"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

Leeloo your DC is an inspiration!!

Now isn't that nice. Too many tops, but I wish I had taken a before!

I put my knickers in a shoe box. Took a third of the space!

LOLing at "Kondoms" too!

Everyone is doing well. I'm still a bit stuck. But am going back to the order of things. I think I am still not happy with our wardrobe as DH's stuff is a mess. So I'm redoing that today. Then I will do jewellery and sort my hanging stuff. Then make up.

Then tomorrow I am doing the Bootroom. We are in a big old Edwardian house and we knocked through a few small storage rooms but kept one which has cupboards and lots of hanging space. On the house particulars it was called the Boot-room which has stuck and sounds posher than it is! We also have a Morning Room.

Anyway - Boot-room is full of crap and needs doing. Am xmas shopping and need somewhere to put it all!

going back to a much earlier post of mine - I've been using the change in my change jar in the self service tills at the supermarket (less embarrassing than handing over a pile of 2ps to the checkout assistant ) and discovered that the machines don't like 5ps. So I left them in the bottom of the jar, and now that I've got rid of almost all the rest, decided to count it and bag it and take it to the bank. I have £14.20 in 5p coins . How on earth did that happen?

I'm having to revisit categories earlier in the list as well - I thought I'd done well with clothes but have had another couple of carrier bags full over the past few days. I've been a bit distracted though with non-home paperwork (volunteered to sort out a load of stuff for a charity) and had to take seven boxes and five binbags of shredded paper to the tip yesterday .

I'm looking at stuff in shops in a new light these days - generally about now I start "helping Santa" with stockings (in our house everyone gets a stocking, adults as well) and there's been loads of things I've picked up and thought "oh, that can go in x's stocking" then put it back down as I don't really want to bring it into the house. I think everyone will be getting vouchers, socks and sweets this year and nothing else . As the DC are all older, we're tending to go for experience things as main presents - last year we went to a show in London for example, so that is also helping for keeping the crap out in the first place.

Leaping £14.20 in 5p coins has got to be an impressive volume. I am totally with you on the Christmas stocking thing. DDs' stockings were full of tat last year, much of which I have just thrown out. This year I'm looking for useful things. Although, I don't think I will go as far as my parents did - I recall each of us receiving our own nail clippers and bottles of suncream. (I grew up in a hot country.) This may have contributed to my early realisation that Father Christmas was, on the balance of probabilities, my mother.

Leeloo nice job on the calm interior of your wardrobe. I also wish I had taken before photos of mine. And the DVD cupboard. And the kitchen storage (particularly the drawer housing all the lidless plastic containers).

ohhelp [whispers] I think it's OK not to do the same category order. I haven't really. [Ducks] Particularly if you have little ones - quite frankly, you're doing well to fill any bags...just don't leave them where all your carefully chosen articles can be helpfully unpacked.

Yes or in a bag the cat then decides to shred. What's going on there I don't know!
Paper bag of clothes for chair in the kitchen. Next morning shredded bag and a heap of clothes on the floor. Odd.

£14.50 in 5ps is marvellous!

I'm liking the DVD storage idea & ditching the boxes. Haven't broached this with DH yet. It may be a step too far. He hasn't got over his rolled up pants & socks yet!

And yes I'm just going to konmarie (or kondom) his clothes. His version of tidy is 1 heap on the floor, rather than the whole floor covered.
I'm thinking this whole konmarie thing will suit him, coz there will be more room, and it's easy to put stuff away. At the moment everything is bursting out of it's storage. Except the konmarie I have already done. Fustrating with 18mo I can't just get stuck in!

My tidying has come to a complete standstill, mostly because I am working full time at the moment and I am EXHAUSTED. I can barely keep my eyes open tbh. I'll pop in here when I can but for now I wish everyone "happy tidying"

I am fully poised! Starting with clothes tomorrow (this is the plan). I was wondering - I work from home and have about 20 mins for lunch. My job involves sitting still at a desk so was fantasizing today about power decluttering in the 20 mins available. Is that doable?

Thanks Volde I haven't managed to sort much of the house yet, so its so nice to see a little Oasis of calm when I get dressed (as long as I don't look down at the ocean of crap clutter surrounding the wardrobes!

Thanks to Kiwi too, I'm trying to use the dc as an incentive to get rid of stuff - so they don't think that its normal to be so messy - so I'm really pleased that Ds is taking that message on too - and he helped me hoover today, so he's definitely a treasure. :)

Proveme That photo looks amazing - and I think definitely shows why you shouldn't be slavish about following MK's 'rules' - as your lovely matching boxes look much neater than shoe boxes would do - they really look made to measure there. (I'm sure shoe boxes are more eco-friendly, but...)

