KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

GreyQueen

I often encounter elderly people through the course of my work who have left it very late in life to declutter and suddenly the logistics are almost insurmountable. I have a hoarder(ish) mother who I also love to bits but we will have a hard row to hoe when the time comes, I know.

I'm trying to be chilled about it, and not stress her out, but reckon anything we can re-home now will be one less item to deal with later. And, if I can at least find and collate the excess, there is a chance that they can be used by her now (an unhelpful scenario is the re-purchasing of things which already exist, because the current holdings have been forgotten or are remembered but are not findable).

If I know what and where the excess items are, and they are stored in such a way as to minimalise risks of dying in storage, I hope to be able to re-home things not needed by the family in an efficient manner.

But I'm absolutely with you on the maddingness (is that even a word?!) of knowing your mother's going to be putting a large houseworth into a bungalow and it can't possibly all fit and not shedding as much as possible before the move.

Sigh. We can love people and still be utterly exasperated about some of the things they do, hey?:rotfl:

iamsalt

Absolutely, if we were all the same we wouldn't have half as many amusing tales to tell.

I am seeing each item out is a positive, even if just one piece of paper. It's helped spur me on, and I have been far more considered what I take when we move soon. Even my friend who is minimal compared to me has filled 2 car loads for the charity shop AFTER her move

MMF007

iamsalt wrote: »

Absolutely, if we were all the same we wouldn't have half as many amusing tales to tell.

I am seeing each item out is a positive, even if just one piece of paper. It's helped spur me on, and I have been far more considered what I take when we move soon. Even my friend who is minimal compared to me has filled 2 car loads for the charity shop AFTER her move

Oh, we should have done a '2017 items out in 2017'! Or did someone already do that?!

greent

MMF007 wrote: »

Oh, we should have done a '2017 items out in 2017'! Or did someone already do that?!

Yep - there's a thread somewhere, I believe - I have my running total in my signature

MMF007

Oh no, I'm late to the party Again! Thanks greent. I'll have to do 2018

Karmacat

iamsalt, that's tough! I'm trying to sort my mum's house after the event, but we're only just starting to prepare the place for sale, but it's difficult at long distance.

short_bird

MMF007 wrote: »

Oh, we should have done a '2017 items out in 2017'! Or did someone already do that?!

well, the Minimalist's Game is 465 items a month: 3.5 months left of 2017 = er... quite a lot!

"We call it the 30-Day Minimalism Game: one thing on the first day. On the second, two things. Three items on the third. So forth, and so on. Anything can go! Clothes, furniture, electronics, tools, decorations, etc. Donate, sell, or trash. Whatever you do, each material possession must be out of your house—and out of your life—by midnight each day." But not everybody does that last bit of getting it out of the house.

oceanspirit

We have been clearing out OH's family home (50 years worth of stuff) over the last few months. He and his mother had started clearing things when his father died 3 1/2 years ago and we took over when his mother died earlier this year.

We've found paperwork going back to 1940s, all birthday, anniversary, Easter and Christmas cards ever received, clothes beyond wearing (ie a pair of knitted gloves which had more darning than glove) along with loads and loads of decent wearable clothes, some of which it would have been useful if we'd been able to find them during OH's mum's last few months only they were stashed away out of sight in suitcases and carrier bags in the bottom of the wardrobes.

We had to sort through every single bag as things were all mixed up together and we found some important paperwork in the most unlikely places.

The house looks so much bigger now that some of the furniture has gone although there is plenty more and we still have one bedroom full of boxes still to go through.

My own Kondoing has taken a back seat and I'm having bother with OH constantly buying more books even though we are supposed to be working on reducing numbers as we are short of space. He was complaining about the amount of things on the floor in my study this week (a few boxes of his clothes and shoes are amongst it) as he was concerned about me falling over them.

I ordered a posh Vitamix blender as I was hoping to just have that and get rid of 4 other gadgets in order to have more space on the worktop however I'm not sure I can manage to close the top properly. Will have a look at the instructions tomorrow - if I can't do it I'll have to send it back and think again.

GreyQueen

One of the things I spotted at Mum's on my last visit a fortnight ago (it was in a plastic pocket in a folder of knitting patterns, one of which we were looking for) was something I've mentioned before on here:

A wedding invitation from the 1960s, from very distant relations in London, sent to my parents. A wedding which they did not attend, btw, from people they have had no contact with since, but said invitation has travelled with them through three housemoves, the most recent in 1971 and still cannot be thrown away. When asked why not, I got the answer 'because'.:rotfl:

Now I can understand people keeping memorabilia from their own wedding, or even from the wedding of very close relations such as their own sons, daughters, siblings, but this stumps me.:D

I am on annual leave this week and will be doing a variety of things, including frequent visits to the juntique shop where the paper tiger still growls in corners. I am determined, armed with the Letter Opener of Righteousness and the Shredding Shield of Valour, to defeat this pesky pest.

I have explained to my pal on many occasions that the easiest way to deal with paperwork is asap after it arrives through the letterbox, as most of it is bills etc and, if you don't pay 'em promptly, your creditors send another. And another, so one piece becomes two or three or more and the paper tiger gets fatter and fatter.

My pal is extrememly clever and able at running the specialist side of his business but has severe paper-phobia.

He also mislays things frequently, currently on the lost list is one of a set of six silver spoons and paperwork related to various items which cannot be sold until re-united with them.

Oh, on behalf of juntique dealers everywhere, if any of you have those blue glass liners which come with silver (and sometimes silver-plated articles) please, whatever you do, do not put these into the recycling bin.

They are highly-sought after as are often broken in the course of a silver piece's life. You may be able to sell them but, if you can't, charity shop them where a dealer will be happy to buy them.

[Deleted User]

oceanspirit, what is wrong with the vitamix? I have one, perhaps I can help

Today I am back indoors and will take a long hard look at all the boxes inside my tall cupboard in the en suite, all the shower gels and so on. I have too many moisturisers and if truth be told, rarely use face products like that. A bit stomach churning again but I need to bite the bullet