KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

PollyWollyDoodle

Siebrie, good to get rid of that stuff - you are entering a new chapter of your life and I'm sure reminders of the old job didn't spark much joy!

I had one of those moments of revelation last night. I really loathe wrapping presents, and I'm very bad at it. I don't quite understand why other people are able to produce neat corners while my parcels are never symmetrical, I consider it a win if the paper and Sellotape stay together long enough for the recipient to get a surprise! Nonetheless, I seem to have collected a lot of ribbon, fancy decorations etc.

Last night, whilst wrapping some rather lumpy gifts, I realised that I've been doing this for around 50 years and if I haven't improved by now I'm probably never going to! My plan for next year is to make reusable gift cloth bags anyway, so I'm just using up the paper I already have. I now have a plastic bag full of ribbon bows, gift tie, miniature baubles, and so on – if I get it to the CS this week, I hope that someone else will be able to use it this Christmas. And I have a spare box that can be repurposed for something else. Win-win!

GreyQueen

:T Hooray, PWD, for deciding to release yourself from Christmas-wrapping-hell. And letting the trimmings go.


I tend to buy people books fro gifts. We're a family of bookworms so it's a popular choice but there's a little voice in the back of my mind crowing and they're sooo easy to wrap!

I shall be spending the christmas week at the 'rents and Mum has already asked me to sort out The Bedroom Cupboard of Doom and the linens, and I have volunteered to do some additional sorting in her bedroom, which she has seized up gleefully.


I always volunteer sorting chores, but sometimes they're not wanted, but this year she's asking me, which is great. I don't like watching telly but give me a shelf/ cupboard/ drawer and I am as happy as a pig in the proverbial. Cannot wait!

oceanspirit

OH and I are going away for Christmas this year and I was thinking that it will be an anti-climax coming home - no more now I know I'll have GQ's "Tales from the Homestead" to look forward to. I wonder what exciting things will be found this time...

silvasava

GQ - hope Father Christmas brings you plenty of sorting at the homestead We are all now looking forward to the tales!

GreyQueen

Awww, bless you! Who knows what I will find and whether it will be prosaic or totally crazy. We shall have to wait and see, I'm rubbing my hands in glee. Won't be there until early evening on 24th and am wondering if it would be acceptable to start in on the clutter on Xmas Day itself........... probably not. Boxing Day might be the earliest.

greenbee

I don't know GQ... there's bound to be something that needs putting away or finding Anyway, if you run out, you know you're always welcome to visit...

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

I don't know GQ... there's bound to be something that needs putting away or finding Anyway, if you run out, you know you're always welcome to visit...

he he, if I was a lady of leisure with a car, not a wage serf with a pushbike, I'd be tempted to tour the country offering decluttering/ gardening services in return for room & board.


Have been on the allotment for a couple of hours and a wee robin has been helping me by snacking on tiny grubs (and one stonking great lime green caterpillar) as I turn the soil. Always like having a birdie do this, most grubs which live in the soil are predators on plant roots, so better they be birdfood than lurk and chew my veggie roots in 2019.:)

Siebrie

My parents are here this week that makes me happy.

They are constantly decluttering their home. They were not well off in their early years, Dad worked as an Admin in the local university hospital, Mum worked occasionally as a Social Worker, but stayed home mostly to raise my adopted sister and me. Sis and I needed a lot of help growing up Anyway, all this is to say that they never threw anything away, because it cost money or might come in handy.

Sis had a falling out with them a few years ago, and went no-contact. Contact has been restored now, but is limited. I have no contact with sis, as she is not safe to be around (whatever you tell her comes back to you from 20 different sources, she needs to be the centre of everyone's constant attention, everyone darker than her is 'less' (she is Asian, my husband African...), etc). My parents recently changed their wills and made me Executor. Mum especially, wants to make sure there is the least possible friction an work for me when the time comes, and is decluttering everything. I even had to stop her when she wanted to throw out a photobook of a trip she and Dad made to Norway five years ago, that they enjoyed very much. They may live another twenty years; I am sure they will want to reminisce about enjoyable trips!

Karmacat

Siebre, sorry to hear about the family tensions. Can I ask (not to have it answered on here, just for you really) are you the only Executor? When my mum died, the three of us were joint executors - there was no friction between us, that wasn't a problem, but the legalities of proving who we were to various people were horrendous - being in the same room for some of it, the right sort of documents for all of us (and a lot of them), either all of us signing the same document, or each of us signing a separate one ... it was a nightmare. If someone was loathe to co-operate, I really can't imagine it ever getting done. We specialised in relation to which task we did - my brother decorated the house, I did the finances and the photos, my sister did the belongings. Again, if we'd been fighting one another, it would've been a nightmare. If you have the least doubt that old problems might recur, I'd think about asking your mum to make you the only Executor - thats not to challenge the terms of the will, just to make it easier to carry out those terms. Sorry to butt in, but its all fresh for me.

Siebrie

Thank you, Karmacat. I really am the only Executor, put in place to give me some leverage over my sister, who can be forceful, both physically and badmouthedly, to get her way. She has been known to take items from an inheritance, to pass or sell on to colleagues, instead of letting family friends have a choice first, and similar antics.