KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Igamogam

Phffft.......kondoed my energy today! Good job main rooms in house are clutter free so a quick whizz round this morning tidying Spent an hour in garden doing a bit of tidying up, picking last of the apples and filling up bird feeders for first time since end of March. Birds have worked hard this year so happy to look after them over the winter. So I am going to kondo a bit of time in front of iplayer with the cats.......need to parcel up stuff from Eb*y sales......10 things sold,10 things out of the door:)

Floss

I'm just about to settle down on the sofa to KM the tennis with our very own world #1

GreyQueen

Gordon Bennett, what a day. Feels like I have lived about a day-and-a-half in half-a-day, IYSWIM.

Firstly, had burger-all sleep last night due to the stinking cold. Got a slow start to the day but we finished loading the car at 10 am. Everything fitted (I insisted on doing the packing My Way) but we needed the 2-3rds seat down so Mum had to stay at home in the warm with the cat and the newspaper. She was gutted (not).

I felt too lurgy to drive but we got to my flat, and had unloaded by 11.10 am. Quick cuppa and sarnie lunch then off to the chazzer, each of the three of us with a trolley of some description. Quick scoosh around a few places which are open on a Sunday then the family went off again a few minutes' ago.

Whilst Dad and I were waiting for Kid Bruv to come back from the antiques fayre, I showed Dad how to freegle and we had several takers for items I'd brought up, including some in under 15 mins.:j

Have explained it ain't over until they're collected, but he's still pretty darned impressed at how it works. Being as I am slap-bang in a city centre, a lot of people make their way in for work and shopping, so it's a pretty good place to offload stuff.

Have primed my wally-trolley for tomorrow afternoon's post-work chazzer run, and will do this on an almost daily basis, reckong there is about 10 days' worth of trolley runs to be processed.

Oh, and a laff I forgot to share from the crockery-fest at Mum & Dad's yesterday. Picture this; Mum at the table and me pulling things out of the cupboard. I bring out a pottery lidded pate dish type thing, which I have never seen before in my whole life. And it was at eye-line in this cupboard, not hidden up the back.

The worrying thing is Mum has never seen it either.:eek: We have no idea why she owned this thing (not to her taste) or where it came from or how long it had been on the premises or why it seemed to have spilt soy sauce in it. We don't use soy sauce or anything which resembles it.

It has now been washed and packed for donation.

Most peculiar. I have expounded before on C-space, the phenomenon akin to L(ibrary) space on the Discworld, whereupon all libraries in the multiverse are somehow linked to the magical library at the Unseen University.

My variant is C-space, where all cupboards are mystically connected to each other. It's probably quantum. Which means someone, somewhere, has let that ceramic pate pot thingy slip through the fabric of space and time and into Mum's cupboard.

All I can say it; please wash your crockery before doing it again, modom!:rotfl:

Floss

GQ, I think the eaves storage in our attic is linked to that theorem - DH floored, decorated & fitted the lights up there in 2004, after living here since 1989, yet there are things up there that he says he has never seen before and that are certainly not mine!

GreyQueen

Floss wrote: »

GQ, I think the eaves storage in our attic is linked to that theorem - DH floored, decorated & fitted the lights up there in 2004, after living here since 1989, yet there are things up there that he says he has never seen before and that are certainly not mine!

It's flipping weird, isn't it?

I mean, where the hell had that pate pot come from?! We don't have random people leaving crockery in the parental home, it must be something paranormal.

I've got stuff pretty much all over one side of the sitting-room floor (joining the stuff presently ousted from the kitchen wall cupboards) but all rooms are passable. I will steadily plug away at the chazzer runs and the freegling and hope to see the back of it.

There are still some random bits & bobs from Nan's with the family. I made the back bedroom bed before leaving, and stashed the three spare duvets on the top of it. By gum, if ever there was a household which needed a full-time kondo-er in residence, that is one.

Dad was peering over my shoulder as I smacked stuff we'd brought in today up on freegle and marvelled at how I don't allow any dust to settle on me. Gotta get things turning around and out into the world, no point in being a hoarder.

Have decided I will hit up Tosspots and buy a curry as am a bit tired for cooking and think a nice jalfrezi will help the cold out of my system.

I think I can probably re-load the wall cupboards now but will wait until I have the strength to redecorate the wall behind them as it looks a bit nasty and naff at the moment. I have the paint, it's no biggie.

greenbee

GQ - if you end up in Narnia just don't eat any Turkish Delight

I've been carrying on with my tidying of the garden. The back bed (about 60ft along the back fence) is now 75% done. I've dug it over (it's mostly stones apparently...), dug out a few of the things I've finally managed to kill after 3 years of trying, dug out millions of daffodil bulbs (nasty plastic-looking King Alfreds from memory), divided the few surviving hellebores and replanted, cut back the roses, forked round their roots and mulched them with manure, and moved 6 roses from elsewhere into the gaps.

