KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all.
GQ sounds like progress is being made, well done you. I hope the gimpy spider is still in its jug otherwise you will be worrying about when you'll find it. Worst spider incident I ever had was years ago I was sitting on the bottom steps drinking a cup of black coffee with the front door open talking to Dh while he washed the car. I'd had the coffee on the carpeted stair at the side of me and took a swig. I felt something in my mouth and spat it back into the cup. It was a rather large but by then cooked in coffee house spider. My mouth felt tingly for ages after. Dh who hates spider recons it was because my coffee had been laced with spider toxins I think it was just the thought of having the revolting hairy beast in my mouth!
Sorry if that's Made any arachnophobes feel queezy.

Been shopping and picked up ds1s Daly can't be repaired for less than its worth guitar. He wants to keep it for Justin but is getting another.

Garden bench is being delivered at lunchtime so joyful about that.

Have a lovely weekend all.

Charis

I've had to get used to big spiders as I live in a rural area. I've had to get to get drinking glasses with wider necks, so as not to injure them when putting them out. We usually have an influx after harvest, when the weather cools.

My weirdest experience was when I was cleaning my teeth one night in the summer, with the bathroom window open. I had my eyes closed at one point and was suddenly aware of what seemed like a peppermint-flavoured tassel in my mouth. It was a large moth, thankfully just as stunned as I was so it didn't flutter. I no longer leave the window open when cleaning my teeth.

greenbee

Clutterfree wrote: »

I must have missed what exactly you're having done when I went AWOL.
Please could you give me a brief summary because it seems like major works!
Thanks x

I would be easier to say what I HAVEN'T had done However, as I'm putting off starting the clearing up:

All upstairs bedrooms, ensuite and landing gutted.

A new heating circuit for the downstairs radiators put in while the floors were up (old one is under the downstairs floors and I don't trust it) and heating zoned.

New radiators upstairs (some in different places). Some rads repurposed from downstairs so those could be changed/moved.

Radiator removed from kitchen.

Electrics for dining room and sitting room dropped down while floors were up.

Walls filled (about 20kg of filler used...). Ensuite replastered. Shower fitted in ensuite when we discovered we had to take the bath out as it was installed over the tiles... so given the level of disruption we might as well go ahead. Resulting in last minute decisions on new tiles and leftovers I'd planned on using weren't enough. Underfloor heating and panelling, new loo and basin in ensuite. Shelves in main bedroom.

All floors lifted, boards sanded and replaced (one bedroom and landing have new boards as there weren't enough usable ones), colourwashed with same paint as walls then varnished. Main bedroom floor not treated, but covered with lovely recycled wool underlay and ancient oriental rug washed (it isn't clean, it's just less dirty) and trimmed to fit.

Mains smoke/CO alarms fitted (they talk to me, and to my phone) and a new light on the landing. Stairs removed and replaced with more sensible ones in a more sensible place, landing enlarged and balustrade replaced with bookcases.

I think that's it. About 10 weeks' work, one skip and a lot of floorboards/stairs cut up for firewood!

I now have to clean and tidy upstairs, and then start getting downstairs back together. I have some underlay left over from the kids' room which used to be carpeted, which is in much better condition that what's in the sitting room and hall, so need to take the carpet patchwork up again and rearrange the underlay.

The garden is turning into a jungle, so that needs tackling too. And I have mountains of laundry.

The builders need to come back sometime next week to deal with some odds and ends... so I need to make a snagging list as I clean!

Wednesday2000

*Gags* at spiders and moths in your mouths!:eek::rotfl:How horrid!

Igamogam

Kinda caught up with thread .....gosh people are so busy! I hadn't realised just how much RL had been impinging on my kondo goals and I also hadnt realised just how much RL had affected the house............looking round today it loks as bad as ever and is a total !!!!!! pit to put it mildly :mad: Reading catch up posts I have picked up a theme along the lines of OH's not knowing/appreciating what is done on the domestic front to keep things moving/functioning/on track/clean and well fed.............and that is no exception here!! Since January I have had a lot of work on, from work - most night s and most weekends and we have been in revision mode in this household and are now in full blown exam mode so I have let a few things slide so DD2 has had a bit of peace and space to get on with all that side of things.....her room is just beyond description at the moment and this from somebody who is usually very neat and tidy and between Sept and Dec last year had a huge clear out of 'stuff'!! Revision and study has spilled out onto the dining room table and adorns the walls of the kitchen, dining room down stairs loo too! OH's 'extreme sport' gear is now littering every room, in 'dont worry I will tidy that up later' piles:eek: I feel back at square 1:mad::mad: Some jobs I have let slide but NO ONE has picked up the slack:mad::mad: AAAArgh! Beginning to rant now...........:( I had thought that this week off I have coming would be perfect to 'crack on ' with kondo activities interspersed with something I really enjoy - pottering in the garden as OH is in work and DD2 will be in 'deep revision' mode so there will be nobody around to interfere but it looks as if it will take me days to get through detritus before any kondoing goes on

Feeling thwarted..............:(

GreyQueen

:T Well done, sweetpea! Happy hunting for your next home, too.

Went out with the parents at 08.00 and came back at 3pm. Have been at Nan's (an hour's round trip) visiting and gardening. We kondo'd a set of bicycle lights (bike went years ago, she is 93 next month after all) and lots of weeds and I de-mossed some paths by scraping the dried -out moss off and pushing a broom with intent.

Before we left home for the day, I cleared off one of the two very deep handmade shelves on brackets in The Off Room (white melamine) and left it to dry and on my return, have done the upper one and that is now drying.

