KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

silvasava

Wort - luckily I don't have any other ongoing health issues. Just the ones that advancing years bring - short sight and not so agile! I come off my BC treatment next year so that will be a daily tablet kondoed!!
Does anyone here have a recommendation for a small cleaner I can do my stairs with? I need something quite powerful as I have a long haired cat that tends to shed a very fine ' undercoat'. My big cleaner copes fine but it's not suitable to lug on the stairs.
DGD came round today and kondoed my roots and I kondoed her eyebrows & that's all I've done today

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Proper parky here, light snow showers so I was glad to get back in the warm.

Yestereve, I was organising my making up of the handknit blanket and using my bed as a layout area (very small flat, deficiency of floor to lay things out on) so of course I had to resolve the issue before bedtime.

I'd had the blanket sections in a bin-bag which took up a lot of room but decided to pile them in sections according to how I shall be sewing them together and they stand neatly and I haven't had to re-use the bag. The partially-made blanket is hanging neatly on a rack and the whole project is taking up a lot less room than it did before.

I did buy a secondhand book today for £1 but I love this author (Ann Cleeves) and will start in on it tonight, probably have read it in two days and then it will be in the discard bag.

I have some paperwork to file tomorrow (some will be filed into the recycling bin) but that should take about 3 mins, including getting the locking file box out and put away again.

I also intend to swing by the pal's junk shop (he's curiously helpless in the face of paperwork). I've explained that if you deal with it as it comes in, it's over immediately. If you leave it, the senders send more dunning notices etc etc, so you end up with twice or thrice or even quadruple the amount of paperwork you had to start with.

It's an uphill task........... :rotfl:

ETASilvasava, wouldn't an old-style stiff bristle brush be as good as anything else? You could consolidate the hairs and then vac them off the hall or landing floor.

Slinky

Silvasava we have a cat, the handheld Gtech is pretty good for the stairs and upholstery.

x_raphael_xx

I have made a start on my first kondo-ing foray tonight. All my clothes were piled up on the bed. I'm glad I've never been a material girl, and don't really buy clothes often.
I have filled one of those large sportsdirect bags to donate, and there is only a small selection of things that are definitely past their best and not good enough for the charity shop.
I had a couple of pairs of jeans I haven't fitted in for years. I am trying to lose weight, but my style has changed in the meantime and I now only wear dresses & skirts.
I had been keeping them for Justin (sometimes jeans are good for a cold windy tramp on the moors) but I figure by the te time I slim down to fit them, I'll just treat myself to a new pair.

I need to tackle my bags, shoes and jewellery next. I only have 2 bags, one of which I will dump straight in the bin, and I don't have a lot of shoes, but I could probably get rid of a couple of pairs.
I think I've made a good start though, and don't want to burn myself out on the first night.

tibawo

Technically I should at this point be running round the house in a mad panic but I'm sat here having a brew and catching up. Maybe a year ago that would be true not not today. Let me explain.

Had a busy week, with extra hours at work, so have not been able to keep on top of the normal chores. DD1 went on a school trip but the coach was late picking them up so both DD2 and me were shattered yesterday as it was after midnight before we got to bed. DD2 is having a sleepover tonight and I am one of those people who has to have the house tidy etc, this is a personality trait and not one I am willing to change. Anyway after DD2 sports club we have tea and the plan was to do most of it then but we both were shattered so fell asleep. I woke up half an hour ago, and automatically thought OMG. HOWEVER, when as I made my coffee I realised that it would take me by myself about an hour (including teenagers room of doom) as it if mainly surface stuff that can be easily put back in its home.

A year ago there was no said 'home' to put things and I would get so far and then in a panic shove it all in a bin liner and shove it under the stairs! There is actually an empty drawer in the side board and I fully intend on NOT using that!

As I've caught up with everyone's activities, I do have a busy real life as on my own with two very active kids so sometimes I haven't even energy at night to take a cup back to the kitchen never mind any declutter or KD. I have learnt two things from this thread, one is to try not to beat myself up if I don't get things done and the other is that a year down the line the baby steps have actually made a big dent. I think early posts of thinking about how long it took you to accumulate everything makes it impossible for you to think you will have it all finished within a day!

GreyQueen

:T Bravo, tibawo, bravo, a thousand kudos to you.

It's what it's all about, isn't it? Not to have a home fit to be photographed in House Bootiful for somesuch, but just to have an easier life.

Fewer possessions = less stress.

Just imagine life without having too many things to worry about, insure, store, arrange, re-arrange, dust, clean, dry clean, pressure wash, refurbish, launder, pack and unpack and even worry about who will inherit the hoard after you've gone (and what they might do or not do with it).

Sometimes the best organisation is to organise it right out the door.

Karmacat

Back again - been a week at my mum's, sort-of-kondoing. There was one really interesting moment, when I said that I didn't want every single photograph and document that was in the house just because I'm the family genealogist (I'm scanning all the photos) and my brother looked at me and said, "I'm not being funny, but what happens to all that stuff when *you* die?". It *was* funny :rotfl:

I can definitely write a book on the family, privately published just for us.

I'm the only one working on my mum's stuff at the moment, and what I'm finding - with clothes, patchworking, genealogy notes, food, documents for the house, letters, absolutely everything - she loved storing things and starting off storage projects, but never kept them up. Ever. It's a bit shocking, actually, she always seemed so on the ball. I don't think it was her age, she just never thought or acted logically at all. My brother and sister look at me like I'm an alien when I try to explain this, so I can only say it on here ... putting like with like has been absolutely crucial in starting to sort the house, and I'm regarded as some sort of magician when it comes to that so thank you MK, and thank you thread people

I haven't finished reading through the thread yet, but I just wanted to say hi

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greent

Welcome back, Kc xx

GreyQueen

Nice to 'see' you again, Karmakat. Would you very much mind sending me a link to your blog via PM, hope I don't violate any MSE rules by asking?

Smiling at the image of you performing kondo-magic in front of the disbelieving siblings. I've done similar with my Mum over the years. At one point I asked her why she had over 50 unused purses and she flatly denied any such number, owning up to one or two, max. When I laid them out on the table in front of her, she was gobsmacked.

She'd repeatedly bought purses, in pursuit of the Perfect Purse and, of course, there is no such thing, and they'd never be 100% satisfactory. For any US readers, 'purse' to UK-english users means a small pouch to hold your change, not a bag, btw. The quest for the perfect handbag is a whole 'nother ball game.

Rinse and repeat for any number of categories. What I've found helpful it to group the items together. It's easy to say I need all my thermos flasks when they're dotted around cupboards but harder to justify when you're looking at 20-odd standing on the kitchen table. And then you can select your favourites (and keep some for Justin) and still let some go.

When Mum was a girl, she recalls being sent up to her room to tidy up, and quickly being derailed by something to read and not getting much tidying done. How many of us have ever been taught how to tidy up, or why we're tidying up, other than to appease some exasperated parent or housemate having reached the end of their tether?

I do know that I developed a fascination with organisational systems, and pored over the Dairy Book of Home Management when I was a young girl. Because I wanted to live differently and live better than the chaos which is pretty much the norm in my parental home to this day.

silvasava

Oh GQ - you give me endless Joy! I've still got the first Dairy cookbook and its still a 'go to' When we were clearing out my Mum's house DS1 grabbed her copy as he taught himself to cook with mine . The management book was so good but I lost mine in a move - maybe get a copy on Ama? - NO I havn't needed it for 40 years so I dont need it now - I just rely on you guys lol