KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

maryb

I also went down with ME after a flu type illness which came at the end of a period of prolonged stress. I was fortunate enough to make a reasonable recovery after a number of years but I have never since then had much stamina. It does affect your whole life

Siebrie

minnie2 wrote: »

Our room is so much easier and nicer now!! .hubbys side of the bed is a different matter i keep asking him to keep it clear as i cleaned and cleared it tuesday but there are shoes and clothes everywhere :-(

I suggest you stop asking; he knows your wishes, and he knows what a clean house is supposed to look like. There should not be a need to remind him. Treat him like the adult he is supposed to be; sometimes it works. Do not hunt for dirty laundry, and only wash what is actually in the dirty linen basket. Not what is 'in the proximity of' the basket. Teach your children already to put their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, pockets emptied, garment inside out; it helps if you undress them in the room where the basket is.

You are setting yourself up for difficult parenting, because they will notice that it's perfectly acceptable to ignore Mummy, and to not help out. You are also setting them up to be awful partners in future, either slaving away for their partner or feeling entitled to a lazy life.

Maybe a family meeting will help, to divide chores (each pick two you like, one you don't like, and a frequency. That should cover most), set a list for your child, too, for instance: hang up own coat with sleeves properly pulled out, put shoes away, play, have a drink, watch 1 youtoobvid, play.

In The Tightwad Gazette Amy mentions that they divide the work according to 'hours worked'. The partner with a job, and the partner at home put in the same number of hours, and then have the evening off together. You can also suggest that all chores are done simultaneously, and that as long as there is one still choring, the others are not supposed to sit down and watch; everyone has to work the same time. Even the little one can flick a duster around.

elona

After finally getting my bedroom sorted out I realised that everything was not out of control when youngest dd asked to borrow some socks and I replied to go into my bedroom , look in the chest of drawers, second drawer down and they were arranged in pairs in an organiser so they were folded up.

Siebrie

Great success, elona!

Karmacat

I'm glad to see that what I wrote has pinged a chord on here, I was pretty worried about that post. And I wrote it because I did exactly what GQ describes - worked too hard, and too long - though I crashed much later in my life than she did. I didn't go down as far, either, but I'm still struggling. I couldn't join in a family holiday to Denmark recently, I've had to pull out of my beloved board games evenings because they're held in a town 10 miles away in the evening and I can't manage, I'm invited to a family dinner in London one Saturday in November, and I've had to request an earlier time ... the list goes on and on, this is just how I'm affected in the last six weeks or so. It's very upsetting. I try to stay positive about my life, and mostly succeed, but I do wonder if I'll ever manage to go on holiday the way I did, for example, and the way I expected to once I retired

Floss

Karmacat you recognise your limits and are planning & adjusting accordingly... in time you may find that with a better pace / spread of events & activities you will be able to do a few more but give yourself time to recover.

Knit_Witch

Minnie could you make it a game for your kids to help clear up? Sort of first one to find 5 toys, first to put away 5 clean clothes type of thing?

minnie2

Im not sure what i am going to do yet but i am going to do something.

[Deleted User]

good Minnie. I used to pin a list of chores for each person on the fridge door. Any pocket money was only given out once the list had been completed. Hubbie used to do all the ironing until the children were of an age to do their own. Each child was also responsible for their own room from a young age. Husband can change duvet covers at least. You are the hub of your family wheel. There would be no wheel without you

I never thought I would do any KM this week but have at last emptied all my hm wine out. I was going to save some but have kept it too long, should have been drunk within the year after hubbie died but I was never going to become alcohol dependent so I hardly drink. I tried boozy prunes this afternoon. made 2 kilners and just tasted the leftover wine. It has gone too dry for my taste, so it is all down the sink now and the upside is that something else has been released from my life

Two large low errington reay salt glazed pots have also been completely emptied, they were weights on a cantilever parasol base. Oh thank goodness I had 2/3 filled them with gravel from the bottom garden level, it was an easy emptying and two more to do. They will look lovely when filled with an assortment of acers. I have also decided to take three more large and taller pots with me and two very large pots, what decided me was the price of these pots and the fact that they are very much a feature in their own right. I will leave the trees wrapped in polythene together with the address of where they can get these pots to replace those I am taking. I will leave two large ones. I will be very careful when I eventually write my list, so there is no misunderstanding about the pots. Already I have added up to about £900 if I had to replace them

I had 5 lovely days in pitlochry, flying both ways and packing was amazingly easy, as is putting away

[Deleted User]

e mail from a dd last night. They are in a tizz as they have sold their house, could not find one to buy and will be temporarily in rented. Packing is getting to them as in stress, naturally I bit my tongue, they took no notice of my KM efforts and example and now they have sorting and packing all in one plus longer term storage and short term for the rented. They have the rented property for 16 days before they complete, so I have suggested that they cram every single wardrobe and cupboard in the property with whatever they can. That they empty the downstairs study and one bedroom in their present home and use them for the longer term box storage to be handled by removers. I have to step back

It makes me ever so grateful to be so KM organised here. I know I can do more in my shed as I want to eventually be in a position to get a small removals co to transfer the shed contents, workshop contents and garden goods. I want to be able to just say `to empty them` but it is a bit too early to get rid of eg paints. I have a large chrome shelving set, am so tempted to try and knock it apart but I am sure it can be transferred whole. I need to sit on my hands and bide my time and to remember that any KM now is only tweaking