KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

VJsmum

In the interests of full disclosure, i should say that i did do a load of washing while i was away. I took around 10 days worth of clothes (allowing for tops and shorts to be worn twice). I put a load of washing on in the laundry of the lodge we stayed in that washed while we got ready. Put it in the drier while we had breakfast - so it was all done before we went out. A few non-tumble drier bits were hung up and were dry when we got back in the evening.

I have been known to put stuff in a service wash instead and have considered that good value (Southern Africa is quite cheap for that, unlike some hotels...)

Anyway all washed and dried now - but, oh my goodness, my house is a tip! :eek: DD didn't come with us (her choice) and has spent an amount of time at home whilst we were away. She had proudly said that she'd left it ok - only her idea of OK and mine are quite different. Given that she is shortly to be home for good, there are going to have to be some rules....

Slinky

Arggh, why is it there's always something overlooked? Went round the side of the house last night to discover 3-4 things that were supposed to go with us to the tip at the weekend are still there. Darn it! Too big to go in the general rubbish, but not enough to make it worthwhile visiting the tip again, so they'll be there for a while.

Shredder given a good thrashing yesterday, two large A4 ring binders packed with paperwork shredded and boxed up to go today with the recycling rubbish. Shredder oiled to keep it working, still got a load more to do but working my way through it as boxes present themselves for packing the output in.

A bag of clean rags to the charity shop, plus several books, a good branded top which I really like but has shrunk, and other bits and bobs which should hopefully sell.

I had a good tidy up in my office yesterday also, some bits of the desk are actually visible! To my shame, in amongst a pile of 'stuff' was my KM book..........

Got friends coming for dinner at the weekend, always a good reason for a bit of a clear up!

MrsPorridge

I've started on the kitchen - it's a bit scatter-gun approach at the moment, but I will get there. Lots of old plates and mugs that were stuck at the back of the cupboard and haven't seen the light of day for a few years have gone in CS bag.

Dining room is the next room to be completed - I cleared a corner last week and DH came in one day and said, "oh how tidy it looks in that corner". I kept quiet. I have to be careful getting rid of stuff when he is around. He is a bit of a hoarder. I have to say that the CS bags are full of my clothes or knitting wool to keep him off the scent. The bag with the china in is hiding in my wardrobe and will be taken to the CS by me without his knowledge. Is that bad of me? Obviously I don't get rid of any of his stuff! It's me who has all the stuff so maybe I'm the hoader and not him?

Am slowly tackling the Welsh Dresser which is crammed with crockery hardly ever used. I found 12 identical cups and saucers - 6 have gone on fleabay.

silvasava

Mrs Porridge - I would never get rid of any of DH's stuff without his knowledge and agreement BUT he always wants me to hang on to mine for Justin so I sneak stuff out too!
Went up in the loft today to get parts of the kidney shaped dressing table down as my friend will be taking it in the next week or so. We got the drawers, glass top and mirrors down and they were filthy!! (the glass) while we were up there an empty cassette case, lampshade and light fitting got released. We've also got a 3 way fridge that we used in our caravan that had been up there for a while & DH suggested getting rid of it - result!! I'll advertise it as they are quite expensive - so maybe some dosh for the kitty. I found the 'destruction' booklet for it and released the instruction booklets for my old cooker and freezer - quite a productive morning one way and another

Siebrie

DH (he's trying to make amends and continue normal wedded life; I'll go along and see if I can store the memory of that one look somewhere safe) has donated our Stokke children's chair and our old stroller (3-in-1 system) to a newly arrived African family. Perfect, they have gone to a good cause, and will be used for many years to come.

He also sold our soundbar (an item that collects dust beneath the tv) for €25 profit

DH and xBIL have papered the walls of the hallway downstairs, and are currently painting the new paper, the wall of the stairs, and the landing. We have uncovered 3 half-used pots of white wallpaint, all slightly different whites. I've told them that as long as they do a whole wall in one type of white and another wall in a different type of white, it doesn't matter that the whites are different the hallway/landing/stairs are rather dark anyway. (Before you suggest it: I've seen them work, and think that instructing them to mix all the paint together to have one 'white' will not give the desired result. They will stop stirring too soon).

I'm getting ready for our 10 days camping in Luxemburg: tent, mattresses, gasring, pans, hiking boots (dds need new ones), etc. I have most items from when I went camping before I met dh, and my parents are loaning us some items, so we should be okay without spending too much.

But before that: I'm coming to the UK/Canterbury for 5 days with my BFF! Tomorrow until Monday! DH will go to my parents' place with dds on Friday and not come back home until Wednesday, so I'll have an evening by myself, too. Bliss! Maybe I'm suffering the change/midlife crisis? I have a feeling I'm ranting/venting a lot these days, also irl.

Slinky

Oh dear, I'm suffering from some MK regret. We're trying to buy a new (to us) house which we will move to in a few years, me to retire, OH who knows. Anyway, we'll have to rent it out for a while before moving. This involves us have to spend some time there in the not too distant future to decorate and have some work done to bring it up to a rentable standard. As it's over 100 miles from home we can't just nip back for things we need. I got rid of perfectly good excess plates and bowls a while back. Today I've just bought 2 plates and bowls in Ikea for us to use and leave there locked in a garage cupboard for when inevitably we have to spend time there between rentals. I don't want to be lugging Denby backwards and forwards. There's other things we've had to buy, mower, garden tools etc which are duplicates of ones we own, but we can't expect tenants to look after the garden if there are no tools. So we'll have an excess of them when we move.

Also I regret getting rid of some duvet covers which would have been a far better match for the wallpaper we put up in our room earlier this year than the current covers.

Ho hum, it's not always possible to get KM right is it?

Slinky

As greent hasn't popped by and started a new thread, and seeing several others have done a refresh, I've taken the liberty of posting up a new thread for 2017. Hope that's OK and we can have this one locked in case it goes missing by accident as some other threads have.

Hope this is OK with everybody.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5681824

ivyleaf

silvasava wrote: »

Actually GQ I think it's the grasshoppers that are green and crickets are much larger and brown ( cricket on the hearth? Where did that come from?) Any unwanted insects in our house are gently removed and returned to the garden - except flies!!

"The Cricket on the Hearth" was the other "Christmas book" written by Charles Dickens. I used to have it in one volume with "A Christmas Carol" but I seem to remember it was rather shorter and I don't think I actually read it. Well, I was only about 12 and had bought the book to read A Christmas Carol

As for the insect, we sang a song at school which began

"Grasshopper Green is a comical chap, he lives on the best of fare;

Bright little trousers, jacket, and cap, these are his Summer wear!"

silvasava

Thanks Ivy! Think I must have had the same book in the very distant past ,cos that is all I remember!!

iamsalt

Siebrie

If you want to know the best places to go to visit in and around Canterbury let me know! I am a local!

S