KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

silvasava

Afternoon all - its blowing a hooley and pouring with rain here. DH has passed his cold on to me so I'm achy & bunged up with no inclination to do anything. But -drum roll - I've finally typed out our wills ready for witnessing. My very good friend had hers drawn up and they are in the same circumstances as us so I've copied hers with appropriate name changes as they are quite simple and straightforward. They've only been lurking for about 3 months. We also want to sell our caravan so I've also typed up the description to advertise that too. It's surprising how long these two things have taken but they're out of the way now.
Am being spoilt by DH - think he has a guilty conscience so I'm having boiled egg and soldiers for tea - I really know how to live lol

Igamogam

A large bag of 'stuff' to CS this afternoon...mixture of kitchen items ( dreaded egg slicer that no one remembers ever using:rotfl:) and clothes and books. New manager at the shop greeted me like an old friend and the opened bag looking inside making enthusiastic noises and clucks of approval..............I said to new young cashier ( all the old ones have gone and the shop certainly has a new 'vibe' and sorry to say much more welcoming and interesting !) that 'she will be disappointed' He laughed and I got the impression that she is effusive with everybody........hmm it might get a bit irritating:cool: I did come away with a book and an Easter egg. Book will be read and returned or passed on and egg will be......eaten :rotfl:

Weather too 'orrible for shed sorting . OH has been into the small attic to finally take out what was left of the old plastic header tank ( going to recycle center tomorrow with other stuff) he brought down two really nasty picture/paintings/lithographs which came from his mother attic after she died......they have no value whatsoever, either sentimental or financial, even the frames are nasty and he has taken pictures of them.......why I do not know and neither does he. They are now taking up the space that the large CS bag I have just got rid of did and no indication of where they will go to next.:( I have had a quick tidy up of LR - so much quicker these days with the magic of KM;) and a pile of ancient old magazines he has had in a box which have graced the corner of the DR for more years that I can remember, have now appeared on the coffee table. He denied the box had been there years until DD2 produced a picture from a birthday party - her 7th. She takes A levels this year..................and the clutter is a ALL my doing he says whenever it comes up in convo:mad: Going to declutter some wine tonight and chocolate in front of TV and plan my next move;)

Slinky

mumps wrote: »

We had a new block paved drive and within weeks two of my kids had parked on it and left oil stains. We haven't managed to get rid of the stains so if you found something that got rid of oil stains I would be really grateful to hear about it. Make me want to cry when I think what it cost and was spoilt so quickly.

This is the stuff mumps.


http://www.oiltechnics.co.uk/Oil_Stains/BlockDrives/OT8.html


Fortunately I discovered this fairly quickly after the spill so it didn't get very long to age. It did work, I've no idea which part of the drive the leak occurred on now. We didn't have to do the 'tent' thing. I seem to recall it costing about £20 for a half litre (about 8 years ago) but nothing by comparison with the cost of the drive....


Good luck.

FLA27

Good Evening. I've finally made real progress in the problem of getting stuff to leave the house this week.

On Monday, 3 large charity bags disappeared off to one charity collection.

On Tuesday a bag of scrap metal things disappeared from outside the house which I had labelled with a nice 'scrap metal' sign.

On Wednesday, 2 large bags plus 2 bags of books were collected. Really great to get rid of the books because they are far to heavy to carry and too many to do bit by bit. Wednesday also saw my new (and joyful) Joseph Joseph kitchen roll holder turn up. I Kondoed my old one because it matched the Kondoed mug tree and I felt it wouldn't be right to seperate them. Even better though, after nearly 3 months of Kondoing, I received my copy of Spark Joy and have started reading it. I ordered it on Tuesday and it only took a day to get here. I am happy that so far I appear to have been doing things right but then again I have been reading all your wonderful posts on here!!

Thursday I was off work to break up early for Easter and took a carrier bag full of clothes and another bag stuffed with 3 jigsaws, one large book, an ornament, and more clothes to one of the Charity Shops in town. Thursday was also green recycling bin day too. I didn't used to get excited over bin day but I do now. So good to see a fully loaded recycle bin get emptied!

Friday I got a little more shed Kondoing done (seems like I'm not alone there). I manged to get rid of some of my empty bottle stash that I keep for homemade wine making. I figured that if I put them into the recycle bin now, after it has been emptied then it won't look so bad from the top of the bin on bin day. Annoying I found a Brita Filter jug in the shed that i had completely missed. I don't know if I will charity it or take it to the tip next week. A lot more work to do in that shed.

I haven't done much Kondoing today but I did realise earlier when looking at my cluttered book shelf filled with mostly used scented candles that actually I'm not that keen on scented candles after all. I really like the Yankee Candle True Rose scent but the others have had their day.

Tomorrow I need to rearrange my food storage bins in the kitchen to make them make more sense and I really need to finish picture Kondoing. I have found it really difficult to decide what wall pictures spark joy, i'm not that artistic and it isn't easy to be completly honest with myself on this one.

mumps

Slinky wrote: »

This is the stuff mumps.


http://www.oiltechnics.co.uk/Oil_Stains/BlockDrives/OT8.html


Fortunately I discovered this fairly quickly after the spill so it didn't get very long to age. It did work, I've no idea which part of the drive the leak occurred on now. We didn't have to do the 'tent' thing. I seem to recall it costing about £20 for a half litre (about 8 years ago) but nothing by comparison with the cost of the drive....


