KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

milasavesmoney

Big box of paper shredded. Yes!
I stopped last year when I got to paper because we had to tear up the floor due to a water leak. That led to months and months of remodeling. My house is finally put back together after almost a year so I can now resume where I left off. :T

daisy_1571

We both come from reasonably affluent backgrounds ie parents paying mortgage rather than rent but we both shared rooms with siblings until at least double figures and although we had a sweetie tin in my home as a child you didn't help yourself- it got brought out and you asked for one please. And by one I mean one pan drop or a fruit drop not a whole packet and that was our lot for the evening. Crisps for example were for specific meals/picnics not just in the cupboard for us kids and pals to help themselves whenever they feel like it as seems to happen nowadays. I have said my advent calendar story earlier so I know we didn't live like dickens times compared to some.

When we got our first flat we had one plug in electric fire in the livingroom so I always joke if we wanted central heating we had to pull it into the middle of the living room. We had hand me down furniture from the family, Mr daisy's grans cooker (only 3 rings worked) and chairs with a curtain artfully chucked over it to make it seem 'modern' (it didnt), a portable tv on a dressing table as a makeshift piece of livingroom furniture and on windy nights the carpet lifted etc etc. Our second house was a semi and we felt we had really made it. Still no central heating, same cooker then the inlaws updated their ancient kitchen and we got their old cooker (only 3 rings worked) and our 'new' carpets for our livingroom were always their old one when they changed theirs with the wear marks and faded bits. We did get a bit posh and got an oil filled radiator that plugged in and we used to put a timer plug on it and drag it into the bathroom so in the morning there would be a tiny bit of the chill taken off for our showers. It just meant when we got up we didn't hang around and the morning routine from getup to leaving was very short.

This house I'm in now was my grandas and oh the joy - central heating and a cooker with 4 rings. Before I could get too used to it though one broke and we couldn't get a replacement so again it was another ten years of 3 rings. I still get such pleasure from walking past a piece of wall that heat emanates from. I realise none of this is little match girl stuff but I try not to be complacent about the fact that my life with all the small annoyances is actually very very comfortable compared to lots of people in this world. A lot of what I just accepted in my childhood I now look back and realise they couldn't afford anything else. Holidays were the 5 of us and the dog in a tent which can't have been much of a holiday for mum, but at least we had holidays most years so again, I'm not complaining or showing off depending on your view.

I see some of my friends children looking at houses or cars and turning their nose up at things I would have been so grateful for. Does it make me more noble? Does it make them wrong to want to start out with the best? Probably not but I know the pleasure we got from small increases in our standard of living and I feel sad they won't get that feeling. A young friend of ours asked us to go car shopping when we were teaching her to drive. We were trying to get her to look at a wee car she could buy outright but she ended up signing up to one of these pcp things for a brand new car because 'she would be embarrassed turning up to collect any of her friends in a second hand car'. This was a girl from a very poor background but had such a feeling of entitlement at times i stugged to understand. I had a loan of my parents' car if they werent using it and i thought i was queen of ****ing everything and so happy.

Where do you go after having a brand new car at 21 ?? What do you do if your first flat is actually a brand new, fancyschmantcy, everything matching apartment ?? Am I just saying I didn't get one why should anyone else ?? I had to struggle so I resent anyone getting 'above themselves'?? Did my parents generation think the same of my generation that we were all reaching too far too soon ?? I only ask these questions as much of myself as for anyone else to answer as I find it interesting. I'm all for people getting on, but the satisfaction of working for something, saving for it, waiting for it, I don't think instant gratification is a good thing for anyone.

Apologies if this is rambling and too many different threads.

PollyWollyDoodle

Interesting thoughts, Daisy. I don't think the 'entitlement' thing is just the younger generation. I have friends of my age (mid 50s) who buy very expensive cars 'because I've never had a brand new car before'. One is mortgaging the mortgage-free flat that she fought a bitter divorce to get in order to buy a new car, which makes me shudder. Good luck to them, but it makes me wonder if they think I'm a cheapskate driving my five-year old car ... I'm just very happy to have a car that doesn't cost a lot to run and which I paid for outright. And I know I'm lucky to have a car at all, it's not an option for some.

I'm sure some of my friends think I'm a stingy old miser who doesn't know how to have a good time! I'm happy with my choices. KM for me is about simplifying things and just making everyday life easier. Saving money by not buying stuff is incidental.

