Kondoing this and kondoing that - thread 4 for Marie Kondo's lifechanging magic with tidying. All welcome!

[TheSporkforeatingkyriarchy]

Here's thread 4 for all the KonMario converts, wannabes, and guests to the magic!

Thread 3

Dh and instruction manuals He supposedly decluttered them already but I got rid of another bagful this morning. And in making a start on the books I've noticed a box file called "IKEA". I suspect that will be on its way to the recycling tomorrow too.

Got about halfway through books tonight 6 big boxes full ready to go to the charity shop tomorrow. DH said he wasn't really it 0 in the mood so I put his boss to the side but he did eventually join in and after I told him off for looking through all my books that I'd already set aside he made pretty good progress too. Bedtime now, and as my parents arrive tomorrow I suspect we won't make any more progress before next week now, unfortunately.

When I start to do paper work I will just be making some executive decisions about instruction manuals. Given the amount of time DH has spent successfully searching for building instructions for lego models he has from the early 80's I'm fairly confident that we could download a manual for a dvd player purchased 2 weeks ago!

I love the idea of a quilt made from the clothes, although now I need to resist the urge to keep them to make the quilt myself (thinks of the bags of my twins' baby clothes still set aside to make quilts, even though they are 5 years old now). Actually this might be the incentive I need to get them all shipped off and made into quilts - which we genuinely would use as we often snuggle on the sofa under blankets.

I think the photos will work for many things such as the Dcs pictures and craft, but for clothes I need something I can touch, photos won't bring the joy of the fabric to life.

DH is a serious hoarder, I've tried to talk to him about Konmari's philosophy but he hasn't got it at all yet, hopefully he will when he sees a lovely ordered kitchen

Found you again. 5 pages in!

Attacked the kitchen corner cupboard - filled a huge bag of our of date medicines & vitamins . Oldest was an inhaler best before dec 2004.

Not perfect yet but a LOT better!

Ophelia I still have a couple of small baby items from each child. I need to put them with my other keep sakes/photographs I think

Standing you beat me . All my herbs and medicines and foods went back to 2010

Hi all - newbie here although I have been following since well before christmas. Having read the book - I have completed nearly all my clothes and all of my childrens, books, the linen cupboard is now beautiful , swimwear done plus medicines and sun creams.

This morning I am tackling household paperwork. I have a big box full to destroy and haven't saved a lot. Do any of you have an answer on what to do with :-

Expired passports
Old p60 s

Get rid?

I am really enjoying this experience and I have a week off to kondo to my hearts content :) what makes it more difficult is that I have 3 children of my own and I childmind from a not-very-big property, therefore i have to be really careful to keep toys, resources and paperwork in check otherwise we start drowning in it. I am trying to be mindful that this my family's home first and a childminding setting second!

This thread is just what I need for the New Year... like Whistle I've been following for a while and even bought the book.

Have made a start on my tops/ kids tops.

standing I love the wall-colour in your kitchen. My walls are just white. Maybe once I've KonMaried the whole house, I'll let myself paint as a treat

I had a day out yesterday and am struggling to get motivated today [yawning smiley if there was one]. I think I'm going to pack the clothes DS received as Christmas presents. I'm not entirely sure they will fit but am guessing it's a bit like 'Field of Dreams' ie 'if you KonMari build it; storage they will come'.

I like the arguments upthread against keeping boxes for electrical items. I'm currently having that discussion with DH too

standing what a gorgeous kitchen! I normally don't like pink hugely but that is stunning

aplace yes, currently wading through boxes for DS lite, iPad and other tech stuff - "in case we want to sell it" in future. He needs to read KonMari

Ophelia I'm so sorry about your dsis. My much loved db died and I used to hold on to anything I had remotely connected to him. One day I thought I lost a ring he gave once for Christmas and nearly hyperventilated with panic. I found it a few days later in my glove but it made me realise that possessions are only tokens. They are not my memories and keeping things that related to my lovely db or not is no reflection on how much I loved him. I still have lots of his stuff, in particular a hoodie he used to wear that I put on if I need to feel close to him, but probably no more than I has of things I've gotten from dsis and dps.
Since starting the Kondo process a few things have gone into charity bag that sparked lovely memories of him, so I was a little upset but I will always be thinking of him and remembering him with or without these possessions.
Basically, in my usual long winded way I'm trying to say, keep what you want to keep especially if they bring you lots of joyful memories of your dsis and don't feel under pressure to chuck anything until your ready. But at the same time don't feel everything must be kept. You will always love her and think of her with or without the stuff...
Love the idea of the quilts...
Sorry if that is unhelpful, but just want to say know how you feel and it's not easy...

