KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Igamogam

For the first time ever we ( I) will taking down the the tree this weekend . we have always been a bit traditional and left it until Twelfth Night. The girls always loved this as that was when they were allowed the chocolates on the tree FC had left - good self discipline my girls ! When DD2 came along we always took down the cards and other Christmas evidence but left the tree as DD2 was born on Twelfth Night as the place always looked so bare for a birthday! Anyway this year I think KM has got to me, that and a very busy run up to Christmas with the new kitchen build only starting on the 19th......so the tree will come down today or tomorrow and be ceremoniously fed into the log burner :rotfl: Once done I think the KM mojo will be back. I am eyeing things up or thinking about things now, as I type, that are heading for the front door

Igamogam

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

I kept a lot from my other 2 sons so we are reusing lots of it, but I need to have a plan in action for what to do with it once this little one out grows it, as we're not having anymore!

Do you have a local branch of the National Childbirth Trust in your area? Great for selling stuff at their Nearly New Sales and you get to help the charity too:D I still use their sales to buy and sell stuff for work:D

7_week_wonder

Good afternoon lovely people, I am doing an inner happy dance :j
We live in what was my DBs parental home, which means it was never fully sorted after his parents died (over 20 years ago). DB agrees, in theory, that if we don't use things they can go out, but theory and practice are often different things:o

However, I'm happy to report that half an hour ago a large box and a large carrier bag containing good, but unused by us, cutlery, serving spoons etc were handed over to DBs sister-in-law who was delighted to have it. We now have space in several of our cupboards and DB is feeling inspired to continue sorted.

Have a good day everyone.

PS - I forgot to say, when we were sorting out my mother's house the local branch of AgeUK were happy to have any of her clean undies (bras, vests and pants). I didn't think they would want them, but a neighbour tipped me off and I gave the charity shop a call to check.

Islandmaid

Hi all,

It's been nearly a year since I joined the MK path - and amazingly for me I have pretty much stuck to it.

We,ve had a clear out of coats, I,m sure they breed LOL

I bought 40 wooden coat hangers on mebay for £16, and will hang the coats not in daily use in the newly cleared wardrobe in the spare room! the rest will be shared between teens to sort their 'floordrobes'

Igamogam

Floss wrote: »

A lot of council tip sites have recycling or reuse areas, usually with third sector involvement, which are better recipients of stuff such as in the Mail article. Yes, some may not work but why can't they be repaired and sold to benefit others and create jobs? Dumping because it's broken isn't acceptable nowadays, its an indicator of a consumption society. We are on limited resources and need to think more about what we do and why.

Totally agree. We consume far too much and a lot of dictated by fashion. I have a firend who works in the sector in that they monitor landfill sites. They reckon we only have 5 years or so before every 'hole' will be full..........and then what do we do?

jackieb wrote: »

I get that, and I recycle when I can. But I see these hoarding programmes on tv with people who keep things because they are going to fix them, or donate them, then they never do. Then they end up with a house that they can't move in. If it was a choice of never getting round to recycling the things that other people 'might' find useful and your house ends up like a junk yard, or throwing it in the skip, i'd go with throwing it in the skip. This is what paralyses a lot of people.

Unfortunately those who become 'paralysed' by their hoarding are not in a position to say 'Ok I will take it all to a skip' as they are usually dealing with a mental health problem. Its not just a case of having a few too may possessions/forgetting to recycle/enthusiastic collector/hobby upcycler/fear of waste. Those who are 'paralysed' dont see it as a problem, sadly

GreyQueen wrote: »

This fear of wasting things, or letting them go in ways or to people who won't appreciate them, can be paralysing. I do find freegle a good way of letting things of low (or no) financial value but high utility (to the right person) find their next home.

Freegle is a fab way to 'Let it Go'. Has been my salvation in 2015:)

And that will be my only Disn*y reference. Would much rather have Queen Well anything but Disn*y as the company is responsible for a great deal of unwanted/unnecessary tat in this world IMHO:mad: We are a Disn*y free household. There I have said it out loud:rotfl: We will go to the cinema to see the films but we have never been sucked into the merchandising ............:D

Igamogam

Now this brings me joy below is email literally just popped into inbox from Oxf*m.

Thank you for being a member of the Tag Your Bag scheme which makes everything you donate to Oxfam worth 25% more, thanks to Gift Aid. Under the scheme you agreed that we would contact you to let you know how much we have raised from the sale of your items.

I'm pleased to say that since I last wrote to you, Oxfam has sold your item(s) for £452.06 and we can claim £113.02 in Gift Aid up to 30 September 2015. If we sell more items after this date, you'll receive a statement (in around 6 months' time) which will include a total of the sales for the 15/16 tax year.


Cant believe what I have taken there has made so much money:T

Needless to say I took many many bags after 30.09.15 so that figure should go up a bit

greenbee

My statements from my local hospice shop always make me happy Igamogam, although it does make me cross that SOME of what I'm donating is stuff I shouldn't have bought.

I have a few things that I need to return over the next few days. Light fitting that I thought was a lampshade, batteries that were the wrong ones, radio I'm pretty sure I don't need.


What I DO need is to make decisions on the bathroom flooring/paint colours, mark up walls for the electrician and plumber (might wait until next week's houseful of people have been) and start thinking about flooring for the ground floor and options for kitchen units (possible layout is now market on the walls in blue felt-tip pen )

Floss

Can I just remind everyone that if you do a tax return and are a gift-aider, you will need to record that amount on your tax return so keep the letters & emails the charity send to you.

GreyQueen

I don't have to do a tax return as have only PAYE earnings but I do like to snip the line or so about what the donation made and tape it onto a particular page of my diary. Just so's I can see where I've been.

greenbee

Floss wrote: »

Can I just remind everyone that if you do a tax return and are a gift-aider, you will need to record that amount on your tax return so keep the letters & emails the charity send to you.

... and if you're a higher rate tax payer they give you your share of the tax back...