KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

PollyWollyDoodle

Ooh I've never made runner bean chutney! I have limited space and time for veg growing so I've always focused on stuff that (a) I like and (b) is expensive to buy/much nicer picked fresh - so I don't bother with potatoes for example, but celeriac, broad beans, runner beans and fennel. Chard is great as you can just go on picking it, I wouldn't grow anything I don't like to eat.

I've just finished an annual event run by a small charity of which I'm a committee member. While the event itself is fun and something I really value, it's bloomin hard work and there's the usual thing of only five people on the Committee actually do anything and the other ten just talk a lot ... I digress. Last year when it was over I dumped everything into a box and ignored it. That box has sat there for a year making me feel both grumpy and guilty whenever I saw it. Yesterday I sorted all the papers out (deliberately excluded when I Kondoed my own paperwork), chucked loads of rubbish out, dealt with some essentials and neatly repackaged everything into a smaller box which can now go in the loft. Can't tell you how good that feels - especially as visitors #2 are arriving today.

Siebrie I feel your pain - I'm so used to being on my own, I really struggle when I have people staying. One of these visitors is staying five days :eek:

Floss

We love fennel, and if you leave it long enough you can harvest your own fennel seeds too

Igamogam

I grow soft fruits and herbs mainly. Usually get a few climbing French beans in too cos I prefer to runner beans.

Kondoed my enthusiasm today.......Storm Doris helped. It's so wet a d wild out there I am putting off going to shed which was on my plan today. Will ponder on an alternative. ...maybe re visit clothes and then settle down with a book in front of log burner

tibawo

Unexpected afternoon off. Is it wrong to be excited about this? I am so behind with my chores that to be able to catch up will lift my mood and i might celebrate a job well done with some wine later!


hoping to squash in time before the school run to kondo box full of stuff too!Tea already in slow cooker. Load of washing on. I've eaten my lunch so all systems go!

Igamogam

Sorted through some clothes.........3x pairs of pj's in CS bag along with 2x pairs of 'gardening trousers' which have some life in them but I counted 5 pairs which I had allocated to gardening........ and a T shirt no longer sparking Small bundle but enough to get the enthusiasm going again

LizzieR

Looks like everyone is keeping busy on here! Although I've not posted for a while I have been busy kondoing. Been going through lots of boxes and listing things on E-bay - managed to sell a few bits and pieces - I tend to give them a couple of attempts on there and if they don't sell then it's off to the charity shop. Well on the way to another car load for the CS now, and have a car load of stuff for the tip as well.
Been through paperwork in the last couple of weeks and think I have RSI from using the shredder!!! 3 bin liners full of shredded paper, as well as a couple of boxes of paper that has gone straight in the recycling bin - this stuff definitely breeds! I now have one drawer in a filing cabinet that has essential paperwork in it - categorised and easy to access :-) Ditched so many old Christmas and birthday cards too - lots from people I either don't remember or know anymore - funny the things we keep isn't it?!
Still lots to do and lots of very random boxes now as I've just filled them with stuff I want to keep from the boxes I've already sorted - I just haven't decided where all these things will live yet. Aware that on a second run through quite a bit more is likely to exit the premises too.
Been even more inspired the last couple of days after watching an episode of Hoarders - where a women had her house declared unsafe and unsaveable because of all the damage caused by her hoarding - terribly sad.... I'm nowhere near that level, but can see how things could go that far.

