"The Life Changing Magic of Tidying" continues to magically change lives (PT 2)

[BeCool]

Come fold your loved clothes, and feel the spark of joy in every object you own (or thereabouts).

Continuing our journey on from the Original thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/2178442-The-Life-Changing-Magic-of-Tidying-Marie-Kondo?msgid=50091328#50091328

Lol say goodbye fuzzpig and think of the happy reception children!

CoolCadbury mine is like that with matchbox cars, I imagine lego will be next. I don't rotate the cars, he would kill me!

fuzzpig You can! Or you can not... It's up to you... Maybe you can ask yourself, will it give you more joy to keep it displayed somewhere that you can see it often and recall the good memories... Or more joy to pass it on and think of it giving pleasure to your friend and many children? No right answer.... It's your stuff, you get to decide your relationship with your stuff.

Weeeell TBH they do still ask to play that one sometimes (unlike the other orchard toys ones which have been sat untouched in the cupboard for months on end). I may have been a bit overzealous. I am proud enough for getting rid of the other games TBH! Those ones are easy to say goodbye to (even the ones that were virtually untouched) - friend will be over the moon too.

Kind of embarrassed to be changing my mind on this one game . If they didn't still play with it, it would be easy, but they have played it even in the last month now I think of it, and it's the only one they would notice was gone... Hmm. I might see if they want to play with it tomorrow and I'll judge from that (friend is visiting on Thursday)

Fuzzpig it sounds to me that that particular game does bring you joy. Maybe you feel that it shouldn't? But I think it does! No problem keeping one game when you got rid of so many others.

I was wondering if there's anyone on the thread who is Japanese/ has lived in Japan? I'm so curious about their kids toys! (Not covered in her book at all) Do they have the same amount of plastic tat that we do? Where on earth do they put it all?
Or maybe they are all in daycare with toys & fewer toys at home? I wonder

Yes, it does still bring me joy! :) I think it wouldn't if the DCs weren't still playing it sometimes, because then it would be sitting untouched and making me sad that it wasn't getting played.

I am still getting rid of heaps of other stuff - just discovered another few games that can go, I'll sort them tomorrow and will thank them as they leave the house :o

Oh and I've never been to Japan but I really hope to one day. I am an anime geek :o and once my decluttering mission is nearer completion I will be learning to read/write the language.

Interesting point about how toys might be different too.

Hey me too! I've always had an interest in Japan. I studied Japanese at school and did 1 year at uni. I found it fascinating. And once you get past the alphabets the grammar is sooo straightforward. Very regular verbs. And easy to pronounce to.
But yes learning hiragana & katakana and 100s of kanji is quite a bit of work
From what I know I think men and women's lives there are very different. And apparently no pain relief in childbirth, as all the system is set up by men for men. That might not be true. I hope not.

Taken another 2 bags of stuff to charity shop today. I've finished my files - they now look all nice on 2 shelves and in an accessible place which means I'm actually filing stuff away rather than putting it onto a pile to do later! Also, I've cleared enough space by getting rid of files to put my son's computer games on the shelves instead of the floor! So there is a definite difference.

I did skincare products and make up - I don't have much of either so that was relatively easy. Accessories next. That will be harder, because lots of it, although essentially worthless, will have memories and guilt trips (if gifts). I've found myself clearing out some of the random crap along the way - I guess that's the 'komono' that we're supposed to leave until later - but as I go through stuff, I'm finding things like pens and plug socket adaptors and memory sticks, so I'm putting them all in the same place with others of their kind - a box of pens, a box of adaptors etc.... I can see some order coming out of the chaos. I also have a box where I'm putting all the sentimental photos and letters I'm finding along the way... that's going to be hard to go through! I have so many little pieces of art, notes, cards and little stories written by my kids, I don't think I want to get rid of that.

Anyway, hope everyone else is having fun with this and seeing differences.

propose the theme tune for the thread has to be

Let it Goooo! Let it Gooo!

hard to declutter in 1/2 term but got rid of a pair of dd's jeans to her cousin. PLus my clothes which didn't sell to my mum and dsis. they were rather thrilled. Love my lounge without a rug. so much easier to hoover!

Love the idea of 'Let it go' as our theme... Instead of throwing out swirls of ice we hurl things into bin bags...

Re: Japan. I haven't lived/ studied there but we did go for 2 weeks hols this year. Having been to Asia several times before, the cleanliness and order is very noticeable compared to eg, China or Vietnam. People are very visible keeping their houses and the area of street outside their houses immaculate, and v beautiful. Even on the pavements in city areas there were beautiful arrangements of pot plants outside homes. Fabulous holiday. I'd go back tomorrow.

Oh fuzzpig I remember playing Tummy Ache at playgroup in the late 70s. I can remember the worms and the nice fizzy drink glass with the straw. If you are this conflicted I think you should keep the game. My book decluttering took 2 or 3 attempts to get it to where it is now.

Oh I'm glad I'm not the only one who has that song in mind! :o

Hello, can I join in? I have just bought and skim read the book. I'm daunted at the thought of attacking all the clutter in our house by category, but it's a new approach and I can see that it might work.

