KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Slinky

My OH started subscribing to a weekly magazine a few months ago...... I asked him what he wanted to do with these, as they are currently being stored whereever they fall from his hand, or in his several briefcases. I got him to agree that the magazine holders in his office, full of carefully filed but unlooked at magazines, can be emptied to house the new stuff. So about 40-50 old mags from 2011-2012 have left the house this morning to be recycled. There's about 60% more to go, but will shift them next week. His office is a complete tip, so much so that when he had a few days at home last week, he was working from the dining room table. I've told him when his current contract ends, he's got to get into his office, empty it, and whatever he doesn't choose to go back in has got to be thrown away. We plan to move in a couple of years time, the carp needs shifting, not least because at some point the room needs decorating.

Paper, it'll be the undoing of me.

[Deleted User]

slinky, a few months ago, I went through every single wood crafting magazine and tore out stuff I wanted to keep, did similar with knitting magazines and now have them in a much smaller space. Thin craft books were forever bending over so I invested in metal filing stands from amazon and they are doing a good job at keeping my crafting shelves tidy, keeping the thin books upright and together

My oomph is not here today so I am fishing one of my hm ready meals out of freezer and have made a short list of jobs, otherwise another day in my life will be wasted and I want to rescue some of it. The two smocks for allotment are finished and put away, I must have done something right because there are several inches of space left on top in that box

Shredding is on my list but I will take bags up and set to, the shreds are useful for my compost. Has anyone got a magic wand to stop dust? I daren`t look at my bedroom furniture with my glasses on and sometimes am glad I am short. No big MK effort today, just getting on with stuff this morning and giving in this afternoon, will probably watch the halcyon

Slinky

Great in theory Kittie, but they're not my magazines and getting OH to even file them in order, never mind sift, is a hard enough job! He had years of old car mags left at his mum's house. Every now and then she'd ask what he wanted to do with them. 'Keep them here for now mum'.

I used to tell her to throw them as I was never going to let them come here, but she wouldn't listen to me. Only about 18 months ago he finally agreed they could go, so we took some of our recycling bags there and cleared most of them out and she got rid of the rest. Stuff from the 1970s and 1980s, like he was ever going to sit down and read them again........ he barely gets time to read the paper he buys on Sunday and only ever reads books on holiday. I sifted books last year, I need to do the same again, he's never going to read some of them.

OS_QS

hi everyone, i've slowed down a bit, but we are still on the KM journey.


We reorganised the study and managed to find space for my massive heated dryer to stay out whilst it is in almost daily use, space for the ironing basket and also the ironing board!!! the collation of all this stuff saves so much time, and facilitates actually doing the tasks rather than being put off by having to get organised! really happy and the rest of the house looks better as everything is in one room rather than 3, AND I'm keeping on top of the ironing This reorganisation saves taking drier in and out of the cupboard downstairs, putting in the dining room, taking the dry clothes in a basket upstairs, to sit in the spare room until its ironed, then downstairs to do the actual ironing, then back upstairs where the ironed clothes sit in a basket to be put away!). Did I mention that this was DH's idea?!


A few more things have been sold on fb market, but I've encountered my first couple of timewasters unfortunately.


and my best news - I will soon be kondoing our 10yo car, I swear that car has always hated me, and its recent torment is the central locking playing games on me, deciding haphazardly which door will (or not) lock or open, which is no fun with a toddler, or having to get in the back at the train station car park, in a suit, in the rain, and climb through to the front. and each time I take it to the garage, it works fine and they cant find a problem!!!! So I have kondo'd all our savings and am awaiting delivery of a brand new beauty, which will bring me much joy

[Deleted User]

amazing how a day actually pans out, I have only sat down for 1/2 an hour today, did a load of soil shifting and prep ooutside, first having been and bought heavy john innes, sand and grit. No wonder I am aching. Also done a load of plying my spun singles, had to start as I was so curious to see my first 3 ply and it is gorgeous, so today has been joyful, never expected it to be. Also emptied and removed two massive stone pots with big cracks, used a lump hammer to finish them off, didn`t want them completely spilling soil all over my gravel, so I pre-empted it. No joy from them so they went

Tomorrow I am going to go feet first and kondo stored stuff in the garden, to the tip. Masses of all sorts of dry wood, far too much for one journey, all saved for an ozpig, that I have now given away. That plus 3 bags of charcoal and I don`t have a barbeque any more. I`ll do it if the weather is fair. That big space under the steps will keep my buckets, pots, hose and watering cans out of direct sight. I am getting there, I really am but I am not going to forgo colour in the garden so have ordered lots of pinks, begonias and dwarf lavenders. All easy care plants to bring joy and good feng shui

It is still light, so I`ll finish my mug of tea. flatten the back seats in the car and I`ll start loading. Might as well be properly aching tonight

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Just spoken to Mum and she's told me that she's halfway thru knitting a wool hat from stuff I tossed down out of the loft at the weekend. She'd totally forgotten this thick, tweedy wool but as soon as she saw it, knew it was calling to be her new hat. She started it earlier today and is already halfway done.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that she's enjoying knitting with wool she'd forgotten she even owned. As the Parkinson's make it impossible for her to get up into the loft now, it's important to me that she doesn't loose access to her yarn stash and can enjoy what she'd purchased in earlier decades but not yet got around to using. Shopping the stash, as it were.

