KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

ScotinLondon

Just popping in.


Washing out on the line - sunny buy cold here, but will dry over the day like yesterday.


RL still busy, but did manage to KM a some online lectures, hopefully will be ready of the course next weekend.


FIL now out of hospital and DH still going through problems. One step at a time, as they say.


Both sets of parents are alive but neither are looking to future proof their homes like Siebrie's parents. One set are in a GF flat and the other in a terraced house, but both still full up of crap. Folders, cookbooks, magazines all over the place. So much stuff that they don't know what they have - and I know it annoys both the mums but the fathers are both hoarders. I can understand why, especially after what they both went through growing up.


So, I am glad that we have both started in getting rid of stuff that we don't need and want. Still lots to do especially in the shed building at the back of the garden but we will get there.


Hope all are OK and taking care of themselves.


Have a good rest of the day all. Off to KM the budgets that haven't been updated in a long time..


SIL x

mrs-moneypenny

Charly, this was the most recent post from sweetpea.

Sweetpea69 wrote: »

Sorry it's been a while since I posted, though I have been reading most days. Virtual hugs to all who need them.

GQ, the tales from your Nan's home are ringing bells with me. When I went home after my Dad died, I was working my socks off clearing stuff and found my youngest brother happily sitting drinking coffee and watching TV. I didn't miss him and hit the wall!! Especially since he was going to be living there after I returned to my own home!! Bless him, she said through gritted teeth!

My own move a few weeks ago was a complete nightmare. I had already kondo'd a lot of stuff, there wasn't a huge amount to move (lounge furniture, spare bed, white goods, curtains/light fittings all staying). Various friends recommended getting the removal company to do all the packing. What a fiasco. They were supposed to come the day before, didn't happen, then sent two men in too small a van with insufficient packaging material. The two extra men who were meant to arrive with a second van didn't materialise. I cleaned behind them as I'd planned to do anyway, as well as packing some of the boxes myself. The van didn't leave until 6.30pm and they had to go back next day for things they had no room for and had stashed in the shed overnight. The owner of the company wasn't answering his phone all day, either to me or his driver who was trying to find out when the other van was arriving. Thank goodness I have no intention of ever moving again!

There are just a couple more boxes left to unpack. I have taken a few bags to the charity shop since I moved, but there hasn't been much rubbish to go to the tip which I'm pleased about.

Sweetpea69 xxx

Hope everyone is well.
Took the bed to workfriends last night, her son was thrilled with it and has just been round with of Bunch of flowers to thank me, wasn't necessary but a very nice gesture.
Bag of stuff went to the CS in the morning, and when sis went home she took a bag of books and a bag of family birthday presents over to mums. So more out than in.

Have a good Sunday everyone.

MMF007

Half the videos are on their way out of the door! :j
DH insists in keeping his football ones even though he can't watch them due to unhooked video player residing in the loft

This partial result was achieved by promising to replace the 4 he wanted to keep that are non-football, with dvds.

our dvd collection also needs reducing but he is better at this and usually passes them on once watched. We have a surplus atm because he bought a few at once and we haven't had time or inclination to watch yet.

I am kondo-ing items from my to-do list, inc some admin for the in laws (pension queries). While sorting their stuff out I checked online for my own state pension info and by the end of this financial year I shall have the necessary 35 years of contributions - that both cheered me up and depressed me at the same time, iykwim!

Had a quick tidying magic experience when I realised there was a better way to organise the contents of my desk drawer and in fact I can fit a couple more items in there, rather than have them loose on the desk. All easily accessible and exactly where they should be.

While sorting desk I decided to transfer all relevant info from a very old and tatty addresss book into new one I was given for my birthday. Job done, book sits neatly under telephone, which makes sense when looking for a
number and is easy to find when addresses are required. Doing it didn't take as long as I expected, which obviously shows that I have fewer friends than I thought!

Slinky

Forgive me, I have kept something for Justin........ Today we remembered to buy a new ovenglove from Lakeland. It's a double ended one with rubber mitts. One of them had split on the existing pair. Can you guess that as I've cut the rubber bit off to salvage the fabric part joining the two ends together, I realised that one end is still perfectly serviceable......


Oh dear, it's gone in the drawer. However, we had a spare fabric mitt in the drawer which is good enough to go to the CS, I've decided that will have to go to make way for the rubber one which is more heat proof.


Sorry (hangs head in shame).

Siebrie

Auntie's funeral was a nice, calm event. Nice church service with her three gds reading a poem and eldest dd doing a short biography. My dds were impressed and calm, lots of questions afterwards. We met a lot of relatives and it was good to see them again and catch up. My family more or less lives by the saying: "act normal, it's weird enough'.

Big surprise: my estranged sister and her dh turned up for the service and left immediately after. Sis always claimed she did not care for Mum's half of the family, and they were visibly uncomfortable, but we went to them, shook hands, and went to our seats in the front of the church while they preferred to sit in the back. Well, she estranged herself, if she wants to get in touch again she will have to start with an apology; she is welcome after that.

Sweetpea69

Hi All

Best wishes and virtual hugs to everyone who needs them.

I've just re-read my last post, what an ungrateful little so-and-so! Yes the move was a pain in the posterior, but I love my wee bungalow and am really very grateful to have found it when I did. Today I have been working in the garden, which is beautiful and will be even more so in the future. Looking forward to seeing what is in it as time goes on.

