'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying' - Marie Kondo

[FrancesHB]

Has anyone else read this? I did a search but couldn't find any previous threads.

Marie Kondo is a Japanese expert in tidying and decluttering and her book has been translated into English and is best selling. It's wonderfully eccentric and inspiring and in some ways rather a breath of fresh air compared to other books on the subject (have read 'em all and my house is still messy...).

She asks us to ask if an item brings us joy and if it doesn't we thank it and out it goes. A bit like fly lady 'you can't organise clutter', but in a less annoying and at times quite endearing way.

I wondered if any MNers had used her technique and if it helped them 'get their house in order'.

Everyone is doing so well with the decluttering!!!!

I have the DC this weekend and I have done some "meal planning" (don't normally do this) - using bits that are in my full food cupboards and from the freezer.

I still can't get over having enough food in the cupboard to get us through the year - just how I was brought up. I'm looking to use it all over the rest of Sept & October.

I would keep 2 years' worth of payslips, perhaps 1 year (only back to the previous P60). Remember that most companies keep records and you can request copies if you absolutely need them. Depending on the size of your payslips I'd keep them in a folder or just an envelope labelled "Payslips April 2013-2014" etc. P60s keep for... who knows. 5 years? Bank statements are all online now so I don't keep those. Utility bills, if you get them on paper, keep for 6 months.

I dont have much in the way of clothes but I cant say any of them spark joy :(

The lobby is still spotless, everyone is using their one shelf each for shoes and putting them away.
I decluttered the coats as well and now when I walk in I feel happy as opposed to deflated.
I think the feng shui (?) thing about entrances is so true now!
I am enjoying the book and all her tidying of other people.
I knew a woman whose daughter was such a declutterer that she turned up at her mother's house and decluttered her whole collection of nutcrackers which had been tidily displayed on shelves.. obvs without permission... weird. Mother came home and they'd been binned, nice!

Well done mrs jav

thank you Yonic,
I must admit I when I read the 'take all the clothes in your house and put them on the floor'.
I think she is thinking of one of those vast empty matted japanese rooms where all the bedding has been put away for the day.
we have so many clothes in this house that I cannot imagine doing what she suggests, but I see how it works, it's almost like decluttering scorched earth?

It's like cold turkey, no dither room just dive in and decide.....

My book is ready to collect from the library

Im aiming for my under the sink cupboard to have;

1 laundry gel
1 fabric softener
1 WD40
1 surface spray/cleaner
1 Jif Cif
1 Washing up liquid
Dishcloths/sponges

I really think thats all I need, maybe a furniture polish but I tend to use a damp cloth.

wooden window cleaner? Not a bloke, just a bottle.

mrsj I thought the same too about putting the clothes on the floor - tatami rooms, although most rooms in Japanese cities are quite small I think. I don't have an empty room to do that - will have to make do with the bed. Plus, I never put clean clothes on the floor - one of my pet hates.

skinny don't despair. Next time you buy something which you have carefully chosen then it will bring joy into your wardrobe.

I have to admit I used to only buy things that I absolutely fell in love with (is that the same as joy?) and spent years looking for the perfect sugar bowl or cushion cover or whatever but somewhere along my life I lost my way. I think that's why her ideas resonates with me because I know exactly what she means.

Today I greeted my home. DS copied me.

MrsJ please advise status of the martini glasses.
I wonder daily .......

Be Cool, they are still in the cupboard! I have ONLY done the lobby but am reading the book, telling other people about it and starting to try to imagine the effect of the lobby on the whole house!
wonderful thought....

But the books, I am terrible, I bought 6 for dd at the charity shop yesterday....

Clothes
Paperwork
Books
Dominate the house

I have one small room that is just the horror pile of ironing.
I suffer from don't know where to begin very badly

Oh dear, I seem to have hit a wall. Today I got rid of 3 handbags and all of my bags are neatly arranged on a shelf in the fitted wardrobe.

The problem I am having is makeup and cosmetics, I have soooo much of the stuff and lots of unopened things. How do I store it all?? I can't seem to arrange it neatly and even though I have culled a few things there's still loads left!

re make up someone said to me you should bin everything over a year old, it's too old to go on your face surely?
Are there some that give you joy?!

Does anyone have one of these genius
window cleaners?

I really really really want one. I used one when we were on holiday and it was amazing, truly fabulous. But what would our Marie say?

You cleaned windows on holiday

I am an little bit in love with my magnetic window cleaner - job would be impossible otherwise.

I have one of those window cleaners MrsJavier. Never used! Might do that tomorrow.

I'm having a lazy sit down trying to decide what to do. Chest of drawers in bedroom or tidy utility room or do some ironing?

Might do the utility room as it depresses me every time I go in.

I took five bags of clothes to one if those metal charity boxes yesterday evening. Told DH when he came home. He asked what was wrong with them. I said they were old. He reckoned none if them were as old as me and he wasn't getting rid of me but if that was criteria he would think about it! Cheeky sod.

mrsj marie would say if it gives you joy (and it sounds like it would) then you should get it. But maybe buy it as a reward for de-cluttering joyless items. Those martini glasses, for instance .

