KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

maryb

Back in my childhood days teachers had no compunction about separating a child from someone they thought was a bad influence. (Although that judgement was too often informed by snobbery and prejudice). But it was quite usual for parents to tell their children you are not to play with so and so

Siebrie

I am steering my dds to the kids I like, and whose parents I like, and give it no second thought. They have to learn to stand up for themselves, but I'd rather they learn in a safe relationship, so that they have the confidence to do it when outside the safe area. So yes, I am definitely kondoing friends who don't spark joy in me on dds' behalf.

Other kondoing: the desk from the study would fit in the guest bedroom, but there is a small cabinet in the designated place. It needs some further thinking. DH has finally agreed that his old IT studybooks can go to the attic from this cabinet. This creates about one cubbyhole of space in the cabinet....mmmm...what shall I put there?

Then, this afternoon, dh and I had a heated discussion. The study doubles as second guest bedroom, for a comfortable single bed or squeezed double (mattress on the floor). We have a solid wooden B1lly shelving unit there, that holds most (all? I'm not even sure) of our admin, but the binders and office supplies and other miscellaneous stuff was put in haphazardly and looks messy. He wanted to go to 1kea and buy new storage space, and when I told him we needed to declutter first, he told me I was the reason we never made any headway! We went for a family walk to clear the clouds, not sure it worked, but I have kindly asked him to put his shoes in the new shoe rack properly, to hang his coat on the proper coat rack and not on the kids', to return dirty crockery to the kitchen from bedroom/bathroom/study, to help clear the table instead of just getting up and leaving when finished, to tell me from a little pile of just five items where they should go....I think he got the message that I will not have time to declutter if he makes a mess. <rant over, sorry>.

Anyway, I took all the cd's out of the cd cabinet in the study and put the ones I like in the kitchen, where the only cd player is. There is a pile of cd's waiting for him to decide on, but as there are many copied cd's and some still wrapped ones, I think the pile can go. The cd cabinet can go, too.

Where do I have space in the kitchen, you ask? Well, I have decided that the Kenwood Patissier mixer can go; it is not doing its job, always making lumpy dough. This has freed up space in the kitchen to put my cd's I like this flow!

OS_QS

Siebrie....sorry I couldn't get past the fact you said your husband wanted to go to IKEA....I have to petition mine for months, then have to do a mad dash round it before he gets annoyed!! It's like supermarket sweep!! Regardless you are totally correct, how can you consider storage when you've not completed clearing out....you may not need any there's no point making headway if it's in the wrong direction

You seem to be getting on great guns, it's really pleasing when you realise that everything is (getting!) where it should be.

Personally I managed to kondo my socks, tights, underwear and nightwear earlier today when then little one napped. I managed to consolidate 2 massive drawers into one very neat and organised drawer it looks soooo good, honestly can't believe how much less space my socks take up, and they look happier too (lost it!!!!)

mrs-moneypenny

Morning kondoers, kondoing my old fridge & freezer today and replacing them for a combi one and a bit more space as newer joined one will take up less floor as a result had to replace old microwave. All were over 30 years old so should use less electricity and be more efficient. Because of the smaller size of the freezer part we will stop shopping like we are expecting a siege and using our space as a holding store for supermarket stock. I'm going to buy yellow sticker or rtc bargains but can no longer see the point of needed 6 loaves of bread permantly in the house when it cost under £1 sync the local supermarket is less than 5 mins away.
Need to kondo the ironing pile later as well.

karcher

OS_QS wrote: »

Personally I managed to kondo my socks, tights, underwear and nightwear earlier today when then little one napped. I managed to consolidate 2 massive drawers into one very neat and organised drawer it looks soooo good, honestly can't believe how much less space my socks take up, and they look happier too (lost it!!!!)

:rotfl::rotfl:

that made me laugh, it's the sort of thing I'd say.

You've reminded me about kondoing my underwear drawers... I can't open my sock drawer most of the time as it is so rammed full...will do it today. Wish me luck :cool:

Wednesday2000

I am using up some of my old bathroom cleaners this morning as they have seemed to have been breeding behind my back!