I'm off work tmrw, so hoping to get back to some decluttering. I managed to get 2 bags to the charity shop - 1 of rags & 1 of stuff they hopefully can sell - so at least its something leaving the house.

Oh & stillearnin - I think having a short time span like 20 minutes can be really motivating - I just have to decide in advance what I'll be doing, otherwise I can mill round aimlessly (or slump back on the sofa & mumsnet) & not achieve anything.

leloo

your DS is very sweet & smart

when we went through kids clothes I asked them all to choose the things they like & enjoy wearing and put things they don't in a box.
it's a very simple concept, even my 4-year-old understood it and helped sort his clothes into the "no" box with very little hesitation.
he was very clear on "yes" items too, only a few t-shirts he wasn't sure about so I did the same and kept them for now.

In order to put things in shoeboxes I would have to go out and buy some shoes! So I won't feel guilty when I go to IKEA to buy their fabric storage boxes

I have zero shoe boxes too buyer of cheap shoes here so I keep any food boxes that are nice quality or big, and chop them up. They keep dc drawers tidier

except the readybrek box. I'm not covering their clothes with that annoying snow

even some box plastic inserts could be of use - the ones that look like mini cutlery dividers
Kitchen is still tidy seems like it's a workable solution. There is still more I could do to it, though, I've started throwing odd scruffy plastic bowls away, we simply do not need them

I am keeping the cereal boxes to do this (probably minus the covering as they won't be on show). It's for all our pens/stapler/hole punch etc. Was going to buy a cutlery tray but this is in the Kondo spirit.

I am doing it by categories but have decided to change the order of the categories as anything which dp has an interest in is far harder than stuff which is just mine.

I am doing jewellery at the moment and I have sooo much which doesn't bring me joy.

I'm back on track! Didn't do DH's clothes yesterday. Or anything I had planned!

But today I did jewellery. Down from a lovely hanging rack, two jewellery boxes and a cardboard box (small) full of stuff. Now have one jewellery box, hanging rack and a jewellery roll. We lived in Asia for years and jewellery (proper stuff!) was really cheap so I have quite a bit of gold that I don't wear at the moment. But I don't want to get rid of it all. It does bring back memories and I am sure I will wear it one day.

Then I did makeup. Didn't get rid of as much as I should but I will go through again.

Then I tackled ensuite. Well the vanity unit. Lots gone! Tampons and pads. I haven't had a period in four years! Half empty sample sizes of stuff. Lots more to do but I'm getting there!

I fell off this thread when it became part 2 but I am pleased to announce (although it has taken forever!) the only thing under my stairs is my Hoover- literally nothing else! I'm so amazed at myself for clearing my worst dumping ground in the whole house! Yay!

Cecy wow only the Hoover under the stairs!! That's inspirational!

I haven't done a lot lately but dropped a few more bags to Chazza and got closer to getting all the stationary together. also put all the wires and related bits in a box for DH to sort so the dumping ground/shelves in the spare room are looking a little bit clearer.

Also finally got rid of a box of CDs as music magpie came to collect today! Hooray!

On the down side it's DSs first birthday soon and DH is intent on spoiling him with a tonne of presents with no thought about where they are going to bloody go....we're gonna need a bigger boat house

Hats off Cecy, I've never seen a cupboard under the stairs without a shedload of komono (such a polite Japanese way to say crap) in it!

All I managed was charity shop today with a few more bags. They only allow you to drop off once a week between 3 and 7pm though so still an achievement with a toddler who naps in the afternoon. Just don't ask why Oxfam is not round the corner, I live in the middle of the mountains in a remote village. Pissing down with rain here trying to contain a toddler from jumping in the lakes puddles while simultaneously holding a bag for charity and an umbrella. Needless to say, I didn't look like the glamorous, MK acolyte that I aspire to be!

5 more bags to the charity shop, new home arranged for the washable nappies, 2 empty drawers repurposed and able to see a bit of floor that has been under boxes for years.

Would like to report that it was very pleasurable putting my washing away today, everything has it's place so even though the folding takes a bit longer to get the hang of, it's a much more straight forward task. ..Normally would dread it as could never find enough hangers and never had enough space or knew where everything was supposed to go.

Can't believe I'm raving about putting laundry away :) this really is life changing stuff!

Iadeca start. I did all my and the dc's current clothes. There is still DH, coats, hats, shoes and storage stuff before I can tick off the clothes. 2 bags of rags/dusters and 2 big shoppers of charity stuff. It feels like a tiny dent to be honest, but it is a start. Also I can see the point if doing categories and as I am genetically unable to fold but am quit tidy the roly foldy thing worked really well.

My only niggle is I felt a bit like a 40s housewife which i really balk at. Any thoughts ?

Despite that though I took a photo of a drawer and sent it to my mum! also think I can get the rest if clothes and linen by the end of the weekend!