Have found a water filtration jug and some tubbyware I didn't know she had. The jug can go to the chazzer, Mum has decided. I have also consolidated some items into containers and will ease into having a conversation about whether the excess containers are needed.

I found two candlesticks up there (matching holders, mismatched candles plus a third mismatched candle on the shelf), plus a large marg tub full of boxes of matches, plus a tin containing a pkt of wooden skewers for the kind of cooking which will never in a million years take place in this household. Have no idea why they are here.........

It is still an absolute hell-hole in there but I'm pretty whacked out so may do a little after tea or may have the evening off and go at it full-throttle tomorrow. I shall see how I feel (and how much disruption to the domestic environment I'm allowed to get away with. ).

Keep the faith, peeps, and a big congrats again to sweetpea, how lovely to have one's home described as beautifully presented.

silvasava

Just popping in on my shining white charger to rescue GQ (and anyone else) from spiders. Don't mind if they have gammy legs or what size as they are the best bug catchers on the planet!

Sweetpea69

Thanks GQ!

I was tickled pink with the description! ��The newly sold house is ex Council with masses of storage, all well kondo'd, and a decent sized garden. I need to decide on whether to go for a fairly new rabbit hutch very close to my family, or a house similar in size/style to my present one.

I've enjoyed reading along with everyone's Kondo adventures, it has kept me going through my Room of Doom and out the other side! My own parents had stuff in tea-chests which I remembered from 30 years earlier - none of it came to light until after my Dad died. My brothers and I took shed loads of stuff to the charity shops and the tip.

I just have a bit (lots and lots) of paperwork to finish sifting through then that's me ready for packing up. I'm going to take it all to a local confidential shredding service rather than fiddle about and buy yet another shredder.

I'm off back to the garden to Kondo some more weeds!

SP xx

Clutterfree

greenbee wrote: »

I would be easier to say what I HAVEN'T had done However, as I'm putting off starting the clearing up:

All upstairs bedrooms, ensuite and landing gutted.

A new heating circuit for the downstairs radiators put in while the floors were up (old one is under the downstairs floors and I don't trust it) and heating zoned.

New radiators upstairs (some in different places). Some rads repurposed from downstairs so those could be changed/moved.

Radiator removed from kitchen.

Electrics for dining room and sitting room dropped down while floors were up.

Walls filled (about 20kg of filler used...). Ensuite replastered. Shower fitted in ensuite when we discovered we had to take the bath out as it was installed over the tiles... so given the level of disruption we might as well go ahead. Resulting in last minute decisions on new tiles and leftovers I'd planned on using weren't enough. Underfloor heating and panelling, new loo and basin in ensuite. Shelves in main bedroom.

All floors lifted, boards sanded and replaced (one bedroom and landing have new boards as there weren't enough usable ones), colourwashed with same paint as walls then varnished. Main bedroom floor not treated, but covered with lovely recycled wool underlay and ancient oriental rug washed (it isn't clean, it's just less dirty) and trimmed to fit.

Mains smoke/CO alarms fitted (they talk to me, and to my phone) and a new light on the landing. Stairs removed and replaced with more sensible ones in a more sensible place, landing enlarged and balustrade replaced with bookcases.

I think that's it. About 10 weeks' work, one skip and a lot of floorboards/stairs cut up for firewood!

I now have to clean and tidy upstairs, and then start getting downstairs back together. I have some underlay left over from the kids' room which used to be carpeted, which is in much better condition that what's in the sitting room and hall, so need to take the carpet patchwork up again and rearrange the underlay.

The garden is turning into a jungle, so that needs tackling too. And I have mountains of laundry.

The builders need to come back sometime next week to deal with some odds and ends... so I need to make a snagging list as I clean!

:eek:

Wow that's a lot of work!
Have you just moved in or been there a while?
We've just "sold" our house which we renovated throughout and are buying another doer-upper. Not as extreme as yours but definitely floors up, rewire, new roof, new bathrooms, new kitchen....
Will take time because we need to save first.

greenbee

Moved in 2.5 years ago.

First job was new boiler and water tank and downstairs radiators. Then new windows. Then re-doing the lead in the gullies. Then exterior paintwork. Then a bathroom.

Working from the top down, so while upstairs looks fantastic (and should be easy to keep clean and tidy) downstairs is a tip with no kitchen to speak of, holes in walls/ceilings (although I have now painted the walls every room except the kitchen to cover up the disgusting dirty paint underneath). Utility/kitchen/dining room/loo have vinyl over the concrete floor (stuff that was being discarded from exhibition stands) and the sitting room/hall/office have a old oriental rugs combined with a patchwork of carpet offcuts that other people have given me. First year I had rugs and concrete, the next year rugs and carpet, this winter I managed to put underlay under most of the carpet!

A new roof and a full rewire sounds pretty extreme to me!

A couple of tips - as the floors were up for the pipe work/wiring we filled the cavity between ceiling and floor with loft insulation. It keeps the noise down a little, but most importantly helps the downstairs heat stay downstairs. And the same loft insulation is also packed around the baths, so they stay warm for ages! Oh yes, and the loft insulation was cleared out and replaced. The old stuff was full of dead mice/mouse poo/birds nests, mouse poison, mouse traps, a rat trap and various bits of rubbish. It is now empty apart from a minimal number of wires, the firecaps for the 3 LED downlighters in the bathroom, the bathroom extractor fans and about a foot of insulation!

I'm hoping I have enough to pay for the work to date... I need to start saving for the next phase. Apparently they have booked me in for November, so we need to come up with a plan soon.