one-bed bungalow but I understand the lady had quite a lot of stuff. It makes you think, doesn't it.

System

I received the book today. Havent had a chance to look at it yet as ive been busy with life and have had a clingy 2 year old around my feet most of the day.

Just waiting for him to drop off to sleep in his 'Big Boy' bed and then i might get chance to start reading.

DawnW

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

Well done everyone - to those struggling with paperwork, yes it is a hideous task and nearly broke me, but believe me once it is done you will not look back. I can find things in minutes, the filing takes hardly any time to do because I know exactly where things belong, and when (as now) I need to phone up and query a bill, for example, I know exactly where to find the relevant paperwork.

I'm so tempted by the idea of a style advisor/colour consultation, can't justify it right now but I might see if I can get together with friends. I'm very envious hearing all the successes!

A salutary thought: a friend has recently lost her mother-in-law. There has been a slight delay over registering the death, as it had to be referred to the coroner, but it's all sorted now and she will be able to register it on Monday. As soon the death is registered, the local authority, from whom MIL rented a bungalow, will automatically be notified and the tenancy terminated. They then have just SEVEN DAYS to clear it.

A week to clear the entire contents of a home, fortunately it's only a one-bed bungalow but I understand the lady had quite a lot of stuff. It makes you think, doesn't it.

Yes, you only get a week to clear it. I had this when my Mum passed away

GreyQueen

:eek: Guys, am horrified to hear this about only 7 days to clear local authority homes. Have you got this straight from the horse's mouth (asked the council) or is it hearsay? The reason I ask is that I work for one of the English local authorities which still owns its own housing stock and deal with tenancy enquiries among other things, including from relatives in this situation. Can't speak for what pertains in other regions of the UK, but it sounds wrong to me.

Four weeks is standard. A notice to quit (lasting 4 weeks) has to be served to legally end the council tenancy, even if the tenant has been passed away. If there is a Will, the executor serves notice on the council, if there isn't, the housing department serves notice. Either way, it's 4 weeks minimum. Heck, even if the tenant has abandoned the property and it's visibly empty, the council still has to serve a 4 week notice before it can legally take the property back. The notice has to be properly drafted and posted through the door of even an abandoned property.

Please, before you get into a lather and rush to do it all in 7 days, check the facts with the council or housing association landlord.

Today, I have decided to take a day off from allotmenteering. I have done 4 days on the trot as had some annual leave last week and have caught up with the worst bits. Lookin' pretty good up there.

So I am going to make myself some sarnies and a flask and go off on an exploratory bike ride around some of the villages on the city margins. Better pump the tyres up first as all that weight-hauling has flattened them a bit.

The joys of simple living mean that you can go out to play on a sunny August day. I might even take a towel and paddle in the river.:)

Pearla*Merle

GreyQueen, yes, this was direct from the council - my FIL only had seven days to clear his mother's home as well. Given my own experience of them when I lived up that way, it doesn't surprise me that they they forced this on people, it was beyond shocking. :eek:

Wish I'd known that info on the four week period, maybe they were just telling people that but quite illegally then? So utterly heartbreaking if that's the case.

The house was also packed to the gills, I've no idea how they managed to clear it in time.

PS. Which lucky towel has the day out today? We're all dying to know! :rotfl:

silvasava

Does Gary deserve an outing or given the weather - maybe Tropical?? Have a lovely day GQ x

PollyWollyDoodle

It is definitely seven days, I don't know all the details but that period of time has come directly from the LA. It may be that if you take longer, they charge you rent or something - this lady sadly has left undischarged debts and has barely left enough to cover a very cheap funeral, so there's no way the family could pay for more. It has meant they have probably dumped stuff that might have been sold.

Anyway, don't want to depress everyone on what looks like a glorious day here in England's driest county, I'm going to alternate between garden and kitchen today as I can't spend too long in the sun. Kondoing has been on hold recently while I focused on another project but that is over and it's time I tackled the dreaded 'random dishes' cupboard.

GreyQueen

I always assumed it was laid down in the relevent Act of Parliament. Our lot cannot avoid it, even if the neighbours have reported that the tenant has flitted and the housing officer can see into all rooms from outside and there's nothing at all left inside and a tsunami of post on the hall floor, the proper notice has to be served.

If there's councils going against the law for their convenience, and damn the bereaved, that's diabolical, imo.:(

Of course, if you just kept hold of the keys until you'd finished, there isn't much they can do but go to court for a possession order, which would have to be approved by a judge, and then serve notice of that, then go back to court for an eviction order if the exit date on the possession order wasn't complied with. All of which takes weeks and weeks and weeks.... and costs them money.

Gary the Towel is out and about this week, although probably will go in the washer tonight, if there's room.

I've been re-reading the archives on zero waste home and contemplating the second and larger of my two teapots. This one is only used when I am making the bigger 1 litre flask (I use the smaller 1 pint flask more often esp at this time of year) or when I have several people over at once. Which, given the size of my home, is about 2-4 times a year.

I was questioning the teapot as I was struggling to find space to put in away. And have decided to think that it isn't the case of not enough cupboard, more a case of one too many teapots.

I've put several teaspoons of bircarb of soda and boiling water in it, and will probably leave it 24 hours and then re-treat it, to remove the tannin from the insdie, then polish it up and add it to the donation bag. And I'm thinking of a small jug which is used very seldom and is also in the way. That can go bye-byes, too.

It's a step-change for me to think this way. I used to think that you had to have every possible eventuality covered by having certain sizes and types of gear. Then I came to the LBM that there are other ways:

1. Stop doing that activity and you don't need that equipment. If it really adds value and enjoyment to your life, you won't begrudge the space the kit takes up. If it doesn't so much.......

2. If it's a seldom-occurring activity, you can improvise with other gear you already own for other purposes. OK, it mightn't be as perfect as the purpose-made and dedicated item, but does that really matter?

3. You can be a hooligan and serve your friends sticky cake on plates and make them eat it with teaspoons not cake forks. Really, they're your friends, and cake is cake, isn't it? What'll they do, disown you?

Righty, quick wash and brush up, then pump up the bike tyres and go out to play. I used to do things like this a lot, but had fallen out of the habit. I shall fall right back into it. I've picked a direction but haven't a destination in mind, I shall just wamble around the lanes in the city's peripheral villages and stop when the mood takes me. I might stop at a pub for a half a lager. I might eat at a pub. I might eat my sarnes. The world is my mollusc.:rotfl:

ETA; just saw Polly's post. The rent is chargable for the 4 week notice period, chargable to the estate of the desceased tenant, not the next-of-kin. If they had no money in their estate, the next-of-kin sign off to that effect and the local authority has to do without. Housing benefit entitlement ends on the Sunday after someone dies, so you'd have a period of rent liability with no HB.

grunnie

My mum was in very sheltered housing and we were told we had to pay another month's rent of £1300 + ( can't remember the exact amount) if we didn't empty the room within a week. She rented the room with a fitted carpet but they ( Hanover housing ) ordered us to remove the carpet. The day before the funeral we OH and me both in our sixties were on our knees cutting up a beautiful carpet into bits to take to the dump. We cut it into stips 2 feet wide rolled it up and pulled it out threw the window. It nearly killed me and was more upsetting than the actual funeral. A very sad memory for me.