The KonMarie method

VJsmum

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

Thanks GQ, I've rather bravely just read all the cards we were sent on our wedding day, some from people I can't remember, lots from dear frien and relays sadly no longer with us and some from couples who are now divorced and hate each other. A few were still couples and still in our lives, they all raised a smile went I read the love and kind wishes Shared with us, but the cards looked so old and well just like cards really. I smiled at the contents and the memories they brought back but they have all gone into the recycling, along with a rather scary looking plastic mouse with lady gaga like eyelashes and lipstick that was given to me on my 21st - that is over 30 years ago and mouse hasn't aged well. A couple of cuddlys that Dh gave me when we were courting had died in storage and looked really worse for wear. All have left the house along with more packaging.
Found a box of 1980s fitness mags for Dh to go through - not mine to kondo but he may let some go.

That's exactly how I felt about my wedding cards. Haven't regretted it one bit.

Didn't do my 31 items for the last day of Oct - yet. I think I have Kondoed the bronchitis at last so something of a result.

I am busy working through the freezers, no idea really what is in them at the mo. Saves on the shopping bills also in the run up to the C word.

Still no PhD news :-(

My SiL was 50 last week and I had no idea what to get her - she is also kondoing

So I have said that I will go down to her city and take her out for lunch on us - something to look forward to and back on...

Good work, GQ, and everyone else. Well done thos who saw the Mins game through..:T

dragonette

Evening all minimal kondoing from me today, hoping tomorrow goes better! I'm cat sitting for a few days. Cat mostly wants company not contact, so I'm dusting etc, again with permission

MMF007

mavvymoo wrote: »

I wish you well on this one MMF007.It does need handling with kid gloves. But if only they could see what we see it would be so easy.
When I helped a lady with a hoarding condition. In her very cluttered 'display' cabinet where everything was piled on top of everything else :eek: I asked what her favorite peice was and why she finally found it shoved to the back with piles of stuff in front of it.
So I washed it very carefully and polished it and then cleaned and polished a part of the cabinet where it could be displayed and seen.
Put it there and then we stood back to admire it and she was so pleased that it had pride of place and looked so nice.and it snowballed from there;)

I know your Mum is not a hoarder but maybe pick something you know she loves and say what a shame it cant be seen and see what her reaction is.

Good luck to you it is very frustrating and you need to polish your halo before you start :rotfl

Mav x

Thanks Mav. That is a very good idea, finding one item to spark the joy and taking inspiration
from that. :T

Not made Kondo progress here today but have sorted out refund of over-paid leccy that the blighters had refused to refund.

Have also managed to get told off for
Not putting the dish brush on the correct side of the sink, not closing the garden gate properly, leaving a window open and thus letting a blue bottle in, using the wrong soap in the bathroom.... and several other apparent misdemeanours. you couldn't make it up. My patience is being sorely tried. DH looked ready to walk out by 11am! Luckily he cleaned their car instead and tomorrow we are planning to be OUTSIDE gardening ALL DAY !!!!

Is it just parental pay-back time for when we were really annoying as kids???
Now I'm the one gritting my teeth and tidying up! :rotfl:

off to lie down in a darkened room......

M

loopychriss

Hi Everyone, I'd like to join in the Mins Game for November please. I have been reading this forum from the start, it's the highlight of my day sometimes, especially reading the Tales From The Attic that GreyQueen relates every day!

I feel like I know a lot of you already and love hearing about your decluttering stories.

A little background. I moved on 2nd June, and had previously decluttered drastically and Kondoed a vast amount. I had stopped buying things before we moved because I didn't want to have to pack them up to move. So I saved it all for after we'd moved, and had a bit of a spree. Only stuff that sparked joy, mind you, but I now seem to have accumulated far too much again and need to start again.

I would like to join in November, but starting with 30 items and working downwards, as I've been putting things aside for a week or so with this intention.

1st November = 30 items
Emptied charity collecting tin (I am Treasurer so get to do this legally)
2 china mugs - 1 found in the shed, 1 chipped in the kitchen
1 bra that doesn't fit
A foot grater/pumice stone thing
4 cheap plastic harmonicas that don't play
A catalogue from a shed company
Brochure from Carers Organisation
Bath mat
2 sticky back hooks without the sticky backs
A hand mirror that the coating had gone all sticky on
Gone off Paco Rabanne aftershave from the 80s
Swarovski paper gift bag
Disposable razor
Electric doorbell chime found in socket when we moved in
2 ancient lipsticks
Bead necklace
Keyring
Seashells
Plastic tubs
5 DVDs

2nd November - 29 items
Breast cancer lapel pin
Old business card
Toe ring
Ring bit from broken keyring
Unpicker from sewing box
2 Amazon gift cards - amounts entered on website
Out of date coupon
Paperwork for recent jury service
Ziploc bag with big rip in it
Pair of wrist warmers
End of pack of post it notes - sticky bits covered in dust & hair
Door hanger
Emery boards
Novelty zip pull
Pencil sharpener for eyebrow pencil
2 eye pencils
Out of Date Ibuprofen tablets
Reflector thing for bags
Sweater and fabric comb
Old lip balm
2 Allen keys
1 spanner
Old watch
Another too-small bra
Old tin with a not very pretty design
Glass bowl with a hole in the middle - obviously meant for a cake stand type of thing

I had a wooden cabin installed in the garden today for my craft studio/she shed, so as I sort things to move out there I will kondo them. Sorry if this has been too long a post!