Some books will go into a charity shop pile to leave the house.

Karmacat

I'm very mindful of the chance to drive to the tip next week, as I've been wittering on about for ages: it's been advanced by a day, I think, as my brother and sister are coming home from their work closing up the French house a day early. We wanted my brother to have a few days seeing the local sites over there, such as they are in that area, but they've got the same weather as us, it's so cold it's unpleasant to be outside.

So now, apart from the laurel, what do I kondo? If there's room ... two wooden armchairs that are disintegrating through bad storage, and hopefully a few half used pots of coloured paint. Since it's going to be *me* doing my painting, and I'm a bit careless I just want white, for now. And the paint I have has come with me from my previous house, so its at least 8 years old :eek::eek::eek:

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Quick word, am heading out to the lottie in a couple of minutes. You might want to go to your council's website (or the one for the tip you're going to) and check their regs about liquid paint.

It's normally verboten unless on a hazardous waste collection. Better to check now than to be inconvenienced later.

I've used paint that age and older, it may be usable. If it is, possibly freegle it? If you need to dry paint out, you can just leave the lids off for a few weeks. Process can be speeded by adding sawdust/ woodshavings/ sand or earth to the cans. Solidified paint can go into domestic refuse bins or into the landfill section of the tip. HTH.

Righty, going to wage war on vegetative untidiness for a couple of hours. Laters, GQ x

ETA; other things to kondo? Random bits of metal, rubble, glass, old carpets?

greenbee

Anything BIG you need to get rid of Karmacat! I occasionally give stuff to my brother to take to the tip if he comes over in the van - anything I can't deconstruct enough to fit in the boot of my car.

Which reminds me, there is still some stuff for the builders to take from when they took the stairs out. Can't face sawing it up into carboot-sized lengths so need to bite the bullet and call them to come and do that and the snagging. And then think about whether to use them to do the next round of work or find someone else. I want it do be done. I'm just not looking forward to the 'doing' phase!

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Quick word, am heading out to the lottie in a couple of minutes. You might want to go to your council's website (or the one for the tip you're going to) and check their regs about liquid paint.

It's normally verboten unless on a hazardous waste collection. Better to check now than to be inconvenienced later.

GQ, I've been to the tip before, and I know they take paint, but to put your mind at rest, I popped over to the website again, and this is from their drop down menu about what they take:
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]"Paints can be accepted at your local Household Waste Recycling Site (HWRS), however they are not recycled as there as no secure or sustainble routes to recycle paint. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Paints that are flammable should not be put into general waste. Always check the label on the tin, which will state if it is flammable or not.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Take old paints, in their containers, to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Site (HWRS) and ask a member of staff for assistance. Any flammable substance will be placed into the hazardous waste containers. Water based paint can be deposited in the household rubbish containers. Paint cannot be put in your recycling bin at home."[/FONT]

I've used paint that age and older, it may be usable. If it is, possibly freegle it? If you need to dry paint out, you can just leave the lids off for a few weeks. Process can be speeded by adding sawdust/ woodshavings/ sand or earth to the cans. Solidified paint can go into domestic refuse bins or into the landfill section of the tip. HTH.

Interesting! I've only reached two cans at the moment, both of which I'll keep: one is black paint for metal objects, and the other is undercoat for white gloss. I'm sure there are colours there that are much older than my purchase of this house in 2010 ….

ETA; other things to kondo? Random bits of metal, rubble, glass, old carpets?

Random bits of metal stacked (the things that hold carpet edges down in doorways, that sort of thing.



The thing I'm really wondering about is the old French barbecue I bought at a street market a few years ago, its this:



https://www.flickr.com/photos/113913137@N06/27702857786/in/album-72157669910698375/



It's very beautiful, but the body of it is sort of wearing through, even though it's kept inside. I'm not sure how much use it would ever be. Maybe I could use it as a planter outside? All suggestions welcome.

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