The KonMarie method

milocat

Hey GreyQueen
Books have always been my biggest downfall. The second year we were together OH bought me a kindle for Christmas, probably with the aim of decluttering the many many bookshelves I was occupying. He is a bit of a hypocrite because he does the same with DVDs! The kindle didn't work that well, it didn't smell the same as a book... although its a lifesaver for holidays and secretly reading trashy novels that I wouldn't be caught dead with, it did take until I started reading the Kondo book before I could let go.

My kondo dream would be to live in the back of a van with a stack of deeply loved books, my laptop, my phone, a nice big duvet and a kettle. Unfortunately instead I have a three bed house thats coming apart at the seams from all the stuff, a lot of which was inheirited. My mum died almost 3 years ago, and we moved all her stuff (3 storey house) and our stuff (1 bed flat) into our house. It's been a bit of a disaster. It was only this year I allowed the sofas she had recovered to move on. They were older than I am.

MMF007

Milocat, it sounds to me like you are ready to find a physical way to move the stuff forwards. I mean you have cleared the sentimental, nostalgia hurdle, but need to work out how to actually divest yourself of some of the excess items that are bogging you down.

if you follow the KM method yoo will deal with items in categories, there is a good reason for this partly because it focuses your concentration rather than butterflying around, but also it means you can choose a category that you know you can cope with (don't do the real sentimental stuff til much later in the process!).

I hope you don't mind me suggesting something.... it may help if you chose something that you can clearly see would be useful to other people, eg, spare bedding or towels. They would be much appreciated by charity shops or charities such as Salvation Army who put the items to use themselves, or even animal charities, what ever you know you or your mum would approve of maybe?

The items should be easy to move so you can take them to the relevant recipient as soon as you
bag them up, rather than have stuff 'waiting', cos if you are like me it's easy to pack stuff in bags ready to go but then leave it in the room of doom for a few more weeks......

just a further thought - be careful about making a plan to start this in the first week of the new year, for me that makes it so forced and totally puts me off doing what needs doing! If you feel ready, start this week with somethung do-able, doesn't have to a major effort, just a few things you feel ready to release, don't try and change the world overnight!

If you have read back over this thread I think you'll find that the process starts small (or should that be 'smalls'? we've all rolled our knickers :rotfl:), but we have gradually worked through categories and stuff is cheerfully released to help others and to free up our own living spaces.

Very best wishes will accompany you while you are following the KM procees, IF YOU KEEP US
UPDATED on here :j

M

PollyWollyDoodle

Wise words indeed, MF007. I think the category system is what's made this so successful for me. When you see everything in one place it makes you realise how much you have that's unused.

The process really does get easier as you go on, too. As a lifelong gatherer-of-stuff I am astonished at how painless it now is to discard stuff. Have faith.

grunnie

Books are my downfall as well. My OH used to dread me going into a bookshop but not a clothes shop Years ago I decided with 3 huge bookshelves I didn't have the space for fiction so when I bought them and read them and passed them on.Made loads of friends that way. Now I check the index of new books on my local library website and order brand new hardback books a few months before the library gets them so I get the first read.:j
I queen congrats on being a granny - come back here and tell us how u are doing - I miss you.
I thought I was finished the KM process but I think it is an ongoing thing especially when it is Xmas or birthdays. I made a space in a drawer for tops and the space holds 9 any more and they are squashed and don't look so good so a few have gone to the charity shop. I found the charity bag has to go straight away if I delay the stuff gets taken out and worn again. :rotfl:
Marie Kondo is bringing out a new book - is it worth getting it?

Blue_Doggy

Greetings, fellow-Kondo-ers!

So lovely to catch up on news, congratulations to those who are starting out on new lives, and those who have new people in their lives.

A special "hello" :hello: to all you other book-lovers from my booklined study (alias spare bedroom).

Christmas in Blue Doggy territory is going to be a bit frugal this year as (1) my oven broke last month and it's a faff doing all the research for a replacement oneself instead of being able to go to a Real Shop with Knowledgeable Staff, especially when (2) the software on my computer is a bit old, and as websites are updated they stop working properly for me; the computer itself hasn't the capacity to take up-to-date software so will have to be replaced. For a little while I can manage by going to the Library, but it's not totally ideal. I don't want to get tangled up in hordes of Christmas shoppers while I try to sort out what I want to replace it with.

