KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

PollyWollyDoodle

Great news, and good luck with the move.

I have waved goodbye to a bicycle, it actually belongs to a friend and has been in my garage since I moved here almost 13 years ago. It's gone to another friend, who is just got a job and needs a bike to get there, I also gave her a pump (off the other defunct bike which still needs a good home) and a cycle helmet. Hasn't made a huge amount of space in the garage but it has made me realise I need to have a good clear out in there!

Karmacat

Slinky, I'm very pleased for you, congratulations! May all your kondoing bear fruit, which leaves pips that can then be planted

Igamogam

Have been away for MSE and KM for awhile - too much going on in RL - just busy! Moved DD2 and her BF out of their student house a couple of week s ago and we now have the entire contents of a house - bar furniture - all around the house:o They both started at their vacation jobs straight away - long hours so we have been slowly chipping away at it. I have been ill too then OH was ill ( iller of course:mad:) and work pressure etc etc Anyway to day is the day we have a big push at it just me and DD2 in house and we can work quickly and without interruption.........well I will be stopping to watch the tennis;)

To be fair DD2 has cleared out a lot of her clothes and 'stuff' that she hasn't touched in the last 3 years of university...........but she seems to have accumulated a load more. As she puts it, it is 'grown up' stuff all the pre university stuff being 'childhood stuff' and although she has hung onto a couple of things, she has been ruthless! They will both be off to an overseas placement for their 4th year in October.......I just hope what is left behind fits into her bedroom:eek:

Feel good to back on the KM journey in an odd way I have missed it......:rotfl:

Pooky

We exchanged on Thursday too Slinky! A day early...how utterly amazing that anything to do with solicitors was early.

I'm 98% packed and ready to go and there a lot, lot less than we moved in 8 years ago.

Karmacat

Congratulations to you too, Pooky - fancy having less now than 8 years ago, thats really something

Slinky

We have moved our cat to her new town, she has gone into a cattery. She was very good despite not being a good traveller normally. She was in the car for 2 hours without issue from either end! We have tidied up our new home following the building work, now back at the old home again with removers coming for day one of packing in the morning.

Pooky

Having less stuff than 8 years ago has been helped hugely by both DDs moving out in the past year, they've both brought their own flats so I made them take everything with them. Funny how they wanted to keep boxes of childhood toys/old school books and clothes when it was in our loft but it could all go in the bin when they needed to store it .

We are downsizing from a large 3 bed semi with conservatory, big kitchen extension and larger than average garage to a 2 bed detached bungalow. Lots had to go! Our current garden is just 30ft long but the new one is 170ft long so major downsize on the house but upsizing the garden.

It's so easy to fill the space you have with stuff you think you might need but a house move really brings it into focus. I've packed the majority of the house now and kitchen wise it's just a couple of plates/bowls/cups and basic cutlery/a baking tray and 2 pans. I've coped all week with just these items and it does make you wonder why I need all the rest. We are going to be without a dishwasher at the new house (no room for one currently) so I gave mine (staying for the new owners) a good clean and stopped using it. I hadn't really made the link between how much more "stuff" you need when you have a dishwasher, more cups and glasses, a 2nd set of cutlery etc because there's always something sitting in the racks waiting to be washed. It was a godsend when DDs were still living at home and there was more crockery required for each meal but for just the two of us, a quick wash up after every meal takes less than 5 minutes and everything is dry and put away ready to use again. I don't think we'll bother with a dishwasher when we get round to a new kitchen.

Slinky

We were quite lucky when we bought our new home. The kitchen hadn't long been replaced before the owner passed away. She obviously had family who had persuaded her to put in a slimline dishwasher, but she had obviously carried on just washing up her stuff herself. It was completely unused. We had a tenant in for 18 months using it, but it should be good for a long time yet. We find that a slimline is big enough for just two of us, without having to have a whole factory full of crockery in our kitchen. The only thing I do envisage is that the mugs section will fill up very quickly as they water in the new area is shockingly hard, and re-using a used mug for another drink (as we do at the moment) isn't a pleasant experience.


Day one of packing has drawn to a close. Another lorry will come tomorrow for the balance of what needs to be shifted.



I'm nursing an insect bite on my wrist that has swollen up nastily. I'm a little concerned about Lymes disease as my neighbour contracted it after being bitten whilst gardening, which is what happened to me, but I didn't see a tick. Couldn't get a doctor's appointment, the pharmacist drew marks on my arm around the bite area and told me to see advice if it spreads any further, which it hasn't in the past 4 hours. I've taken antihistimine and put some cream on it to stop the itching. Having read about Lymes, itchiness doesn't seem to be a symptom, so I'm hoping for the best. Could do without this when I'm between doctor's.

Slinky

Well we're into the new house. Have been unpacking since Tuesday afternoon, still got a lot to do. Cat has been collected this afternoon, and I'm currently with her in the room we've got laid out most like the previous house. She's under a chair at the moment possibly asleep, but has been and had a good explore of this room and the adjoining kitchen. She's eaten some food and some treats so no worries on that front.


OH seems to have seen the light on the kondoing front. As we reloaded the drinks cabinet he agreed we could part with some of the more boring beer festival glasses, so 6 of them lined up to go. He's also agree the metal framed bed and side cabinets that were his choice will have to go as we just don't have the room for them. It was a toss up between keeping that bed or the sofa bed, and the sofa bed makes more sense as we don't often have guests staying, and that room will double as my study. We have one too many sofas, having reclaimed one of a matching pair we had loaned to my MIL a few years ago, that she no longer uses. It looks like my much loved leather sofa will be the one that goes. I'll just have to get used to the idea, although we haven't yet tried the furniture in different positions in the lounge to be sure.


One thing that did surprise me is that OH decided off his own bat that the boxes that the TVs and hifi etc came in, won't be returned to the loft in case we move again. We don't intend to, but this is a big turnaround from his previous behaviour. The boxes were taken to the recycling centre this morning. I've parted with some dried flower arrangements that have been on the top of cabinets gathering dust and which are well passed their best.


I was all set to throw away a bottle of Portuguese gin which I bought for decorative purposes maybe 20-24 years ago. Before OH tipped it down the sink, I said I'll just try a nip to be sure. Well it's very nice, thanks very much, so has gone into the drinks cabinet to be enjoyed!



We have a serious problem with cleaning materials though. For a while we've had the 2 houses, so I've gone from having 5 toilets to 2. Lots of bottles of loo cleaner, air freshener and other cleaning materials for both houses. I must admit when unpacking, I've literally opened the sink cupboard and just lobbed the stuff in as we were drowing in boxes of other stuff at the time. We had a packing service so no real clue of what had been put where in the boxes, and I have to say there's some quite random packing and labelling gone on. One broken ornament they are asking for a quote for repair/replacement. And as for replacement, we bought it on holiday in Greece many years ago. By chance we're going to the same place in the Autumn, but no idea if we could get another. I've found some ceramics restorers on the net so will drop them an email.

Siebrie

We have come back from a fortnight in Austria, and already everything is back in its proper place, and six loads of laundry were done today. Why six? Well, the laundry bins were full before we left, I only did quick handwashes while we were there, and I wanted to wash everything we took, because the owner of the apartment smoked in his own apartment right beneath ours and the smoke travelled through the floor and up the stairs, and it was a working farm with cows. I quite like the cow smell on the farm, but not at home

DD1 is leaving for 10 days of youth group camp (originally catholic, but I fail to detest anything religious other than their events matching certain religious dates) on Sunday. We have already packed most of her stuff, but still need to come up with an astronaut costume, a solid black T-shirt, and some clothes that will get 'really really filthily dirty'