KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

daisy_1571

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

Oh, Daisy, your post above made me roar - I didn't have quite as many garden tools as that, but the secateurs were into double figures. Mainly because the cheap ones go blunt after a year or so .... So why was I keeping them?. You've summed up everything that MK is about, the hanging on to 'who I want to become' even after we've moved on from that ambition.

PWD, I see myself carefully and lovingly cleaning all my beautiful hand crafted wooden and steel hand tools in a beautiful soft autumnal light: oiling the wood, polishing the steel each year and gently hanging them all up in my lovely shed saying "night night, see you in spring" when I will emerge like the timotei lady and waft round my wild flower garden. After 51 years I have finally realised that 1) my tools are almost all cheap plastic, cheap metal that bends when any force is applied, ancient wooden tools that no one is quite sure what they are for any more or ones that give me splinters cos every time in the last 12 years mr daisy or I have picked up a tool with a long handle my lovely dog comes over and gently takes them off us - for our own safety I reckon he thinks - and lies down with his paws over it to stop us taking it back so the ones we *have* used are easily identifiable by the teeth marks, 2) that any shed i have is likely to be 'useful' rather than 'lovely' and tools will have to over winter themselves in whatever fashion they last got shoved in before i realised its the last time that year i will use them 3) the only wild flower garden i seem able to cultivate properly is dandelions and daisies in my grass and its hard to waft convincingly though flowers only a few inch high and 4) i am actually more Sid James than Cyd Charrisse when I waft and although I did once own a big white dress capable of being wafted gloriously i think i only wore it once cos even tho I was young and it was the 80s i wouldnt have shifted much shampoo in it. But you know what ? I'm ok with all of that now. Ah, age, it brings a wisdom and acceptance all of its own does it not !! Lol. :T

As an aside strangest items discovered during the clear out in a bag of hand tools - a massive lump hammer that thor may recognise ?? I know I'm an enthusiastic amateur but a hammer ??? and an electronic crossword puzzle solver ??? *perplexed face* have to assume it came from the inlaws. (BTW it still works yaay)

elona

After a week of sensible eating I have kondoed five pounds. I had hoped for more then realised that in the past I had been "on diets" and lost a lot of weight in the first few weeks but could not sustain it and ended up feeling miserable and a failure.

I bite the bullet and emptied under the sink as a new washing machine is delivered this afternoon. Horrified how much stuff was there but it is all now in a cardboard box and just a few items will make their way back with the box going in the integral garage so I don't keep buying stuff just because an area gets so cluttered I can't find things.

Loads of dirty washing in my bedroom as could not use the machine for the last five days but it should not take long to clear as the weather should be good.

Youngest came back at the weekend to pick up some stuff for her new flat and very kindly looked out some cuddly toys for me to wash before she eventually takes them back.

carolbee

Daisy, I love your descriptions of gardening! I too think I look like a Laura Ashley ad, wafting around with an artisan made trug, filled with larkspur etc. The reality is I wear shorts and a usually mucky by the time I've finished tee shirt, and have carrier bags of beetroot!

Love that your dog protects you from suicide by secateurs

Siebrie

Daisy, I'm like you in that I always forget when it is exactly the last time I use my garden equipments. Luckily, I'm not alone, as Monty Don (presenter Gardeners' World) once claimed he didn't take proper care of his gardening tools, either.

daisy_1571

Vjsmum - back in January on the closed thread you were trying to start a system of not having a wee box in your kitchen for used batteries. How's that going ? My system is as soon as I take the dud battery out it goes in a little pocket of current handbag. Then when i am next in beee and quuuu or wherever has a drop off point if I spot it I just search that pocket and if there's a battery there, off it pops. Has worked for me for a couple of years now and stops leakage when you leave them in a wee box too long. Hope it helps but you have probably mastered something in the 7 months since lol

Daisy xx

Slinky

Well we've had a lovely day. Went for a walk we first went on 11 years plus 1 day ago. We have a book called Pub Walks for Motorists, although we suspect the author may have visited the pub before the walk rather than the end, as we've done several of the walks and manage to get lost on all of them. However the second time we did this walk I annotated it so that this third time was quite straightforward. The purpose of the walk was to go and collect blackberries. The first time we did it, we had no bags so had to walk past. The second time we went with friends, with the express purpose of collecting blackberries and making a crumble. It was a very poor year and we struggled to find enough to make dessert for 4. This time we've done pretty well and have now got blackberries freezing on trays. I'm not doing crumble today as I did pear crumble yesterday and have half of it left. Was a lovely walk and will stick in the mind. This bank holiday last year I wasted doing paperwork for a house purchase we eventually pulled out of. I was determined today would be better.

We also called past the tip on the way out and ditched the detritus which had built up in the garage, plus the stuff that got left in the side alley last time by mistake. Waved goodbye to the deep fat fryer I never knew had been sharing our home......

flubberyzing

Evening all.
I'm pleased to report that I have basically successfully kondo'd my entire flat! I did it in about a week of pretty solid effort, and have now been living with it for about 4 weeks. And I'm pleased so far that I've managed to maintain it fairly easily. It's made easier by doing what I'm calling "the evening sweep". Basically I just put everything back that I've got out/moved/fiddled with during the day, so that the next day I'm back to the original.
There are a couple of very small areas to go. There's the cupboard under the sink, the pots and pans cupboard, and 2 drawers under the bed. No doubt that I'll come to them in time!
Out of interest, I kept a count of how many binbags I threw out/donated. 24 of them! And I've honestly not missed the contents yet of any of them. In fact, I couldn't even tell you anything that was in them! Which just shows, it was total rubbish.

allybee101

Thanks for the tips and advice.
M & SD in 60s so not frail or incapable. They are very fond of Justin Case and Mike Cuminandy, I think there are some other historical psychological reasons around things as well. Apparently losing a parent at a young age can result in tendencies to have a lot of stuff or hoard as it's a way of controlling environment and keeping hold of important things. It's a trauma that both they, and me and my brother have gone through so I can understand where some of it comes from.

I promise nothing has been stealth removed or forcibly got rid off, just tidied up and neatly stacked rather than being jumbled into the cupboards so they can at least get things out without everything falling out on heads
I shall be careful to offer help but not force anything.

Daisy, love your gardening visuals, had forgotten the Timotei lady!

daisy_1571

Here's the Big Dog helping Mr Daisy and ensuring work place safety

MMF007

Daisy - "!Ah, age, it brings a wisdom and acceptance all of its own does it not !! Lol.!!"

YOU ARE SO RIGHT! I love being middle aged, so much more relaxed about what others think (who cares?!!), and a realisation that we can change some things but there is plenty we can't!

Thanks to everyone for your insightful, amusing, inspirational posts. You have all been so busy. I detect a theme for this last few days of helping others with an eye on the MK magic. So to all Mum's with returning kidults, daughters with cluttered parents, aspiring gardeners and the big dog, I say three cheers. You deserve it. :rotfl: :beer: :T