The KonMarie method

I_want_a_baby

I've been avidly reading this thread and have done the dead and bought the book.

I've read the whole book today and will go back and read it again to help it sink in.

I can't really do clothes at the moment as I'm heavily pregnant and so my normal clothes are in the attic at the moment.

I do have two questions for you all:
1 - how do you store paperwork?
I current have 6 expanding files. Approx 5 lever arch files and many stacks and wallets and piles! I'm thinking of buying a suspension file box and purging it all so all my paperwork fits into one box, every single piece and it's easy to file too. But the book says you should not buy storage? Hmm
2. Do you sell your unwanted items or just get it gone to charity?

Yours,

Fellow Konvert (awaiting husbands reaction when he finds carrier bags have been samosa'd :rotfl:)

bunbun2

GreyQueen wrote: »

:T Ooh, kondo'd clothes, plus quilts and cats. Lovely, all of them. Who knew that people would be sharing the pix of the inside of their clothing drawers with complete strangers on the web.

I came home from w*rk and ironed the few things on the rack which were washed yestereve and put everything away neatly. I didn't used to iron jammies but they fold so much more neatly for a quick kiss with hot steel.

I still can't get over how incredibly satisfying it is to put things away neatly and be able to choose from them in a neat and rational way. Who knew?

This evening after work, I changed down from my work duds and into a long-sleeved tee shirt, which I bought for 50p late last year. I love the colour but have realised that the neckline is tormenting me. Its a tall crew neck, sort of a stand-up collar, and it's crazing me. I have a twice-busted and once self-set collarbone on that side which is wonky and get very squirmy if things rest on that shoulder, even lightly. It's not pain, not even discomfort, just a fidgetty squirminess which I can't control - ughh!

This isn't joyful. I am now going to change into to something else and this can be laundered and donated. Life's too short, etc etc. Aaah, that's better. So now I know to watch the necklines on these kind of tops, and make sure they're not too high.

Re changing out clothes between the seasons, MK covers that in her book, as it is very much a Japanese custom, circa June and October. She's not a fan of this and thinks that apart from very specific seasonal things (heavy coats/ hats/ gloves or swim cossies and sunhats) you should have all your clothes available and visible. Her reasoning being that with heated and cooled homes, we are less dependant on seasonal attire, and that it is waste of time to put things away for half the year.

Plus, she says, clothes shut up for half the year look 'wilted' and 'stifled' - you can tell she feels sorry for them. I now have a vague feeling of guilt that I may have been less kind to some clothes over the years than I should have been; I hope they can forgive me.:rotfl:

I think I may need to rekondo my clothes as there is no way I am going to fit the clothes I have just washed into the drawers. I also spotted a shelf with pyjamas on that I had forgotten were there. I put them there as they wouldn't fit in the drawer! Oh dear I think I still have too many clothes:)

I have however fitted all my towels in the ottoman in the bathroom along with A basket with all OH's razors etc in (this really needs kondoing but that will be for OH to do ), hot water bottles and empty toilet bags. The hot water bottles were in the ottoman but completely buried and the bags were out on the top so the bathroom looks much tidier. I ranger rolled the towels and although they fitted in much better and are easier to find I don't think they look as tidy as when folded.

Bedding tomorrow ...

Quasar

I_want_a_baby wrote: »

I've been avidly reading this thread and have done the dead and bought the book.

I've read the whole book today and will go back and read it again to help it sink in.

I can't really do clothes at the moment as I'm heavily pregnant and so my normal clothes are in the attic at the moment.

I do have two questions for you all:
1 - how do you store paperwork?
I current have 6 expanding files. Approx 5 lever arch files and many stacks and wallets and piles! I'm thinking of buying a suspension file box and purging it all so all my paperwork fits into one box, every single piece and it's easy to file too. But the book says you should not buy storage? Hmm
2. Do you sell your unwanted items or just get it gone to charity?

Yours,

Fellow Konvert (awaiting husbands reaction when he finds carrier bags have been samosa'd :rotfl:)

You are supposed to throw away almost all the paperwork. What is left is divided in three categories" what is currently in use, what is needed for a limited period of time, what must be kept indefinitely. The sifting must include absolutely anything to do with paperwork of any kind, even notes attached to fridges, scraps of papers here and there etc. The section on Papers is quite clear: very little is really needed, and what is there ought to fit in clear plastic sleeves (one per category).

As for disposal of unwanted items, I personally give them to charity but I'm sure there is scope for those who do ebay to sell them on.

bunbun2

Quasar wrote: »

You are supposed to throw away almost all the paperwork. What is left is divided in three categories" what is currently in use, what is needed for a limited period of time, what must be kept indefinitely. This includes notes attached to fridges, scraps of papers here and there etc. The section on Papers is quite clear: very little is really needed, and what is there ought to fit in clear plastic sleeves (one per category).

As for disposal of unwanted items, I personally give them to charity but I'm sure there is scope for those who do ebay to sell them.