While locating the roses to move I also cut back/tidied another bed (it'll need more work, but it's better than it was.

I've got about another 15 feet to do, and there's a hazel at the end that needs to come out, but not until the spring as I want to use the pruning to fill the gaps in the hedge. There's at least one more rose to move into the bed as well.

The bed is narrow, technically west facing with the house 10ft from it. However, it gets light from the east as the neighbour's fence/hedge/house is 10ft in the other direction, and from the south along it's length in the morning as there's a gap between the houses. It's also on the driest part of the plot (although I'm on old watercress beds filled with rubble and have streams on two sides so that's not saying much most of the time!).

I've now got to decide what to put in with the roses. There's a Clematis Viticella and a honeysuckle at one end, so I think another couple of early clematis and maybe a late one would be a good idea. Plus maybe another honeysuckle at the opposite end. I'd also like to put in lots of tulips (trying to decide which ones - I like pinks/purples/creams rather than reds and yellows), and some more interesting daffs, but need to think beyond spring! All ideas welcome - it would be nice to have at least one bit of the garden looking good next year!

I've stopped now as I was feeling creaking. I need to go for a walk to stop myself seizing up, then get back to focusing on indoor stuff. I found some spare washbags/cosmetic bags last night and have started filling them with some of the travel toiletries to go in the box I need to get set up in the church. Plus I need to get myself organised for next week at work.

LizzieR

MMF007 wrote: »

Good luck with the sales Lizzie and well done on more lbs going :T

fell off the bandwagon in Sainsbobs today. Have now attained a new smaller size, rather than being between sizes, so seccumbed to cheapo jumper (just my colour, short sleeves so good for work), reduced to half,price but actually scanned as £4.20 Also found a sleeveless summer top in a very pretty design that I loved, half price at a whopping £7. My CS bargain top, bought in Sept in the hope of it fitting in a while now looks lovely on too
Definitely need to do an inventory to identify gaps in wardrobe but as still more weight to lose it is proving a little tricky. Don't want to buy much now, am saving myself for the next size down!

Thanks! Sounds like you're doing pretty well yourself!! I totally understand the clothing issue - I'm reluctant to buy anything as nothing seems to fit for very long at the moment before it's too big - I'm avoiding the urge to keep things after I've 'un-grown' them as I don't want to leave space for cake I'll definitely need another wardrobe cull in a few weeks to make sure I keep to this plan!! It won't be that long before I do have to start buying things though as everything in the wardrobe will be too big - never thought I'd have that problem - and there's only so much a belt can do!

I did may car boot sale today, and although I won't be clearing the mortgage with my profits I did actually leave with some paper money... After paying the fee (£12!!!) I came home with £34.20, although I should probably allow about £6 for petrol. I was very pleased that I didn't even look at other stalls, let alone buy any more stuff, as well as being organised enough to take a flask and some breakfast, so no spending on food and drink either. As expected the baking stuff and Xmassy things sold really well. I reckon I probably sold half of what I took along, so that's a lot of items happily rehomed. Called in for a debrief at the parental home on the way back and have agreed to do another sale in a fortnight when we'll have two spots, one for my stuff and one for theirs. I think it's really useful for me to have that as a goal as it'll keep the clutter trawl on track.

Plan for the rest of the day though is to prep food for the next couple of days, although I think I might need a little nap first - didn't sleep well last night at all and 5.30am is really not a time I like to see on a Sunday...!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

mothernerd

I am going backwards but it is quite joyful. DS3's Beloved and 3 chinchillas moved in yesterday. Two carloads (-4 people) of stuff. DS3 had underestimated the size of Beloved's 'bottom drawer'. Went downstairs this morning and my kitchen is full of boxes including at least six 'gadgets', half of which I don't have a clue about.

I have suggested boxing up my stuff and using 'theirs' but Beloved was worried about 'evicting' me from my own kitchen. I still think it is the practical way forward - I get a newly accessorised kitchen for now and then the joy of unpacking my stuff when they leave (maybe 6 years?). Of course if I came across anyone in need of a toaster etc in the meanwhile I would donate it.

They are unpacking and I have left them to it - had a bad back all week (spent all night hand sewing curtains then put them up, moved two couches, a chair and a small table) so I'm not much use and don't want to interfere with them ('doing it all in the wrong order' - they will learn). Will sort the kitchen bit by bit - will have to. It's move something temporarily eg paint tins to under the table, clean cupboard and decide what is going to live there, then onto the next bit. There will be more room in the front room soon - my craft stuff is still mostly 'safe' under the stairs but as we now have 2 female and one male chinchilla, they are in separate cages until the male has the snip. When they are all in one cage there will be floor space for my cube shelves and the craft supplies can come out and be more accessible.

