KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

daisy_1571

Hi Papillon

Lots of great ideas for you in the posts above. I hope you continue to post to keep your spirits up and to keep us up to date. The great thing about this system is that a) it makes sense, b) it really does work and c) you can start from the kind of house seen on hoarders tv programmes or the most minimalist of houses, its all about the individual rather than conforming to what someone else thinks you should do.

Im a bit of a "keeper" myself and find its for all sorts of reasons - i like it, i don't use it but i have had it for a long time, someone i know gave it to me as a present, it came from someone i love etc etc. Over time i have come to realise that none of this necessarily means i have to continue to keep it in my house. Lots of throwaway comments on here will just strike a note and resonate with you, for me one was that someone said something about no longer using their home as a warehouse to store things. I dont want to do that and whilst there is some money in the bank and shops selling things I dont need to keep stocks and stocks of "things". Maybe you will find some little nugget on here that just clicks. I have found that things i have held onto for years i have now been able to let go and i genuinely hope that someone else gets the use of them.

Good points about what to do with the things you want rid of. A lot of us have struggled with wanting to make sure we dont "waste" things and they must go to the perfect place or they cost a lot of money so they must still be worth something and have to be sold. In your case it sounds like you have too much stuff to start trying to do anything other than get things out of the house so, like others, i would recommend getting a box or bag, deciding on a category like others have said ie broken things, duplicates, definite recyclable/rubbish things that can go in your household waste buckets and like the signature in one of the posts above says "start where you stand" and just gather things together. Limit yourself to 15 minutes or so and then REMOVE IT. I feel that if you gather it then put it somewhere to go out later it will get swallowed up and you wont be any further forward. So take it straight out to the buckets, put it in the car (if you drive) and get it to the tip or the nearest charity shop the very next time you leave the house. Dont start with things you have to agonise over where to get rid of it to at the moment, you will be able to concentrate on that in time, at the moment you need to start clearing your feet.

Marie recommends categories and this is a great thing as if you can gather all your mugs together and see that you have 36 there is a good chance you can start to rate them in order of the ones that spark joy for different reasons and let some go - if they are all separate around the house you find reasons why you love each little group and keep them all however gathering does require space - the 9th square as mentioned above. So maybe in your case start at the most depressing bit - it appears to be your front door. Make the vestibule, porch then hall (or however you enter) a bit clearer and it will make coming home much nicer. Then you will have a space to start to sort and can tackle the living room then your bedroom so these areas feel better. This gives you even more space to begin clearing out the remaining rooms so i would say that you can ignore the traditional KM and just gather what you can reach within these first places, putting things you know to spark joy and that you want to keep into the other rooms for now. You will get to them eventually but for now concentrate on clearing some space.

I would use the time you have coming up to tackle larger areas but you could get started in a simple way the very next time you step into the house. And as others have said, start with your own stuff. So many people on here start their journey saying their other halves simply wont let go of anything but over time you begin to see little sentences creeping into their entries about OH clearing some area or tidying a category. It does seem to be catching.

Im sure this is a huge long post but i just wanted to particularly highlight this bit of your post "there's probably a large portion of feeling like it's not worth it because we can only renew the lease 6 months at a time and we don't feel settled in the area for many reasons". If i can just say, that there is a huge reason why it is exactly worth it. You moved into this house gradually but if your lease is not renewed you will be moving out in a oner. Do you really want to have to hire a large van, pack all this up, have to rent another 3 (or bigger) bedroomed house to unpack it all into ? Perhaps ask yourself that question every time you pick an item up - do i want this enough to store it here, pack it, transport it and unpack it in my next house ?

I dont doubt you have a huge task in front of you but it is doable. Try to see it as a challenge, an exciting time in your future together, in time relations with the child may improve and you would both want a nice house to have them visit, anything you can to mentally turn this insurmountable task into a surmountable one. It didn't all arrive in the house in 5 minutes, it wont all go in 5 minutes but it will go. Good luck with eating that elephant

Daisy xx

[Deleted User]

wow, I love the helpful posts to papillon, particularly the low hanging apples concept. I bet someone pinches the nitty gritty and writes a magazine article

I need the cleaning mojo to re-appear, two upstairs rooms next on my list but one is my sewing room and I need to open the door first. I am not forcing myself, I have to be in the mood when it involves MK.

I have too many pillows, all good ones that don`t bend over my forearm. Ok where they are for now but I think at some stage I will do a count and place them all on the landing and then ask dds. They do take up too much space tbh. Its not about that MK feeling, more about practicalities in this case

Karmacat

Taking in the genealogy papers from my mother has had one interesting result for my own stuff. In amongst her artwork from her teenage years were two hand written school essays! I scanned them, just like everything else, but I only read the first sentence. And this is from my mother, who died less than 18 months ago. When it comes to *my* stuff, I still have too much academic paperwork, even though I've let so much go. And I'm not anyone's mother, I'm just the auntie, to the next generation. My stuff is going to go out at the next recycling collection!

[Deleted User]

doh, silly me. I already did the pillows but having pulled everything down from top airing cupboard shelf and top wardrobe in one room, I did re-discover a big slope for sleeping on, good for night heartburn but such a big angle that it affected my shoulder. I don`t need such a slope anymore, can do it with pillows.

