KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

GreyQueen

Morning all.

KM has caused me to reconsider various habits to see if they're serving me well, or are a damned nuisance contributing to clutter and inconvenience on the premises.

I've come to the conclusion that some are definately in the latter category and am using up certain supplies and either not replacing them, or replacing them at a much reduced level.

Yestereve, I finished one book and picked up another which has been loitering in the to-be-read stack for probably something in the order of two or three years at least. It's a history book, a subject I'm interested in, but on the previous occasion I started it, my head wasn't in the right place.

Reading it now, less than a week after another history book, and it's grabbing me right in. I will aim to finish it and take it over the the kid bruv at christmas for him to add to his online bookseller inventory. I find it hard to convey (unless fellow book-hoarders feel the same way) the pleasure of getting around to a book which I have been postponing for some time.

Work is cracking on with the WIP hand-hooked rug and I have three rows to completion, which is only about one hour's graft. It's successor rug, whose canvas and wool are already on-site, will be commenced immediately and will be enjoyed over the christmas break from work, when I obviously have a lot more time for crafting than normal.

Christmas will see several items exiting, as the periodic shuffle of stuf between my own and the parental homes takes place, and the net result will be a calmer and more orderly environment here.

I've decided I really need to get to grips with meal planning in the new year, and am in process of using up certain fresh and storecupboard foods ahead of my absence from home over the holidays, so there is no waste and I have a clean slate in January.

Hope everyone is keeping well and has a great Thursday. GQ x

[Deleted User]

fen trust your intuition, your inner voice, it is sronger than you know

I can only stop for a minute, got to get showered as early hairdressers but I had to kondo lots of money 2 days ago when old laptop died suddenly and completely. I wish I had sorted and done the KM on it ie copied stuff as I am having to start from scratch. Tbh it did not cross my mind. I should have treated it like an important file. So I am typing on a new dell laptop, which arrived in 18 hours from ordering, 2 days earlier than expected. I have to forget m/s money now, doh I relied on it and will have to download the nearest I can find, called acemoney and will have to learn windows 10, oh well its all good for the brain

Sewing bits done yesterday, now have two nice tops hanging up, they only needed the sleeves shortened and fitflops finally kondoed, no good for my toes says podiatrist

Wednesday2000

I'm probably going to have to kondo my laptop too Kittie. It just decided to switch itself off for no reason. Grrr. I bought it in 2014. Hopefully it will last until the January sales are on.

oceanspirit

I can relate to the joy of being able to read a long awaited book, GQ. Unfortunately with having chronic fatigue plus so much going on at the moment there is no space in my brain for reading proper books and I can only manage chick lit and other easy reads so I am hoping that the space achieved from Kondoing will allow me to read good books in the not too distant future.

Fen1, a suggestion for Kondoing is that you start with your own personal things so that moving forward you only have joy sparking items whether you stay or go. With joint items, how about putting those which don't spark joy for you into a box and store it somewhere. If you are separating, give the box to OH and if you decide to move together, the box can go straight to charity etc. Having a clearer home may give you more clarity on what to do regarding your relationship and you will be kondoed ready for a new life to start straightaway, whatever your final decision.

The office is still being slowly cleared. New bed now not coming until next week as the one I ordered is no longer made so had to choose a different one :mad:. The new one is not as nice as the one I originally chose so that is frustrating when not wanting to accept things as "it'll do".

OH still taking things to new house and complaining that we have too much to do. Well of course we do if we're having to move/go through items several times instead of just once!

Will be cracking on over the next couple of days - Sunday is the last opportunity to kondo before Christmas as next week will be very busy and I need to take it as gently as possible in order not to keel over with fatigue once friend arrives - so would like to achieve as much as possible to prevent my things being stuffed into boxes and joining OH's at the other house.

maryb

Kittie, just posted on the prepping thread - you can use MS Money with Windows 10 and you can get a free 'sunset' version from Microsoft

Siebrie

Fen1 wrote: »

Thank you Polly and Catshark. I just wanted to write down what was going on. I think the principles of KM are fab: it's about positive choices rather than negative discarding. It's me that's in a tizzy, not KM.
There are days when I'd like nothing better than to KM OH ( I bet a lot of us on here would like to do that, especially on the " I didn't realize you wanted me to do that/ but you do it so much better/ it's footie time" days :mad: )

I can relate, Fen. DH is not always pulling his weight in our household, coming with preconceived ideas about male/female roles which are almost completely contradictory to mine. At the moment I still like him too much to separate, but it's definitely an option in my mind. I'm convinced I can manage with or without him, so that's not part of the equation. DH (D stands for amn/ear/ucking - whatever my mood/his actions) does most of the cooking and vacuuming in our house, but that is where it stops (and it's not up to my standards....). I plan things so that he has to do them, for instance, dd1's tutoring lessons are scheduled before I get home, so he has to drive her there and back. I already drive dds to music, sports, playdates, so I have no ear for his grumbling. It's part of being a parent in Western Europe, so I expect him to step up, no discussion (he's from West Africa, where the kids roam free ).

