KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

luxor4t

GreyQueen wrote: »

:T .........

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. ). ............

GQ, I have been reading your adventures aloud to DH and DS2 (in my best exciting story telling voices).


They send their very best wishes and are looking forward to the next chapter.


I am on the edge of my seat :T

GreyQueen

:eek: Blimey, greenbee, I reckoned you were probably gutting your home and it seems I wasn't far off the mark. Excellent idea to increase the insulation as the spaces became accessible, too.

Between waking up and getting up this morning, I had a LBM which I've just run by Mum - the circular saw (boxed) which has been sitting on the floor of The Off Room, blocking The Cupboard's doors has now been rehomed in the BCofD, tidily on a shelf. Pefect fit, made for the job.:T

Having been able to get at The Cupboard's doors, I opened both and sat on a stool cogitating.

There are two slatted wooden shelves in this ex-wardrobe, not four as I had misremembered. It is intended to be used for the storage of various items of kitchenalia and is to be organised to hold more.

First perusal wasn't promising. Yes, there are kitchen things in there, including some huge things like the mega-large trad pottery pastry bowl which, along with a wooden platter with a huge glass dome jointly hog most of the top shelf.

That side of the middle shelf is an 18 inch high stack of tablemats, in addition to the not-inconsiderable pile of placemats already living out on the counter. Below that, is a 2 ft tall pile of LPs. Also taking up space are the goblet from the Kenwood Chef, the spanner roll, several bits and bobs of toolkits, a box of stainless steel flasks and some more tubbyware.

Some of these things cannot be made to scoosh up, like the big bowl and the glass cover and platter, the LPs are taking up an enormous amount of space and the tools really need to be elsewhere but handy and not in the sheds outside due to the amount of shed burglaries which go on around here.

Mum wants to have all her considerable collection of baking tins in this cupboard. It's do-able, but not with the current non-kitchen contents left inside. Which means that there will have to be a sesh tomorrow of me & her debating and stowing stuff.

That'll be joyous for her as it's something she really doesn't like at all.

Having studied on this has made me consider a couple of things which lurk in my pan drawer and that they can go to the chazzer as I am unlikely to use them and could really release them to the wider world.

ETA; luxor4t, thank you and thank your menfolk. We will get through this - together!

ivyleaf

GQ Would the glass dome, if turned upside down, fit into the big mixing bowl, with the platter underneath the mixing bowl? Just a thought

It's lovely reading what everyone's been doing.

We came across a half-empty bag of compost the other day. It has completely dried out. You know, the state where if you put it it into a flower pot and poured water into it, the water would run straight through. Am I right in thinking it's no use at all any more?

GreyQueen

ivyleaf wrote: »

GQ Would the glass dome, if turned upside down, fit into the big mixing bowl, with the platter underneath the mixing bowl? Just a thought

It's lovely reading what everyone's been doing.

We came across a half-empty bag of compost the other day. It has completely dried out. You know, the state where if you put it it into a flower pot and poured water into it, the water would run straight through. Am I right in thinking it's no use at all any more?

Why the heck didn't I think of that?! And I am normally so good at spacial-type problem solving. Doh!

I will discuss this tomorrow with Mum and think that the upside-down dome could be nestled in some blister wrap, just a sheet of it to stop the glass and the pottery clonking together and maybe cracking or chipping each other.

Righty, going to go investigate that pile of LPs in The Cupboard which she got from bootsales a few years ago and has never, insofar as I know, actually played.

True fact; in my childhood, Mum was going through a C & W phase. I hate, loathe and detest the genre. If I was underfoot and she wanted me out of the house she'd say I think I'll put a Jim Reeves record on.........

And pfft! and I was gone.:rotfl:

ETA; OK, I have gone through the pile of LPs in The Cupboard. Most are boxed sets of about 6 LPs at a time. Deathless classics such as The Magic of Richard Clayderman, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Herb Aplert & Friends, Strauss Gala, Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits Vol 4, Shostakovitch, Tchaikovsky,, Handel's Messiah and Beethoven's Symphony No 3 'Eroica' which sounds a bit smutty to me.

Oh, and get this; TWO identical boxed sets of Jim flipping Reeves' Golden Memories which are 6 LP sets. One of which is tatty and minus an LP and can go.

