KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

GreyQueen

:T Good progress, greent, hope your brandy glasses get a buyer.

Am winding down for the day with about three boxes of random small kipple to go through with Mum tomorrow. Both she and Dad are thrilled with the BCofD as there is room to swing a cat in there, we have 4 bulky jackets on the rail which has meant that the much-overloaded coat rack in the hall is now looking decided skinny. Would be even skinnier if you factor in that I'm visiting and my jacket is down there, too.

Have a choca recycling wheelie to be emptied tomorrow and then I can get cracking on filling it up again.

Depending on how energy flows tomorrow, there is an issue in the kitchen which requires kondo-ing and Mum is joking about pointing me at her workshop shed (hell on earth, clambering room only) so I think she's up for decluttering. She's made up about those old letters and some wool we found in the Cupboard which will be the next project.

Last quote from Mum; It's not that I mind tidying up, I just don't want to be there when it happens.:rotfl:

Karmacat

wort wrote: »

Karmacat as the passport stamps bring you joy why not cut them out and create a collage with photos of the places you went to in a large frame,or even in 2 or 3 small ones . Then they would be a lovely reminder of your travels when you pass by them

Thanks wort! I scanned them into pdf documents, and they're in a bag, ready to be shredded, to be honest. I *did* cut out the Turkish visa, as that was beautiful, but, um, I can't find it right now :o:o I'd better be careful what I shred Thing is, I want as little *old* paper around as possible - even books take on that smell, and I just don't like it, now I've realised.

I'm also finished airing the postage stamps I've apparently been collecting since I was about 15 they now fill a modern plastic shoebox :eek: plus there's a lot of stamps that have never actually been used - they're modern, i.e. the last 20 years or so, so very little monetary value. I'm seriously thinking of using them ... anybody know any specialist places to sell stamps?

greent

Karmacat wrote: »

I'm also finished airing the postage stamps I've apparently been collecting since I was about 15 they now fill a modern plastic shoebox :eek: plus there's a lot of stamps that have never actually been used - they're modern, i.e. the last 20 years or so, so very little monetary value. I'm seriously thinking of using them ... anybody know any specialist places to sell stamps?

I've got all of mine (I spent a good couple of £k on over the years:eek:) ready to take to a stamp dealer who works from our local antiques centre. I'll be pleased if I get £25! Try yell dot com for your local area for stamp dealers?


With regards to modern mint ones, I've used mine up on sending parcels (my Princess Di ones went on one at the beginning of the year) - I checked out values of some of the presentation packs on ebay and they were selling at pretty much face value - factor in selling fees and paypal fees and I found I was better off using them up!


xx

greenbee

GQ - you are clearly a force to be reckoned with! I hope your family are enjoying the benefits of all the space you are making for them. If they're not appreciating you, feel free to come and visit... there's lots of opportunity for painting and gardening here too

Slinky

Chicken soup turned out well, OH will take some for lunch tomorrow and I think I'll be sorted for another 3 lunches. Managed to Kondo some frozen peas into the soup as required by the recipe. We don't eat peas now being low carb, and stumbled on these as I was putting something else away in the freezer this morning. Best before Sept 2014. Ho hum, in they went....

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

GQ - you are clearly a force to be reckoned with! I hope your family are enjoying the benefits of all the space you are making for them. If they're not appreciating you, feel free to come and visit... there's lots of opportunity for painting and gardening here too

:pShame I'm back at work on Thursday or I could rent myself out - will declutter/ decorate/garden for 3 squares and a bed, lol.

The parents are very appreciative. Dad constantly marvels that I manage to motivate Mum to get stuff done. She has been asking for help with the BCofD for some time, but on my Easter visit I did extensive work on their bedroom but didn't have enough time for the Cupboard.

Not all decluttering is created equally. A box or bag or two of tiny Misc, esp papery misc, can really slow matters down. Yet, at other times, when you have biggish things leave, you can really motor through liberating a lot of space in a hurry.

Have been awake since 05.20 am when their neighbour considerately took their wheelie bin out with lots of banging and crashing, so we'll be breakfasting soon and then washed and dressed and ready to face the day.

Have several crates of random kipple to sort, and a couple of bags, and then will need to collate the things leaving to go up to the city on Weds morning, and organise a list of the things to come back. The parental car goes up about once, possibly twice a year, so I must use this unexpected resource to its limits.

Have a good day, folks.

mrs-moneypenny

Morning kondoers.
Hope everyone is well and enjoyed/made the most of the extended weekend. Loving the tales from the parental home GQ, Your mums quote had me smiling.
Made good headway here, last night ds2 decided he would like to move into larger spare room so next few weeks will be kondoing and sorting contents of that room and getting it ready to swap round. The room he's in is smaller and will be a selective store/music room. We plan to put three bookshelves in there for the books and DVDs then my stereo system can come down from its 15 year sabbatical in the attic (so the vinyl the lads are now buying plus our old stuff can actually be played again) and the drum kit that the boys don't want to let go but it can't be played in the room it's currently in can be set out neatly and will be in the room furthest away from the neighbour's so less likely to cause upset. Ds1was originally offered the room but he enjoys his singing and guitar playing so being next to the party wall may not be the best place for him. The neighbour's on the other side are the local park so that is why we earmark that for the noisier stuff.

Slept well in our newly arranged and less cluttered room last night. Still have a bit more to do in there.
Garden is looking much better and the fairy lights all seemed to be working when it got dark so gave the garden a pretty feel. Waiting for the weather to improve so I can get some more planted out.

Will iron today as I'm only in work for a couple of hours.

Have a joyful day all

oceanspirit

Fatigue slowed things down over the weekend but still managed to get rid of lots more paper via recycling and shredding. Still plenty more to go but it no longer feels like an impossible task.

Builder coming this afternoon to have a look at the work to be done - hope he will be able to see past the remaining clutter! It feels good to be able to set the ball rolling on this one as the clutter was previously preventing it from happening. I will need to move out whilst the work is being done so I can't take my foot off the pedal as I don't want to be packing up or storing things I don't want or need.

greenbee

Builders have arrived and we've decided that this week will be spent finishing the ensuite and bedroom, and doing all the odd jobs including clearing out and cleaning the garage. Which means I should be able to a. get to my garden tools and b. clean and dry the bedroom rug in there.

Not sure how the rest of the timetable works with that, but it will give me a few more days to decide on a colour for the final bedroom!

Karmacat

greent wrote: »

I've got all of mine (I spent a good couple of £k on over the years:eek:) ready to take to a stamp dealer who works from our local antiques centre. I'll be pleased if I get £25! Try yell dot com for your local area for stamp dealers?

With regards to modern mint ones, I've used mine up on sending parcels (my Princess Di ones went on one at the beginning of the year) - I checked out values of some of the presentation packs on ebay and they were selling at pretty much face value - factor in selling fees and paypal fees and I found I was better off using them up!

Thanks for this, greent - I suspected that might be the case for the modern mint ones. Have you steamed the used ones off the envelopes, or are you leaving them on?

Once I retire, I'll take what I've got to a couple of local tourist towns where a lot of antique-y shopping gets done, I'll see if any of the dealers are interested. Some of the unused ones are fairly elderly to be called modern, though I know they are - the denominations give it away, 10.5p, anyone :rotfl:

Letters are still making their way to the shredding bin