[Deleted User]

I am ready to put the emotions behind me now but it was good to be in that space for a while, it released something and re-set me to a different place, which is good, taken me out of that cyclone and extended my horizons, I suppose it brought me back to a little more objectivity rather than pure subjectivity, which was becoming more and more narrowly confined

Call it what you will, it allows for energy to flow in our living spaces, we might be skint or any grade up to and including rich, it matters not one jot. At the end of the day, it is helping us all to cope with a smile in this very difficult world

Today I am going to fine tooth a few rooms, could I just pack the room and move the contents and would I want to? Questions I need to ask myself, I suppose this time, I want to hug the whole room as one joyous entity? I can do it this way because I live alone and I have finished basic KM and more

Sj62

Oh CatShark, I really hope you come back. I think the whole minimalism thing was more about people who judge others' reasons for decluttering when they've never been in that position themselves. This is not a judgemental place to be. Yes, I had a poor childhood but not as bad as some and it's the reason I hang onto stuff that I shouldn't, and sometimes think I might be a borderline hoarder and buy stuff I don't always need. But MK is a brilliant way to let go of things without judging yourself or anyone else.

On a more positive note I think I finally Kondoed my cold thank god. Back to clothes today. Packing away for the winter is always a good chance for Kondo!

PollyWollyDoodle

kittie wrote: »

Today I am going to fine tooth a few rooms, could I just pack the room and move the contents and would I want to?

That's a great question ! Pre KM it would have been impossible for me to even think that way. Now- even in the rooms where I need to revisit some areas - I can picture exactly what is there.

oceanspirit

Have been reading the minimalism -v- kondo discussions with interest.

My home is cluttered due to moving from a larger property a number of years ago plus chronic illness which has meant a build up of paperwork etc which wouldn't have happened had I been well.

I am a long way off completing my tidying up journey due to life events over the last year however positive changes have been happening as my home becomes clearer; we were able to take an extra holiday in October last year due to there being money left over having not spent it on unnecessary things (including clothes) and the big emotional change is that I am growing in confidence which was very much needed.

I still have too many clothes and will go through those again once the comfort eating tyre around my middle has fallen off (it's too soon to focus on that whilst we are dealing with other things so will be a few months before I start). I now wear nicer clothes around the house, except when doing mucky jobs, instead of saving them for best.

We are using up some consumables found whilst clearing out OH's mother's house including a lovely rose scented soap which was in gorgeous packaging (there were a number of lovely soaps dotted around in various hiding places which I guess were too good to be used and I'm looking forward to us continuing to use those over the next few months). We'll not need to buy any cleaning materials for years once we bring them back here when the house is sold.

I am hoping that the next change will be that OH stops spending money on things that are not needed (can you send the aliens over, MMF007?). I live on a much smaller income than he and he can't work out why I have money left over at the end of each month and he doesn't, :rotfl: He does however have a large collection of books, dvds and cds. I have suggested that he could borrow these from the library in future as he is a regular visitor there (twice a week or more) but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears as the packages continue to arrive.

This week a bra has gone in the bin as white elastic in the strap was showing through the black - yippee, more space in the undies drawer - a book has gone on the CS pile (we take them to local NT property) and more papers into recycling or shredding.

VJsmum

And, let us not forget the 'life changing magic' part...

I am one who has changed their lives since starting this journey, giving up my job to be a full-time (all be it on a scholarship) PhD student. I can't say for sure it is because i tidied my sock drawer but I certainly believe the whole 'spark joy' thing has something to do with it.

As our old friend iQueen used to say "I've discovered my 'woo' and I am not letting go of it". :rotfl:

So, DS has been safely deposited at Uni, he seems to have settled in and my conservatory is clearer. house still a tip because of the drain scenario, that's going to take a while to sort. HOwever, i intend to lose one of the filing cabinet drawers today...

Siebrie

We had lovely weather over the weekend, so on Saturday I scarified the lawn with the help of dd1, and added pellet manure.

On Sunday I was on my own for the afternoon, so I read a book with a cup of tea, then went through my seed box. I discarded the empty packages of things I sowed earlier this year, threw out some dried bulbs I never got round to planting last year, and sowed all the seeds that said 'September sowing' in the instructions. Hopefully, I'll have radishes, winter aconites, garden cress, and broccoli cress. The last two are in the kitchen window sill. The garden cress packages had best-before-dates of 2002 and 2004 :eek: All the seed packages now fit in one box

I found 4 empty boxes in the garage, no wonder it's cluttered. 2 have been flattened and will go to paper recycling, 2 have gone to the attic to collect recycling/donation items.

I've swapped 2 shoe boxes in dds' wardrobe, to accommodate the longer trousers dd1 now wears. She's 9, but wears the sizes for 11-year-olds.

catshark88

What a lovely group you are. Thank you.

I misread your planting Siebrie and thought you had acolytes. Had a vision of tiny, robed, religious people walking over your flowerbeds, like the monks on Monty Python!

I discovered a forgotten stash yesterday in a bedside cupboard. It gave me a bit of a shock, but is all now in recycling bins. The lovely bit is that a friend is having a blanket box I wanted to get rid of. It was one of those mistake purchases, which I never liked once I'd got it home. I suspect she'll paint it and it will prob look great. I love it when something goes to someone who will really enjoy and make use of it. :j