Frankly, dahlings, I'd've rather found the giant gimpy spider.................!

greenbee

GQ - if your mum wants to keep all those LPs I suggest you start playing them while you're hard at work... she may go off the idea

I've done pretty well on the cleaning and clearing. And have had a lovely time moving all my trashy reading into the new bookcases so that it is within easy reach of the bath. Childrens' books are being split between the kids' room (books for little kids) and the spare room (books for when they are older plus any precious ones, like my Little Grey Rabbit hardbacks, and books handed down from my parents and grandparents).

A lovely neighbour has just dropped in with a delicious asparagus risotto as she knew I'd be busy cleaning, and had a quick tour. Feedback so far from the couple of people who have seen the results is positive.

wort

Had a day gardening cleared the weeds for a few days anyway!
Had a read of all your kondoing posts and got itchy fingers so took myself up to the wardrobe, decided to cull some of dh s work clothes, he has a mucky job so tends to stock pile anything he's finished wearing to use for work 3 full drawers and a cubby were piled on the bed and seriously kondoed.
Also as we are back from holiday and washing done yesterday whilst I was at work dh had put his t shirts away but not folded kondo style. So I pulled out all 46 t shirts ! Yes 46:eek: and kondoed those as well .I know we aren't supposed to do other people's without permission but he always gets me to choose his clothes and never bothers if I tell him to throw things away.
So now the drawers are half empty and the wardrobe is neat again! :T

Clutterfree

greenbee wrote: »

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.

Thanks for the insulation tip!
Hubby is an electrician so at least the rewire comes with free labour!
Roof may only need repair, no sure yet but it's in a conservation area so have to jump through a few hoops first. It may not be as bad as it looks but we made our offer with a view to replacing it rather than repair so all is good.

Have you taken before and after pics?
Would love to see them.

The bath idea is genius, never heard of that before!

ScotinLondon

All - have been reading avidly whilst I have tinternet. Won't have it for a few days until I get back to work. Where I am staying, internet is known about but not wanted...!! Such is the way of life.

Have to say that I have enjoyed reading all the adventures immensel!

RL on Friday was v sucky, but evening better.

Wort - I did my dh's clothes with him and we got rid of loads too. Still a bit more to do. We also did his room at his parents, as he is there for a little while, recovering from major surgery & they live in a gf flat. Makes it easier for him.

On the KM front, I have sold two of my old accountancy books...only 7 more pairs to go, with an order for one when I get it back.

Hope all have a great rest of the day today and a good remainder of the bh weekend.
SIL

Clutterfree

Well we filled a 6 yard skip with all the junk from the sheds and loft today.
What a waste but a HUGE lesson learned.
If we had got rid of this stuff years ago;
1. Someone else could have enjoyed it instead of it dying in storage.
2. We wouldn't have had to fork out £160 :eek: on a skip!!

We have about 10 boxes of stuff (memories and keepsakes mainly) to go back in the loft once we move. I'm sure I'll be able to whittle those down further but I'm not ready for sentimental stuff yet.
We have resolved not to put anything else up there in the new house.

Why did we still have our old coffee table from 10+ years ago in the loft?!
We'd replaced it because we didn't like it, so why keep it?
Curtain rails from our previous house (14 years ago) that didn't fit the windows here.
Bizarre.

Have lots to go to the charity shop so all is not lost.

Managed to sell a circular saw on eBay for £68 so happy with that. :T

mothernerd

After I sent the electrical waste to the tip with the builders, I found DS3's old old laptop at the top of the stairs. He had said it could go, almost as he was walking out of the door to go to his gf's.

Yesterday there was a display on the library/Town Hall square with all the different Council departments represented. I went early on but it was noisy - lots of small children playing big drums. Went back later on and they were mostly packing away. However I did manage to corner someone to ask about electrical waste. Not supposed to go in the bin. Not allowed on the tip because I don't have a car. She told me that one of the major SMs has an electrical waste facility on their car park. I can probably just about walk there - will have to have a sit down in their 'smoker's corner' before I do the return trip.

Then yesterday evening DS2 called to return the money he had borrowed. He mentioned that he was going to said SM as they had something he wanted in their sale. Persuaded him to take the forgotten laptop to their facility. Result. He did ask what was wrong with it but gave up when he saw how many keys were missing - DS3 used it for a while with other keyboards attached to it.

No kondoing today as have been up a ladder getting rid of black mould from the window 'chimney' (from skylight in the roof to the ceiling of the bedroom). Very hard work but pleased that I have done it.