Has anyone successfully Kondo'd their house?

[donajimena]

Im a bit of a slattern with ADHD. I've dipped in and out of the Kondo threads but I find them quite lengthy (but enjoyable) so my apologies for adding another..
I've started and I am doing my clothes. I love my knicker draw. But it took forever.
I am determined to do this though.
my questions are how long did it take? (I appreciate this question is kind of a piece of string )
More importantly did you find it easy to maintain if you managed to transform it.
My two children also have ADHD and I am sick of living in chaos.

[mychildrenarebarmy]

We have just started but I am hopeful.

I had read about KonMari a few months ago and loved the idea of it because we have years worth of clutter from 4 people in a two bed terrace. I doubted very much that I would get everyone else on board so just quietly started doing a little bit of decluttering here and there but not full on Kondo.

Around Christmas time my DH asked if I had heard of it and said he thought it sounded worth looking into. I seized the opportunity and bought the book.
We have done clothes, and love being able to open drawers and see what we love to wear. We did books this weekend and that was a lot harder, but we got there. DD is a real bookworm and has squirreling tendencies so she found it really, really tough. We got there though and can now see all of our books.

The biggest thing I have noticed doing those two things is that it takes a lot longer to do than I thought it would. I also can't believe how much stuff we have got rid of in the process so far. I couldn't tell you any specific thing except one suit that I haven't worn for 17 years and had kept purely for sentimental reasons. The other 7 sacks of clothing, 400 books, 2 sacks of rubbish, and 4 sacks of recycling I could not tell you another item of!

I really notice the difference already because if I am putting clothes or books away I want to keep those drawers and shelves looking nice so go to the effort of putting things away nicely.

[donajimena]

Bloody hell thats loads of stuff!
I wouldn't say its demoralising to realise its going to take forever but yes it is taking a long time just to achieve two tidy drawers in my bedroom. So a whole house is a huge task.
I've about 10 black bags so far and four recycling (I'm including charity in the black bags I try not to throw everything in landfill)
I have taken the blitz all house approach before and it usually lasts about three days so I am hoping that the neat drawers will inspire me to take more care putting stuff away.
I just want it all done NOW

[mercifulTehlu]

I love it in theory, but find it hard to maintain. I've just Kondoed my clothes for the third time. I think that its success depends partly on what your problem was in the first place. If you have much too much stuff and are resistant to chucking things out, then Kondo probably totally sorts you out. If, like me, you have no problem chucking things out but you are a lazy arse about keeping to routines and tidying as you go along... then Kondoing probably won't change that!

[donajimena]

Oh not what I wanted to hear! Ive just got to change. Its not dreadful but I have been worse. I've even had boyfriends in the past say they couldn't cope with my mess. I'm not quite as bad as that Friends episode...

[jamtartandcustard]

Also a recent starter. Been trying (and failing) to be more minimalistic over the last 2 years and Konmari is something that always comes up on minimalism blogs. So start of January I downloaded the book, took about 5 days to read but that's because I have 4 children the youngest who was only born on Boxing Day! So I've so far done clothes, books, CDs, DVDs, papers, skin care and make up. Because I've been embracing minimalism for a while I think it was less difficult then someone who rarely decluttering but wow, getting everything out in one place was a real eye-opener! But so far so good. I love being able to see all my lovely clothes much easier. My knickers are still folded. I was even folding up my bags earlier from my tesco shop! i absolutely love it! I have only been doing my own and household items. Not touched items belonging to the dc's or dh. However I did catch my ds(6) folding his pants the other day!
The book does recommend taking 6 months to complete then repeat the process every 6-12months, discarding the items that did give joy but no longer do, so it's a long term thing. A lot of it is changing the way you think as opposed to just a general declutter

[donajimena]

6 months???? Eek! The realistic side of me understands that its not going to be an overnight cure. I need to keep what I have achieved in order and add to it.
One of the things that really struck me in the book was that one woman wanted to 'live a more feminine lifestyle'
My bedroom isn't horrendous but its hardly somewhere where you would dim the lights and 'slip into something more comfortable'
I so want that.

[mercifulTehlu]

I know what you mean, OP. It would be nice to take pleasure in one's surroundings, rather than seeing them as a source of a constant battle against mess.

[donajimena]

I know. On I plough ....

[donajimena]

Wow jam congratulations! I'm impressed that you I doing it with a newborn. I have no excuse

[NuzzleandScratch]

I've found it's really worked for me. I started the process just over a year ago, but for various reasons, had a break from it, then finally finished recently. What I really like is the idea of categories. I now find that it's harder to make clutter, as there's nowhere to just dump something, as things are categorised! And I don't want to spoil my previous hard work tidying!

Like others, I've been amazed at how much I've got rid of (previously would describe myself as a hoarder!), but also can't now remember much of what's gone. I even still had a load of stuff at my parents house, at the grand old age of 34 (), but that's all sorted now (mostly got rid of!), and what I've kept is at our house!

What I do find hard to deal with is the children's 'art' that comes home almost daily from school/nursery!

[JasperDamerel]

How did it work with other people's stuff? Did the rest of the family follow your example, or did your spouse/children take over all the space you'd cleared?

[donajimena]

Has it made a difference to your mental wellbeing? I can't believe I will ever finish. Its not so much the discarding I'm finding that fairly easy. Its the logistics I will struggle with (tip, charity, selling etc) I have no lounge at the moment. Its full of binbags!