GQ so sorry for your loss and so admire the way you have tackled the house clearance. I should have posted sooner but have had a series of debilitating illnesses since the builders left and it's very much 'life in the slow lane' atm. Try to read and catch up when I can but can't do much more.

When my aunt died we cleared the council house that had been the family home (my grandma's) for over 60 years, they were the first family to occupy it when it was built. I took on a few carloads of stuff. As I live in the town centre I did charity shop and textile bank runs. A friend of my aunt's took bric a brac for the church fair and curtains to give to some of the old men in the street - she had noticed several who had shabby ones up and as the houses were identical there was no need to measure to see if they would fit.

I ended up with all the leftover stuff but luckily had the chance to rehome most of it soon after. My next door neighbour was helping a woman who 'had nothing'. So she got the spare wardrobe, the kitchen table and lots of bits like wooden spoons, teatowels and a kettle (kettle might have been because bil bought us a new one when we married and I saved the old one).

Have done some kondoing at mum's this week. She mentioned some wool she was going to pass on to my cousin. Four cupboards later, pile of loose recipes into the recycling, ones she is planning to use at the top of the pile and a full rucksack of cs donations, craft supplies and 'other' for me to bring home.

My counsellor had put a veto on me doing 'work' when I went round there but I am so glad to get rid of anything in there. Realistically mum now does very little cooking or baking, will never use a sewing machine again (she has two) and is unlikely to do any crafting (suitcase of stuff hopefully out in the shed). It's the gap between knowing you won't do these things and the hope that you might be able to. These were only the small cupboards, the ones in the back 'bedroom' (there is a bed in there, rapidly disappearing under a mountain of stuff) are wardrobe sized and I am frightened to open them. No-one else bothers.

Slinky

Yesterday we finally started our decorating, aiming to refresh the house a bit in preparation for our planned move in the next 2-3 years. Decorated the lounge wall, only 3.4 metres long but took all day. Every single drop bar the first one had it's challenges as the wall has a fireplace 3 lots of electrical socket and the wire for the electric fire coming out of the wall next to a socket. The paper was really tricky to match up, in the end we were unrolling one sheet next to the last one up on the wall to make sure we were cutting in the right place with the right pattern repeat. OH isn't sure he likes it, big pattern of leaves and oriental flowers in green, turquoise and purple. I love it as it goes really well with some new cushions we bought a while ago. However I don't think the very expensive silk flowers we bought earlier in the year to brighten the fireplace look right now. I've moved them further away against a cream wall, I may move them again at some point.


The painting we used to have above the fireplace no longer goes, so we've moved it to the opposite end of the room, and moved the one that replaced into the dining room. The dining room one will probably go into our guest bedroom after we paper the wall in there. It's odd that the moving the paintings round means I'm now 'seeing' them more as I walk through different rooms. I recommend it as a way of brightening up your home with things you already own!


Today I've cleaned our sunroom in prep for the winter. We're using our lounge more now so it should stay tidy until Spring. I found a pair of glasses I'd been looking for for about 3 weeks that had fallen under the sofa. I was convinced I must have knocked them into the bin as their disappearance and non-reappearance was so odd.


On our trip to the loft yesterday for the pasting table, I spotted my oldest box of invoices, so they came down to be shredded across the next week. OH wants us to get another pasting table as this one has lots of staples around the edges and it's a long way past its best, its best never being particularly brilliant!


Today we did a bit of rubbing down of the kitchen wall where we'd done some filling in about March..... Can't rush these things can you! It needed a bit more filler which has now gone in. Hopefully now it'll be level enough to paint after another rub down.

Floss

greenbee wrote: »

....The bed is narrow, technically west facing with the house 10ft from it. However, it gets light from the east as the neighbour's fence/hedge/house is 10ft in the other direction, and from the south along it's length in the morning as there's a gap between the houses. It's also on the driest part of the plot...

I've now got to decide what to put in with the roses. There's a Clematis Viticella and a honeysuckle at one end, so I think another couple of early clematis and maybe a late one would be a good idea. Plus maybe another honeysuckle at the opposite end. I'd also like to put in lots of tulips (trying to decide which ones - I like pinks/purples/creams rather than reds and yellows), and some more interesting daffs, but need to think beyond spring! All ideas welcome - it would be nice to have at least one bit of the garden looking good next year!.

How about cyclamen for autumn colour - regular or small flowers? There are some lovely clematis which flower twice, early and later in the summer, but I suggest you don't go for a C.Montana (pretty but hooligan tendencies once flowers drop in May!). Then you could look at summer bulbs such as anemones, maybe a couple of periwinkles for ground cover, or even some low perennials such as London Pride or Lungwort?