The KonMarie method

dragonette

Haven't done much thinning out of things for the last few days, having a bit of an energy crash.

Got given some late bday pressies - 2 pieces of costume jewellery will go direct to the CS. They simply arent me, but the third piece will be worn and loved

ETA: have found some decluttering and styling advice here http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/. It is very American, no sizes between city bedsit or large and sprawling suburban housing. But interesting

Siebrie

I have kondoed my mending pile! The landing window sill is looking neat again.
I kmow, it is a weird place to keep a mending pile, but I didn't really have a proper space elsewhere, and I figured seeing it there would annoy me enough to actually work through the pile. It did, but it took me 6 months to get to this 'point of annoyance'.

PollyWollyDoodle

U.K.-American, I don't need the Don Aslett book as I already have it, but he is well worth the read and I think it's down to his wise words that I was not already hoarding much more stuff when I started this process. A very generous gesture to offer it to someone else.

I completely agree about the joy of being able to find something at a moments notice!

jinny

I too had the don asslet book. I also had a book by Julie morgenstern
Most of the declutter books really. Peter Walsh, the feng shui one. I used to buy one at least once a month with the hope of finding the holy grail Of finally becoming organised. They all worked for me for a while but none had the effect like the MK book has. It's like it hypnotised me to action. Once more my home has stayed decluttered. None of the other books had that effect.
I got an ebook called declutter fast by mimi tanner a former pack rat. That was quite good but expensive. The idea is to bring boxes into the room and put everything that belongs in there into the boxes. Anything that doesn't must be taken immediately to where it does belong and put into that rooms box. Dealing with floordrobes and surface clutter first.
The idea is that if you tire of decluttering you can leave the boxes until you have a spare few minutes. At least if you are looking for something you know it's in that room.
That appealed to my procrastination mindset and didn't mind having boxes stacked in a corner. Maybe that would work with the more hoarder type of person with stuff piled up all over at least it would be corralled into boxes of stuff that belong in there. You would still have to dump unwanted stuff straight away though and she recommends an exit strategy for those items leaving immediately.
It worked for awhile but MK has had the best results for me.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Woke to a couple of freeglers chasing after the same knackered, rubbishy thing (which was described as such) that I posted late last night. Should leave this evening. People are interesting, aren't they?

I have also been a serial consumer of decluttering books and have a very soft spot for Mr Aslett's works. He's side-splittingly funny, very acute but never shades into either hectoring or cruelty. I've also toyed with Karen Kingston and indeed every other decluttering/ organising book I can get my hands on.

It's interesting that so many of us seem to have done likewise and that it's MK which has really done it for us. Because MK isn't full of lists and techniques, the lion's share of it could be described as autobiographical, but the simplicity of does it spark joy? resonates at a deep level.

At a fundamental level, we already know how to declutter. We're not infants; we can pick things up, put them in bags and boxes and get rid of them. What we need to know is why we have emotional resistance to doing so, how we got to the position of excess in the first place and how we can avoid back-sliding again.

I'm finding freegling positively joyous these past few days; stuff is leaving the premises shortly after arriving from Mum and Dad's, even though it's very random stuff, not the most covetable by a long shot. Items which, if chazzered would, I suspect, risk being binned rather than make it out to the shop floor. But that was what the whole freecycle/ freegle thing was about, wasn't it, avoiding stuff going to landfill.

in_need_of_direction

Yesterday I binned the box that a piece of jewellery came in approx 2 years ago. It's been kicking around the living room in the belief that it would be of use to someone. So, two items down, 98 to go.

mavvymoo

Morning Kondoites

Had a productive weekend on the house front and not very good news or maybe it is I am still not sure

Had someone out to look at the roof on the cottage and he says 'no change out of £20k :eek: and it needs the whole lot stripping off and everything needs replacing most of the tiles he can see are ok but the rest is a no go.
He does tell it as it is and then said look at 4 walls and the rest needs replacing.

Problem is with Winter coming he thinks it is going to be a big problem if it cant be done before the bad weather comes.

So have done a bit of digging and the cottage is in receivership so maybe able to get a deal but do we want to ????
So do we walk away and wait for something which is NOT going to cost about £60k to get it to living in standard !

Or do we wait for the agents to ring as I would never ring them :rotfl: and offer £50k below the asking price

Or do we hope someone else beats us to it so we dont have to think about it anymore :rotfl:

I am really not sure at the moment do we really want to take it on all the work,money and hassle which I am sure it would be.

I am just worried the costs are going to mount up and it will take us a good few years to get back to where we are now.

Funny as before KM I would have just gone for this but KM has taught me 'Do I need another house/moneypit in my life and to be 100% honest no I dont think I do .I want to feel lighter and not so bogged down.
My head is clearer as I am not surrounded with stuff so can make a good call on this not a bad one and live to regret it.


So we will see.

Mrs MP I am loving the randomness of your daily lists

UK American Funny I have to go down and do the water pressure on Dads boiler today as yesterday DH couldnt do it :rotfl:I know I have done it before so am hoping once I get there I remember how I did it. Well done to you showing the men up with your skills Joyful flowers BTW


So bring on the day and we must make sure it is joyful


Mav x

mavvymoo

I forgot to say I have also had all the decluttering books and none of them worked for me as well as KM as the stuff started to creep back
Also Freecycle I think is a brilliant idea if used right but some of the 'wants' on our site are crazy the worst one I saw went along the lines of

---

Wanted a Tiffany braclet to match my necklace :eek:
Must be the Return to Tiffany Heart one no others please
No fakes as mine is real ! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:



How funny I doubt if she had people lining up to help her


Mav x

choose_wisely

Good morning everyone.

Re Don Aslett, I bought 'Is there life after housework' many years ago (still using some cleaning methods, but should really read up) and followed it up with 'freedom from clutter' in 1990 according to the last printing date on my copy which has recently been released from the loft and will now re-read it.

I don't suppose I was really ready for taking it on board at the time (was pregnant for most of that year) and have certainly got worse since then. I am not going to take all the blame, DH is a hoarder and won't get rid of anything and I have always been reluctant to dispose of anything that is not mine. That is apart from children's toys that they grew out of before being old enough to make their own decisions which had mainly gone to church or school events.

I had one major error in that I must have sent DD2's puffalump doll and not DS's first soft toy, which both used to come away with us. A couple of years ago I sourced a replacement from the US auction site, but it wasnt the same as having the original.

Anyway, after DH went off to work I am having my first full day on my own after for several weeks and have been awake since 4a.m.

I expect to get lots done and yet again hope to post mins updates during my fatigue enforced breaks.

Oops, is it that time already?

PollyWollyDoodle

Mavvymoo, If it's meant to be it will happen - the path will become clearer depending on whether they ring you or not - sounds as if you're in a good bargaining position and as you say, you're not hung up on possessing something, your mind will be clear.

I think the simple difference with MK is the switch from 'is there a reason to get rid of this?' to 'is there a reason to keep this?' When I started sorting stuff I realised that before I just used to file stuff away without thinking about it. It was in my home, and therefore it had a reason to be there. I'd only dispose of stuff if it was broken/duplicated (and some of that ended up in the garage*). the act of thinking about every item is what's made a difference.

*Why do we do this? There's no recorded case of household items healing themselves in storage ... yet I've kept broken, damaged and incomplete Stuff, for years sometimes.