KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Serendipitious

Good morning.

A tank is a nice large item to kondo - you'll see such a difference when it's gone, Mrs MP.

I noticed the bottom shelf in my wardrobe was wobbly late last night, it had just slipped slightly, so it's ended up with me removing all contents, readjusting shelf, and replacing everything. Well not quite everything - I felt compelled to flex the kondo muscle while I was in there - so some shoes and jumpers are now in a bag by the front door.

mavvymoo

Morning all

I am at full speed on this fast train I boarded. :rotfl:
A new bed for the spare room is being delivered today. As I had no joy sparking from the air bed which is a pain in the backside. So can go along with the horrible cheap bedding which will make their way to the Charity shop.

and drum roll ......... My shoe cupboard is being picked up by the furniture charity today after 25 years of filling it with shoes I no longer need it :rotfl:I have let loads of shoes go in true KM style and will start looking at my boots now as have far to many but being a boot addict it might be a step to far We will see.So once again all my clothes need to be kondoed for the 10th + time but as everything needs to be sorted and cleaned in the room before the bed gets put up its a good time

So better get myself moving as its being delivered this morning before 10am and I am still in my dressing gown


Good luck to all havent caught up with your efforts yet but I will do and I know you will have all done an amazing job without looking

Mav x

Serendipitious

Nice when things move fast, Mavvy.

I often wonder what it would look like, if all our combined kondo outgoings were put together in one place.

This morning is only a few hours old, yet already we have a fish tank, a few jumpers and shoes, an airbed, and a shoe cupboard.:D

mrs-moneypenny

Serendipitious wrote: »

Nice when things move fast, Mavvy.

I often wonder what it would look like, if all our combined kondo outgoings were put together in one place.

This morning is only a few hours old, yet already we have a fish tank, a few jumpers and shoes, an airbed, and a shoe cupboard.:D

The skip on my front is a lovely example of what excess looks like, broken mower, delapatdated garden swingseat, tent with broken and missing poles, broken storage boxes, etc there is only two weeks worth of kondoing in the plus the old bathroom and anything chasserable, or recyclable has gone or is going to those so my house is definately feeling the benefit of me reading that little book and joining this thread.

Thank you everyone on here for the support and encouragement you all supply. Take a bow and have a group hug.
High fives all round.

Charly27

GreyQueen wrote: »

It tickles me pink, the pleasure some of you profess about reading about my little kondo-esque adventures in the parental homestead. I shall be sure to rootle around in something whilst I am over there. It would be a full-time job for a year to get that place straight, it has been a muddle for the whole 46 years they've lived there.

Been at work and then nipped along to my pal's shop for a brief natter and a truffle into the cellar and came away with 6 coffee jars which are now in the bottle bank. A few more bottles and then that crate will be empty. Drop in the clutter ocean but it's baby steps. Can't abide recyclables not being recycled and just sitting around gathering dust.

I was having a think about Mum's cluttering, as she's the chief example in my own family. She recalls as a girl being sent up to her room to 'tidy up' and she'd get sidetracked and start reading and not much tidying would get done.

So, it occured to me, that many of us wouldn't have had tidiness modelled for us as a behaviour, we literally wouldn't have been shown how to think about items, how to release them responsibly. It could be likened to never having had a balanced diet; binge-eating on sweeties and then suffering remorse and starving on celery, rinse and repeat.

I recall reading something in a book on decluttering about a woman who went shopping for new tennis shoes, with a friend. For the friend. On arrival home, the friend went to her closet, took out the worn-out tennis shoes, binned them, and replaced with the new ones. It was a LBM moment for the narrator as they had no clue that you could actually live like that.

In the past couple of months, Mum has added the buttons to two hand-knitted cardigans. In the run up to finishing these projects, she told me several times that she wouldn't have the right buttons and would have to buy new ones.

Now this is a lady whose button stash has increased, over my lifetime, from a single biscuit tin inherited from Grandma, to a large plastic crate full of tins and coffee cans. As well as every button from old garments being salvaged, she has also bought bags of buttons from chazzers and bought garments from jumble sales just to get good buttons. The button cache is probably into the tens of thousands and definately weighs many kilos. It lives in the Bedroom Cupboard of Doom and was handled earlier this year by moi, so I have good reason to know.

So, I said to her, I can't believe you don't have exactly the right thing already, please don't go shopping until you've checked the supplies. Which she eventually did and, wouldn't you know it, the perfect buttons in the right number, size, colour and material were available for each cardi.

Last visit, she lamented that she was running out of the only hair condtioner she really likes and that the bottle in the shower room was the last one. I was sure that there were two unused bottles in the bathroom upstairs and went up and got them for her.

My mother isn't going doolally, she's always had a problem mentally keeping tabs on belongings. It's a combination of slight scattiness and having too much rammed into a small space and some of it being stored irrationally. By which I mean, not where you would be able to find it easily when you run out. Even though I haven't lived under her roof since the 1980s, I still get calls about the whereabouts of certain things.

The flip side for me is that I developed a fascination with household organisation manuals at an early age and have been working on the perfect solution to Stuff ever since.

