KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

GreyQueen

Slinky wrote: »

GreyQueen does the removal of your old kitchen towel allow space for Gary to re-emerge?

The kitchen towel has to be a hand towel size as it has to hang on a hook from a loop broadsides onto the towel. Gary The Towel is a decent sized bath towel and is far too big.


I shall be wheeling out Manista, which has pride of place as the only ever freebie (apart from the odd biro) to come my way in 30-odd years of employment. I worked briefly for a car parts factor and Manista was one of the brands they stocked. It's a great quality blue hand towel with a broad woven stripe at one end with Manista on it.


Have just cut one inch of the height of a cardboard carton which once held 5 reams of copier paper at my workplace - I did ask if I could have the empty carton. The one inch broad strip cut off the edge was to allow clearance for the carton + lid to fit into my wall unit, and I used the cut off strip to re-inforce the top edge of the carton, by stapling it around the inside.


Some of the Soup Mountain is now stashed tidily inside. And I think I need another few of these same cartons to store other things, so will keep an eye out at the orifice.:p

Karmacat

Thats good, GQ! I've been eyeing some cardboard boxes recently for that sort of thing.


Siebrie, good for you for analysing the phone usage: I could certainly pay less for my mobile - £8 a month or so less. Thats got to be good.

Moll

[QUOTE=WeeMidgie;

I have a large number of unused greetings cards accumulated over many years. I'm going to sort them by category and store them in large manila envelopes, so that I don't have to go raking through the whole lot every time.


thats a brilliant idea, i think ill do the same

GreyQueen

The carton holds two rows of standard soup cans, two deep, with room alongside for smaller things. In this case, sardines.


It's a remarkably efficient and tidy method of storage and I can see a future where my shed storage will also feature copier paper boxes.


They're recycled cardboard, originally holding recycled copier paper, and then, when worn out and too tatty, can be recycled themselves. IMO, a lot better than buying plastic crates which will eventually break and end up in landfill. Winning!

greenbee

I hope you enjoy the sessions with the outplacement agency Siebrie. It's nice to have the space to re-evaluate and see what your skills and experience can enable you to do rather than assuming you have to keep on a set path.

If interpreting is something you are interested in, you should continue to investigate it. Did he explain why he didn't recommend it? If you're not convinced, maybe you could look at some volunteering with charities who need the languages you have skills in. Some are more in demand than others, obviously. I have a friend who did this, and said no one needed her English/French skills, not that many wanted English/Greek but she could get as much work as she wanted with French/Greek. (She was trilingual in those languages from birth)

Siebrie

Thank you all for thinking along!

The consultant suggested that English was a well-known language by many people, so not many would require my services; not many companies have interpreters on their payroll, so that would mean either freelance work with tough competition, or European institutions, which come with entrance exams and studying their interests and history. I'm not particularly interested in politics and European (Union) history, so that's a no-go.

I just love being the one in the middle that can make people understand each other; that's also the part of my secretary work that I enjoyed best.

tantaraza

Hello, everyone :hello:

I’m new to the KonMari method — I’d heard about it before, but not really appreciated how useful it could be until I watched the Netflix show. Long story short, I moved back into the parental home after an emergency, and everything I owned went into boxes, where they’ve been for... far too long. Now, I’m moving out in two weeks :eek: and the hope is that, using KonMari, I can a) declutter and end up with less to transport, and b) divide things into “essentials to fit into my car” and “boxes for the moving van”. I’m expecting it to be difficult as deciding whether I love and use something is hard when that something has been in inaccessible boxes. Many times I’ve wanted to read a particular book or use a certain item and ended up disappointed because I can’t get at it. I’m expecting the next couple of weeks to be very stressful, but I’m hoping it’ll benefit me in the long run.

Wise members of this thread, how do you manage to kondo something that you’ve kept because you haven’t been able to use it? (eg it’s been stuck in a loft or garage and you can’t get it out) I would appreciate any advice, I need as much help as I can get

WeeMidgie

Tantaraza, welcome. If you think you might use something that's been in storage, I would adopt the 5 box approach:
1) definitely keep
2) may be useful
3) sell
4) charity shop
5) trash

With the "keep" and "may be useful" boxes, write a list of contents, labelled to match the box number or letter. Keep it handy! Then it's easy to find things and not be tempted to buy another one because you don't know which box it's in.

After a few months you can then make decisions about things which still haven't emerged from the boxes.

WeeMidgie

My friend was delighted to receive the seven Kilner jars, as unbeknownst to me, she had that day bought and prepared 3.5kg of Seville oranges, and didn't have enough jars. It was great to fulfill a need in timely fashion! From my car boot to hers, if only all of life went as smoothly!

janejamie

How very satisfying!