PollyWollyDoodle

Gosh that sounds hard work! I spent the weekend with my sister, whom I love dearly. We're an untidy family, and I'm used to her house and it's what mine used to look like a few years ago before I discovered first Don Aslett and then MarieK - a bit messy and you'd want to clear up before any visitors came, but not a hoarder's house.

This time round I found it really unsettling - she cannot find anything. I joked about the hearing-aids above, but they've been missing since February. I offered to help her look and found it really depressing - she has stuff everywhere, most of it unloved and unwanted. The dining table can't be seen. A new sideboard is piled with papers, small boxes, random objects which she is 'going to sort out'. Other important items are missing in action - they're somewhere in the house; every room has random komono in.

I removed a knitted toy which the CS won't take but she couldn't bear to throw out (I'm more hard-hearted - sorry, Rupert!) and a notebook with our late mum's handwriting in. It's a list of wool purchased, not a diary or anything important but my sister didn't know what to do with it as she couldn't destroy it. Mum has been dead for 12 years.

Much as I love her, I felt glad to leave; it's no surprise that she's struggling with depression and weight problems, I found it stifling and very distracting to have so much around. I really salute those of you dealing with relatives' Stuff, it's not easy and although I made a few suggestions I wasn't prepared to have the full-scale conversation which I suspect would end in us both feeling upset. It's not my responsibility as she's married with two adult children, but I worry about her.

Sorry for rambling on! I just would like her to feel more free, and it's made me realise what a long way I've come on this journey.

GreyQueen

Nah, it's payback time for your teenage years. My folks are getting fussier and set in their ways. It's like we always do (insert) on a (certain day of the week). Be radical, mes parents, go to the butcher on a Tuesday, the world won't end.:D

Have kondo'd the folks downstairs to watch some telly and have the pooter to myself for an hour before bedtime. Bliss. Well, apart from the 2 ft stack of linen to be shifted onto the desk chair before I can retire to my pit.

Y'know, dealing with Stuff in quantity is enough to make you want to go and lie down in a white-painted room and never ever own anything more in your whole life than can be picked up and carried in your two hands.

If we'd been having gorgeous autumnal weather, I would seriously begrudge the time in the loft. As is, it's like living in a cloud these past few days so don't feel that I'm missing much.

When Mum saw what was coming out of the storage suitcases, she remarked that there were brushed cotton sheets in there, she'd gone and bought some when she already owned them. There was a label on the front of the case which said Brushed Cotton Sheets, but lofts are not places you tend to hang out. Unless you have a phenomenal memory, or an inventory book, stored stuff is very much a case of out of sight is out of mind.

As the final stage of my clean-up of the lbits of the loft I've had time to access, I am planning to take Henri II * up there as the cobwebs annoy me. They contain the dust of ages. I have never ever seen a live spider in the loft, which I'm pretty happy about, but the grotty webbiness needs sorting.

* the younger brother of Henri d'Vac, of the House d'Numatic, naturelment.

Floss

Igamogam wrote: »

I allow/encourage the 'frogs' at work to make their own nativity scenes in the 'small world' area.........Thomas the Tank Engine and various dinosaurs, often feature prominently:rotfl: Only once have I had Barbie as the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus was one year the penguin from Wallace and Gromit film The Wrong Trousers:D Frequently Joseph is conspicuous by his absence............:(

When my boys (now very late 20s) were small, we once had a Nativity scene with 2 giraffes and a rather out of scale panda :eek:

VJsmum

Just taken a first pass over the photographs. Been oohing and ahhing at some of the kids and tears of laughter at others - especially of one with DS dressed as a Dalmatian. DS is a surly 6'1 16 year old - but even he laughed :rotfl:

Goodness what a load of old rubbish I kept. I think there are several more passes to go before I am done, but will have to take it easy or OH will get cold feet....

katsu

I've purchase some new joy bringing clothes so I need to take a look back over my clothes and see if anything isn't needed now.

I'd worn a dress and trousers into holes so it was time for some new bits :rotfl:

We had also worn out our brush cotton bed sheets - both torn in use on the bed in the last few weeks I could have done with that suitcase GQ. I had to instead go with a nice looking sheet from lidl this week and a lovely one from ikea which I purchased after tearing the first one! I guess as they are the same age I should have expected both to tear at the same time. I swear sheets used to last longer!

Igamogam

katsu wrote: »

I I swear sheets used to last longer!

My grandmother use to 'mend' sheets that were wearing out - going thin down the middle. They would be cut in half,top to bottom and then the outside edges brought together and sewn down the middle effectively ending up with a seam down the middle of the sheet:eek: Now I am all for not wasting things but this is really a step too far for me. I do agree however that sheets and towels do seem to come to the end of their natural much quicker:mad: