KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Siebrie

You can push the water down/out with the brush, leaving you room to apply cleaner to the sides.


Thanks for the offer! Usually our green bin is not even half full, it's just about four times a year that it is overfilled.

DigForVictory

I’m not wholly certain if I’m here under false pretences, but the family and half term have joined up to get me to clear up the front room. We moved here 15 years ago & left stuff in there then & have added & subtracted since. (I have to say it could be a long & dirty war as I regard it as My room not having one of my own.)

Anyway husband moved the power and garden tools out & cleared a path around the central stack before succumbing to internal distress. (I didn’t mention that the cosmic penalties for brassing off the missus can be nasty - he’s actually really rather unwell.)

That created three tip trips worth of clarity & yesterday a son & I went through The House Mugs. From the cupboard, several that are no-one’s in particular. My work “training kit” (a mere 18 mugs or so, plus lock & locks of tea coffee & sugar & teaspoons) - I was permitted to keep a few mugs, there being a distressing gap in the cupboard but the rest of the mugs were stacked, with newspaper to help the cs sell them. The lock & locks & spoons are in the washing up heap to return to family life.

Then back into the front room & more mugs, a first pass at loose Christmas stuff (I do have crates, & as the generic stuff made getting at them impossible, I bought more or retrieved a few precious bits & left them on the top.) Quite a lot went into bin bags & the whoops of joy at being reunited with quite a bit of lego led to son pointing out I hadn’t played with it - hadn’t realised it was Here! I am allowed to keep it.

We started on books. One storage box really needs my work bin, but another didn’t & and two more filled hefty bags with books (dusted!) for the cs. (I have them in kindle form & son wanted some luggable victory.)

The charity shop is much amused & pleased with us (we’re regular shoppers too) not just for sorting before donating but also adding the surface junk that is seasonal - I had nearly stepped on a little plastic bat biscuit cutter, saved it, washed it & handed it over with a grin just as a toddler was about to get loud. (I rather think I can guess who gave it the next good home.)

There is still more. Son is presently quietly enchanted by moving pictures, so I shan’t disturb him but have spotted more mugs to rehome & there are always more books...

Siebrie

Congratulations on a flying start!


Which category are you collecting next? If you go strictly by the book, then any objects of a category that were not in the first 'collection' will have to leave. My guess is that, if they are not stored where you normally store them, and you didn't miss or go looking for them, they don't spark that much joy, and can go.


KonMari has a suggested order, but I don't stick to it, I let my 'gut' lead me; any deviation from that and I just get stuck.

pattypan4

I have done kon Marie three times and the only area in pristine KM condition is my underwear drawer. I can call what I did today KM I suppose because the puling out to give away was ot easy. Summer to winter turnover and I bought too much when I needed that buying kick after my husband died. A lot of it not exactly high end designer but more like very good quality, well made at higher cost


So I had to get rid of that cost, from my mind, now that I am on an even keel. 6 good warm items out and will be taken to the sally army this week, I know they will be given to the deserving poor ie people fallen on hard times, I`ll see if I can spare a coat or jacket later today and maube a pair of warm boots



It isn`t eaxactly that they did not spark joy but that they would be better re-homed and the joy of buying them has long gone. Anyway I am fitting into a much smaller space. There will be more through winter, anything that does not fit is going the same way, anything that I wear but that makes me cringe if the doorbell rings


Today I did tops and skirts. I could kick myself, I did the whole KM before I moved but I slid again. It seems that KM is on-going

pattypan4

I felt happier at donating those clothing items, gone to a good cause, I have to say that sally army is a favourite, especially towards christmas. That was a couple of days ago, yesterday I donated several good unwanted house decor items, they have been irriatating me so did not spark any joy. Someone will love them and the cs will charge enough to make me return to them with more. I am behind a cushion now but I did order new to replace those items, more appropriate for the light airy house I now have, not frivolous bits but essential bits

StripeyTightsSpottySocks

Hello all

I've just subscribed and wanted to post before i get on with tea, washing etc

I am feeling overwhelmed with things. I get a lot of joy buying second hand bargains but there is no-where for it all in our tiny home (i do want to move)

Anyway i thought i'd join as i has a mini challenge last week and failed. This week i've committed to clearing 25 items - clothes need to be the focus so i think i will target this area.

Part of the reason for all the clothes is i've been a bit ill and gained loads of weight so i have clothes i can wear now but i have my other clothes - that i do *love* (i think mostly) that i *will* fit back into - weight has to come off, it's my health! and i do not have the money to buy new / replace everything when it does so i don't just want to get rid of all the slightly too small things now (not that much loss to go now). Any advice is really appreciated. Sorry for jumping in if it's mod conversation - i was reading earlier and am limited on time at the mo

PollyWollyDoodle

Everyone is welcome, lots of us on here have done the KM journey and really benefited from it, but we all like to revisit areas from time to time.



It's still worth going through your too-small clothes, and checking that they are all things you love, not just stuff you're keeping 'in case'. Quite a few people have found that doing KM has also helped with weight loss, it seems as if removing clutter in one area of your life helps to clarify your goals in other areas.

silvasava

STSS - welcome to the thread. Lots of us have been or are in a similar position to you. Whatever works for you is OK with us, as the saying goes it doesn't have to be perfect it just has to be done!
Plenty of support and encouragement on here.

GreyQueen

Hi Stripey, welcome to the thread. I'm not in a financial position where I can easily jettison useful clothing just because it's a wee bit too small, either.


What I do with trousers (and it is they that I'm a bit too big for) is have them on hangers with a homemade cardboard ticket on. The ticket says what size they are, when they were last tried on and if they nearly fitted, were much too small etc.


That way, as I lose weight, I can shop my own wardrobe and take out the 'nearlies' first and try them on and it comes to a point where they fit - I am in process of losing weight with plenty more to go.


Not rocket science but it works for me. HTH.

Pooky

Another trip to the tip this week, mainly decorating stuff and boxes but one step closer to a cleaner house and garage.

A bag of stuff went to the charity shop too, a few books, a couple of items of clothing that wasn't sparking anything and a few ornaments - having just decorated one room I thought it best to immediately get rid of anything that didn't go back into it.

Yesterday I kondo'd a few shrubs and bushes and a tree from the garden, today I will be attacking more branches and ivy and dig out some roots. Aiming for a decent pile for a bonfire next week.