There's not much that I can see in the book about kitchen clutter, though. I have just been decluttering my kitchen food cupboards and it makes me happy every time I open them and they look neat and tidy. However, I then tackled our kitchen 'clutter' drawer and was so overwhelmed by all the stuff that I ended up putting it all back . I just didn't know where else to put it all: rechargers, stamps, loose change, gift vouchers, photo forms from school, etc. I know Marie Kondo likes shoeboxes, but I don't have any to hand and neither do I have any spare shelves to store them on.

Anyway, that's a minor blip. I am still determined to continue decluttering because I'm so fed up with spending my life tidying it all up over and over and over again.

Just found 6 rolls of Sellotape. And four packs of sticky Velcro tabs. Hmm. This grouping thing is a good idea.
And no, a ski pass from 10 years ago does not bring me joy & in the bin it goes!

Hi all, long time lurker here having followed through both threads and joined in with the discarding of joyless crap! Have done clothes and reduced my wardrobe to very pleasing proportions, and been utterly ruthless with my book collection (although my kindle is still crammed but that's only taking up virtual space right?! )

Now I've cone unstuck with the paperwork. There is a lot of it! My finances took a bit of a battering over the course of two maternity leaves, and have piles and piles of letters from debt collection agencies, credit card statements, overdue bills etc. I've been burying my head in the sand but it's time to face reality and sort if out. But how to go about it though??

The mythical 3 folders is a long way off but I so want to get to the point where I'm only keeping the most recent bills etc and the rest can be scanned/shredded. I've downloaded the Evernote app and will make a start but would appreciate some guidance from anyone who's faced a similar task?

Phew that was long, well done if you read it all!

Thank you msdo I've been lurking on that one too, which has helped me to face up to the mess! I'll get the paperwork sorted and tot up the figures then join in over on that thread too.

Hi bookworm,

paperwork is next on my list - I have got resonably good recently (compared to how I was) but there is a lot of historic stuff I am looking forwad to binning.

I am planning to use 'camscanner' as well as evernote, someone on this thread or the previous one recommended it (thank you!). You can take a picture of a bill and it will then digitize it and you can label/tag it so you can search for it later.
There is a free version, but I paid 1.19 I think (make sure you don't get the premium one which is an ongoing sub).

It looks very good but I haven't really mastered it yet - if anyone has a tried and tested (simple!) method of fully digitizing/organising using camscanner/evernote I'd love to hear it too.

Haha, see I have been paying attention to the advice on here, have also downloaded cam scanner (free version but may upgrade to the PDF searchable one) and also Dropbox to back up all my files. Now I just need to do it and stop putting it off!

Back from my holiday visiting my parents but have been stricken with very bad attack of abdominal pain which is preventing me from doing anything much. Waiting for the dr to call me back now, the receptionist said it would hopefully be within the hour but that was well over an hour ago

Very worried as I had surgery on 18th September after suffering very similar pain for months and I had hoped the op would solve the problem, now wondering if this is healing pain/unrelated or actually if they have failed to sort it.

bookworkbeagle I have just finished my papers. Nowhere near the 3 folders, but I think that is not achievable for my family. It might be OK for her as she's on her own. My son has SEN and I have TONS of stuff. I have reduced my files from about 5 shelves of an Ikea Billy book shelf to 2, plus a metal box for important stuff like passports/insurance policies/house deeds. I have shredded SO MUCH STUFF! I don't have room for it all in my recycling bin and am having to store it in the garage until next time!

I went through all my folders and got rid of all the superfluous stuff, like covering letters, stuff that comes with bank statements, etc; I got rid of all bills and insurance documents that were out of date; I got rid of any letters that had been dealt with and didn't need keeping for reference. It was tiring, but very satisfying!

I reckon the 3 files thing is too difficult - but if you think of it as 3 files per person in your family, then maybe it's a bit more realistic?

Peonies hope you got seen by/got to speak to a Dr earlier. How are you now?

I am getting frustrated with all the stuff everywhere that needs to go to Chazza or various other places but this thread keeps me going! Not had a majorly productive day and retrieved a few things from the Chazza stack (I know I know...), but slowly slowly clearing more space and emptying boxes. Love my cardboard earring display. Wore some old faves I haven't seen for ages yesterday and at the end of the day I put them back where they belong! Would do a pic but last time I tried to post a pic it all went wrong..

Hi all, been lurking for a while. Just thought I'd tell you about my achievemens since finding the first thread.

Taken to the charity shop = 5 bags of my clothes, 3 of DP and 2 of DD. 3 bags of baby toys, 2 bags of linen and I have a growing box of kitchen stuff to go soon.

I've recycled 5 boxes of paper! We have 1 four drawer and 2 two drawer filing cabinets and I worked out i hadn't opened any of them apart from the one crammed full of stationery in 12 months so I binned the lot. (I already had a file setup with the most recent documentation)

I've been madly eBaying over the last 4/5 weeks and my PayPal balance is about £230 and I have a stream of people collectin things I've freecycle.

I've been through most of my stuff in the house and realised I was just keeping it because I had it , it didn't bring joy so it's gone.

Thank you Mumsnet and Marie Kondo for helping me see the light.