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The KonMarie method

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  • GrannyKate
    GrannyKate Posts: 1,750 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    A note of caution when scanning documents using OCR. To be legally acceptable a scan must be an exact copy of the image and cannot be from an OCR process. OCR is OK for general use and personal stuff but not for something you might want to use in any legal process.
    2025 Decluttering Campaign 648/2025 🏅🏅🏅🏅(🏅🏅) 🌟🌟
    2025 Weight loss target 13/16 lbs
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  • GreyQueen wrote: »
    In a world where there are so many sorrows, being overwhelmed by your possessions can seem a rather self-indulgent first-world problem, but it's nevertheless where we find ourselves.

    And, if we can shed our excess to good causes, and free up our time to do something more worthwhile than wrestling with Stuff, who knows how much good we could achieve in the wider world?

    If nothing else, by living in a streamlined manner, we minimize the stress and work that others, often others beloved to us, will have to go through one of these days, when we go beyond the reach of amaazon orders and argossy catalogues.

    What very true and wise words.

    I recently took several bin bags and boxes of 'stuff' to the chazzer - I had been keeping it all with the intention of selling it. But selling things is not my forte and I've hung on to these things for far too long. Your post above has made me feel happier about just donating them rather than trying to sell them.

    Lots more to do but I feel I've finally made a decent start :).
  • jinny
    jinny Posts: 1,889 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Well done Peace and freedom
    I keep quoting somethings read a while back
    'You can't unwaste the good money you paid
    For stuff'. It's so true as IQUEEN recently said you really don't remember What you've donated after a while.

    I now am a little bit obsessed with saving time and looking out for time bandits. That's people or unessasary tasks that use up your precious time. I don't mean ignoring the nice old lady you meet in the street or essential tasks. Just being mindful of pointless activities
    (Bar looking on this thread of course) I'm busy honing my daily routines to absolute minimums.
    Time bandits for me for instance not looking on pininterest until after tea
    I always make a point of smiling and saying good day to older ladies and gentlemen I see. They always acknowledge and appreciate that you've taken the trouble to speak.
    ”Pour yourself a drink, (tea for me now)
    Put on some lipstick
    and pull yourself together”
    - Elizabeth Taylor
  • GreyQueen
    GreyQueen Posts: 13,008 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    :) Time Bandits.

    I like that term (the movie wasn't too bad either, if memory serves).

    I guess it's a feature of getting a bit older that you can start to feel impatient with certain things. As in, my time on this planet is finite, and tempus is fugit-ing like crazy, and I'm supposed to faddle around with (insert bugbears of choice)?

    When I was gardening this morning, I decided to be thoughtful about which part of the 300 sq meter plot I worked on, rather than scrabble around at random, and it worked really well.
    Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
    John Ruskin
    Veni, vidi, eradici
    (I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
  • pavlovs_dog
    pavlovs_dog Posts: 10,215 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    6 large bags ready to go the the CS on Monday thanks to November mins game days 1-18. An eclectic mix of [STRIKE]treasure[/STRIKE] junk thanked for its service and sent on its merry way.
    know thyself
    Nid wy'n gofyn bywyd moethus...
  • MMF007
    MMF007 Posts: 1,375 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    [QUOTEIn a world where there are so many sorrows, being overwhelmed by your possessions can seem a rather self-indulgent first-world problem, but it's nevertheless where we find ourselves.

    And, if we can shed our excess to good causes, and free up our time to do something more worthwhile than wrestling with Stuff, who knows how much good we could achieve in the wider world?

    [/QUOTE]
    GreyQueen, perfectly put! Thankyou for summarising so well. :T

    Today I bought the extra storage I needed. I have happily used items from round the house and, of course fruit punnets, as MK suggests, but our CD's needed a proper wallet to be easily accessible and the stuff going in the loft needs a strong plastic box with a secure lid.

    I tried to order the box from Arg** but they had none in stock. However the Homeb*** store (they share a premises in our area) had the same box in but it was dearer. I asked A to do a stock swap while they awaited re-supply but they weren't able to. I saw the price match notice over the H counter right opposite, selected the same placcy box in-store, took it to their counter, asked for pricematch with A and Bob was my uncle and Fanny my aunt, one placcy box at lower price. DH was very impressed. Oh, and I spotted that he had been overcharged at another shop and got his money back. MSE ? :money:

    Have yet to relocate diy stuff, decided that it was time to decant the HM damson gin into 250ml presentation bottles for inclusion in xmas hampers. Just so happened that there was a little surplus.... Wanders off licking lips..... :beer:
    I have changed my work-life balance to a life-work balance. :grin:
  • Brought two bags to the chazza mainly containing clothes given by dd and oh. That's close to being a miracle. Was also gathering items I'd picked up over the year and set aside for a homeless Christmas appeal and realised that I had some too small unworn nightshirts in a box that wouldn't be my taste even if they were my fit. They are in a bag to go with me on Monday. It's so good to be decluttering and know that you are helping others.
    Mortgage at 01.01.14 £119,481.83:eek: today £0 Emergency fund £5.5/5.5k & £200/200 cash.:jWeight 24/02/19 14st 7lb now 12st determined to stop defining myself by my mistakes. Progress not perfection.:T100%through my 1% mortgage challenge. 100% through my pb challenge.
  • VJsmum
    VJsmum Posts: 6,999 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    nuatha wrote: »
    If you want to go paperless using a scanner, you need to be organised from the off. Scanning, storing scans and OCRing them in such a way that you can access both the OCR and the original document OCR turns a scan image into a word processor type document, with the right software its very good but not perfect, it is searchable whereas the scan image isn't but anything that isn't clear means going back to the scan to double check or manually verifying every document as you scan it (my approach).
    If you are going to scan a lot of documents, it might be worth looking at a multi-function printer with an automatic document feeder (ADF) these tend to be substantial cheaper than ADF scanners. I like the flexibility of a flatbed scanner - I only scan the area I need rather than the whole page. I'd go for a scanner with a 1200dpi resolution - that allows me to enlarge photographs and still get a good quality print, more importantly, find a scanner which offers a good OCR program - my preference is Abbyy Finereader (no connection other than using just about every generation of software they've produced with excellent results).

    The other thing that becomes crucial is a proper backup strategy.

    We have a couple of digital photoframes, have some large prints of photos we've taken on the walls and the option of displaying photos on the TV and the computers both as desktops and screensavers.

    Long but HTH
    (Back to lurkdom)

    Hmmm, thank you for very much for this. Given that I don't even know what OCR is, I think I should give it up as a non starter. :o

    I will continue to reduce the volume but keep physical copies...
    I wanna be in the room where it happens
  • Floss
    Floss Posts: 9,007 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Optical Character Reading

    or so it was in my Computer Studies o-level in 1980...
    2021 Decluttering Awards: ⭐⭐🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇 2022 Decluttering Awards: 🥇
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  • Charis
    Charis Posts: 1,302 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    jinny wrote: »
    Totally knicking the Justin Case and Keephor Best names
    I've changed that to Kiefer Best tho
    There's a female hussy they sneek in there called Flora Drobe
    They room share with my messy son ha ha love it!

    Good luck to all on the kondoing this weekend
    Change mission IMpossible to mission possible

    Don't forget my late Mum's favourite, Will Cummie-Nandy.
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