KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Siebrie

I went through my bookcases, and pulled out some children's books I thought my dds would enjoy. DD1 is now reading a Dutch children's classic, and DD2 (8) is reading a cartoon collection called 'Brother Juniper', which is a nice cartoon with a one-liner in English. She has taught/is teaching herself English, and she can just about grasp the meaning of the jokes. ( I just saw that there is a website brotherjuniper(dot)com!)

Slinky

Have been a bit quiet on the kondoing front, although the garden is still on the receiving end. Chopping back the ivy on the fence between us and our neighbour, I spotted a rodent hole in the bottom of the fence. Looked like fresh teeth marks. Have dragged a rat trap back out of storage (we haven't caught anything on the otherside of the garden for several weeks despite the peanut butter they were being baited with being eaten). Have lined the trap up with the hole but no success as yet.


Had a potentially embarrassing kondo on Wednesday. I put on a pair of loafers I hadn't worn for years. Realised after walking around B&Q that the leather across the top of the left one was cracking badly, and I just managed to get round Waitrose before a chunk of the right sole dropped off! (Came out of Waitrose with a basket of 'free' shopping as I used the gift vouchers that are generated by using their credit card for most of our shopping. They also gave me £6.71 in cash as the voucher was for more than our spend so they paid me to go in there and shop!).

Slinky

Have been back in the garage today painting a wall. Just got about 10ft of a long wall to give a second coat to (it's a double length garage) but having got this bit sorted, OH should now be able to hang his long ladders up and I think we'll then be winning. We need to be able to get our sofa into the garage so that I can then contact a charity shop to take it away. Can't use the lounge at the moment as it's got too much furniture in it (we downsized in July). I want to be able to get the lounge useable as OH has recently invited his MIL for Christmas.


Have got most of our Christmas presents sorted already, apart from our nephew where we're waiting on a list from his parents and some small bits for OH and I. We went to a lovely Christmas fair yesterday and have ordered a garden sculpture which will be a joint present to ourselves.



Still got to get cards sorted, will try and prep this week so we get them out early to update some people with our new address.

Siebrie

Slinky, OH's MIL, is that your Mum?

In my rather well-kondoed house I just spent two days looking for the xmas musical texts and cd! Both dds and I have a part, DD1 is lead female character. The items were in one of these charity cotton baggies with the long handles, and had been on the corner of the sofa for three days, and then suddenly wasn't anymore. It surely wasn't in the dress-upbox, because everything in it was just as neatly folded as I had done a few days ago. Turns out: it was in there, and dd1 and friend had played with the dressup clothes and then PUT THEM AWAY AS NEATLY AS THEY HAD FOUND THEM, with the texts in between.....

allybee101

I cleared out a whole car load of things to the charity shops and HWRC this weekend. It's fascinating what accumulates and how suddenly your mindset can release the 'just in case' mentality.
I am so excited to have the extra space, and optimistic that there may be more to follow soon.

Slinky

Siebrie wrote: »

Slinky, OH's MIL, is that your Mum?

:rotfl:Good spot. My MIL, OH's mum.



My mother most definitely doesn't 'spark joy', or didn't when I last spoke to her 24 years ago.

Siebrie

That was kondoing before it became a hype... I kondoed my sister and her husband (and, unfortunately, her 3 children) six years ago to protect my 2 daughters. My sister was adopted from South-Korea, and when she went on a 'roots' trip 20 years ago, what she picked up from all the Korean things she could have picked up, was racism! I'm Dutch, married to an African man, so my daughters are dark cappuccino coloured. The remarks my sister made in those early years! Husband's Dutch was not yet good enough to understand, and dds were not yet at speaking stage, so I took the decision to just break all contact off before sister could actually cause any harm.

Siebrie

On a lighter note: I sorted through my cotton handkerchiefs The men's hankies are now in my parents' sleepover bag in the attic; the large 'farmer's' hankies (the large red or blue ones with small white patterns, that you can also use as a bandana) are at the back of the pile, to be used with severe colds or as dress-up bits; the funky-coloured and old ones are in the 'daily/use at home' pile; the nice ones are ironed and at the bottom of the 'daily' pile, to take to work.


This was an I-have-actual-things-to-do-avoidance-chore

Karmacat

You're amazing, Siebrie! Even your avoidance tactics are amazing!

Slinky

Our dishwasher packed up a few weeks ago. A chat with a repairman over the phone suggests it is the motherboard which has packed up, and the cost of him coming out and replacing it is uneconomic. I've been hunting for a second hand replacement as we're not sure if we are going to extend our kitchen, and if we do, if we'll go for a full size or the slimline we have now, so didn't want to buy new.


Tuesday I twigged that if we move our tumbledrier into the kitchen, there's space in our garden/utility room for a full sized dishwasher. I've tracked down and bought a good second hand full sized one, for the same price as if we'd had to pay a callout charge for the repairman. Now just need to get some plumbing bits to connect it in alongside the washing machine (the tumble drier is a condenser). As I said to my OH, we now get to try out living with a full sized dishwasher which may help in the decision making about the kitchen extension. If we decide not to go down that route, we can sell the full sized one and buy a new slimline (decent second hand ones seeming hard to find).


There is of course the issue of the old slimline which is still occupying space in the kitchen. If we pull it out to get rid it's going to look a mess with the gap, so I think we'll just leave it there for now.