KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Siebrie

I was out planting cosmos and dahlia's at 10pm last night, as only then was it cool enough to work. I love these long evenings, and wish I didn't have to get up so early!

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

At the weekend, was having a cuppa and a chat round a pal's and she mentioned that she intends to divest herself of about a third of her belongings, to make her small home more livable.

She also traced the source of the persistant cough which has plagued her for ages; some bags of clothing under her bed had lost the vacuum seal, got damp and musty and must have been putting out spores or something because the first night after they were removed, she slept without coughing once.

Said clothes have all been laundered and some are to be shed via various methods and nothing is going back under that bed.

Makes me wonder how many persistant, niggly little health problems owe their cause to clutter in some manner? A lot, I suspect.

That is *so* important - I'm sure some of my problems come from the same sort of thing, storing too much in less than ideal conditions (plus not springcleaning) ...

Save

GreyQueen

I recall reading an article somewhere about how parents were advised to remove carpets and clutter from asthmatic childrens' bedrooms, vacuum and damp-mop the floors daily.

It was reckoned to have alleviated all the children's symptoms and even effected a cure, which relapsed if the regime was stopped.

I've often meditated on the sealed--up nature of modern (or modernised) homes in a world where we tend to spend a lot more time indoors than was the case when I was growing up.

I'm sure we're breathing in a lot more mould spores, as well as a lot more out-gassed chemicals, than earlier generations and that this isn't doing us a lot of good.

Be clutter-free and healthy.

elona

It has been 33 degrees round here and I am dissolving into a puddle.

Met dd in York and bought her a top and trousers and tried on some summer dresses. Eventually found one I liked that was a respectable length and cool material and wore it to go home on the bus.

The charity bag has not been collected and is still on the doorstep but it is so hot I am going to leave it there.

12months

GreyQueen, I’ve wondered about health problems linked to clutter. My house seems to be a little damp and I often run a dehumidifier to keep the damp feeling at bay. I especially dislike my bed to feel damp. I’m hoping that the vastly thinned out wardrobe and drawers, along with some damp control moisture traps placed in the wardrobe, will help the situation.

GreyQueen

I've had some interesting convos with surveyors over the years and here is an (in)complete tip sheet from them:

1. Ventilate your home by having windows open on opposite sides, to draw the air through, as often as possible.

2. Bedrooms should be aired for a minimum of 30 mins with covers thrown back after arising. Longer is better - windows open.

3. Never build-in wardrobes and other furniture on outside walls and try to avoid free-standing large furniture on outside wall.

4. Even if not an outside wall, if what's on the other side is an unheated area like a stairwell or a cupboard, you can end up with a 'cold spot' and the restricted airflow will likely cause dampness and mould.

5. Move furniture another couple of inches forward from the walls, rather than have the back of it as close to the wall as the skirting board will allow - the extra airflow will mitigate dampness.

6. If running a bath, run cold first and warm it up; this reduces condensation.

7. Furnish as sparsely as possible and be particularly careful of packing things under and around beds.

8. The relative proximity of open water, even if it is 50 yards away, will make that side of your home more prone to damp.

9. Be very careful of walls facing North and East as they are colder and more damp-prone. As will creeper-grown or tree-shaded walls.

10. Even in designated storage areas, keep things far enough apart for airflow, get things off the floor if possible.

11. Even if you don't have a proper Frenchman's Drain (a deep, narrow trench by your foundations filled with gravel) you can replicate the effect with a gravel/ shingle filled flowerbed. Don't allow garden soil to creep up against the walls.

12. If you're in the habit of leaning things against your walls outside, get out of it quickly.

13. Never put sealant on bricks. Bricks are porous and give out moisture. You don't want them sealed so this can't happen.

14. If you're tempted to buy an over-passage terrace house, save yourself some grief and just buy a large hammer and hit yourself on the knee with it every few minutes - both are painful but one is cheaper than the other by a wide margin. :rotfl:

iamsalt

I agree with the dust/asthma links. We did a deep spring clean of our bedroom (carpeted and was cluttered) as well as sorting through what we keep in the bedroom, and having a window fixed that we haven't been able to open for a year (too scared to find the price out but cheaper than we thought when we bit the bullet).

Since then OH has used his puffer much less, hasn't been snoring as much and I have bee sleeping far better now the room isn't as stuffy . In the new house we aren't going to have carpet in the bedroom as we have noticed such a difference. We are going for underfloor heating too so there won't be as many opportunities for dust to settle.

Everyone has been doing well. I know the frustration of silly costs, we are both clumsy so we try to be more mindful, but still irks when you have to pay when you are doing what you can to save pennies elsewhere.

S x

12months

Thanks for that very helpful list GreyQueen. There’s a few things on there that I can try out like moving the furniture away from the walls. I do leave my bedroom window open during the day but hadn’t thought about a ‘through draft’. I also plan to declutter the house in general so hoping that helps too.

silvasava

Evening All - waited until this evening to pick Blackcurrants and loganberries - nice haul but this weather has made lots of fruit ripen at the same time so I'm gonna be busy! Took my friend shopping although TBH we only did one store. I needed to return some too short trousers and she was looking for bras which she found. I managed to find two pairs of jeans that will be long enough for me. They will replace the ones I have made I to cut offs. I also bought 4 t-shirts that had a scoop neck back and front. I prefer them to strappy ones so grab them when I can. Don't worry - there will be items moving out to accommodate them!
Hope everyone manages a cooler sleep tonight

Karmacat

I have trouble with opening windows on both sides of the house to create a through draft. I *can*, but there are still a lot of tree bees in my area, and I get stuff flying in through the windows very, very regularly. And the windows aren't quite big enough for them to find their way *out* so easily I've tried to do it, but the stress of getting them out is awful. 3 of my windows have very modern fly screens, and they're open as often as I can manage.