"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

Welcome!
Ah the sock drawer now. The baby's tights drawer. A sight to behold indeed
You should still read the book, just for entertainment value. She really is delightfully bonkers

Voldermortofied! Hello! What a first post - wow. I'm a massive fan of the fold too. That sweet spot, I know it now.....

Well done / welcome to the thread

Thanks Just and Frances. Apologies for EPIC first post (I've been saving it up for quite a while). Frances, as you started this whole thing, you are like a kind of Mother Superior to me .

I feel like I've found my métier on here. Have been trying to convert people to extreme decluttering for some time but it took MK to make me realise there's extreme and there's EXTREME. It's so addictive, it's driving me bonkers that I'm too busy to move on to the next section for days yet.

I've been away this week and inching to getting back to the folding. Is it sad that I've been dreaming of bags of unwanted stuff lined up outside the front door, ready to be released to a better place ??

I've made some big progress this week. My mum stayed for a few days and we had a major blitz on the kids' room. Since ds changed from cabin bed to a bunk bed there's been masses of displaced stuff (including 2 shelf units that used to fit under the old bed).

I was so overwhelmed I didn't know where to start, but mum helped me by saying 'what do you actually want to have in here?' (she must be a secret Marie Kondo fan) and I decided on bunk beds, cot, clothes, books, lego and baby dd's cuddlies.

Then we rearranged the furniture in the room so whats there looks so much better. All my dd's clothes were in a 6 drawer unit but by taking out what didn't fit anymore, hanging up 2 dresses and putting aside her very summery clothes, they all fit into of these! It was a real shock - and explains why she never seemed to have anything to wear when there were piles & piles of clothes! Also, by doing the KonMarie fold I can now actually see what she has to wear- some stuff I'd forgotten about that now fits.

It all looks so much better and feels calmer in there. Its like a different room!

On the downside... there are lots of toys that have been displaced by the moving round. Mostly stacks and stacks of wooden train track & stations/mines/cranes/mountains/complete set of Thomas the Tank engines that ds likes but doesn't really play with and playmobil sets.

I need to decide what can be reduced down and where it can be stored, as I think if I rotated the toys in then he'd play with them (certainly when he saw them again he started arranging the playmobil into a scene) and dd might like them when she's older, but if I try and fit them in the room now it'll v quickly go from streamlined/restful feeling in there to chaotic/un-restful and messy in there again.

So its still a work in progress, but so much better than it was.

Peonies another 'non-tramadol liker' here, hate the stuff, makes me feel very 'odd'. Cant really explain it, it does me me slightly headachey and a nausous but worse than that is the 'displaced' feeling . I don't feel quite here or something - I don't think it is actually the codine with me or at least it doesn't affect me in any other form, but I took Tramadol once to cope with prolapsed disc pain and was at the GP s the next morning to ask for a script for something else !
Am being very naughty today and going to a thrift fair from a buyer point of view rather than a seller - but I know I'll be very strict on what I do/don't buy, and nothing will be purchased without trying it on first :) ! Am taking a bag to charity shop en-route and returning 2 tops I bought and do like but I know I'm not going to wear them ( they are 'slogan' tops, and they are cool but I know they will only be worn to bed so I'd rather have the space really ). The girl is finally collecting the huge bin-bag of toys tomorrow and I sent the bag of clothes to my friends little girl so by tomorrow I'll have whole section of empty wardrobe floor - I've haven't seen the bottom of my wardrobe since we moved in here 3 and a half years ago !

Nothing achieved here this week.

And I need to do the folding properly. Thought I had but I think I need to re sort. If I take something out other things flop over. Might need some drawer dividers. I think the drawers are too big.

The weather hasn't helped! DH ended up getting out shorts and tshirts again that he had put away. His shelves are all messy again. I will be re doing that this week.

I've lost impetus. Need to find my mojo again!

Morning all, I have to finish my bedroom today as getting a new bed on Tuesday and want to ditch the old one and clean the carpet tomorrow so it has time to dry. Drawers are now fairly easy to do, but i do have to sort the pile of komono (aka 2 folding baskets full of junk that doesn't belong in there) I've been putting off. Even cleaned the car while procrastinating so far today!

Thanks for the medication disposal advice. I can sort that out now.

Had a funny conversation with a friend on Thursday. She was at my house and admiring the flowery storage boxes in my DC's Expedit unit. She has a very deep cupboard in her spare room and is considering getting shelving at the back and putting similar storage boxes on them for her belongings (which include work stuff when she has recently retired). And there would still be room at the front for a rail for all her coats.

She asked me if I thought it was a good idea.