The main thing being kondo'd here at the moment is money, upgrading the electrics and plumbing! And fingernails, which hate opening boxes!!

Love Sweetpea69 xxx

PS. Glad Siebrie's aunt's funeral service went as well as possible.

Charly27

Glad the funeral went as well as can be expected Siebrie. Thanks Mrs MP for alerting me to Sweetpea's post although it sounds as if it was posted soon after the horror move. Glad to hear you're now settled in your new home. Sounds like the garden is sparking joy. Well we Kondoed a huge bag and bucket of green waste which had been composting in my shed for several weeks. At least it was dry! DH brought the ferrous bits of the boiler and a tiny bit of polystyrene. You can now see the decking again! We're helping with a house move this weekend and bought some cleaning supplies just in case the house is not as clean as it could be. Not everyone is like GQ.

MMF007

Finally, after I don't know how many years, I have gone through a pile of recipes gathered with a view to putting them in recipe book. My recipe book has precisely 2 recipes written in it :rotfl: and a pile of cuttings shoved in it. I also had a good food mag for Christmas 2002 :rotfl:, kept because it had lovely ideas in.
Well this afternoon I checked every recipe, recycled lots, clipped the few out of GF mag and recycled that.

I have yet to stick them in because I want to organise them in a sensible order first. I suspect some will not make the second cut!

This activity made me put my mind to Xmas (sorry!). Now I wouldn't normally think about it in Oct but we are travelling to the far north of Scotland to join up with my closest family for a few days and they take some organising :rotfl: I shall start on a couple of lists so I can consult about who is taking what , preferences for particular meals and activites etc. We are quite flexible once the visit starts but some planning is required to herd 10 folks ranging in age from 6 to 78! The KM tidying magic is paying off though because my present stash and accompanying list of giftees has just been updated and it looks like we only need one more gift!

Sweetpea69

Thanks Charly27 for your kind words. The garden does indeed give me deep joy!

I hope your friends move goes smoothly. I had someone round to help me but unfortunately she had plans for the afternoon when I 'should' have already gone. I've felt really settled from day two (day one I ended up staying with my son and his family, five minutes away because it was so late) even when I was sitting on garden chairs before the new furniture arrived!!

I found my Christmas list in the box I unpacked on Friday so need to set up a new spreadsheet, as this one was on the defunct computer (I am List Woman). Flights are already booked for the pre-Christmas visit to see family and exchange gifts.

Love and virtual hugs to all who need them

Sweetpea 69 xxx

GreyQueen

Morning all.

OMG, that was a weekend and a half, I am glad to be back in my micro-flat. Had a passing word with Cousin between doing stuff and we agreed its a salutory experience, cleaning up after someone's life. And Nan's home was a two bedroom bungalow, with attached outbuildings (long since plumbing-less outside WC and washhouse, both functioning as sheds) plus Big Shed and Small Shed built of wood. And not hoarded, just having too much Stuff for easy accessibility.

Dad and I were queuing outside the gate of the HWRC at 9 am and offloaded the gutted reclinging armchair. This was a third-hand-to-us and much repaired piece of furniture which we replaced with Nan's much newer reclining armchair. The metal gubbins went into metal recycling bay, the rest had to be landfiled. We do our best and their HWRC sends only 18% to landfill.

Then off to Nan's village. We said 'hello' in passing at Cousin C's house and as we passed Auntie J's graveyard (just from a moving car, it's a family foible). Got there at 9.40 am.

I'd told Dad I thought we could get takers for the last bits of furniture, the ones neither donatable (absence of safety labels) and which couldn't be moved into Aunt's gargage (because it's rammed). I'd made big FREE! signs from banana boxes before we went and we got the furniture down onto the street and it all went!:rotfl:

Dad had been very dubious about this procedure but I'd seen it work well in other circumstances. Right now, one of Nan's armchairs is two doors away, one is across the way in Aunt's former home, and two more are two doors away on the other side and her beside cabinets are with the lady opposite Aunt. Keeping it in the family or at least in the cul-de-sac (one of the recipients is Aunt's BIL). Mum and Dad were made-up and I bounced around saying I told you so!

Even before I'd taken the armchairs down onto the street, I'd hastily raked flat the ash pile from the bonfires (we had three in ten days on the same bit of ground) so it could finish cooling. Once the furniture was moved I started cleaning each and every kitchen cupboard, inside outside, top and bottom. Went through half a bottle of Fl@sh and then into another. Took a break for fresh air just before lunch and raked through the ashed and picked out loads of metal, enough shrapnel to fill a small domestic metal bin.

Dad took the wheelbarrow with that and the last bits of ironmongery round to the neighbour who does scrap runs, so that will all go next time. We've dug up and given away the last of the standing veggies (beets, carrots, leeks and a few marrows).

Aunt cleaned all the skirting boards and washed the tiled floors and bathroom. Cousin arrived mid afternoon and land-whaled away the white plastic picnic chairs and the old galv dustbins which have been redundant for years due to wheelie bin-age. The refuse bin is full and Aunt will make sure it's put out for collection on Weds, the recycling bin is three-quarter full and goes a week after that. Skip company will be called this morning to take 'er away.

Keys go in this morning, Dad and Aunt will view Nan's body at the funeral director's tomorrow (the rest of the family are taking a pass on that) and then the funeral itself is Weds week. Dreading it, frankly, get upset just thinking about funerals, but it's part and parcel of being alive.