Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 39 40

Original poster

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

999 replies

FrancesHB · 07/09/2014 15:46

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'.

OP posts:

Thread gallery

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/09/2014 14:16

Sort of, but then I am finding it a little annoying that if you need a pen now you have to go to the kitchen for one, whereas before there was usually one within arm's reach anywhere in the house. Can't win!

fuzzpig · 09/09/2014 14:24

Ah that makes more sense about the paperwork becool. I can see why it's not conquered yet - I really have no idea what needs keeping and what doesn't! So at the moment I am shoving all paperwork in a large bag-for-life as I find it (it truly is everywhere!) and will go through it with DH when we have accomplished much more of the larger decluttering stuff. And in the meantime it's still easy to find something in the bag if we need it.

I don't have difficulty refraining from buying books (well except children's stuff at Xmas/birthdays) - but that's mainly because I work in a library! My problem is borrowing far too much stuff instead! However I'm trying to address this - the books I've got to read by the end of this month (for a training day) I've actually bought, so my aim is to clear my ticket (and DCs') by then while I focus on those. Thereafter I'll be much more selective about what I'm borrowing and when (like you said - only when I'm actually ready to read it).

BeCool · 09/09/2014 14:24

But you could have a few nominated pen places for 'active' pens?

BertieBotts · 09/09/2014 14:27

But couldn't you have more than one pen place? Do you usually use pens in the kitchen? I would move the pen place to wherever you normally use a pen. So by the table, perhaps, or on a desk. You could have one designated pen attached to things like noticeboards or the phone. And then when you need to replace that pen, you go to the pen place.

fuzzpig · 09/09/2014 14:29

Ah but Whoknows - could that annoyance be a sign that the kitchen is not the best home for the pens? I guess you could find yourself needing a writing implement anywhere in the house but is there somewhere you find yourself needing it most of all?

Also I wouldn't say they all need to be in the same place - you could have a notebook and (one) pen in your bedside drawer (that's the top floor covered) and one on a shopping list pad on the fridge or something, while the rest live in a box in the living room (that's where we need them most anyway).

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/09/2014 14:33

Yes, I am gradually restoring solitary pens to places they are needed, and the DCs have a tin of them in their bedroom. The difference is that the bulk of them are all in one place, and coloured pencils are separate from grey ones and felt tips and biros, whereas before I had about three drawers that were all rammed with a total jumble of them. I have donated some to Brownies too. I need to apply it to the rest of the house now, my paperwork isn't too bad (made a lot of effort in the past with it) but still room for improvement. Other than that it's just stuff. Everywhere.

I don't truly aspire to be minimalist, but I could be a lot closer to it than I am now.

BeCool · 09/09/2014 14:35

WhoKnows I call it Pragamtic Minimalism

BeCool · 09/09/2014 14:36

or something like that that is spelt correctly ...........

yumyumpoppycat · 09/09/2014 14:44

My dp is blind and this idea of everything having a home is basically what they taught him at school as a coping skill. I am messy and this is a number one contention between us. I stayed up pretty much all night recently organising homes for things in the kitchen and tbh it is me who has benefited! Quicker to clean and saves time finding things.

Another example of clutter costing money is that I have been ramming things in the kitchen cupboards and many of the (cheap) cupboard backs have been forced unattached meaning small things can escaped down into the grimness that is the back of the kitchen cupboards.

Think I might have to add to my clutter and buy the book!

TheBigBumTheory · 09/09/2014 14:44

I read it (cheap offer on kindle)

The best bit for me was asking

'Does this bring me joy?' when decluttering

My 9 year old thought it was hilarious when we did her room. The plastic tat was asking her 'do I bring you joy?' and she was saying 'no, you're just junk!'

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/09/2014 14:47

Every bit of tat brings my DD joy, unfortunately. It's good in that she can be amused for hours with a bit of cardboard, but not great on the clutter front.

yumyumpoppycat · 09/09/2014 14:50

I think my dd's may be the same my 7 year old loves an old kitchen towel roll.

Bigbum how much was it on kindle is it worth waiting for price to come down from £4.68?

CiderwithBuda · 09/09/2014 14:56

Completely get the storage thing. That is so me. I need to declutter. So I go out and buy a random collection of storage receptacles. I also bought a load of books on organising and storage which then required their own storage receptacle!

