KonMari 2017 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Wednesday2000

I am trying to use natural cleaners in my house so I ordered a few big bottles of white vinegar which I will use in clean spray bottles.

I realised I have to find room to store the vinegar as I have a small kitchen so I will have to go through the under sink cupboard. We keep some tinned dog food there so I will try to use that up as the dogs prefer the Waitrose wet sachets, yes I spoil them!:D I want it to look all clean and minimal when I look in that cupboard.:)

I'm using up the end of a bottle of baby lotion as hand cream, I have it standing upside down near the kitchen sink for after I wash my hands. I used up the end of a facial scrub on my feet this morning too.

fpcat

Delurking again to report in. I also have been working in the attic, which in my case is a bedroom the full size of the house footprint, with a proper staircase up to it. So easy to access, so easy to dump stuff. I've been working up there for 2 weeks on and off, and I've just phoned my CS and arranged to drop everything off on Monday. OH will help me offload. I just need for it to stop raining so I can load it up. I haven't counted each individual thing but there is one last plastic sack with a blanket and my aspirational cross stitch kits, all new and unopened. Also 6 banana boxes, 5 smaller boxes, 8 assorted bags, and to go Thursday a bag of clothes, another carrier and 2 winter coats. Also I put the old encyclopaedia Britannica (33 volumes) which has been bugging me, on Freecycle and someone says he will have them! Unfortunately they're also in the attic, and they weigh a ton, but he's coming tomorrow so we have to haul those down. They'll have to sit on the stairs, no room elsewhere, but think of all that space upstairs , still much to do but room to do it now. 😀

GreyQueen

:T Excellent work, fpcat, you'll be so relieved when you say sayonara to that lot.

I'm pootling around at home waiting for the predicted dry weather we're supposed to have this afternoon to materialise. I have a bonfire swaddled in tarpaulin and burnables stacked in the allotment shed, you see.All I need is a little dry weather and whoosh, up it will go.

Meanwhile, I finished the last chapters of a library book which I'll be taking back shortly and got on with a few chores and also thought I'd wrap a gift. I had a couple of rolls of gift-wrap sleeved in old tights stashed up the corner of the room. Got one out, opened it up, and it turned out that there was just an 8 inch strip of giftwrap on the brown-paper roll.

Doh. Needless to day, the thing to be wrapped was considerably greater than 8 inches wide! Fortunately, I had a second roll of paper but, the one which was stored nearly empty was taking up just as much space as the full one. What a waste of time.

Being OS, I have saved the strip in a plastic folder I use for small bits of giftwrap for now, it'll come in handy for a small gift at some point.

Shows you that stored stuff needs to be kept an eye on, or you end up thinking you have more (or even less) than you actually have. I will get some more of the giftwrap mountain from the parental attic when next over that way (we consolidated our holdings as I didn't have space for mine, they're all sleeved in tights, labelled and under the eaves).

Hope everyone has a great day. GQ x

maddiemay

I have been away looking after mum after having had a spell in hospital, so no new kondoing happening, but OH took another bag of books to the dog shop, so 3 bags of books, clothes and odds and ends have left MM towers this week. Trying to kondo some foodstuffs, some from stores, some fresh into some meals for the next few days and freezer.

greenbee

I'm preparing for the builders to come back, so lots of tidying and packing away needs to go on. I've just got my winter clothes out and put away my summer ones, weeding out the stuff I don't wear or that is getting tatty.

Two collections on being built up for donation - one for the homeless shelter (includes airline amenity packs and mini toiletries) and one for the CS. I just have to get to them when they are open.

I found quite a lot of half-used mini-toiletries as I was doing this, so they are lined up in the bathroom where I can see them and use them up.

My bedroom is feeling very crowded, as I'm having to move some more furniture in there - eventually most of the ground floor will need clearing, which means most of the rest of the house will be out of action as it'll be full of other furniture. I have to make sure that all the stuff I need during this couple of months is in the bedroom which will be a challenge as I usually spread my clothes around different wardrobes!

I'm going to try to be ruthless while packing up and get rid of all the odd glasses/china etc that I really don't need. I have far too much stuff, and don't want to spend all my time packing and unpacking it. Just having a break for lunch now (making sure I finish up odds and ends...) and then need to get back to tidying things up. And work out when I can get to the CS to drop off, as I don't want stuff hanging about!

minnie2

So i have been attempting the system but finding it hard to gather everything together at one time to sort due to having two under 3yr olds.i have managed to find 111 pens (biros) so far and i do not collect pens!!!! I do have a question though .....i have managed to get rid of lots of stuff however as a lot of it is too good just to throw away have i messed up by doing too much at once? I feel like its going to take me forever now to offload to different places the mountain of stuff that is taking up my usually very empty living room!!! But when ive had the opportunity when the kids have popped to grandparents for the odd hour ive just cracked on.but i dont want the stuff to migrate back into the house.i did a tip run yesterday when my sister popped round.i did gift some radley stuff to her although she wanted more she tried to take items i wanted to keep!! I just feel a bit overwhelmed with the stuff i have to stare at all day

Siebrie

When / if you are out and about, check where you can donate stuff; is there a clothes container, battery recycling at your supermarket, church or WI having a jumble sale, school looking for draw prizes, charity shop, family. Or is there anyone around who can do this for you? My parents collect stuff from various people, sift through it, and make sure it gets to the right place. Ask around if there are any shelters, maybe put some things outside with a sign 'free'.

Husband cleared his 2/3rds of our shared wardrobe! Everything in neat piles, no more overcrowding!

I went through my skirts, dresses, and trousers, and put the summer items in the attic (that's my system and Marie has no say!).

The garden cress from 2002 and 2004 did not sprout at all, so the bit of earth and content from the sachet are in the compost bin. I have now sown some with bbd May 2017 and am already nibbling on the broccoli sprouts I've sown last week.

On Thursday I kondoed my last wisdom tooth, by the specialist in hospital. The pain was bearable until today, but this afternoon I had to take a triple dose of ibuprofen. Husband has made fries and fishfingers for dds; I'll have some soup .

GreyQueen

The tarped-over bonfire was uncovered and was nice and dry, although we'd had about 18 hours of rain by that point. I added in the ten paper spud sacks full of dried weeds from the shed and the whole thing went in about 5 minutes from a single match. Very gratifying.

There are plenty more drying-out weeds strewn in two areas of the lottie but they'll have to be bagged once they're as dry as possible (if it ever stops raining, grr) and go on a later bonfire.

All in all, pretty canny use of some rubbish weather, plus I have done two rows on my WIP hand-hooked rug, leaving a mere 14 left to do.

I also brought down a small bag of rubbish from the allotment shed, half a 10 litre compost bag, and put it in the bin. Mainly non-recyclable stuff dug out of the soil where it had been left by previous plotholders.

All in all, pretty pleasing day. I have now showered and got into my brushed cotton jammies and put my brushed cotton duvet cover on, for the first time since Spring. It is now officially Autumn.:p

Speaking of Autumn, I have been using that terrycloth tea-towel constantly since I took possession of it last October and it is now about a third of a way to being worn out. And that's using it constantly and no other. Amazing how long things last, hey?

wort

Minnie2 some charity shops will collect. I have phoned scope ,in the past but recently used British heart foundation. They tell you when they are in your area and you leave the bags out for them.

whiteguineapig

Minnie2 you can also use the bags that come through the door for clothing donation , we seem to get loads , nearly one each week