KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Siebrie

I have wombled myself a job I wasn't particularly looking for one, but someone I know and get along with, invited me to apply for the Assistant position at the new company she started. She already fired her first Assistant after 3 weeks, due to incompetence. This is my first week; I seem to be a bit overqualified, but that relates to completely stressfree, so I'll take it


I have been given a bus pass for my commute; I pay zilch. First day I brought snacks for four days (4 biscuits, 4 pieces of licorice, 4 pieces of chocolate), second day I brought lady's necessities, third day (half day) I didn't think and brought just the one snack even though I came by car; today I brought office shoes (to be kept at the office while I wear proper shoes and socks for the commute); tomorrow I will bring a supply of knee-high stockings. And that will be the basics of the office sorted


At home it's been hectic: last week I cooked double portions and froze lots. Husband came back from a month in Africa on Sunday, and we all (re)started work and school on Monday. Daughters have been given more chores than before, and I am stricter on the morning and evening routine. (Morning: wash and dress, breakfast, teeth and hair, make bed, fill schoolbag with snacks/fruit/lunchbox/water. Evening: unpack and fill dishwasher, unpack schoolbag, put away toys, do hair and teeth, old clothes either hung up or in laundry bin, pick clothes for next day, lights out at 9.)

silvasava

Good newson the job front Seibrie - yes you may be overqualified but as you say - its stress free., although you may find as time progresses you may end up taking on additional duties?
Hall being tiled today so yesterday involved removing the carpet & underlay - not good enough to recycle, and the boarding over the old floorboards. I took some of the carpet & underlay to the tip and a couple of old oven shelves that had been lurking and our little camping kettle that had rusted through went in the metal bin.

Slinky

Have spent a lot of time today in the garden. The 2 green bins we filled last weekend, turned out to have quite a bit more space when the contents were bashed repeatedly with the spade. Have kondoed probably half of a large bush, possibly a duetzia, which we hope to dig out and move. We bought a pergola last weekend which was delivered and is now in the garage. When we've got the duetzia out, we intend to put the pergola where that was, then move the clematis we brought with us from our previous house and had planted where the pergola won't fit.


Buttons sewn back onto 2 pairs of shorts which have been washed and dried. Need ironing for our holiday on Wednesday.


Last of the rhubarb and blackberries kondod from the garden, crumble made. Don't have any cream so we'll see how we it goes with some greek yogurt.


OH cleaned the rat traps as we don't want to come back to rotting corpses. One trap had a mouse in it. Must find out how my neighbour is getting on as they are also trying to trap having had their aviary knawed into and some birds killed.

Pooky

Kondod some trees this week, thanks to a friend with a chainsaw, 5 of the tonne dump bags full of foliage to take to the dump now. Anything that can be seasoned off for firewood/kindling has been saved. That pile is now taller than me and about 10ft by 8ft deep...I shall look forward to cutting it all up on the colder days.

I've also kondod a lot of wallpaper and skirting boards and the resulting wildlife that was hiding behind/in holes, plus the 3 large huntsman spiders that thought they lived here...they don't! I don't care how many things they eat, I cannot share a house with them. These ones have been big enough to make DH think twice about catching them.

I've given in and ordered a new chest freezer as the "make do" fridge freezer isnt up to the task so the fridge freezer, a rotary washing line, a tv cabinet and some packing materials will all be leaving in the next few days.

I feel I'm making progress but it looks more of a mess than when I started

Siebrie

In January 2018 I posted this on the Wombling thread (on the debt free challenges board):

On the positive side: they [my employer] have tested amenities, and now there are about 3 moving boxes full of all sorts of soaps, shower gels, shower caps, etc to pick through! I have wombled about €30 worth of these They were not all tiny bottles, some were half-litre size (R1tuals, even!).

I had wombled about two moving boxes full of amenities; stored them like-with-like, even breaking up sets to make sure all the shampoos were together, all the conditiones, all the razors, all the toothbrushes, etc.

I have now finished the toothbrushes, the shower gels and the bath gels, the q-tips and the cotton wool pads. I have many shower caps left, and will work through the bagful before I buy new ones for dds; I have almost finished the last of the conditioners, it's in the shower for one final use. The slippers have been given to guests who like to take their shoes off in our home, and I have just one pair left.The shoeshine sponges and shoe-ons have been sent to relatives in Africa. The soaps are still SABLE

A few very cute sets were kept together and were given to dd1's friends as part of birthday gifts; they are all 11, so just the right age to enjoy that kind of thing.

I keep the soaps in a black cardboard box; the soaps don't fill up the space, so I first added the small shower gels, and when those were finished, I added the conditioners. Now that I don't have to store those anymore, I will add the last of the small shampoo bottles. Empty space is growing as we speak

Debsnewbudget

Well done Siebrie
Have you started your new job yet ?

Siebrie

And the last small bottle of conditioner is empty!


Debsnewbudget, thank you for asking! I started three weeks ago (at half-speed I have to say) and had a small appraisal at the end of the week; boss said she was pleased with my 'hands-on' approach . I am learning so many new things, and so fast! The subject is soil pollution / clearing up (which we can arrange a 40% government subsidy for), which is rather straightforward, but the way the law works here in Beglium, means that all sorts of rules outrank other rules / are not applicable in this particular situation / should be interpreted differently / cannot be applied / etc. Fascinating and confusing, but I'll get there.

Siebrie

I was keeping old winter clothes (mainly kids') for a charity shop in my hometown, but I got a leaflet through the door for a collection, so I just put everything in a large binliner, stuck the leaflet on and put it outside. Gone! Relief!

Siebrie

Out: 1 broken barbie cat carrier (that'll help and create lots of space :rotfl:

Out: 1 shopping bag full of old, worn, torn clothes to h&m donation bin in exchange for 15% off voucher, which turned out to be worth €2,72.

Furthermore, we have a friend come stay with us this weekend. He will bring his blind wife, their four year old son, and a Spanish-speaking nephew of unspecified age. So, I set dds and two of dd1's friends who showed up unannounced (at least to me) to work: everything off the floor, everything in its proper place or the bin, everywhere hoovered and dusted, their bedroom and the guestroom emptied as much as possible. And then I made them testrun the house: they had to walk everywhere with their eyes shut

Karmacat

That's great preparation, Siebrie, good for you!