KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

[Deleted User] · 19 January 2018 at 11:28AM

I need space, in the big shed, I can`t do any more tidying in there until I have the space which is being blocked by two stacks of bags of wood pellets for the stove. I was trying to eke out but suddenly winter will be over and I can see wood pellet bags still sitting there. Only one way for that to happen ie use them, so I am doing that, anyway the fabric of the house was cooling down because of just using electric in the rooms I use

I still get stomach churning at the thought of preparing my house for selling, the photos for example. I haven`t found a new house yet. One or two rooms have turned into dumping areas over winter, ie the floors and chairs have things on them. House maintenance is still in order, thank goodness. I did buy plants in, several and nothing went out but it is feng shui, again, looks better

Siebrie · 19 January 2018 at 12:10PM

I have rescued more items from the Purchasing Department's clear-out, but I'm not taking all of them home. The office was clearly labelled 'basement' and 'bin', so I looked through the 'bin' items and found:

- 2 small postman bags (for donation to relatives in Africa)
- 3 or 4 pillow cases, including 1 hypo-allergy (for use at home)
- face flannel, towel(s) (not sure how many, it's a small stack) (for use at home)
- bodum vase (presented to a colleague)
- pens and pencils (for donation to relatives in Africa)
- set of amenities (for use at home)
- branded mug (for general use in the office kitchen)
- branded slippers (for guest use at home)
- shaving kit and dental kit (small bagful) (for guest use at home)
- 3 different clothes hangers (for general office use on the office coat rack)

As long as things are 'in motion' I'm fine.

Slinky · 19 January 2018 at 12:15PM

kittie wrote: »

I still get stomach churning at the thought of preparing my house for selling, the photos for example. I haven`t found a new house yet. One or two rooms have turned into dumping areas over winter, ie the floors and chairs have things on them. House maintenance is still in order, thank goodness. I did buy plants in, several and nothing went out but it is feng shui, again, looks better

I know the feeling. We're a couple of years away from moving, but it will definitely be happening, so stuff needs to be gone through and cleared.

I'm meeting a friend later for a late lunch. She's also moving away. I'm working my way through some copies of Grand Designs magazines she gave me pulling out ideas for our new house. Passing the mags on to my neighbour when I've finished.

I've just realised that she might like a book I was given about our local church I have no interest in, if not she may have a contact who does want it as she sings in the choir. I'll give her first dibs, if she doesn't want it, local CS it is.

GreyQueen · 19 January 2018 at 6:16PM

Evening all.

Well, there is a bicycle in my hall, one I've owned for less than an hour. I haven't posted about it but, three months ago, some passing person spotted my bicycle outside and briefly unprotected (as in about 2 minutes with an improperly secured chain) and took it. To say that I was furious is to heavily understate the case.

The bike which I don't have any more is the only the second one I have owned in my adult life, and only the second new bike I'd ever had in my 50+ years. I (and pals) have been searching high and low, IRL and online, for the stolen bike and have finally bitten the bullet and sourced a replacement.

The new old bike is actually 28 years old, the old old bike was 24 years old, and the one I don't have any more was in better nick. C'est la vie. I am shortly to start the project of cleaning it up and emotionally making it 'mine' - my bicycle is my only means of transport other than my own two feet.

Have been involuntarily kondo'd of something I loved, used a lot and needed has been a salutary lesson in the evils of attachment. It also opened up a window on my own psyche which didn't thrill me with joy - that I am intensely possesive about some of my things. Hmm, a life lesson has been learned.:rotfl:

If I factor in all costs, such as the lost benefit of the extensive replacements/ repairs to the old bike, the price of the new bike, the cost of replacing the accessories etc to the price of the used bike, I will be down circa £200, maybe a little more. If I attempted to add up the amount of time (not to mention emotional energy) I have spent in the quest for the stolen bike, you could add a zero to that, even if you factored my time at minimum wage.

With the timeliness which sometimes occurs, I found this today:

From The Minimalists: “But the true cost of a thing goes well beyond the price on the pricetag.
The cost of…
Storing the thing.
Maintaining the thing.
Cleaning the thing.
Watering the thing.
Feeding the thing.
Charging the thing.
Accessorizing the thing.
Refueling the thing.
Changing the oil of thing.
Replacing the batteries of the thing.
Fixing the thing.
Repainting the thing.
Taking care of the thing.
Thinking about the thing.
Worrying about the thing.
Protecting the thing.
Replacing the thing.
When you add it all up, the actual cost of owning a thing is nearly immeasurable. So we better choose carefully what things we bring into our lives, because we can’t afford every-thing.”

So very very true! But at least I'm not exclusively a pedestrian anymore........... :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

VJsmum · 19 January 2018 at 6:25PM

OH GQ, what a bummer....

I have finally got rid of the 4 bags of chazzer donations :T split between 2 shops in town. the box of books went yesterday so hopefully £15 good British pounds will be wending their way into my account.

i also cancelled a monthly payment from my credit card account for an online x box live thing that DS has not used for years. I am ashamed to say that although this payment was 'only' about £6 a month, it adds up to about £220 we've paid out that we didn't need to

Gradually i am rationalising payments that i don't need to make - we have just changed our energy tariff to direct debit, saving about £220 a year. so in 2 phone calls, I have saved £300 a year... so ashamed not to have done this sooner. OH has resisted Direct debits until I pointed out that we get no interest on the money being in our account (or a fraction of a %) whereas we save £200 by changing...

we are going to start decorating study and lounge tomorrow :T so it does mean more stuff going into the conservatory whilst that happens but we have moved from the end of the beginning to the beginning of the end.:j

GreyQueen · 19 January 2018 at 6:41PM

Thanks, VJsMum. But, compared to so many things which could have gone wrong, it was very small beer, and nothing like as bad as your flood damage.

With the wisdom of hindsight, it would have been better to have just shrugged and sourced another old bike asap, but I felt vengeful and convinced that I would catch the thief red-handed on the 'bay or g*mtree trying to flog it (I know people who've got their stolen bikes back like that, so it wasn't as silly an idea as it might seem).:o

Do you know how many used Raliegh bikes are offered online at any given time? Even in the middle of winter? Nationally, it seems to hover just under 30,000. :eek: Haystack-needle. Plus a not-very-evolved emotional response from me, a person who is a touch prideful about being non-materialistic - I've obviously been mahoosively deluding myself about my level of attatchment to Things. Ach well, that's life.

Of course, my security-coded original pushbike might just turn up somewhere and get handed in to the Police and come back to me (if it happens tomorrow, I may just have a small scream somewhere quietly!

) but, worse case scenario is I have two old pushbikes.

I'd keep the second one for Justin, of course, I hate having to walk everywhere.:rotfl:

Igamogam · 19 January 2018 at 6:49PM

GQ - 2 of my DD2 student housemates had their bikes stolen the week they moved in - they took the 2 lads bikes but left the girls - not that there was an obvious gender difference in them - they climbed over a high gate in a busy street during the day time, used bolt cutters to cut through heavy duty chains and must have had to pass the bikes over said high gate. Reported to police whose response was "Yes in first week of term there is always a spike in bike thefts. Its unlikely you will see them again". Nobody in busy town centre street saw anything and nor did the CCTV.............angry didnt come into it. Only consolation was that the thieves took the cheapest crappiest bikes and left the very expensive £300 plus bikes behind, one of them being my DD2s! They were attracted, like magpies, by bright red and blue paint work....low life idiots. Needless to say girls now keep their bikes indoors....typical student house;)

Igamogam · 19 January 2018 at 6:56PM

GreyQueen wrote: »

Plus a not-very-evolved emotional response from me, a person who is a touch prideful about being non-materialistic - I've obviously been mahoosively deluding myself about my level of attatchment to Things. Ach well, that's life.

I would say it was more a feeling of being violated than being attached, maybe, that brought out that response??? I know I would feel vengeful.........I had a really nice pair of dressmaking scissors taken once when I was helping out with costumes back stage during a week long production.......I was so angry and they were nothing expensive or special. It was just the fact that they were taken from me...........and dont get me started on the swimming costume I left behind once only to find the following week someone in the class wearing it:mad::mad: :rotfl:

GreyQueen · 19 January 2018 at 7:00PM

I'm sorry to hear of their losses. Another pal of mine had a vintage bike stolen last year. Because of the circs, mine was an uninsured loss and I totally lost the benefit of the £130-worth of refurbishments and accessories I'd spent in the weeks leading up to the theft. I just hope the bike is somewhere being used (even if dismantled for spares) not thrown into the nearby river.

Now I could, if I had wanted to, bought a brand new bike but have deliberately chosen not to, due to the rampant bike thefts in my city. I could have chosen a brightly-coloured and shinier used bike for not much more money, but the new-to-me bike is a very muted plain black. I shall rub off the rust spots and touch in the paintwork, and fit is with (mainly) used accessories like luggage carrier, basket etc. It isn't going to be a flashy ride and that's just how I like it.

If I had followed my heart's desire, I would have had a gents P@shley, but couldn't face the anxiety of owning something which cost most of a month's salary and leaving it chained up on the street.

As my old Dad sagely remarked, you can have several £50 used bikes of the course of a lifetime and a fraction of the anxiety of one really expensive one.

Of course, if I ever do see my stolen bike (and I have the orginal receipt and warranty booklet still) whoever has got it will be treated to some icy sarcasm and invited to stand their ground and explain themselves to the constabulary.:rotfl:

camelot1001 · 19 January 2018 at 9:23PM

That's rotten GQ, why is it always something precious to you that gets taken? Makes me both angry and sad.

DD had her new bike stolen from the middle of Glasagow's main shopping area, bright green and bought from her very hard earned cash in a sale. She was so pleased to have saved and bought it, it was meant to save her the train fare.

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KonMari 2018 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

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