The KonMarie method

iQueen

Afternoon everyone!

Thanks for popping in again, jinny, and for the link! :coffee:

We are definitely going down the 'woo track' again, which means we're not only kondoing, but thinking more deeply about other things, too.

Much of the new happiness and serenity that hit me a few months' ago, is the result of accepting people and situations, as they are. It makes Life much simpler.

We have very little control over our lives, in the widest sense, so, recognising this, means that we can focus our attention and energy on what we can control or alter.

There are some people in our lives, as mav says, who may have difficult attitudes, and whom we can't really kondo (unlike unpleasant 'friends'), but we can refuse to let them spoil our serenity. Meeting such people, with unflurried calm, disarms them!

Kondoing has helped me come through a very pessimistic period in life. I have discovered that the point of life is happiness, and that is within us - not from Stuff.

I think I'm heading towards Minimalism! :eek:

Congratulations, dragonette, on the tidy bedroom!

lollyfin: Often, turning the bedroom into a haven of peace, after kondoing clothes, is the first thing that Konverts do. It keeps us sane, as we progress, and provides us with a retreat from the turmoil! :rotfl:

Well done with the Mins, mrs-moneypenny, you're doing brilliantly! I'm looking forward to doing it in February. (Oh, bu88er! 2016 is a Leap Year!) :rotfl:Hope the h/term break is joyful, with not too much homework!

Right, I'm off to box/bag up some more unnecessary junk!:dance:

wort

Wow lollyfin well done :T that's a serious amount to get through!
Just waiting for curtains to dry so I can iron and put away, put a couple of photos on the wall in bedroom so that the dressing table and bedside table only have bare minimum on it looks much tidier:rotfl:

mavvymoo

Kondoing has helped me come through a very pessimistic period in life. I have discovered that the point of life is happiness, and that is within us - not from Stuff.

100% in agreement iTwin

A very big woo has come today. I had a phone call from my Brother out of the Blue and he has had an offer to buy some other land which he and I own miles away from here
I had not even thought about selling that as I never would without him wanting to sell :rotfl:But he said why are we keeping in ? and neither of us can even think of one reason So its going to be valued next week I can then lock up our house buy something else and leave all the madness behind How damn well joyful is that !

I am looking at small cottages / flats I do not want a lot to look after thank you very much.KM has taught me I do not need much and do not want much As for the massive garden you can stick that where the sun dont shine :rotfl::rotfl:Let someone else have the work anyone just as long its not me


I LOVE KM it never lets you down when you need an answer


Mav x

PollyWollyDoodle

jinny thanks for that link, that resonated with me - just got back from a trip to the tip, and have got two items leaving via Freegle tomorrow, the 'exit strategy' really is important. Hunt down a local chazza with parking nearby, that's been my biggest problem as I often have several bags.

Lollyfin (and anyone else just embarking on this), if I were starting again I'd either count the bags or maybe even photograph them before disposal, I know I have got rid of masses of stuff but it would have helped to motivate me to see just how much I'd removed. I'm now down to a trickle really, I have a carrier bag for odd items.

The other thing you need is a space - spare room, landing, maybe even just a cupboard or plastic storage box - for the Tetris stage, which we've all been through. This is where you have lots of Stuff that needs to be put with other Stuff before you sort it, and which doesn't yet have a place to go. That bit drove me mad, come through that stage and you'll start to feel a real change.

GrannyKate

Whilst there are still the main Kondo jobs of paper and photos to do, I am making space in study as I go along and hopefully very little that I keep will go back in loft after I finish. I have a box of mementos for each child. Up to them if they want contents later on. I will keep my sisters letters home to parents for her to go through next time she is in UK. if I did my tax return soon I can archive everything in one box in loft as I know I need to keep. Should not need to do return next year. I know that there are boxes of business papers in loft from DH self employment more than 10 years old now so they can go when we get up there. We did do garage, which is a store really, but think we will revisit out there in the Spring.

Agree there are always some people you cannot Kondo for complex reasons but I just try to keep calm and refuse to enter into their games. I am very good at not reacting - lots of practice in a sometimes dysfunctional childhood.

Making chutney for the first time ever. Trying to get ahead with mins game for tomorrow as I will be away.

GreyQueen

missyrichards, I started some years ago with MissMinimalist, have had a long association with 365lessthings, love zerowastehome, hoardingwoesandyou (not posting much now, but at least I will never find a dead opossum in my home), and becomingminimlist. I also really liked one which I've lost and can't recall the name of, about a van-dwelling nudist minimalist guy living in the American South-West. Very alternative (he didn't post pictures of his nekkid self, it was just mentioned in passing on a post about clothes, and him not needing many). If anyone can find that for me, I'd be a happy bunny.