It is a really big wedge so removing it enables me to completely clear the wardrobe shelf and foam wedge is waiting in the car. I like clearing top shelves, makes me feel as though there is visible progress. I just looked in every top kitchen cupboard and 4 have empty top shelves and the garage top shelves are all empty and so is the top shelf in sewing room wardrobe and main bedroom wardrobe only contains good travel bags for packing for removals. What progress!!! main bedroom wardrobe top shelf used to be stuffed to the high ceiling

I am a bit dithery now, have a kitchen mandolin, used it a lot when slicing potatoes for dehydrating, also apples but have not used it for two years and I also have a biscuit maker with nozzles, ie it pushes the dough out into blobs but I make perfectly good blobs with a teaspoon. Ok, writing helps, they are going and one more empty top shelf appears oh and that electric potato masher, I don`t eat potatoes and have a metal masher. Why did I buy these things? I know, it was the endorphic effect of getting parcels, that unexplained feelgood factor, now happily replaced with the much nicer giveaway feelgood factor

karmacat, I hit similar feelings a few weeks ago and quickly shredded all the letters from hubbie to me, too personal for anyone else

daisy_1571

Karmacat wrote: »

Taking in the genealogy papers from my mother has had one interesting result for my own stuff. In amongst her artwork from her teenage years were two hand written school essays! I scanned them, just like everything else, but I only read the first sentence. And this is from my mother, who died less than 18 months ago. When it comes to *my* stuff, I still have too much academic paperwork, even though I've let so much go. And I'm not anyone's mother, I'm just the auntie, to the next generation. My stuff is going to go out at the next recycling collection!

Kc I have a cartoon stuck up on a cupboard door - a mouse asking a chap what he's doing. Chap replies he's updating his list of all the books he's read in his entire life. Mouse, in the next box and with a perplexed face says, just so you know, you don't get a prize when you die. Chap in the last box says please don't deny me the tricks I use to give my life meaning. And the mouse responds And noone wants the stuff you save in the attic.

It makes me laugh especially that last line (said in a sarcastic mousey fashion in my head) but it has served to remind me, also childless, that likely nieces or nephews will be clearing my stuff. Or a clearance firm. And no one will understand why on earth I kept some of the stuff I have. It has certainly helped me decide about some things that it can go. I definitely have identified fairly recently that I personally keep some things just to 'prove' I existed (like the chap noting all the books he has read - i can sort of identify with this need to document my life) I wonder if parents don't need that quite as much as they have the proof in their descendants.

Just a random thought for today sparked by your post.

Anyhoo, during the snow I spring cleaned the living room. Amalgamated, cs'd, chucked random paperwork that had been stuffed into drawers years ago rather than bucketed at the time, dusted, rearranged etc etc. Managed to clear a waist high bookcase which saves me buying one for my anatomy books which I have wanted to store in my treatment room. Has meant all those books are now in the correct space and they have left behind empty space in my craft cupboard bookcase. So glad now I didn't buy the bookcase I saw a few weeks ago as it turns out (as per km doctrines) I didn't actually need it as I had what i needed all along. Treatment room looking v professional now imho.

Daisy

wort

Papillon welcome, very good advice here, my view from reading your post would be have you got too much furniture/big items, from moving in from 2 homes, if so deciding which is better quality or more attractive etc. And removing the others would give a big impact.
I can understand that it's hard to start particularly if things are in boxes. If you can get one or two rooms looking "normal" then it will inspire you onwards, especially a room you spend a lot of time in, such as your living room, it's hard to relax with stuff piled round you that detracts you from settling.
If you haven't the book and can't get it from the library, then you tube has videos, and this thread is very inspiring.
I've done kondoing but coming on here makes me want to do more! I'm quite minimal and tidy now, I wasn't when I started. It's a wonderful feeling to remove clutter, it makes your whole being feel lighter,and less stressed.
So good luck and happy kondo.

Wednesday2000

I got some paperwork from the vet yesterday and I went through the pet box and realised I had a big sheaf of papers that could go into the recycling.

PollyWollyDoodle

Daisy thank you for describing that cartoon 'you don't get a prize when you die' - think that really sums it up for me!

Kittie, I've got one of those biscuit presses. Now, I do make biscuits weekly, but I'd have to admit that it rarely gets used, it's much easier to make a recipe where you just dollop the mixture out with a spoon. I've also got a mandolin slicer ... Can't remember the last time I used it, as a sharp knife is quicker and easier! Time to revisit my cupboards.

It's amazing how stuff that's been 'stuck' can suddenly move again; my spare room had become clogged with things. I needed to clear it so the new cat can go in there - twenty minutes saw all the Christmas boxes replaced in the loft, to be fair they're a bit heavy for me and I'd been waiting for a suitable visitor, but managed it on my own. The spare duvet, which was covered in hair by Old Cat, has been waiting for months because I couldn't decide whether to take it to the launderette myself, or get it laundered at the dry-cleaners. Seriously, it's taken me months to make that decision! It's now at the cleaners; worth the extra cost just to get it moving.

An invisible cat is now living in the spare room. It eats, uses the litter tray and howls in the night, but so far I haven't seen it since I brought it home yesterday. I'm sure it'll come out soon!

luxor4t

Yesterday I had a lovely time passing things on:
- pens/ highlighters to the school I used to work in
- a bag of craft stuff to the CS
- vintage china plates etc to a charity that is setting up an 'afternoon tea' fundraiser
- a parcel of fabric to a quilting friend
- all the equipment the hospital loaned me to aid recovery from my surgery.

I can feel the space gained in the house!

Karmacat

Daisy that's great, thank you! Polly too! I love the cartoon, and that sense of "documenting to prove ..." is mine as well, notably in the genealogy stuff. I always talk about a descendant born on Mars in 300 years time returning to Earth to find out about the family, but I'm sort of the Martian really

A dead anorak has been taken to a cs for ragging - I cut the buttons off and cut myself a big chunk of needlecord to accompany the patchwork, as it was **very** ragged anyway ...