I said "yes.....or you could get rid of all the stuff."
She said "eh?"
I repeated " you could get rid of all your stuff and then you won't need boxes or shelves."
"Eh?"

It was so funny. Not a good idea to talk storage with friends when you are rereading the book She seriously looked at me like I had 2 heads.

Think this is what my boss at work has been doing. I have started to copy it at work, folding the children's clothes.

Have now read the book and a lot of this thread and am making an effort to sort my stuff out at home starting with clothes.

Today I found trousers with the price tag still on. Oh she is right, there are things still with tags on at the back of the wardrobe.

ohhelp at the moment, I am luxuriating in the space. I have a whole shelf in my wardrobe on which my (beautifully rolled) scarves are displayed. Previously, they would have been hung on a hook behind a door somewhere, behind or on top of dressing gowns and about three of those zip-up clothes covers you buy suits in, in dusty obscurity.

jimmy love the conversation with your friend. The number of times I have bought or created storage for stuff that I simply do not need, because I just haven't questioned the need to keep the stuff. At the time, it felt like precisely the right thing to do. In hindsight - how much time and money have I wasted?! Of course she thinks you are bonkers, she hasn't had her epiphany yet.

Today, I took a plastic food container that annoys me every time I use it, because the lid doesn't close tightly enough to keep food fresh, and repurposed it as a battery container complete with label. This will stop me taking everything out of the "electrics" box every time I need to find two AAA batteries. I am ridiculously pleased by this.

Sorry ohheld how smug did that sound?! I am not actually in control of my house yet, which is why scarf shelves and battery containers bring me such joy. There are certain areas of my house all those belonging to DH which even visiting children comment on.

ohhelP, obviously.

Hello I haven't read the book but I have a house full of nonsense. So my usual approach is to make a list of all the nooks and crannies and tick them off as I clear them out. But right now this is a mammoth task. But the approach of this thread appears to be that you tackle the stuff in categories. Is that right? And how is that better than trying to get one room straight at a time? (which would possibly become my life's work )

stilllearnin Doing it by categories is better because it means you don't repeat stuff all over the house - which adds to the clutter. It doesn't seem like it'd make a difference overall, but actually it does...

So putting all your sellotape in kitchen drawer means you always know where to find it and stops you having some in the kitchen, bedroom, office, art drawer, with wrapping paper... or going and buying more because you can't find it when you need it. It also shows that you've had 20 rolls cluttering up various corners of your house!

Also putting e.g. shoes in 1 place (instead of some in bedroom, cupboards, shoe boxes in hall etc), lets you see what you've duplicated & how many of an item you have. So you realise that whilst you always feel you 'never have any nice shoes' you actually have 6 pairs of fairly worn out black shoes, but none are quite right so you keep buying more - but because they've been stored in hall, loft, car boot, gym bag and a cupboard that you'd forgotten about etc you never realised you had so many.

It also lets you see gaps in what you own, so you realise you keep buying more black shoes, but actually now you've organised your clothes to what you actually wear and like (that 'spark joy' you can see a pair of boots would pull a lot of outfits together.

I'm sure someone more eloquent will be able to improve on what I've said, or add anything I've forgotten, but I hope that helps. :)

[disclaimer - I don't actually own any black shoes, but trainers may be another story...]

Oh & last thought before I really have to go & make breakfast [kids been up since 5 emoticon!]

I think also organising by category means you're more likely to be 'done' with the tidying process, as whilst if you're doing nook by nook, cranny by cranny then by the time you've done the last 1 the first'll be messy again & you'll be displacing stuff & duplicating items between them. If you do by category then overall everything'll be getting more organised and you'll be streamlining the house. :)

leeloo that was really well explained. I really liked the phrase "nook by nook, cranny by cranny" - it brought a to my face. And poor you, being woken up at 5 am, unless you're an early bird, of course.

Good morning! Hi to the new Kondo discoverers! leeloo what a great explanation.. It really does work with the categories. It's so good to think, for example, 'right thats clothes done!' and not have to think about them again (I'm only actually up to clothes.. But the difference already is amazing!)

I got sort of sidetracked whilst sorting shoes in a box under our bed and ended up clearing out the long languishing under-bed komono (I think it's called?!)
Yey! All gone, apart from my box of wrapping paper/tags/giftbags/cards which I'm not sure where it can relocate to! Feels nice not to be sleeping on top of unwanted/unused things anymore

Read the book in one sitting - loved it. I cleared our my wardrobe Iquitos recently and was chuffed to realised I had rehung everything in her way :) it just felt right like that. Just emptied and folded socks/tights and sports drawers :) they do look happier

Not doing things in right order as yet....need to wait for kids to be back at school to get started properly, but feeling inspired