KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

MMF007

Kind and wise words, as ever, GQ. It is a low carb diet and true to the blurb I have never felt hungry! Only been doing it for 13 days but, drum roll please) , I have now lost 8lbs. I know the first couple of weeks are quickest losses but it doesn't half spur you on!

Good advice about the baskets. I shall try and encourage the idea. The shelf is too deep, ie front to back, to make it ideal because some stuff will still be pretty tricky to get to unless I can find long baskets..... ooh, there's a mission for me! Added problem is that the lovely gent is suffering from cognitive impairment so I really need to be very careful not to change things round very much, iyswim. I'd love to make things a little easier by sorting this one matter out so I shall keep pondering.

Now, fellow konverts there is some HUGE news from my slighlty hoarderish mother. This calls for a prolonged drum roll and massive crescendo. ...... she rang me just now to tell me that, and I quote, "You would be proud of me. I have given away 24 blouses. I have sorted 12 books to go to the village fair and am about to check out Dad's wardrobe for a few other items to go."

Knock me down with a feather, someone has abducted my mum :rotfl:

Must go, have only done half of my rather extensive pencil and paper version of a ' to do ' list (had to add a task, 'sitting in the sun reading ) but now it's back to the chores, still smiling though!

Before I go, virtual hug ((ScotinLondon)). I really hope things get better for you very soon.

M

Siebrie

Yesterday a lovely colleague gave me some clothes her dds had outgrown, for my dds. 4 I/kea bags full! All branded: Burberry, Hilfiger, Pauline B., etc. Wonderful stuff, and lots of summer dresses, which is just what the wardrobe was lacking! I'm really happy with them.


Of course, I sorted the bags immediately to size, and eldest dd tried on quite a few of the right-size items. They are now in the wardrobe, some items on the mending pile, rest of items in the attic. I was spurred on by the need for a neat living room, en by the imminent arrival of dh, who thinks I should not accept clothes from colleagues..... So, I'm hiding clothes from dh, shoot me.


One really old bag-for-life of my-size clothes (or slightly larger) left the house to go to a WI pop-up shop.

Slinky

Well I've just kondo'd £350 to the garage to get my car serviced. It had a warning light come on last week, they haven't been able to fix that as a sensor has failed due to poor design. A new replacement pump will cost £1000-£1500+VAT and labour........... and no guarantee that the new one won't fail at some point also as the same design fault is still there. When I picked myself up off the floor they've enquired about the cost of repairing the existing pump and that's coming up at about £350+VAT and the car will be off the road for a week whilst the pump's being repaired. Have booked it to go in in a couple of weeks time. Had to go for this option as the MOT is due next month and it's an automatic fail with the warning light on.

I can afford it, I can even afford the price of the new part if needs be, but it just goes to show how an unexpected bill can push people into debt. It's only a Vauxhall.

Fen1

Hello again. Thought I'd pop back in after my last little melt-down. I have a lot of anger to deal with, and the housing/hoarding/mess issues hit very deep and painful nerves. Having come from an emotionally negative and occasionally physically abusive parental 'home' I have serious issues regarding what is and is not my safe space. I think there are many of us on here and the hoarding board who bear scars and will rile at things that others can just brush off.



I've read all the posts. Well done to everyone.

On my end, things have changed slightly. OH has actually gone through 30 years worth of stuff and actually binned some of it! However, I think it was more of a one-off clear-out than a change of mindset, but it is a start. Onwards and upwards.

I've not yet ready the new Bible. Huge waiting list.

Does anyone else want to burn everything they have? A huge Bonfire of Goodbye, Good Riddance? Except it costs money to replace cutlery, bed linen, bed, knickers, the cat's cushion..... I'm not talking minimalism, paring right back and living ultra-simply, but a complete purge. Or am I just a complete freakin loony toon???

GreyQueen

I suspect there are more than a few people who have read reports of some poor soul's home burning to the ground and them losing everything they own and thought to themselves........... that's terrible, glad no one was hurt, is it very wicked to kind of wish it had been my home.........?

When arson starts to look a reasonable solution to housework and decluttering, things have come to a pretty pass indeed.

Was out of the house for over 6 hours, came back in and got cracking on a few chores and then mended a jacket which needed a bit of stitching to the bottom of the zip before it could go - or it would have gone already IYSWIM.

Went into the sewing cabinet, a re-purposed CD/ DVD storage unit where my many threads etc live in old ferrer0 roche boxes. Could I find a light grey? Could I heck! In the end, I found a tiny amount on a miniature reel, not enough to tool up the sewing machine with top and bottom threads, so it was a hand-sewing jobbie.

Folded as soon as complete then straight into the waiting donation bag, saddled the pushbike and whizzed it down to the chazzer. I did come back with a lot of small-but-useful lock&locks at 50p each, but they are a standing order in my life and I am very pleased to have them.

Now cooking tea and then will be heading up to the allotment - I spake too soon this morning and the weather rapidly turned very cold and grey and there is a rumour of a frost tonight - I will be covering my tater tops to prevent them getting burned.

MMF007, 1-2 pounds a week is reckoned to be about right for a low-carb diet, PB works on those principles. I have my scales set to kilos as it's easier to record the figures (yes, folks, I have a special notebook, I am that much of a saddo ). Sometimes I lose 0.1 kg for several days on the trot, sometimes my weight stays the same for 3-5 days, sometimes I lose 0.5-0.8 kg between one day and the other.

