KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

silvasava

Chuckling at the FR boxes - I can't stand the contents but the boxes are SO useful! I have one that holds the refill inks and syringes for my printer. Decorations all put away in 4 tidy boxes. Batteries taken out of various lights and stored in a lovely travel sweet tin that has a father Christmas on the lid and put in the box that contains all the light fittings. Christmas cards given to DS1 who is collecting them to take to M&S for recycling.
New memory foam topper arrived yesterday now opened and 'breathing' in the spare room. Will get DH to help me move our bed out and Kondo the dust before the bed is remade. Anyone got any ideas on what to do with the old topper rather than take it to the tip?

Karmacat

Morning all. The Kondo thread has been on my mind a lot recently - some of you will have seen on my diary thread that my mum died 4 weeks ago, and I've been staying at her house dipping my toe into sorting things out, both before and after the funeral. I'm back now, for a bit, and grateful for the internet access.

It wasn't cluttered per se, but nothing was stored like with like - there was food in the kitchen equipment cupboard, there were photos all over the house, in every room, scissors in most drawers, the genealogy papers (a shared interest) were also all over the place, even the finance paperwork that *I* filed for her had migrated all over the house. Plastic bags are in every drawer. Even my brother and sister staged a revolt at the number of yogurt and boursin pots she kept to use for things and threw them out the very first day.

We've done about half the charity shop donations - we've not been anything *like* as efficient as GQ's family when her nan died.

Bearing in mind the hard times that are undoubtedly around the corner nationally in the next few years, I'm quite tempted to break KM rules and take on board things I currently have no need for, but store them for when what I'm using runs out (socks, t shirts, a mac, a few pairs of Hotter shoes, that sort of thing). I may re-assess later on, but that's where I am for now.

I already made one mistake with KM-ing, which I've been forgiven for, fortunately. I took pictures of all her favourite tops, and bagged them for my brother to take to the charity shop. Then two days later my sister in law and my sister both told me they had an idea about using them in patchwork, as my mum had done with my dad's shirts.

Fen1

I'm having real problems with windowsill condensation in my bedroom. I put up big heavy curtains in the summer, replacing thin flimsy ones. Now, of course, all the moisture gets trapped between the window and the heavy curtains.
Can anyone recommend windowsill dehumidifiers/ moisture absorbers? I've already got the replaceable moisture absorber crystal trays (they're just not cutting it at all).

Slinky

All I can recommend Fen is microfibre cloths for mopping up the water. Costco do a huge pack. I hang these in our garage to dry out so I'm not just circulating the moisture back into the house again.

ETA leaving the door of your bedroom open at night will help it that's possible.

Slinky

Sorry to hear about your mum Karmacat

PollyWollyDoodle

Sorry to hear about the loss of your mum, Karmacat.
You sound as if you're doing well on the clearing up. I don't think there's anything wrong with storing items for future use as long as they spark joy (and as long as you've got room to store them) - it makes sense,

MMF007

Silva, the topper could be cut up to use as lumbar cushions on chairs or in the car. Make pretty covers, give as gifts?

Karmacat, very sorry to hear about your mum. Spookily I was going to post today to ask if you were OK.
Yes, keep some things that you know will be useful in future, so long as you store them suitably, they don't cause you upset or anxiety, and you know they will be brought into play before they perish.

Fen, I use a Vax window vac to vac up moisture on my windows. Just drain the water in to sink so it doesn't recirculate. I was dubious a out paying out for a gadget but my friend recommended and I have no way of drying clothes other than in the house on cold damp days so it defeated the object! The vac sparks joy (ok, sad, I know) because it makes a real difference to our 200 y.o. cottage.

Well, I did a guerilla kondo on 3 kitchen cupboards as I did a stock-take and sorted out a few essentials for our pending hols. Excess packaging and a very OOD tin of flavoured chickpeas, went out. Reorganised the contents of a couple of punnets and 2 shelves for better storage. It looks good!

Wrote a list for shopping rather than trying to memorise and forgetting the needed but rarely purchased items...:rotfl:

Kondo'd the surplus xmas gifts that I intend re-gifting into the present-stash drawer All good quality things but I shall not use them and I hate waste!

Right, off to kondo fridge-bottom veg into a HM curry. 'Found' pack of poppadums in cupboard, low enough carbs so shall indulge. No rice for me though.

Karmacat

Slinky wrote: »

Sorry to hear about your mum Karmacat

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

Sorry to hear about the loss of your mum, Karmacat.
You sound as if you're doing well on the clearing up. I don't think there's anything wrong with storing items for future use as long as they spark joy (and as long as you've got room to store them) - it makes sense,

MMF007 wrote: »

Karmacat, very sorry to hear about your mum. Spookily I was going to post today to ask if you were OK.
Yes, keep some things that you know will be useful in future, so long as you store them suitably, they don't cause you upset or anxiety, and you know they will be brought into play before they perish.

Thank you all. Yep, they're all useful things, that won't deteriorate unless they're stored very badly (eg the moths get at them). And I have the space, especially now I've retired from working at home, I live in a 3 bed house on my own. And I've taken GQ's ideas on board, of using up a part of my stock of Stuff rather than spreading the wear equally, as I used to do on purpose!

My mum was a teenage evacuee, which may be why she squirrelled so much in so many different places. Plus, the family were poor, no two ways about it, even for 1930s Liverpool. Nearly all the squirrelled-away stuff has a use, none of it is ornamental, so a lot of it will be recycled into other people's homes, mostly via the various charity shops.

Save

GreyQueen

(((((((karmakat))))))))) I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I think it would be prudent to hang onto clothing, footwear and household textiles which will fit/ be suitable or usable.

Nan was smaller than Aunt and Mum, so shoes couldn't be used by them, but some clothing was re-used, expecially coats. I had a velvet scarf and a pair of woollen mittens, which I am using now.

Other things like household textiles have been absorbed into households of Aunt, my parents, my home and my cousin's home. Some things had no use to others and had to be recycled or even burned, like the worm-eaten furniture and baskets.

I don't think we necessarily did any better than you, but there was only a two-bed bungalow, plus there were several of us grafting away.

There were so many things to think of, all at once. Aunt and my Dad (the only children) were joint executors. One bank where Aunt was known for years was fine, a building society where she had also been known for years was, to be frank, a**sy. There doesn't seem to be rhyme nor reason in how these things are sorted out.

I have fairly serious concerns about my own seventy-something parents living in a very overcrowded house, especially with Mum having Parkinson's Disease. I do what I can to sort things out when I am over there, but it is a drop in the ocean.

Frankly, I dread the inevitable, because our relative ages mean that their passing is almost certain to fall in my working years, because I have serious health problems which limit my strength, and because I am an hour's drive away in the car I don't have. The logistics will be horrendous.

Guys, if we can do nothing else, trying to ease matters for those who will have to clear up after us is a noble and worthwhile cause.

curiousralphy

Fen1 wrote: »

I'm having real problems with windowsill condensation in my bedroom. I put up big heavy curtains in the summer, replacing thin flimsy ones. Now, of course, all the moisture gets trapped between the window and the heavy curtains.
Can anyone recommend windowsill dehumidifiers/ moisture absorbers? I've already got the replaceable moisture absorber crystal trays (they're just not cutting it at all).

An open container of bicarb soda works well for me.