KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

silvasava

DS1 wants the lever arch files - yipee!!

PollyWollyDoodle

Katiepants I sympathise- but keep going. A lot of people seem to find that the Kondo effect rubs off on those with whom they share their living space. Maybe when he sees how tidy your wardrobe/drawers are and how easy it is to find things, he'll begin to change. Well done on clearing your own stuff.

I posted on here a couple of weeks ago about buying a new microwave but finding it hard to throw out the glass turntable from the old one. I'd pretty much decided that it was going to go in the bin, but was still hesitating when my friend called round. Her eyes lit up when she heard I was throwing it out - her cleaner broke their turntable! So she's happy, I'm happy and the kitchen is tidy ... you never know who wants these things, but if I'm in this position again I think I'll offer it on Freecycle.

luxor4t

Sneaking in after a MSE break.... so I am trying to catch up.

Operation craft stash continues and
this wave involved culling my beloved cross stitch magazine collection. Around 50 have been shared with members of one of my craft groups and I am hoping the rest will be claimed soon, otherwise the local CS has a craft section that will benefit.

I have been finishing up UFOs and so far this month I have completed the 'string quilt' that has been hanging around for about 2 years, posted off two packets of cross stitched pieces to different charities, I (finally!) made up the needle book that I cross-stitched about 5 years ago, constructed a collage of receipts/ business cards/ travel tickets/ entry tickets to historic sites that have been piling up over the last umpteen holiday in Egypt. They are nicely displayed in the big box frame that has sat down the side of the desk for the last few years, and DH got it hung on the wall this morning (that bit only took a week!)


We had to have work done on the garage so took the chance to empty it. Ouch . The bikes were welcomed by a bike repair charity, and the fitness equipment went to another charity that can restore it and pass it on. We recycled as much as we could - some water damaged shelving, broken furniture, cracked and damaged garden pots etc etc They got used to DH at the recycling centre. It was a dump in there!

Today we had a run to the Air Ambulance CS with some house hold bits and two big pictures.


Needless to say, it barely shows - except in the garage. Plodding on - off to do some eBaying!

ivyleaf

Luxor You've done brilliantly :T!

GQ I think your quiet BH weekend was well deserved!

katiepants As Polly says, it often rubs off on one's partner after a while. I have the same problem, OH likes to have lots of things around him, I think it makes him feel secure, and I find I have to be careful sometimes not to Kondo things I actually want to keep, just for the sake of wanting to get rid of "stuff".

(I have been known to say to him in exasperation "When you die, it's all going in a skip, you know!" )

WeeMidgie

Today I kondoed to the charity shop some items that I wasn't sure if I might use in my new home, but have proved surplus to requirements - a beautiful heavy slubbed velvet curtain and some tension rods, amongst other things. I did have a pang of regret saying goodbye to the curtain, but it's a great opportunity for someone to use it to draught proof their front door. It was so bulky that it had lived in the car boot since I moved house three months ago.

The next bits to relinquish will be my single person tent, sleeping bag and self inflating mat. Recent events have persuaded me that my camping days are over. I've a younger friend who will make use of them. Time to thank them for the happy memories and let them go!

GreyQueen

:T Well done, Wee Midgie!


As I have seen so many useful and beautiful donated items for sale, some small fraction of which I've purchased myself, I feel surges of deep gratitude towards the unknown people who have kindly shared them with the rest of us, and thus supported the charity and released their possessions for the greater good. Your curtain etc will be appreciated and your camping gear will have further adventures with your young friend.



Today's cunning plan is a leisurely start, some errands and some mending of clothes, then an afternoon with my allotment. Many things have gone over, but what remains is turning jungly due to the rain after the long drought, I've had sunflowers popping up like cress. All presently about 6-8 inches high where their peers are over 6 ft tall and flowering and seeding.


I love sunflowers and let them self-seed and the bees and later the birds reap the bounty, and I get the joyousness of seeing them dotted around the plots.

WeeMidgie

Thank you, dear GQ for your very kind words, which I find really comforting and validating. It's so brilliant that here on MSE and particularly in the Old Style forums that we really get each other, and appreciate the efforts and sometimes wrenches (bye bye lovely velvet curtain!) which are guided by our values in ensuring that we carry no dead weight which could be used by someone else who has a crying need for it, who may get the spark of joy I had when I found the velvet curtain in a charity shop 30 years ago!

And we all understand each other's position and can empathise re the challenges of pursuing thrift and sharing; in prioritising family life, sometimes while living with uncooperative and/or uncomprehending spouses/partners. Been there, got the t shirt, then the divorce!

So thankful for the blessing that is Old Style and all you kindred spirits reading along and posting who have become virtual friends! An important part of maintaining my mental and emotional resilience, and I thank you all

I'm still coming to terms with closing the door on my ability to e.g. go camping, but it's a fact that won't change, and my focus now is on expanding into more of the things I can still do and enjoy, e.g. using up more of my rather large knitting wool and tapestry stashes. Now that will spark joy!

GreyQueen

Finally (as in after 4-5 months' worth of procrastination) got around to mending a pair of cotton trousers which I use on the allotment. They've been clean and folded up on my table for ages.


I thought that I'd need a fabric piece to make a patch and went into my box of fabric then realised that I didn't need the fabric but did hiff out a few bits of fabric which I don't think I'll use (haven't used them in the 10+ years I've kept them thus far) so I have now placed them in the donation bag. The box is still the same size but it's less rammed now and will be easier to use.


Plenty of other things to do around here but I'm having a pottering around day getting a few bits done. Whilst listening to minimalists on yoo tube. Nice blend of activities.

Karmacat

I had a pottering afternoon tidying things up, tidying things away - the gradual kondoing has made enough space upstairs that I can start to store like with like - photographs, papers, candles, stamps, all sorts. It makes such a difference, because now it's so much easier to just lay my hands on things. Not finished, of course!

Charly27

Hope you had a gentle time at the allotment GQ. Wee midgie I admire you thanking and releasing even though it would have been so easy to keep the curtain and the tent. I thought it was just me. I find some things easy to part with like the old IKe@ blinds in en suite and bathroom; both rooms south facing so the fabric is faded and rotted and has hung on for 13 years! But any projects or things to do with me, hopes and desires I do procrastinate. I kondoed 4 pots of massage wax to a student clinic before the B.B. date arrives. They’ve never been opened and I have six open. The only person I Massage is DH and I don’t charge him! I think it’s to do with accepting an alternative future where I’m not a holistic therapist working for myself.