Luckily my small Christmas bird (already in the Christmas drawer of the freezer) will fit into (and cook in) the microwave, and I shall be very smug and say "how healthy it will be to have new potatoes instead of roast!" :rotfl:

Although I shall still be giving some "Stuff" as presents, a fair bit is consumables or garden vouchers; my family have generously agreed to combine together to set up a monthly delivery of fresh flowers, so hopefully not too much "Stuff" will come in, and I can enjoy having a regular treat.

MyHappinessProject

Blue_Doggy wrote: »

Although I shall still be giving some "Stuff" as presents, a fair bit is consumables or garden vouchers; my family have generously agreed to combine together to set up a monthly delivery of fresh flowers, so hopefully not too much "Stuff" will come in, and I can enjoy having a regular treat.

Blue Doggy -Fresh flowers every month, that is a brilliant gift.... and not taking up permanent space in your home.... great idea!

GreyQueen

MyHappinessProject wrote: »

Blue Doggy -Fresh flowers every month, that is a brilliant gift.... and not taking up permanent space in your home.... great idea!

:T My thoughts exactly, what a lovely gift idea.

I just nipped onto my library's website to see if they had the new MK book listed yet and they do, with a 2016 publication date. So I put a reservation on it already.:rotfl:Goodness knows when it'll be available, but I reckon it'll be a hot item once it arrives!

Been chilling out today, reading, resting, decluttered some leeks off the allotmentino and down to the flat (I left the mud up there ). Have been texting with a pal who is up in their loft and has found wildlife evidence (mice). Must've gone up after the crimble decs. I expect a lot of folks are finding some unwanted additions to the household when searching for seasonable items. I offered to go over with my lion tamer's whip and chair, but apparently they're not that big.:rotfl:

Have decluttered some more paperwork, nothing horrendous, but every little bit out is a bit you won't have to sort through later. And have been decluttering by doing a lot more reading, so books can go back to the library or off into the donation bag. It'd be a scream fitting a tracking device to charity shop books, I reckon, as they're going in and out of my home pretty quickly.

Oh, and I got a battery into a battery collection point in Liddly whilst I was in there buying milk. Been carrying that in my jacket pocket for a few weeks now.

Rightly, onwards for a bit of interwebulation, then tea, then probably out to see how the mouse-wrangling is going. Hope they haven't chewed on too much of pal's yarn stash.:eek:

dragonette

GreyQueen wrote: »

I hope your energy lifts a bit soon, dragonette. I know that feeling well and it's the pits. What helped me sometimes is saying to myself; this too will pass.

Another helper might sound a bit odd but, for me, is to bring something like a vibrant bunch of flowers or a vivid plant into my room. It's as if it brings energy with it.

Thank you and thanks to MMF007.

I have plants in 3 rooms atm, cannot bear to not have them and they definitely help. Things are much cleaner and I'm feeling a little better. Its so frustrating when my mind is awake enough to notice things, but energy is too low to do anything! Its still progress, eating the elephant one bite at a time etc. Have to admit, a fair bit of the issue is i want make the flat pretty! Well, I do spend an awful lot of time at home


My mum deals with family presents, as she knows I have zero interest in any family other than her. My friends and I are doing as small a pressie as we can find for each other. I just put up a link for an ice grip for my walking stick as a poss pressie for me - its getting pretty slippy outside!

Hugs and positive vibes to all

ETA: I'm also still reading interior and lifestyle websites, it seems to be helping my brain to spark for ideas.

greenbee

GQ - I've just expanded my pest-control skills from mice. I caught my first mole yesterday. It's done a good job of ploughing up the garden - which I wouldn't have minded so much if I hadn't been planning on keeping that bit as lawn...

Siebrie

I have consigned two matching pillow cases to the ragbag. Pfew, what a relief. They belong to a duvet cover we still use, but the whole set was made by my mum, and the cases were just a little too small. After putting up with it for several years, this evening I decided that I will no longer put up. The duvet cover is still in use, one of the most frequently used ones, I have to say, because I hope it will develop wear and tear beyond repair. Mayb it is not all according to Kondo, but I do not want to fork out money for a new one, when I have a perfectly serviceable one, that I only see when I make the bed before I go to work, and then cover up with a thin fleece blanket. In the mornings I just stumble from bed into bathroom, and in the evening I go from bathroom to bedroom in the dark (I know where everything is, no need to turn on the light).