Started the book. Love the testimonial that said 'your course taught me to see what I really need and what I don't. So I got a divorce.'!!!!! . DH is a hoarder but I think I might keep him anyway. At the moment. That might change!

BeCool · 09/09/2014 15:02

I need to declutter. So I go out and buy a random collection of storage receptacles. I also bought a load of books on organising and storage which then required their own storage receptacle!

I think this is a very common affliction, and is a direct result of all the processes of consumption we buy into that got us into such state in the first place.

TheBigBumTheory · 09/09/2014 15:41

Yum yum

I can remember but was cheaper than that.

Still worth it at that price, though because it will put you off buying more stuff

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 09/09/2014 16:09

One of my problems is that I view decluttering as a way to find space for things I've never been able to have before. Which is great when it's something like my stand mixer which gets used all the time and is worth it's weight in gold, not so great when it's just more clothes and shoes. Nature abhors a vacuum!

Anyway just downloaded the book.

minkah · 09/09/2014 18:30

BeCool, thankyou for the distinction between de cluttering , and organising.
I've been taking bags of stuff to the charity shop all this year, more or less each week!
Finally something remarkable is happening. Space is appearing in cupboards and drawers.
Learning how to use space well...that comes after creating some space!
I love having created some space. Absolutely love it.
This is a great thread, really helpful, thankyou!

BeCool · 09/09/2014 19:09

You are welcome minkah.

Space is soooo underrated. I used to see a space a stuff it! Now I aim to liberate space, albeit in a tiny flat kind of way.

Space in my daily life i.e. kitchen cupboards, makes me feel a million bucks.

Once you get rid of stuff and create space you must protect it ferociously from INCOMING! I actually now think "where will it live" and "what do I have to let go to have this item" before buying things. Which is remarkable (for me). But still stuff creeps in - be vigilant.

BertieBotts · 09/09/2014 19:29

Cider that made me laugh as well. So upfront! I don't think I've ever seen a testimonial before which has said "Your product/service is so good, I got a divorce!" Brilliant. Probably the thing which sold it to me!

I paid £4.68 for it. Self help books tend to be around the £7 mark on kindle so I thought it was a good price.

erin99 · 09/09/2014 22:25

Thank you everyone, really interesting thread. I'm fascinated about how a book can be the opposite of Flylady...

yumyumpoppycat · 10/09/2014 18:52

Thanks bigbumtheory I have reserved it from the library now lets hope I become so organised I don't incur fees

catsfishsnails · 10/09/2014 20:00

I borrowed this book from the library, and read it within a couple of days. It's an easy enough read, and I was fascinated by most of her ideas (some are a bit bonkers, even for me). Since then, I have found it much easier to get rid of stuff, and folding clothes her way has given me so much more space. I gave to charity/recycled 4 bin bags of clothes and 5 boxes of books, and I'm still not finished!

Another interesting effect has been on my library habits - I used to borrow anything that looked vaguely interesting and had a dozen or so books on the go. Since I read the Konmari book, I stopped borrowing books willy-nilly. In fact, I have not been to the library in the last month or so, as I am finally attacking my own pile of to-read books (and those I don't select by Christmas will also go to charity, unread).

Even though I haven't finished the process, I feel liberated from stuff!

BertieBotts · 10/09/2014 22:14

I don't think I will mind stuff creeping in if I "find joy" from all of it.

I'm worried about practical stuff - there's no way I have 160 tops, for example, which is the number she quotes as the average. I'm doing my tops on Friday morning when I have time, so I'll tell you the exact number, but I don't have a lot. I'm worried that I'll end up getting rid of so much that I'll be left with not enough to actually live and I'm not in a position to replace too much stuff at the moment. I think perhaps I'll decide which stuff to get rid of but then the things that I don't have enough of left I'll keep a few, store elsewhere and label them as "condemned" so that as soon as I buy a new top I have to get rid of that one. And meanwhile I don't have to go to work naked if I get really caught out

Slightly worried this is not the ethos of the book, but, well. Maybe I will do it and find I do have enough left, anyway!

MollyAir · 10/09/2014 22:22

I've read features about her but not followed through. Wondering if I could now.

minkah · 10/09/2014 22:33

160 tops is the average? I wish I'd counted before I started dejunking!

I don't think I would have had the nerve to face the actual figure.

I'm shocked it's such a high number.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 39 40