Please forgive me for being a real saddo. Remember I estimated the likely numbers for various items of clothing? I now have the results for some of the items.

Tops est. 60
actual 47 of which I am keeping 35 (I even counted what I was wearing and those in the laundry basket)

Bottoms est. 16
actual 14, keeping 12

Pants est. 18
actual 23, keeping 19

Socks est 8 pairs
actual 12, keeping 7

Bras est. 8
actual 8, keeping 4 inc sports one

Shoes est. 9 pairs
actual 21, keeping 11 pairs

I've also sorted through tights, swimwear and winter hats, scarves and gloves as well as my light dressy scarves. Said goodbye to a lot. I still have dresses and coats/jackets to go.

I've found it very therapeutic. Especially when folding the clothes and putting them in the boxes - very calming.

I love this idea that we should only keep that which gives us joy! I still had some very expensive makeup which I never wore as it didn't suit me; but I couldn't get rid of it as it was quality and pricey. Felt guilty/annoyed every time I looked at it. BINNED !

I've tried a different tactic on DD who is a hoarder. I suggested we throw away just ONE thing every day. At first she resisted even that, but when I said it could include anything even packaging or broken stuff she agreed. Hopefully after a couple of weeks of chucking out rubbish she will start to see the light and become a Follower of Our Glorious Leader.

I've downloaded it and finally caught up on this thread, it has come at exactly the right time for me as I have actually now managed to fill (mostly very neatly I should say) every single bit of storage in a reasonably sized family home, and we have a lot of storage as I am obsessed with it! Shoved more stuff in the loft 2 weeks ago as we're wanting to put the house on the market and I'm concerned the ceiling may come down for all the shite up there! I never seem to get time with the kids as my weekend is spent trying to do all my chores, hope this has changed nlby Christmas!!

Erm, Ive tried to sort out all my trousers /jeans today, and it looks like only 3 pairs are going to be given to my sister. So that leaves me about 25 pairs which is ridiculous isn't it?

Can you guess which wardrobe I would like & which one is most like mine

I love this thread : ) I've just read the whole thing today and it has inspired me (even though I haven't read the book).

I chucked half the bathtoys, cleaned out the bucket they lived in and put them back. Now the bathroom looks tidier and I know it's cleaner too : )

I threw out a load of old shoes that I never wear from the bottom of the wardrobe, moved two pairs (that I rarely wear but need to keep for occasions) from the shoe press in the hall to the wardrobe, and put the kids' new wellies in the newly created space so now the hall is tidier : )

I did a huge purge of the sitting room bookcase, so there are now 4 big bags of books and a two foot pile of cookbooks ready to go to the charity shop. Then I did the same to the DVD drawer. Into the space I'd emptied went a load of stuff off a horrible old set of shelves we've been meaning to get rid of for years, so now the shelves are gone, I've put a coffee table there and switched some lamps around and now the whole room looks fresher and tidier : )

I'm half afraid of what I'll get up to if I actually read the book!

woodenheart

I'm getting the book tonight as a payday treat, can't wait to dive in!

I've been lurking and am a bit of a slow starter,and am planning to read the thread properly this weekend, but I have done the bedding drawers and now they are about 2/3rds full instead of so overstuffed that it is not possible to open them. I also have a pile of old bedding that I have to get rid of. I think old pillows and quilts can go to animal sanctuaries?

My problem is that I feel incredibly guilty throwing anything away and I am happy to use stuff until it is falling apart, so see things like chipped plates and 10 YO ikea duvet covers that have been used every other week in that time as perfectly servicable.

It's going to take a while to tackle my clothes and stuff and averything that is thrown out is going to go into M&S's schwopping bins as they sort them into 'for sale in UK charity shops', 'for sale for pennies in poorer countries overseas' or 'only fit for the rag man' categories, which will save me agonising over this myself.

Even though I only shop for clothes 2 or 3 times per year, I wouldn't be surprised if I have 100+ tops, as I simply never throw anything away. I have some boots that are starting to look tatty but still wear occasionally. I know how old they are because I bought them on the day that my second oldest niece was born. She started secondary school this year .

I've decided that all my make up is going once I get round to the bathroom cabinet, because I don't wear it anymore. Some of that is probably 20 years old - I think the 'throw away if more than a year old' is something pushed by the make up companies to get you to buy more anyway, but I think mine is definitely past it.

I've also been trying to think about what to do with old baking trays that are a bit rusty - these need to go in the bin don't they?

Another significant moment will be when I get to the booze cupboard and the several bottles of half drunk sticky holiday liqueurs. I keep googling cocktail recipes but they almost always involve another spirit that we don't have so get stuck on the 'have to buy something quite expensive to use up half a bottle of banana liquer' conundrum. I just need to bin the banana liqueur don't I? and the limoncello, blue stuff, fake malibu and sweet sherry.

Also, I want to get the kitchen crockery/cups/glasses/cookware down to what DP and I need to use day to day. Usually it's just us but we do host one or two fairly big family gatherings each year, so need the big roasting dish and extra plates etc - need to find somewhere outside our ridiculously tiny kitchen to keep these on the 360+ days of the year that they are not needed.