[NuzzleandScratch]

My husband is fairly tidy anyway, and he has a study where he can have his bits and bobs, so it doesn't bother me. My children are only 3 and 5, but the older one amazed me by copying my example and sorting out her room! I went through their toys with them, and they were very clear on what they did and didn't want!

With regard to actually getting rid of stuff, I try to put things straight in the car, so it forces me to take it somewhere. Most clothes went to charity clothes bins, but I sold some of the more decent stuff on eBay. I'd never used eBay before, but was surprised how easy it was! (and addictive, I found myself scouting the house for what to sell next!). But it's only worth bothering with eBay if something has a decent value, otherwise not worth it I think.

Toys we took either to a charity shop, or our local hospital, where they were much appreciated.

Quite a bit of my 'stuff' (komono) went in the bin, but I recycled what I could. I don't like waste, but some things really weren't any good to anyone.

[NuzzleandScratch]

Forgot to say, it has definitely made a difference to my mental wellbeing! Just knowing what I own is somehow a good feeling! Also previously much loved items, such as collectors teddy bears, are once again out to be appreciated, rather than abandoned in the loft!

[MoonDuke]

DC's art- I take photos and only keep a few sentimental pieces, the rest gets recycled at some point (never immediately)

[FrecklyEthel]

Yeah, I did it last year after all the excitement on here over Christmas 2014, and in honesty in shifts and starts we were doing it all year on and off.

It has made a huge difference, whilst the house still turns into a shit tip after a week of school, work, hobbies etc. and there are bags, shoes and coats everywhere we can now get it straight much more quickly than we could have before.

It was a labour of love but once you start to see the rewards it's easy to get motivated when spotting something that really needed sorting, and it's changed our behaviour since as once you accept you don't really need all that stuff it is much easier to stop it accumulating - e.g. paper, I just don't keep things anymore, you really don't need them.

So, hang in there and do it little by little when you can face it. I'd tried everything before this and nothing else really made a difference.

[donajimena]

I have a book called 'The Messys Manual' its a classic put it into a box for 6 months type book. It didn't work for me.
Thank you for giving me hope all of you.

[Sammysquiz]

I totally agree with Nuzzle about how it helps with wellbeing. My mind feels less cluttered now, and the whole house feels calmer. I haven't gone as far as Kondo suggests in the book, but I do have far far less stuff, and it all has a place to go.

[seeyoulater]

I did 2 years ago. We were having a loft conversion so had to clear the loft out. Every room ended up packed full of stuff from the loft, some that was still in packing boxes from our move 10 years early.

2 skips and maybe 40 charity shop bags later the house was clutter free. I've been really strict about not hoarding, for e.g. when my son wanted a new music stand I donated the old one rather than putting it away 'just in case'.

Best thing I every did. The amount of time I spend cleaning & tidying is a fraction of what I used to spend. Overall it took 6 months to do.

[donajimena]

seeyou if I could afford it I would definitely hire a skip. There really is that much to go out. I've joined the regular Kondo thread and posted that I have had to do a preliminary non-kondo declutter in order to even start.
I'd like to aim for a month. I'm probably being a tad over ambitious but I have been decluttering in a major way in the last few months anyway.
The mistake I've made is just shoving things out of sight rather than it having a place.

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I've done a bit, its difficult with kids and a new baby, but each weekend I try and tackle a cupboard or drawer. So far I've done my wardrobes and drawers, the loft, the utility room cupboard, and my kitchen cupboards. I haven't followed rules exactly because there's no way I can get all of each thing out in one go, but I've done cupboard at a time. Cleared literally hundreds of bags, made over 300 pounds on eBay and recycled loads of clothing, kitchen trays etc. I have so many plastic boxes empty now from all the stuff I'm no longer storing. The mental 'freedom' from clearing all this rubbish I've been moving and storing for a decade is unparalleled. I have also noticed how I'm less likely to make impulse purchases (bought nothing in january sales for example) because I have spent so long clearing and holding everything in my hands makes me aware of how much I have had and wasted. Its been quite life changing, so I can only imagine how it must feel to do it properly.

[donajimena]

Thats so inspiring newaverage.
Oh the boxes.. I went shopping earlier to buy draw dividers. Whilst out I considered buying some boxes and thought I'd bought so many in the past and it hadn't helped so I didn't bother. This evening I'd freed up about 4 anyway so it would have been wasted.
All your posts are going to help me keep on track.
Another reason for doing this is that I am in a rented property which at some point my elderly landlord will want to sell. I would have to move somewhere smaller so I may as well downsize now.
the way the house is now I would have a nervous breakdown if I had notice to quit!!
If a move isn't forthcoming I get to live in a nice clutter free house. Its a win win

[NuzzleandScratch]

That's interesting what you say about moving Dona, as we will most likely be moving again in the next few years, and I actually feel excited about how much less stuff we have now! We're in the process of transferring all loft stuff into proper plastic boxes with lids, so we can see the content, but also it'll be so much easier to move.

I would agree with the poster who said this process is life changing, it truly is! Once you get the hang of it, it's easy, the concept is so simple, but it just works!

[donajimena]

I'm bloody knackered though... as I have designated a bathroom cabinet as a medicine cabinet. Every time I find a random medicinal item I have to run upstairs.

[NuzzleandScratch]

Health benefits too! Keep at it! Just think how easily you'll be able to find medicines after this!