silvasava

Mini kondo this morning - a bottle of some sort of facial serum that was a gift that I've finally managed to use up - havn't noticed any improvement though lol! Stick deodorant used up - new one from my stash ( I like a particular american brand and get friends and rellys to get them for me when they're on hols) none left but DS1 will be getting me some next month.
My Age Concern ladies have cancelled their lessons today - probably because of the weather so I have an unexpected free day - am going to bite the bullet and do some fleabay listings. There are some large items in the garage and a few bits indoors so will see how they go.
Have a good day all and stay safe from Doris

procrastinator

Hello
I haven't posted for a while because I don't feel I've done much. It's hard to get my head round what to do with all the stuff I keep churning around. I thought over GreyQueens idea of taking paperwork to Mums, and whilst at first I thought this wouldn't work I found I had a lot of magazines that hadn't been read so took a few to hers. This worked, she enjoyed reading them and it has reduced my stash. She doesn't hold onto them so not just moving the problem. They go into her recycling after a couple of days. Looking for paper to recycle today I found a few more that were dated pre 2016 so these have all been recycled without being read. I have a new pile to take tomorrow to read over the weekend. I was out Monday which was a great mood lift and got up to town to see DD yesterday. Aim for today is to vacuum house, get out to Library and get diner before menfolk come home at 6.

[Deleted User]

I kondo`ed two large bags of christmas edibilities this morning, one savoury nibbles and one chocolate nibbles, all gone from the bags, which I opened before pouring into the bin, knowing that would stop me rooting for them. Neighbour gave me a pack of 6 lovely chocs from hotel choc, I looked after their house while they were away. I ate them, every flipping last one, knowing that if they went down the hatch, then I would crave them no more. I wish I hadn`t but `sigh`

Watching great expectations and spinning yarn, while the sun is blazing in, a very nice uplifting afternoon andjoyfully, more space in the freezer as two course cooked lunch used lots of veg. Nibble by nibble, things are disappearing, slow and sure

GreyQueen

procrastinator wrote: »

Hello
I haven't posted for a while because I don't feel I've done much. It's hard to get my head round what to do with all the stuff I keep churning around. I thought over GreyQueens idea of taking paperwork to Mums, and whilst at first I thought this wouldn't work I found I had a lot of magazines that hadn't been read so took a few to hers. This worked, she enjoyed reading them and it has reduced my stash. She doesn't hold onto them so not just moving the problem. They go into her recycling after a couple of days. Looking for paper to recycle today I found a few more that were dated pre 2016 so these have all been recycled without being read. I have a new pile to take tomorrow to read over the weekend. I was out Monday which was a great mood lift and got up to town to see DD yesterday. Aim for today is to vacuum house, get out to Library and get diner before menfolk come home at 6.

Hi, really pleased that a variation on the paperwork idea has been of value and that your Mum has enjoyed the magazines.

One thing that life's taught me is that just because you can't do it all, there's no reason not to do something. Even a little something, a five-minute something, is achievable and not too overwhelming. Then you build motivation and confidence, and get a smidgeon more elbow room to work in.

Sometimes, I even set the kitchen timer for 5 mins and see what I can do in that small time fragment, and it's amazing what you can get done.

This morning I have taken my poorly eyes to the optician before work and I need new glasses. It's only 20 months since I had these ones, my first pair of varifocals, but my near vision has weakened a bit.

Have got my new prescription and will go looking for glasses on Saturday. What this means in terms of kondo-ing is that the old eye prescription will go through the shredder (to avoid confusion about what is and isn't current) and, when the new glasses arrive, these ones will become the spares and the current spares will go into the charity collection bin at the optician.

This habit means that I always have a back up pair (I only have one pair at a time) and that it's always the newest old pair, IYSWIM. And I keep the spares in a labelled glasses case, in case I'm not around to give directions for whatever reason (i.e. ill in hospital) people can find the right glasses.

One thing I've noted about paperwork is that it vastly more simple for the person whose paperwork it is to deal with it than for a third party. I got tired of having about four tiddly little savings accounts all over the place and consolidated them into one, making my life simpler.

I have the old passbooks etc in a folder named Old Accounts, in the event that I might ever need to refer to them.

Righty, going offline shortly, it's been a long day and a lot of it was in front of a workplace PC, so I shall sidle off and burying myself in an excellent PD James novel.

Have a good evening, folks, GQ xx