KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

greenbee

I'm having fun and games trying to remember where I've put things as I get the bedrooms back together! I think i've found all the curtains and bedding now. But I still can't find some hooks I want to put in the ensuite.

I really need to think sensibly about storage for each room too. I know I'll need a small cabinet in the ensuite for toiletries/makeup in addition to the cupboard under the basin. And it probably makes sense to include some towel storage in there.

The spare rooms need to at least have storage for the bedding and towels that go with them, a chair and some hooks for visitors to hang their clothes up on, and somewhere for them to keep their bag/suitcase.

The kids' room needs all their bedding plus the spare bedding for extra kids plus towels and toys. They don't need clothes storage as those can stay in their suitcases when they are here, and for the moment those are small enough to go under their beds.

The laundry bin needs a home, and as I don't want my own bedroom to be too cluttered I need to work out what I'm going to keep in other rooms before I can make a final decision what to put in here. As neither of the spare rooms or the kids room are under permanent occupation I can easily spread my belongings around but need to consider what will and won't be convenient to keep elsewhere when I do have visitors!

Upstairs is really starting to feel like the home I want to be living in, so I'm not going to rush any decisions on what goes where. Although it would be nice to get pictures and mirrors up...

I need to start saving again to get downstairs sorted out as well! I'm hoping I can get at least half the kitchen done by Christmas so I can produce a decent meal without too much stress.

Igamogam

So last week I was complaining about modern appliances not being like they used to be (coffee machine) and this week it a long handled wooden body brush which I love and use in shower/bath almost everyday. Its has started to shed its bristles and I have been grumbling about it and I cant find another one to replace......I was grumbling along the lines of this hasn't lasted, this cost me a fortune, why has everything got built in obsolescence in these days etc etc:mad::mad:

This week I had reason to dig out a box of old photos of DDs ( haven't touched photos on the KM journey.....it will be the last thing ) and we found the inevitable ones of them in the bath.........and there in the background in its usual place is my body brush! These photos are over 20 years old So the brush owes me nothing. I will happily replace it now with something of equal quality and dont mind spending for it and when its replaced old brush will be sawn up and put in kindling box for log burner:D Cant help thinking first fire of the autumn will be a bit like a funeral pyre:A

Just shows how 'things' become part of the domestic landscape and you really dont notice how long they have been there. At least this has been used;)

On the general Kondo front its 'steady as she goes ' here. Lots of RL stuff ( nice RL stuff like getting back into the garden,visiting friends, visit to theater etc) over the last couple of months so its only been chipped at but a week off soon and a bit of breathing space to get attacking again. I had hoped it would have all been done by end of August 2015.......... next goal is going to be end of August 2016 and then we will take it from there. There as certainly been a net flow out of the front door for a good 18 months - all re purposed, sold, recycled, passed on, donated and very little to land fill. All that has been a challenge in itself and I am very happy with what I have achieved so far:T

greenbee

Three under pillowcases turned into rags - they're completely rotten. And have my dad's nametapes on them... I have lots of housewife pillowcases that I can use in their place, and plenty of pillowcases generally.

I need to have a really good inspection of my sheets while I'm rearranging and work out which ones need to be replaced. I know I have masses of single flat sheets, but am short of fitted sheets for some beds, and some of them have lost their elastic and are looking pretty grotty.

hebwood

Hi Mrs MP


Most impressed with DS singing in caf! - well done to him. Did he go down well?


H

VJsmum

Been in the office all morning. I need to start working in there but it was just so awful to be in. So I cleared and dusted the big double shelf unit (about 20-25 feet of shelving in all), I have got rid of more of the text books I brought back from work, some are out of date and a couple I just will never use. Not sure where to send them, they are not worth anything. Old work sometimes has book harvests but I am not sure I will find out when now, and the chazzer would have no use for them :undecided

A large amount of random papers and carp on the desk have gone into a crate to be dealt with later.....

The whole lot got a bliddy good dust and it is now fit for habitation. I need to get the radiator sorted but it can wait a month or four.

I have de cluttered some stuff from the family room, a lounge that DS uses as a music room. It has a three piece suite, a piano, a keyboard, three guitars and a ukulele :eek: with associated amps and another large shelf unit. It was very cluttered. But I have gathered all the guitar pedals, leads, cases etc into a basket which I have placed by the fire where there was a hideous candle thing (one of those "kept because it was a gift" things), gathered all the music books into one place and found space on the shelf for them, got rid of a couple of unnecessary ornaments and it is now looking an awful lot better. A bit of a woo moment was realising that the basket I only freed up this morning was perfect as guitar bit storage. :T


We then had the following conversation

Me "why is that lamp there?"
OH "to give additional light if required"
DD "that is just the function of a lamp, not saying why it is there. It is like saying "why is that lamp there? Because it is a lamp"

mrs-moneypenny

hebwood wrote: »

Hi Mrs MP


Most impressed with DS singing in caf! - well done to him. Did he go down well?


H

Very well thanks, he's building up a bit of a following, he does quite a few open miss and 'featured slots' locally. He's got quite a few songs on utube, some are covers but he also writes his own stuff now.:T:T
He's TheSabatouer on YouTube if you want a little look at his stuff.

Had a lovely day, babysat DGS for a few hours this morning, then made a little wooden house to go with the fabric one for material testing at school. Had a fiddle with the waterbutt to try and stop it over filling - which sulked in having to empty it.

Doing a bit more knitting and sewing together some little parts just need to sort the the stuffing out and get the bodies done so I can get them put together completely

Hope you're all having a great weekend.

