KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

greenbee

For knitters with spare wool/wondering about projects, I've just seen something on my FB timeline about knitters in Guildford making blankets for the hospital for premature babies: Requirements are 15x18 inches with no holes in pattern. Any wool and colour is great. If you can not knit then we would love wool donations so it might be worth contacting your local hospital to see whether they need something similar.

I'm ignoring the house (lots of second hand clothes in from a friend after a visit last weekend, which I've been washing as they smell of fabric conditioner; two running tops I never wear out) and have moved on to the garden. It would be nice for it to look like a garden and not an extension of a building site, but I have to be realistic as to what I can do while building work is still ongoing.

Karmacat

Now that my 30 foot high laurel hedge has been cut down, I'm kondoing bits in the garden.

Lots of the laurel trunks have been reserved for my bonfire (first experimental one is tomorrow, finally, with paper and twigs, old twigs well stored, several days without rain). And the kondoing - well, its about storing like with like - all the trunks, laurel, buddleia and misc are being stored in the broken shed, to dry out before I burn them (that should be finished today).

I've been pulling up dead, long grass and then weeding what's underneath (the overgrowth is only from the last year, not too awful) then putting new, bagged soil on top of the freshly weeded soil. Two half bags - first one is used, 2nd almost done. Protecting from cats by using holly offcuts - they don't like holly leaves :rotfl:

After that, there's lots of compost bin material sitting on a step, because I couldn't get to the bin last year because it was so overgrown by the box hedge from next door There's a lot of decomposed material next to it, which needs seeing to - I don't think I'll be able to do that bit today, but I could well get as far as putting the compost bin material in the bin.

Half bag of bark chippings also has to be deployed.

Slogging till the end Feb like this - it already looks really different, by end Feb it should look better still.

Save

Slinky

Karmacat, do please be careful with laurel

http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/prunus_laurocerasus.htm

Igamogam

Slinky wrote: »

Karmacat, do please be careful with laurel

http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/prunus_laurocerasus.htm

As long as you dont eat it or sit in an air tight van full of clippings you should be OK Karma! Interesting read thought Slinky....murder by laurel water.....hmmmm!

Antidote to suspected cyanide poisoning is massive doses of IV vit B 12 BTW:D

GreyQueen

I'm having a great day, positively kondo-esque. Have just said farewell to the family and am sitting down with a cuppa.

We were on the lottie just after 9 am, me plus Mum & Dad. Mum was in a supervisory role (health issues) and in charge of doling out hot drinks and sarnes. She spent the rest of her time knitting.

Dad and I took the bow saw to a lot of old knackered fence posts which had been cluttering up the place, sawing them into 8 inch lengths to fit in my pal's small fireplace. Sent her a text to say they were available (we'd filled a dustbin by that time) and she came and got them. We also had a little socialising and as she was doing a dump run on her own account, she asked if there was anything of mine to go?

Exit one blue IKEYA bagful of horsetail roots and a broken plastic planter which I inherited when I took over the plot. And all the wood which was chopped up, there are some part posts left to saw but both Dad and I ran out of strength. I've borrowed the saw until there next visit and will continue sawing up the knackered fenceposts and putting them into the dustbin until my pal can swing by in her car and get them. I find sawing pretty tiring but if I take of one or two chunks per visit, I shall get there eventually.

Also managed to get a lot of barley grains from the communal pile to my plot, with some additonal assistance from another pal, so a problem of soil fertility is now well towards a solution.

I no longer have some strange random objects stored in my bath-tub but I do have three duvets in my tiny bedroom, so must go sort them out shortly.

My feet are singing little songs (oww! owww! owwwww!), my back aches, my sawing muscles are protesting and I'm grinning from ear-to-ear, it's been such a positive day.