And, for what it's worth, the perfect solution to a lot of it is to give or sell it to someone else, and try not to acquire more next time.:D

GQ if there's a book in all of us there's definitely one in you. I nearly had a 'mascara' moment reading this. Explains the constant internal struggles; OS, Andy and Justin. Probably explains £ and lbs too.
Congratulations to Flutterby on new baby, and good luck Sweetpea. Very little KM ing done yesterday and today so far. Had a blip as bought writing paper (not easy task) but found a pad for 99p. Only to get home and find it in a different place in the bureau :mad: For the number of times I actually write letters! I'd forgotten the darn bureau whilst doing paper but it's probably another category as it has all sorts in there. It was one of those moments when a cartoon hammer keeps bashing you on the head!
Looking forward to hearing bank holiday tales. Feeling inspired by Mrs MP and all you lovely KM's though not like
Y to do much today. It's our WA so lazy day together.

choose_wisely

Good morning everyone. I must get back on the fast train ASAP, the slow one keeps getting sidetracked at every station so although progress has been continuing, it has been too slow. I have continued to read the thread and am now determined to rejoin.

The biggest issue I have is that I expected that once my husband retired at the end of last year I would be able to do much more such as his stuff and the big things that I am physically unable to tackle alone.

Unfortunately his idea of retirement did not concur with mine. He sits for most of the day in front of the television, especially when there is cricket on, even teams and countries he doesn't directly support. In the intervals or evening he does the gardening, even though both front and back are still a mess, but with potted fruit trees and outdoor tomatoes that must be watered even after torrential rain.

Managed one day with his wardrobe and one in the garage. He will not get rid of things easily. His wardrobe was full of unworn clothing, some of which from stores or brands that no longer exist e.g. C&A, Keynote from Littlewoods, and remember when M&S clothing was made in Britain with the St Michael name?

Also included sports brand sweatshirts and jogging pants that were, IMHO, not appropriate for a pensioner that doesn't do exercise.

The garage is still full, even after getting rid of chests of drawers, cupboards, desks and tables which had died in storage, and many boxes of rusty nails, old bits of washing machines, car wheels etc., so still a long way to go.

My own efforts were derailed, I expect because I felt resentful of his inactivity while I carried on with household chores.

Anyway, apologies for the long post, but I am now back on track, starting with a review of my clothes. Two pairs of 1980s stilettoes to recycle and one pair of unworn sandals in CS box to start my day.

PollyWollyDoodle

Slow train is just as good as the fast one, the point is it keeps moving forward!

whiteguineapig

mrs-moneypenny wrote: »

Morning all.
Decision made last night was we don't want to keep the aquarium any more so that is going chasser at the weekend, it a biggish one on a stand so will free some space- it was quite a big set up for just the one fish we had- it died a couple of years ago so tank has been sitting awaiting Justin's decision ever since then.
Need to get into spare room (that is still rather a contradiction in terms in this house) and get tank out and see what else is in there that can join it if we're doing a CS run.

Have a joyful day all.

and we too have one thats awaiting a decision!

MMF007

Well what a productive morning I've had! A big to do list is almost completed, probably helped that it was a race against the clock..... in laws have decided to celebrate wedding anni by insisting we all go for tea this afto. DH loses a 1/2 days work (self employed), we have the joys of a 100 mile round trip, partly in rush hour, and then a buffet of high carb fayre.....But, they are the most generous (they don't have much but they give more than most folk I know), kind people you could imagine. I am therefore trying to put aside my selfishness and enjoy the afternoon. They deserve a bit of a fuss!

Anyway, the time pressures mean I have just had breakfast, having been busy since 7.30.
Put stuff back in tall kitchen cupboard, minus a few items that should not have been there, all in much more accessible order - result!
Made 2 birthday cards to take for other family members we'll see later. Stewed the last of the rhubarb with sweetener.
Made myself a salad to take to carb-fest :rotfl:
Vacuumed up the mess DH made when he decided to drill plastic item in the kitchen rather than outside:mad:(How DO some people's brains work??)
Load of washing done and hung out.
Arranged to meet up with my brother and family in a few days.
Stopped for a moment to admire lovely neat kitchen cupboards.
Put another top in CS bag (random Kondo).
Had a LBM re the dining table. It looks like the leaves could be cut down to make the perfect fit. We know a good joiner so I'll give him a ring. I should make it clear that it is no antique :rotfl:

MMF007

Choose wisely, i fully understand your frustration and a little resentment. My gran always said that women never get to retire.

I am sure there is lots of advice elsewhere about how to deal with the situ before it comes between you, meantime you have support from your KM buddies on here, so feel free to vent! For me, if DH is not getting on with a project I will do it myself, for the satisfaction of the end result, and so I don't get resentful, but that is not practical in all circs, I fully appreciate.
Have a chat with him because he may not realise he is getting in a rut, he may think he is just enjoying his well earned rest. He probably has no idea how much he could enjoy retirement. My dad said it took him 2 years to get into a good pattern of living after the massive change on retiring.

Hope you, and everyone here, find a few sparks of joy today. M