We have a weekly meeting to discuss the week's calendar and menu; if he chooses not to join this meeting, I just plan my own schedule and the menu for the days I cook. If he then double books us or is at a loss of what to cook, that's not my problem. I do know that I have to be really clear about what I expect of him, and check if he has understood it.

On a sidenote: the car has been dropped off at the shipping agent's and will leave by boat to Africa on Christmas Eve, due to arrive around New Year's. Half my attic is now empty

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was surprised with breakfast in bed (yoghurt, so no crumbs ), a cook book (I had sent dh the link to Jack Monroe's book, and he ordered it), a necklace and earrings (I had dropped dh and dds off at the Oxfam shop and told them to get me something from there (it does not have a second-hand department). It all sparks joy :T

GreyQueen

I sometime get interrogated by friends and acquantances (never mind rellies and colleagues) about why I am single. I'm fairly pleasant, not too bad-looking, have no known major vices and get on with a wide range of people, so how come I haven't got someone?

People are genuinely phased to find out folks like me are very happy being single, unhappy in relationships and love our lives the way they are. Doesn't compute, a single woman should be miserable, shouldn't she?

Besides, if I had a feller, I probably wouldn't be able to run around with the handsome chap half my age (literally) who is a platonic pal but whom my peers insist is my toy boy, to the vast amusement of us both.:rotfl:

Siebrie

I was a happy single until I was 35 and ran into husband; we have the same sense of humour, generally the same values, similar hobbies, and he is the only one I can stand to have around me for more than a fortnight. We’ve been together for almost 11 years now.

When I was single I had to arrange my own happiness, now that I’m married, I still have to do that. In the beginning I relied on him to provide it, but I realised quickly that our relationship does not work that way. And he does not have an example of a happy relationship, because his parents were always fighting (still, his Mum bore 10 children) and his father died when he was 15. I have to tell him and show him what makes a good relationship and an interested father. In the culture he’s from, as soon as the next child is borne, the first one needs to fend for itself. His father could not and didn’t help him with school, homework, friendships; I had to tell my husband that he should, and create situations that he had to, and now he does.

Discussing the family budget was also a foreign concept, as his father had just spent what he earned (feast on payday, fasting the rest of the week). I sat him down every week and we allocated our money together. I regularly bring up difficult subjects to share our thoughts; we don’t have to agree, as long as we agree to disagree. We are both committed to this relationship and I want it to last.

Sorry about the book

MMF007

Been missing in action and have missed you lot!
Had to dash up to parents at the end of November, dad was in HDU, having collapsed.
I packed for 5 days. I have been here 3 weeks, with at least another week planned.
Sooo, capsule wardrobe? No problem! :rotfl:
I have had to buy more deodorant and shampoo but that's it (aside from a large supply of shortbread :rotfl:).

Dad has beaten all the odds and survived, he is stable and may improve slowly. There has been a lot to do and some of it involves paperwork / phonecalls to organise or notify etc. I am afriad I have taken advantage of that and insisted on clearing a few surfaces of clutter, 'so we have a clear space to work on'.
Honestly, each hot spot (and there at least 7), took less than 20 mins to deal with and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!
In addition I have been able to get some of the niggley jobs done, such as replacing the battery in a laptop, putting up 2 coat hooks and writing the xmas cards!!

I have also located the only place in the house where we can get a mobile phone signal - on top of the freezer, in the utility room. I have taken to placing my mobile there whenever I am in the house, so txts ping in and can be sent. When asked where my mobile is I say that 'it is on reception' :rotfl:

greenbee

Builders have nearly finished (odds and ends to do tomorrow while the stove is being installed) this phase, so I'm slowly reclaiming space. I've just put the mirror and pictures back up in the downstairs loo (it looks much better with a tiled floor and skirting boards rather than badly fitting vinyl on concrete and a gap between floor and paint!), and am working my way through all my filing before putting it back in the office. I have filleted what feels like tonnes of paper from these files and have given up on the idea of shredding it - I'm just sticking it in the recycling (goes tomorrow) and good luck to anyone who really wants to go through it all and try to steal my identity... there are easier ways!

I realise that I haven't archived any paperwork since I moved here in 2013, and that categories need rejigging. Some archived stuff is no longer needed - bank/CC statements just need the annual summary and the current year's detail (much of which is moving to online anyway); invoices for purchases/work done relating to the previous house can go; same applies to car paperwork, insurance etc - all the archived stuff can be reduced and just the essentials from previous years added to this from the current files.

It also made me realise that I haven't really looked at my pension/ISA investments since I moved - I need to spend some time on these. Thankfully one of them which had a disastrous 2015/2016 seems to have made up for it in 2016/2017. But I have to have a sort out as I need to make sure I pay extra into my pensions for the next few months before my new employer's contributions kick in - and I also need to decide what to put in which ones (I have two SIPPs, just to confuse the issue).

I've hung some curtains today, which is making the house much cosier, and identified two pairs that I will definitely have no use for so will offer to my DB/DIL and if they don't want them, to friends who have just moved.

I seem to have managed to use up most of the wine, so need to order some more...