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Been offline until this point in the day due to reading and gardening. The triffid-wrestling season is fully upon us and I am apt to disappear up the road at all hours to play in the dirt. I did take several pieces of glass, brick and 4 nails out of the soil, though.

greenbee, what about those wooden frame stands, hinged like an 'X' with straps across the top that you get in some hotels as a suitcase stand? They'd have the advantage of folding when not in use and perhaps could be put away in a cupboard.

Haven't kondo'd much today, just some very OOD soy sauce (which contains wheat which I ain't eating any more - weightloss continues steadily). Poured away, washed bottle and cap and recycled it.

Not planning to do any more kondo-ing today as yesterday was full-on at the pal's shop. Show a woman of my temperament a proper muddle and it's like feeding time at the zoo - lemme at it.

Keep up the good work - I shall be at the parental home this coming weekend for just under three days. Wonder what I can get up to? :cool:

mrs-moneypenny

GQ I'm so looking forward to the kondoing tales from the parental home over the bank holiday weekend.

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

greenbee, what about those wooden frame stands, hinged like an 'X' with straps across the top that you get in some hotels as a suitcase stand? They'd have the advantage of folding when not in use and perhaps could be put away in a cupboard.

I'm keeping my eye out for some (or maybe I should get my dad to make me some ). Although there are no cupboards to hide them away in... this house is very short on cupboard space.

Both spare rooms are now tidy and have roughly the right furniture in. The kids room and my room are both a complete tip and need sorting out. The hall is still full so I have a lot to do before 8am tomorrow.

However, I'm looking forward to next weekend when I'll have GQs updates to keep me motivated while I get things straight after the builders have gone.

GreyQueen

It creases me up that some of you are so entertained by my minor little ups and downs in the family home. Although I'm just as fascinated with mavvy's dad's Narnia cupboards........

Once upon a time, about 1960, a well-qualified man (or men) thought it was sensible to design a council house with an integral coal shed which opened into the kitchen via an ordinary door. And other (almost certainly) well-educated men signed off on the design and thousands of the beggars were built. Fools! College-edujumicated fools, every man jack of them.

Because every housewife needs in-kitchen access to her coal bunker (there is also a shed-style door to the outside of the house - which is now an enclosed porch, IYSWIM).

Delightfully, drifts of coal-dust used to slide under the door and onto the kitchen floor - how relieved we were to go from coal fire to gas fire when I was about ten, and the coalbunker was ripped out.

The door into the kitchen was removed and the door into the porch was modified to have an obscured glass pane. This small rectangular space off a small squarish kitchen is known in our family as The Off Room.

Because it's off the kitchen. I'm sure a better name could be coined but this one stuck. I could dub it it any number of things. Trouble is, it was never properly planned and has accrued its furnishings and fittings somewhat randomly.

There is a 1930s sideboard supporting a counter along one wall. This sideboard is the type with very wide doors so, when you have one open, you need a torch to see cupboard contents. No joke; there is a torch permanantly kept inside this sideboard for that very purpose and we still lose things in there.

Above the sideboard is a counter - bog standard plastic covered chipboard thingy. And above that are two double wall units. Facing them on the other wall is another double wall cupboard and, beyond that, a set of deep shelves on brackets. Facing you as you look from the kitchen proper into the Off Room is - ta da! The Cupboard.

The cupboard started life in Argossy (turn left when you reach Athens and it's just up the coast, apparently). From Argossy, it was purchased by a pal who had the sense to emigrate to somewhere sunny with cheap vino and who didn't want it anymore. So it was given to me (bad day's work, GQ). It was, at that time, a blockboard wardrobe with three carpy drawers below it.

The three carpy drawers were already busted before I had it and couldn't be made to work properly and the wardrobe was so shallow that an ordinary garment couldn't be hung on the rail without having to go sideways at 45 degrees. These Argossians are as good at furniture design as those architects were at houses.

But I digress.:rotfl:

The wardrobe was given a drawer-ectomy and put on casters. It was also equipped with four strong slatted shelves, hand-made by mater, who also cut the drawer-bit off with a jigsaw. It stood minding its own business in an alcove at the previous flat and I used it to keep my linens in and all was well - until I moved.

It quickly became apparent that the cupboard wasn't going to work in this flat and that I needed something different. Mum bagsied it and off it went to the parental home where it was put into The Off Room. It sits at the dead end, just in front of the door which once led outside and was once solid but now has a pane of glass in it and could be opened if you wanted to but there is a solid wall of boxes on the other side. And a tumble dryer which no stranger would ever guess is there and which we don't use because it's too expensive and scalps your clothes.

Are you keeping up with me? Have you lost the will to live? The Off Room will be where I will be performing kondo-magic this coming weekend, as per special parental requests, repeated at the past 3 public holidays.

In additon to the aforementioned fixtures and fittings, there is a 2 ft wide hell-hole up the end of the sideboard, where the counter goes up the top, and a series of coat-hooks under the wall cupboard opposite the sideboard which have 10,000 bags of Stuff hanging on them.

And the small area of floor is MIA under more Stuff and you can't get in the Cupboard which contains baking tins etc except for a foot tall stack of LPs which can't be got rid of Because.

I have tentatively floated the idea of replacing the 1930s sideboard with something more suitable (inconceivable) or re-doing the whole room with purpose made shelving and calling in a larder (not on the cards, apparently). So, I shall be left trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Wish me luck cos I'm gonna need it!