Does paperwork include things like instruction manuals ?

I need to wait for the recycling bin to be emptied before I start the paperwork as I am going to have SO much to shred/ bin

soon2bjobless

Hi - dont think about storage - think about discarding first - once you have left the stuff you want to keep THEN think about the storage. I had 3 box lever files,an accordian A-Z type thingy and 2 plastic files with clear inserts full of stuff - once I had finshed discarding they all fit into the 2 plastic holders! and there are even spare inserts! If you start thinking about storage you can get bogged down...discard first...
My unwanted stuff is all bagged ready for a car boot - Im doing one just for clothes - anything left over will be taken straight to the charity shop. The next one will be for Kimono and will do exactly the same...I really dont want stuff hanging about waiting for a car boot - I love going to them but dont really like selling at them but needs must!
The Kondoing bug has now struck my dd - I had to sit with her while she handled every piece of clothing and make no judgement - she had to figure out what sparked joy - as a result.....drum roll.....she has Kondo'ed 78 items from her wardrobe and beat me! lol She is grinning from ear to ear and admiring her wardrobes as we speak - love it!

I_want_a_baby

Thankyou quasar -

However the paperwork from buying our house is half a level arch, pension info, life insurance, mortgage info, basic car paperwork, child benefit/tax credit paperwork, p60s, my children's red books for the doctors, my dog has a book to log injections etc

Even the basics are more than a couple of plastic wallets or maybe I'm missing the point/ am not a hardcore Konvert yet?!

ETA: you are right, I need to finish discarding everything and see what I am left with and then work out the easiest/simplest method to store it all. Thankyou!

penguine

I had a wobble today about something I was taking to the charity shop. I was actually on my way there and thinking about taking it out of the bag and keeping it. This was something that I received as a gift from a close friend a number of years ago, but had never used, and I had actually forgotten it existed until I found it a few months ago.

I had some time to think through this rationally and finally asked myself if I would be keeping this item if I couldn't remember who'd given it to me. I realised I wouldn't, so therefore it didn't bring me enough joy to keep it. The joy I had when looking at it and remembering where it had come from was related to the friendship, not to the item itself.

I don't often have these kinds of second thoughts about things on their way to the charity shop but it was useful to realise I could work through it!

Quasar

bunbun2 wrote: »

Does paperwork include things like instruction manuals ?

I need to wait for the recycling bin to be emptied before I start the paperwork as I am going to have SO much to shred/ bin

Yes. MK says that very seldom we look at the manuals. I certainly have never ever looked at the manuals for my mobile phones down the years, and as for TV, HI-Fi etc, I only looked at them for installation purposes and then to learn how to operate them. I haven't looked at any for at least 3 years - and I have them all neatly stored (I'm not exactly untidy, but have a clutter of stuff filling every drawer, cupboard etc. ).

She also advises against keeping bank and credit card statements. That, I think, must be subject to what they represent: to me they represent work expenses, so I must keep them for a certain amount of time, as well as tax return records etc. I think we each must use our judgment as we have individual circumstances to cater for. However the idea of being ruthless and keeping only what is absolutely necessary is sound. It will probably spill over into other areas of life, and if I read MK's ideas correctly, eventually it will help streamline one's thinking and ways of dealing with one's surroundings generally. In fact, I detect some Zen influence in her striving for simplicity, although she is Shinto.

MK includes newspapers with paperwork, and magazines with books. Not sure if this distinction matters a lot, but there we are.

emg

bunbun2 wrote: »

Does paperwork include things like instruction manuals ?

I need to wait for the recycling bin to be emptied before I start the paperwork as I am going to have SO much to shred/ bin

MK says we dont need instruction manuals. In the book it says people never refer to them and they are all available online anyway. This resonates for me because my first port of call is always google, far easier than trying to find where I have put the manual! Looking forward to kondo-ing them once I get past all these flipping clothes!

Quasar

I_want_a_baby wrote: »

Thankyou quasar -

However the paperwork from buying our house is half a level arch, pension info, life insurance, mortgage info, basic car paperwork, child benefit/tax credit paperwork, p60s, my children's red books for the doctors, my dog has a book to log injections etc

Even the basics are more than a couple of plastic wallets or maybe I'm missing the point/ am not a hardcore Konvert yet?!

ETA: you are right, I need to finish discarding everything and see what I am left with and then work out the easiest/simplest method to store it all. Thankyou!

Those appear to be essential papers. I don't think MK means that we must discard important things, and some of us have far more than others. My own tax return records and work receipt etc which I must legally keep for a long time, fill a whole A4 box. That cannot be helped.

I think the basic idea is to learn to distinguish between what is truly necessary even if it doesn't bring joy (tax returns, bleurgh!), what gives us joy, and what is just deadwood. That's why this system appeals to me so deeply: it teaches us to tell what is essential and what is not, and that we can choose to let it go whatever it is.