The KonMarie method

GreyQueen

iQueen wrote: »

One thing is still bothering me, mrs-moneypenny... your drive! You've mention Stuff 'on the drive' and 'under the drive'. I can't visualise this! Do you live in a stately home, with a swathe of drive, and an underground mews of former stables? :rotfl:

Live the Joy, Konverts! :dance:

I've been intruiged by phrases like 'under the drive' too and was itching to ask but iQueen beat me to it. I have a madcap image of a detached house reached by a long, curving ramp of a driveway with areas underneath it like railway arches with doors where the goods and chattels are stashed.

I suspect the reality is probably more pedestrian........:)

Books, ahhh books, how I do love thee. I'd often thought that in my ideal home, there would be a room like a scaled down library, lined with bookshelves, an armchair or two, a side table for the tea tray and some good lamps and there would I be, snug as a proverbial bug.

Having now taken up minimalism as a pastime, I have moved away from the I-wanna-own-thousands-of-books mindset. I love books and read about 3 a week. Some of the things I read are profound, some are entertainment, quite a lot a murder mysteries.

The thing about books is that they are just a format, not a sacred object in its own right. You will not become an accomplished cook or crafter or whatever because you have books on the subject. You will not be well-read by having classics ancient or modern on your shelves. Wisdom doesn't seep out of their bindings and fill up your brain when you sleep.

Ah, but what if we had very few books, and someone came around and noticed? Would they think we were philistines who read nothing more taxing than a cereal box and spent all our leisure time watching carp telly? Would they think we were ignorant and uncultured?

You can be a voracious reader and still have a very modest amount of books at home. I have about 30 in residence at any time, and the rest are flitting in and out.

Most of my books are actually up in the Central Library. This is very convenient because they have lots more shelves than I do, and special people to put them away and keep track of them. They also change them for other books quite frequently when I've read a lot of what they do have, and they've even been thoughtful enough to buy books on subjects I don't yet know I'm interested in and leave them around on tables and shelves to pique my interest!

And, they have people to clean up around them and pay for heating and lighting them and a computerised cataglogue so I can check where they are and what they have and even reserve them online and get them sent from all four quarters of the county to my very own Central Library, for me to have and to hold. Isn't that fantastic?

Public Libraries are deeply-beloved of minimalist and simple living/ financial independancy bloggers as the are just so eminently sensible.

mavvymoo

Books I have 3 that is all in my house that are mine.
1 is special
2,Im reading
3, Is ready for 2 to be finished
Then 2 and 3 are swapped for 2 other joyful books
DH has a couple of cookery books but I have none anything I need to make I just google it Life is really quite simple for me on this front.


Mav x

mrs-moneypenny

Haha love the idea that the queen twins believe me to inhabit a stately home of some sort, in truth it's a standard 3bed semi, that our planned quota of children overfilled so we had an extension on the side. The garage is set behind the house in the back garden so we have two extra bedrooms built over a tunnel for want of a better description as we needed to keep access to the garage. But the garage has never had a car in it because Dh filled it with weight lifting and training stuff. There fore we don't need to drive through and it has big gates on the front so it has become an open ended extension to the garage where Dh stores stuff and does his nightly excercises after work. does any of that actually make sense?
Under/on the drive does sound pretty silly now you've pointed it out but all of us in the house describe anything out there as under the drive, as in "have you checked under the drive, it might be there" or "dads under the drive training"

PollyWollyDoodle

Hear, hear for libraries - I use mine regularly. I also buy from CSs and return them when read.

IQueen, you've asked the question I have been dying to ask. Come on Mrs M-P - 'under the drive' to me suggests some sort of cave, excavated into the hillside.

ETA - ah, now it's all clear - well, sort of. Thanks for the explanation !

Minimise-to-Maximise

Really enjoyed hearing about everyone's thoughts on what is the right number of books to keep for them personally. I think personally I would have no more than 30 or 40 if I lived alone. Just a few favourite novels and autobiographies that bring joy to see and re-read, a few guides, and a few on the go.

Will definitely be only buying 2nd hand books and using the library from now on. Need to save money as well as space.


The kids have loads of book mind but still like story read to them at night and sometimes like to hear the old simple stories. No hurry to get rid of those but I will try a cull before Christmas as I suspect they will get given a few more.

Blue_Doggy

Three cheers for our Public Libraries :j:T :j long may they continue to provide our reading requirements!

I have a bedroom full of books as my personal Library and Study (with a comfy Book Chair ), and although I am kondoing some, such as the more specialist books from my degree course back in the 1960s, and those which have proved to be single-read-only, I shall keep most. I love them, and they are almost family.

Min's Game
Day 9:
1 - a decision which has been hanging over me for the last year: Such a weight off my shoulders!
2 - a three-figure sum, foregone in consequence of the decision above :mad::mad::mad: but worth it for the freedom.
3,4,5 - 3 items of clothing to CS
6 - 8 pairs of clean but holed tights found in the dust-sheet bag (!)
7 - 2 magazines
8 - junk mail and takeaway fliers (did not enter house;))
9 - the weekend's newspaper

silvasava

Aaargh - visited my Aunt over the weekend and I've come back with 6 cartons of clothes and shoes :eek:
TBH they are for me to sort and allocate to various friends and charities.My Aunt is now wheelchair bound and they are no longer suitable for her so her husband asked if I'd help. I've already sorted 2 cartons and intend to finish this week. I do feel a responsibility to make sure everything is dealt with appropriately.

jinny

Well done and good luck to your Aunt
On her decluttering journey.
You must make it your mission though
Get the cartons out of your house ASAP.

It's so good of you to help her
Good lass:T

Lisey_Loo

Evening all beloved Konverts, I hope everyone has had a lovely day :beer:

Well, I collected my new 'girls' and they ROCK!!!!!!

http://imgur.com/MweqiOk

Thank you sooooo much again to iQueen, such a lovely generous gesture & I must admit the card made me very misty-eyed in the RM car park

This is such a great supportive, funny & caring forum to be part of, whenever I gaze upon the dolls, I know they'll always remind me of you all, especially iQueen & our fab common interest in KM & her woo-inducing ways! :A

GreyQueen

Awww, I'm feeling all teary now, the loveliness of sharing the dolls with a fellow forumite. Three cheers for i-Queen! :T:T:T

I've had some good news this evening; my 92.5 y.o. Nan had a day surgery this afternoon and it all went well and she is now resting at home.

The gaggle of us had such fun sharing both chat and physical stuff on Sunday; clothes and yarn and stories were being exchanged in a completely unplanned and delightful way. I personally acquired some jars for my candle-making, which makes me happy, and gave some other stuff away.

Stuff is only valuable when it's being used, not when it's sitting festering in sheds, cupboards and lofts. I'm going to continue giving stuff away on freegle and charity shopping bits and pieces. I have had so much lovely stuff via the chazzers over the years that it seems only natural justice to keep turning my excess out to them.