'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'.

Ok think it Might be time to buy a really good, fast scanner.

hi everyone

I saw this drawer divider/organiser idea on Pinterest:

step 1 - cut empty cereal boxes to the inner height of your drawer and figure out a pattern they'd fit in there
(you can use smaller card boxes like biscuits & oatcakes and maybe glue them together in a grid?)

step 2 - if you feel like paint them or cover them with pretty fabric

step 3 - fill drawer with your things, but now it's all organised. ta da!

it's such an easy thing to do, cost nothing and makes such a difference for storing small toys (Lego!), beauty items, sewing paraphernalia, socks & underwear, diy bits & bobs you do need etc

hth

I haven't had book yet.
I'm not in the position to declutter just yet as I have been ill, awaiting surgery in 3 weeks time and just about able to survive daily demands of 7 kids ( including 11 week old baby) who keep being ill one after another.
But I'm very interested in all the good ideas on how to be better organised.

Thanks for thread, hope my tip is useful

Zing that idea is very much in the spirit if KonMari - she says not to buy any organising items or containers while decluttering, but simply to use whatever you already have.

Of course once you have finished tidying you can buy containers of they bring you joy, but I think the idea is not to get distracted from the journey.

In the past few weeks, I've gotten rid of so much stuff that I now have empty plastic shoeboxes, wicker baskets of all sizes, and similar items... Apparently I never needed them!

Coughle so true about not needing the extra storage. I cleared out shoes yesterday and now have two of those underbed storage things lying empty. They will come in handy for keeping books and bed linen under DD's bed. Otherwise they are gone!

Nearly finished the clothes. Just got winter things and tea towels still to do. Im not working today so will hopefully get it done! I sorted the dresssing up at the weekend which is great as every time the DC wanted anything everythigng used to come out of the cupboard. Hopefuly now its been decluttered and stored better that wont happen.

DH finally complimented me on how nicely everyhting is arrnaged now. So I took the opportunity to ask how many tshirts he has. About ten he replies. Ha! More like 25! He then muttered something about getting rid of some so we will see!

I think I might go on to paperwork after this, as I decluttered books not that lomg ago. Im sure there is more to get rid of, but paper work is a bigger problem.

zing had never thought of interesting it but have done similar at work for years - moved to a new department and during a quiet spell in the summer I had a happy time with lids of copier paper boxes and sticky tape. The drawers have lovely (well, functional!) custom fit dividers for pens/batteries/board markers etc

woodenheart it was a busy weekend for NCT sales (NCT short-changed us on the number of chip & PIN machines we could borrow as there were so many on!) Mine was Basingstoke :)

I've lost focus a bit on the deep decluttering but am going to just tidy up and have a good clean today downstairs then tackle the kitchen cupboards.

No good for multiple scanning but to keep on top of things in future camscanner seems to be a good app for phone or tablet to scan documents and email them to yourself or drop box or whatever. You can crop and it stores in a smallish size file. Most accountants I know use it.

kewcumber that app looks great, I've just downloaded it.

Asheth how did you organise the dressing up? DS is just getting into dress ups and I want to build a collection for him, but don't want it to become just more clutter. He's got lots of space in his closet so we could hang things, but I'm not sure if they would actually get hung up again or if a big chest would be more realistic... How did you end up doing it?

I went out with a friend for lunch on Saturday and the subject of magic Tidying came up - after lunch we went back to his house and folded clothes!! Another convert.

Didn't get much done myself - but busy weekend.

I need to recycle an old laptop & I can't find out how. I have googled extensively and there are lots of links to follow, inc those of the councils, and postcode search type pages but none of them actually eventuate in a recycling scheme or place.

I'm quite gobsmacked at how difficult it is proving to be to safely dispose of this laptop - I guess they all end up in landfill?

Any ideas wise ones?

freecycle for parts?

Take it to the tip, ours has a separate place for electronic items so they can be recycled.

Coughie my friend uses one of these for her DC's dressing up stuff.

We use 2 of these as we have an Expedit (or Kallax) unit. One box is for all the soft clothes and the other is for accessories/hats/bags etc.

We've put all of our dressing up clothes on a cheap adjustable rail in the playroom so that they can help themselves. The DC now dress up much more than they did when the clothes were in a box

We went the other way - dressing up used to be on a rail, but the girls struggled getting stuff back on hangers, so we now have 2 pop-up Ikea laundry baskets. They now always stuff the clothes back in.

Well... my chance for decluttering is pretty much over. The removal company are coming to pack tomorrow for our move! At least I now know that I'm not taking a load of stuff with me that I'll just want to get rid of when I unpack at the other end!

Hope the move goes well holmes!

Couple of bags gone from under the stairs today (complete with a few spiders), not much else going on here though!

Do we have tips in London?

Becool - each council should have a dump. Check yours' and neighbouring councils' websites under Refuse and Recycling.

holmes

good luck with move, how exciting for you!
we moved in May and the last morning we took a photo of the children standing in front of the house waving. it was a lovely way to say goodbye.

I have a tip 5 mins away and I'm arguably London.

Thanks Zing and Cecy! We are very excited! It's a big move too - 4 hours away. I look forward to putting everything away painstakingly in the new house in the Konmari fashion. I'm sure it will take me until next July be immaculate in next to no time .

Coughle for years our dressing up has been stored in a small cupboard with a shelf and a drawer at the bottom. The drawer was crammed with accessories (scarves, eye patches etc.) the hats were bunged onto the shelf and the clothes were crammed underneath. Every time the DC wanted something everything would come out!

Im still using the cupboard, but the clothes are now folded in true Konmari style into the drawer so the DC should be able to spot what they want without taking everything out. The hats and masks are still on the shelf, but arranged side by side so again they can hopefully see which one they want. Ive sorted the accesories into various categories and put them into containers which are stored under the shelf.

Some of the outfits only fit DS3 now. So as Ive cleared a couple of drawers in his room Ive moved them in there. Im under no illusions that the DC will put them away, but at leats now it should be only one or two things that have to go away at a time. Not the whole lot!

Ds2 has a full chest of drawers crammed with dressing up, can't wait to attack it now and konmari it as it's a nightmare!

Thanks for all the dressing up tips, sounds like a pretty even split between hangers and drawers... I'll have to see what works for us. We borrowed a firefighter costume from the toy library today, boys were in heaven!

Hope the move goes smoothly holmes

Done it - folded my socks. Can't believe how happy that makes me!!(not to mention my socks' new found joy!
You guys are inspiring! So pleased to have found you!