Mum also remarked that there is a section of unused carpet which we laid in Nan's hall (bungalow so large hall) a few years ago which is in her loft, something I didn't know, and that it can leave next time.

I'm still slooowwly recuperating from the cold from hell, have stopped coughing but am pretty washed out, it really has been a beggar. Will continue doing a little more of the sewing up on the knitting project (a blanket, so plenty of sewing to do). Once it's complete, it can leave and that will be a big chunk of project Stuff off the premises.

Have also had a letter from one of the chazzers where I gift aid to say that they've made (with the gift aid) just over £200 in the present tax year. That mightn't seem a lot but none of the items given were of high value, so that £200 represents an awful lot of Stuff cleared out for the cause.

I have hopes that I will be able to get rid of some very very large, flattish boxes from their flat-screen TV etc later this spring when they've been up there a year. They are very unwieldy and a fire hazard. I was a tad annoyed that they were put up there only a few months after I had done a major tidy-up of the loft but them's the breaks when you're working in someone else's home.

I recall a convo years ago with a senior fire officer. He remarked that it's pretty common for fires to start in lofts from electrical faults and it's sensible to not have too much Stuff up there as fuel and to also consider having a smoke detector up there.

greenbee

My attic is EMPTY GQ. Other than loft insulation and electrics. And that's the way I like it.

Maybe you can persuade your mum that you could clear out a 'yarn store' for her somewhere more accessible?

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

My attic is EMPTY GQ. Other than loft insulation and electrics. And that's the way I like it.

Maybe you can persuade your mum that you could clear out a 'yarn store' for her somewhere more accessible?

There is nowhere more accessible, I'm afraid. They have a very small 3 bed 1960s terraced house. Two of the bedrooms are just big enough for double beds and to sidle between the bed and something like a COD or wardrobe. The third bedroom is a tiny box room which serves as a home office with a small computer desk and a cabin bed which I use every few weeks when I visit. There's just about room to stand on the bit of floor between those pieces of furniture.

And there is an awful lot of yarn up there......... :rotfl:

I will spend a little time on each visit re-organising the yarn stash and hope to get it catalogued. I am frustrated that so much of it is in the largest size of those giant stripy laundry bags. They're floppy (and the zips are going on several of them, I noticed). There is certainly yarn up there of types, colours and blends which Mum is unlikely to use, but I have to take baby steps with her about kondo-ing but especially about kondo-ing yarn as it's very much a sensitive subject (long and drawn-out explanation relating to her time in care aged about 6-7).

I'm hoping to get yarn which is unlikely to be used out of there and donated (with consent, I'm not intending to sneak it out and steal it). Of the four cones of yarn which were put out to carbooting at the weekend, she got cold feet about the 4th and it hung in the balance for an hour or two if it would stay or go. Eventually she came down again on the side of letting it go, but that's how precarious the decision-making process can be.

I'm always delighted to hear of empty loft spaces, it seems to me to be the best option by far. I also have an empty loft space........ OK, porky-pie time, I have a tower block over my head, not a loft.:p;)

wort

Fen 1 the link Kittie posted is the one I used. Db shoes easy B , if you go online there is a stockist list so you could look for somewhere near to you to try them. The shop I went to was really good and when they come in he is posting to me free of charge.
When I ordered online postage is £5.00 but then I had an idea what size I needed. The boots and shoes arrived and are fab ,I am so pleased.

x_raphael_xx

Hi guys, can I join you?
I've been reading the thread with interest, downloaded the book and read it in a couple of days.

We are moving home soon (hopefully, just waiting on mortgage paperwork to go through) and I'd like to try and thin down our items prior to moving. As I know it will slow down after we move!

I've taken baby steps by folding my smalls, tights & socks, and I've been amazed how much better my drawers look with one tiny change! I've discovered items that are due for the bin and know exactly what I have in my inventory.

My wardrobe is full to bursting, so I'd like to tackle that next, I don't tend to buy a lot of clothes - just hold onto them a little too long.

GreyQueen wrote: »

I will spend a little time on each visit re-organising the yarn stash and hope to get it catalogued. I am frustrated that so much of it is in the largest size of those giant stripy laundry bags. They're floppy (and the zips are going on several of them, I noticed). There is certainly yarn up there of types, colours and blends which Mum is unlikely to use, but I have to take baby steps with her about kondo-ing but especially about kondo-ing yarn as it's very much a sensitive subject (long and drawn-out explanation relating to her time in care aged about 6-7).

At the moment I'm trying to use up my wool scraps by crocheting blankets to donate to the local cats & dogs home. As it's just for the dogs I haven't got to worry about colours or thread weight, I just finish one ball and start on the next.
I know my granma recently knitted a load of baby bonnets to donate to the hospital for the premature babies.
Could your mum do something similar? That way it would be going out of the house (abet a little slower while something is created) and doing some good.