What I am noticing is that, unless I scoff some really fattening stuff, that the trend is always heading downwards. Which is great and very motivating, plus I don't feel hungry at all.

Anyway, I don't want to crash diet as I am hoping my skin will contract nicely with the rest of me and fit the new, slimmer version. Heck, I am pretty handy with a needle but don't want to have to pin-and-tuck (or get the shirring elastic out) to cope with the flabby bits.:rotfl:

Karmacat

I've often been tempted to burn everything, Fen, absolutely - down to minimalist levels, anyway. I think it must be very freeing, when its chosen like that and not imposed on you, like the people at Fort McMurray.

No kondoing, except I'm scanning and throwing letters again.

MMF007

Quite right about not doing crash diets! I am eating significant calories (although don't have to count them because it's the carbs that are the enemy) but I am totally sticking to permitted foods and including plenty of green veg and mixed salads. Of course it must help that I am doing an active job now too! Fully expecting weight loss to slow down soon but taking the big win while I can.

Back to topic (sorry folks I got carried away talking about weight loss because I haven't told anyone else, except DH of course, that I am kondo-ing some weight!) :

Chores were easy, except dusting the top of DH's CoD in bedroom - he has a lot of clutter on there so I just did the front 1/3rd and left the duster there for him to do the rest :rotfl:

I put all household shopping away in no time and returned my re-usable shoppers to the car boot so I don't go out without them. Sorted 3 books for CS next week as I bought 4 from them - not quite one in one out but the best I can do til I finish the current book

Vacced all round but decided not to vac the dishes!

Mavvy, I love that your dad has released some books, maybe the parents are chatting away on another forum and all thanking you, GQ and her mum for the inspiration (or perhaps they are ringing Parentline to complain about off-spring bullying :rotfl:).

GreyQueen

Kondo is definately kontagious, isn't it? Love it that MMF007 thinks someone has abducted her mum. Mine still has the power to surprise me; she jokes to her mil (Nan) that I'm trying to declutter her before she dies.

And I'm imagining mavvy leaping from the phone to her batmobile and burning rubber over to her dad's place to take those book boxes before he changes his mind............:rotfl:

Went to the supermarket for some more veg and some apples; I shall look like a salad before I'm very much older. Five a day? I can get 10 a day just in my breakfast salad. Then weeded for over an hour - it's chilly out but dry and you can't turn your back on weeds in May, they grow like triffids in these long days.

Disappointed no one has vacuumed their dishes tonight, I was hoping to start a trend. I just boring-old washed a few when I came in. There are saucepans and a few extras to be washed but I can't be arrised, have been on the go 12 hours now and they'll wait until tomorrow.

Clutterfree

Morning All,
I doubt any of you will remember me from last years thread but I've been AWOL this year.

My dad was admitted to hospital in the first week of January and not discharged until mid March so 2.5 hour round trips to the hospital plus visiting time left little time for anything, let alone Kondoing!
He's home now and adjusting well to his new lifestyle (had half his leg amputated) but it's been a huge learning curve for us all.

Then we decided to put our house on the market. An ideal time to Kondo you'd think, but as we all know, with Kondoing you have to break several eggs to make a omelette. I had to keep the house pristine so I couldn't risk being in the middle of sorting and then get a call for a viewing. :eek:

Anyway (sorry for waffle!), a week ago we accepted an offer on our house and had one accepted on the one we want so now it's major Kondoing time!

Think we will start with the sheds and then the loft because they tend to be areas where junk gets stored.
We have a lot to do.

Hope you all are well.
Good to be back xx

EDIT: forgot to say... I packed dad's hospital case kondo style - tops, trousers, undies and PJs all folded the KM way and filed upright so he could see everything at a glance. When a nurse opened his case she said it was the best packed case she had ever seen and was very impressed!! Proud moment for me!

Siebrie

I am cutting down on sugar, and eating more seaweed, and I think it is helping, as I have a lot more energy now. This morning I took eldest dd to her math's tutor, read a book I like during the wait, took her with me to the sm to get the shopping on the list (and nothing else). Then we sorted through more clothes, I sorted out my blanket chest and have halved the contents, sorted through the neatly labelled photos and negatives that were in a box in the attic (no good there - they should be on display or easily accessible). I more than halved them; I discarded all the negatives, and threw away many photos; for instance, all the photos of a trip to Italy for a youth group that I led, where I always have the feeling that I did not give them what they could have expected. I learnt from that mistake, but do not need reminders.
Then, I put up two drawings from youngest dd in frames, and I let her help me pick the position. Usually, this would make me loose my patience, but it was fine now.
Then, I looked in the attic for some more clothes I could donate to the WI, and found another bag-for-life full, and three pairs of fancy flipflops. And I even prepared a proper dinner!
Ironing is next, then bed .
Edited to add:
I completely forgot that I also lifted the tulips and put them in a box with some compost to die down completely. Now the garden looks much tydier. The bed closest to the house was sprinkled with a flower seed mix 'medieval tapestry', as I could not be bothered with growing individual plants from seed. Then youngest dd helped sprinkle cornflower seeds and poppy seeds around the sides of the garden. I will probably regret the poppies next year, but never mind, we need some quick colour.