Hope everyone is really enjoying their Sunday activities.

x_raphael_xx

I have ticked off the Clothes category on the Kondo app. Bags and shoes was easy, as I'm not a shoes and accessories kinda girl. I threw one bag I no longer use, and 2 pairs of shoes that were past their best. All too knackered and broken to donate to the chazzer.
BF will (hopefully if he remembers) drop the huge bag of clothes to the chazzer tomorrow while I'm at work, along with a smaller bag of his DVD's he doesn't want. We've sent the rest of his collection to Ziffit, so awaiting on their decision on the condition & how much they will actually pay for them.

GoingToDoIt

Wrestled an old iPod from Justin - if I remember, it was given a final warning over a year ago. Along with it went a DVD and another cd, I mus!cmagpied them plus one of the books from the chazzer pile.

A disappointing trip to the local clothes recycle bin, which is full to overflowing; three bags back into the house. Next weekend I'll take a trip to my fave chazzer with new items for them, and drop rags in the clothes bank near there.

Kondoed my wombled packing collection - masses of bubble wrap, paper and plastic wrap used to parcel up bay sales, all of which came "free" with items I ordered online

greenbee

I've been kondoing in the garden too GQ...

Finished digging over a bed that was new a couple of years ago (used to be a hedge) and full of weeds. The plants (bar an almost dead bay-tree) are doing surprisingly well. Moved a couple of roses in there (they'll either make it or they won't - but their bed is about to be covered up with weed membrane) along with a twisted halo and a whole lot of polyanthus. It still needs work, but it'll do.

Also assisted with a bonfire that the conservation group were having on the island next to my garden. Contributed some of my own stuff, and helped unearth a few dead trees I knew were there to add to it... It's looking much better. However, the landowner likes nettles...

And finally got round to putting my (very small) compost bins together. I'd been wondering how to get them to work as the ground is uneven where I wanted them - and then realised that I had two old bits of fencing that went round the old (plastic) compost bin that we moved. They're on the ground, and the bins are on top of them. There's one more somewhere in the garage to put together next week. They are tiny, but better than no composting facilities!

maddiemay

Igamogam wrote: »

As long as you dont eat it or sit in an air tight van full of clippings you should be OK Karma! Interesting read thought Slinky....murder by laurel water.....hmmmm!

Antidote to suspected cyanide poisoning is massive doses of IV vit B 12 BTW:D

When I was reading the reports of the rice/cyanide scare on "trust me I'm a doctor) I was wondering how much protection I get from my alternate day SC ones:D

Igamogam

maddiemay wrote: »

When I was reading the reports of the rice/cyanide scare on "trust me I'm a doctor) I was wondering how much protection I get from my alternate day SC ones:D

I believe the dose is 5000xtimes that, every 15 mins IV for 24 hours..........whatever it is it cant harm you whereas the alternative......:(

I have had a very productive day - have burned a great deal again - somethings which I thought I would never part with and |I even tossed a few stray photos into the log burner of which I have no interest in - previous job,early training days - now gone and its all OK:D I tackled the bottom 2 drawers of my filing cabinet which I have been putting off since I started this malarkey. I honestly thought the contents would be just too hard to deal with but they weren't, mainly work related and now all gone including a huge pile of birthday cards I have received over the years....no idea why I had kept them. I kept one card from my mother that was sent to my OH after she met him - the first and only time she met him as she died within the year ( she lived abroad) and I couldn't part with it. So it has been filed with a couple of other treasures for now, not for Justin;) The 2 drawers now have handy suspension files in which were taking up a space on the shelves and stuff has been filed accordingly. Easier to get rid of too when things are filed. One bag of stuff ready to go to CS and another large one for work. On a roll.........:rotfl: Haven't done the porch but other things achieved so I am not worried.

Slow cooked lamb has been kondoed. Left overs tomorrow night - very yummy - and in a fit of madness I have made a clotted cream rice pud - have been low carb since January and just fancied a treat plus I am trying to sort out food cupboards and freezers this week and had some frozen clotted cream and some pudding rice to use up;)

DD2 just announced she is bringing new BF back later. Now this would have sent me into a flat spin even just 6 months ago.....all I have to do is to move some papers off the coffee table, give the bathroom a quick wipe and relax:j:j