It is important to keep special things from people we love. I have my grandmother's pearls which I am unlikely to wear. I could probably sell them for a reasonable amount but I can't part with them.
However, I have realised from reading the book and clearing stuff out that I won't forget memories of places, times or people because I have discarded an item associated with them. Remember too that items might bring joy to other people who will use them and that will also keep memories alive.

I'm in the proccess of Kondoing the two large book cases in the living room. A few tatty things have gone in the recycling and I have a smallish pile for the chazza! Need to look again and check that everything in the "keep" pile really does bring me joy! Books are my downfall though - I've always had loads and genuinely do re-read a lot of them!

I've been sent over from S&B after posting on how to sort out my wardrobe. I read thread 1 and this one today and think this could be exactly what I need

Ironically given the suggested prioritisation clothes are really the only thing I struggle to get rid of - the rest of my house is in pretty good order.

I shall venture into my wardrobe and see what I can achieve - I suspect I'll give gatorade a run for her money

'Bottoms' all done. I now have six binbags for whichever relative unwittingly calls on me next. I was going to walk them one at a time to a clothing bank but the path between here and there is very slippy at the moment, so I need kind family members with cars!

DS actually went through this process last year and I found it quite upsetting emotionally. He had kept everything from toddler toys up, and suddenly at 16 he wanted it all gone. More than 20 binbags later he had quite a minimalist bedroom and he has kept it that way ever since. After he got his Christmas presents this year he actually brought down a few things that had to go to make way for his new stuff. So when I was reading the book I had that example in my head. I KNOW it works - DS has the only neat and ordered room in the house. He's actually my role model in all this!

Books are something I need to think about though - I will go through the process, any dupes and any that I didn't enjoy or that have negative associations in any way will go, but I do love books, and my only goal really is that they all fit in the bookcases, no more piles on the floor.

Standing your kitchen is gorgeous and I love the idea of writing signs showing what is on each shelf.

Arti, books are our downfall too. I've been surprised how many didn't speak any joy though and I dropped 6 or 7 huge boxes off at the charity shop this morning. But since we had 6 Billy bookshelves overflowing that's probably less than half The books that give me the least joy are DH's collections of hobby books that he collected when he was in his teens and hasn't looked at in the almost 20 years we've been together. I'm working hard on getting him on board. He had mentioned asking his colleague who is a fanatic if he'd like some of them. Not really in the Konmarie spirit but at this point I'll take anything that gets them out of my house!

Another point of friction is his parents' his stamp collection. His parents have been sending 2-3 A4 collectors sheets of stamps from their home country for years. He finally got them to stop last year but there are hundreds of these bloody collectors sheets that could be put in special collectors albums, but haven't been, and actually haven't been looked at in the almost 20 years we've been together. He'd just take them out of the envelope and then chuck them in the drawer "But they're probably worth quite a lot." "I might get back to collecting." ARGHHHHHHHH I got a tentative agreement yesterday after a stand up row that he looks on ebay to see what similar collections are selling for overlooking that this isn't really a collection, rather a buy-tion but anyway And I've agreed he can keep the 'real' collection which has been steamed of envelopes over the years think I left mine at my parent's house

It's so satisfying to see the binbags all lined up PastPerfect And now I think my clothes will actually fit into the storage I have. If not, there will have to be a round two!

Oh god, just looked on ebay and even really old ones from the 30's are only on for £20 or so. I don't know if that will make him more or less likely to get rid of them.

Ok folks. I have a boot full of books and off to the chazzer. Hurrah. I got rid of six crates a few years ago, which was very hard as I saw them as part of my identity. Marie kondo had useful things to say to help me cull further. Even books I loved reading, I have got rid of. Though I want the kids to read them, I will re find them when the time comes. I am unlikely to read them myself again. And I don't want to store for 10 years or so. That's how I've done it. I need to keep loads of books for work which I do actually use. That's enough.

Re knickers and tights. To store, I roll like sushi and my drawers are like bento boxes . I will take photos for you later.

Ladies who are sorting clothes, I recommend folding as you sort. If you pull them all out to sort, then fold and reorganise once you have decided what to keep. The folding is really good, and once done it stays that way because you have to refold clean clothes to get them back in the drawers. It helps because you can see all your clothes. The drawers become very aesthetically pleasing, which is also incentivising. For me personally the folding has been an inspiring and revolutionary part of the process.

themummy the whole stamp collection sounds painful. My sympathies.

I don't know what to do with my rolling pin - it has never fitted in the drawer except diagonally, but with my KMed utensil drawer, I don't want it in there. Can anyone think of a logical place, other than the utensil drawer, to put the damn thing? no suggestions please of where the sun don't shine

I have done my kitchen utensils (pans, bowls, drawers, tupperware etc - everything bar the food cupboards and crockery). I have one binbag of rubbish and 2 big bag for life bags for the charity shop.

Everything is organised properly, baking trays are vertical so I can remove them from the cupboard more easily, pans are all stored together, it looks lovely!