He coined the Lost or Stolen Test, which is something for you to ask every dubious item; if this was lost/ stolen, would I replace it?

Those are my main fixes, I flit around in other places. HoardingWoes&You is well worth reading from start to finish.

Well, had a convo with the parental units and Dad has been in the Loft of Doom again. That's two consecutive days. He was looking for the folding table which supports the knitting machine. It was not found. How something with a 4 ft long top can disappear in a loft that size is beyond me, but it must be buried under yarn somewhere.

I asked if anything funny had been found like dead mice or large spiders. Neither, which means humungous spiders must have eaten the mice. What was found was a bag of paint brushes. When I was decorating in early September, we could only find a few, and there are loads up there.

The metal detector surfaced and Dad hoiked out the box to his computer printer, which has been up there 8 years. When this printer leaves, it will be dead and going to the tip. It will not need its original packaging. I have informed them that, subject to the employer's okaying it, I will be incoming in early November and will be tackling the loft.

My Dad took that with equanimity. He did remind me that I must be careful and not put my foot between the joists. He has been reminding me of this for 40 years. I reminded him that only one member of the family has ever put their foot through the ceiling and that was him.....:p

The items which will be brought to my flat (tiny flat, 240 sq foot) will cause a temporary crisis. Some of them are destined to be freegled, which I must do without delay, and another couple or so are to be triaged to see if usable. I very much agree that an exit strategy is important. I'm an old hand at freegling, whereas the group in the parental town is full of timewasters, so I am confident of getting rid of stuff from my place whereas it would be a problem at theirs.

And by taking control of it, I ensure that the final stage of the process is completed, as things tend to get so far in their house, then stall in the hall or the porch and not make it all the rest of the way out.

jinny

Ha ha thanks for the funny post GC
it so reminds me of convos with my late parents.
Me gushing about clearing out junk for them and watching eyes glaze over and zoning out on me.
They let me at the baking tin collection once. Huge turkey tins and
baking sheets the size and likes that wouldnt look outa place in the Downton Abbey kitchen. I put them neatly in the shed to be given away. Only weeks later to find them back in the cupboard:(

GreyQueen

jinny wrote: »

Ha ha thanks for the funny post GC
it so reminds me of convos with my late parents.
Me gushing about clearing out junk for them and watching eyes glaze over and zoning out on me.
They let me at the baking tin collection once. Huge turkey tins and
baking sheets the size and likes that wouldnt look outa place in the Downton Abbey kitchen. I put them neatly in the shed to be given away. Only weeks later to find them back in the cupboard:(

:rotfl:Been there, with variations. Which is why I like to conclude the job by getting the stuff all the way outta there.

Oh, and there was a stash of liners to Therm0s flasks in the loft. You used to be able to re-line the old style ones. There is a Therm0s flask mountain downstairs, too. I asked the probability of them relining a flask and established it as nil. I will be getting my mitts on those in Nov (please employer, grant me my flexleave request, so I can go and establish my dominion over the Loft before the weather gets too cold).

ETA; Had a LBM moment and used the Lost or Stolen Test to find that website ;http://homelessonwheels.com/

maddiemay

Just caught up on 3 day's worth of posts, gosh you have all been busy. Loving all the funny stories of unsolicited calls and parental lofts. When dear FIL passed on OH and his brother, together with SIL and myself had 2 large Edwardian houses to clear of absolute junk) 3 stories each, 2 large dry cellars and buildings equating to approx. 2,1/2 large garages, every room bar the 4 they had lived in was rammed full of furniture, building materials, tools, dozens and dozens of black bags of soft furnishings, dead domestic appliances etc. etc. mainly from the time they had 6 furnished letting properties. We lived 3.1/2 abd 2.1/2 hours away and it took us 6+ months of spending whole weekends grafting (having to stay in hotels because by this time there had been extensive water damage and none of us would do more than make a hot drink there. All so sad.

My own kondoing was started in an attempt to make my life lighter and easier, it is slow going as low energy and joint pain restricts me, but I creep along and every cupboard or drawer done is staying good, also much less stuff entering the premises, so ground is being gained. I am positive that without the inspiration and good humour of this thread I would have stalled completely ages ago.

just_the_two_of_us

Hi all - loving the catch up and wow Mav it just shows you clear stuff out of your life and wait for the good to come back in!!
Have been kondoing a huge number of books at the ch shop for the last five weeks with brilliant results for their coffers and am finally now moving forward here at home too. Still loads to do but DH is off work this week so we'll crack on with it regardless!
Take care everyone. x