Good luck.

Thank you so much, ours was leaked on about six months ago so may be more difficult but it is worth a try. I will report back.

MMF007

Well I have not been able to kondo today (travelling mostly! Saved money by not having pub tea, used my M&S voucher to buy a nice picnic, much healthier food too).

I do have one MK 'win' to report from earlier in the week though...
While sorting jars and lids for the marmalade I realised that a better way to store the spare lids was to file them on their sides in an old margaine tub! Another storage solution that makes things easier. The marmalade turned out just fine and a couple of jars are wending their way North over the course of the weekend.

I love Bank Holiday weekends, it's great to have a run of 3 or even the 4 days to tackle a few jobs head-on, isn't it? Well done everyone who has been soooo busy. I am envious because I have lots more to do but it will have to wait a bit longer! Family calls!!

Keep at it :rotfl:
M

Slinky

We went to look at a house today as a possible place to retire to. Sadly it didn't spark enough joy and was a potential money-pit. The search continues. We're fortunate in not having a timeline to work to, so I'm sure the right place will present itself at some point. In the meantime we're working on putting our finances in good order that we can make ourselves the buyers of choice if it comes to a scrap for the right property. We're looking at about 6 streets in a small market town which are very popular. The house we looked at today, nothing has sold there since 2011 but it wasn't the right house at the right time for us.


BTW I'm also reading the old KonMarie thread, currently on page 130 of 483, so I'll be a while yet!

Slinky

mumps wrote: »

Thank you so much, ours was leaked on about six months ago so may be more difficult but it is worth a try. I will report back.

I'd have thought you will probably be OK with that, our neighbour used our stuff on a leak on his drive which had been there a while and it worked. I was thinking yours might have been there years. Give it a good scrub with the stuff and an old toothbrush, leave it for a while, maybe a few days, rinse and repeat.

greenbee

Sounds like you're making good progress GQ. And the oddments sorted/rehomed in passing will have as much of an impact as the bigger stuff. Just don't wear yourself out!

Sounds like you know where to go if you need Christmas cards for the foreseeable future!

I'm also with my parents this weekend. No kondoing - they dealt with most of it when they moved, although things do keep being rearranged. However, I did have a quick wander round Mav's local independent dept. store (probably not her local branch) this morning and have identified a bed I think I want for the kids' room as long as it fits in the alcove between the window and the chimney (will get the builders to check on Monday). Otherwise I'll just get a headboard for the rather flimsy bed that I already have.

I also made some other decisions so have ordered a daybed with storage from Ik*a (for the kids' room, so I can keep the spare duvets/pillows/bedlinen/towels etc and some toys in there), and a headboard for a small double bed I don't intend to keep long term - but will be sleeping in for a few weeks and can't afford to replace for a while. It seemed crazy to get the rooms sorted out and then put stuff back in a way that would make them look scruffy and unjoyful again.

My dad has a bedside table he is going to restore for me (probably just taking the varnish off and polishing it), and I need to sand down a wooden bookcase so I can paint it a lighter colour. I know I'll need to track down some additional furniture (a small, hopefully antique/vintage) wardrobe to replace the vast Ik*a flatpack that has been flattened (and needs rehoming) as it doesn't fit in this house, plus a small chest of drawers and possibly one more bedside table. Book storage will be solved when the landing is enlarged and stairs are replaced, as the landing balustrade will be replaced by bookcases.

More paint colours have been discussed and decided.

Mirror has been ordered for the bathroom, and storage and accessories for the ensuite needs working out. And lights. There are a lot of decisions being made at the moment.

Hopefully by thinking carefully about the furniture and room layouts I'll be able to store things better in future.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Sterling progress being achieved in so many places around the country. More power to our collective elbows. I expect quite a few households will have been taking advantage of the long weekend to get into some chores, inc decluttering. Wonder if the chazzers notice an uptick in donations after a Bank Hol weekend.

Normally, we like to go poke around a bootsale on Easter Monday but have decided not to go. I can think of nothing I need and nothing I want. Not that I have any room to put anything, but I am relaxed about what I have and will wait until certain constantly-used items are worn up before replacing them.

I was so chilled about consumerism last week that I was even able to page through the Gooo Oootdoors cataglogue which had been mailed to me without suffering from Tent Envy or the urge to rush off and buy activity wear.:rotfl:

Among the other things in Mum's bedroom are tights, some still in their packets, some used. The new ones will be donated, the used ones into textile recycling up at their HWRC. Mum has always preferred trousers to skirts and dresses and has decided that her Parkinson's makes getting in and out of hosiery too darned hard, and she isn't going to even attempt it any more, hence they are all outta here.

It's great because they have been taking up a fair amount of space in the limited drawers.

Hokay, time to try making up for that missing hour!