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

PointlessFan - you can do it! It definitely came from feeling much more in control of the house, thanks to Kondo-ing it. And now I have taken charge of what's in the toolbox and know (more or less) what every item in there does, I feel I have a fair chance of being able to do things. In terms of worrying about "getting it wrong", I realised I am perfectly capable of filling in a crack/hole, so if I drill one in the wrong place, it's not a disaster. And I am taking due care not to drill near sockets/switches etc!

Thanks itisn't that's a really good tip.

I'm going to do my airing cupboard tonight, I'm gutted I've been ill I wanted it all done before I go back to work on the 5th.

Completely addicted to kondoing now! Pretty sure I've finished clothes. I had so many bags tucked away full of clothes and I fear there might be another carrier bag full in the loft. Will investigate tomorrow. I think we can easily fill the boot of the car. I already feel better being in my bedroom, all the clothes are put away and tidy.

Onto books now which we culled last year but going through them now there's even more to go.

Thanks for the plate and cupboard storage ideas

What has everyone done with their dvds?

I don't have that many anyway and I never watch them, I wouldn't miss them if I threw them all out. But how odd would it be to not have any.

Hello! May I join? I found this thread on NYE and thought I'd give it a go - three days later and I've Kondoed my clothes (two bin bags to the clothes recycling this morning) and am working on paper stuff (I skimmed my books, but they all give me joy, I reread a lot, and even the ones I haven't read in a while I know I'd miss if they went - I lent a book to a friend who never gave it back about three years ago, and I've wanted to read it several times since!, and lots of the stuff I have I wouldn't be able to easily rebuy or borrow from a library, so I think my books are impossible to Kondo!). I now have liberated about 20 ringbinder folders from various GCSE notes and "pretend schools" I made as a tween. Ditto about 50 dividers. Have filled a bin bag with paper to be recycled, and just have a slim pile of important stuff - mainly sheet music and A Level essays - which need rehoming. My bedroom looks like a bomb's gone off, but I have to keep reminding myself that it's a process, not a single act, and there are going to be piles of stuff whilst I decide what to chuck before I put it back away.

My DM is now trying to convince me that, due to the volume of clothes I've thrown out, I must need more...

( APlace my wardrobe is organised with a age 5-6 polo shirt with my trampolining badges sewn onto it in the middle, dividing the "haven't been worn since last washed" things and the "been worn but still clean enough to wear again" things - not very Kondo, but it works for me; in the past I used to pile worn things in a corner, supposedly to wear again before washing, until I got fed up of the size of the pile and washed the lot!)

I had that tip from a professional when I was in tears about six pairs of mittens hand kitted by my grandmother.

Me: I can't get rid of them, they were made by my grandmother!

Her: Do you have other things made by your grandmother?

Me: Umm... Yes? A quilt, a cross stitches picture, etc etc.

Her: Maybe these mittens are not the only way to save something your grandmother made?

Me:

I still have the mittens.

Right then, this year I'm going to be brave and attempt some DIY. I've learnt to do plenty of other things on YouTube including cutting DH's hair so I'm sure I can do something useful around the house!

AdventuringAbout Congratulations on the toolbox! Lots of goodies in there, as you have found. You'll soon be moving on to replacing tap washers and catalytic converters!

There's a very handy gadget in DIY stores, that can identify and warn where electric cables are buried in plaster. I've got one - to be on the safe side!

However, without one, it is fairly easy to work out where they are. They should always run vertically and horizontally - if laid by a professional. So, vertically above (or below) a light-switch or power-switch, and horizontally along skirtings/above ceilings.

That said, a few years ago I saw in a house, a really bad bit of filling diagonally across a wall, and was told " oh, that's where my husband put in an extra point"! shudder

Hard-Hat Award for AdventuringAbout and, of course...

The alternate translations for 'tokimeku' are really helpful Tanukisan - I was having to come up with altered questions for myself as 'joy' was really too much to ask of my clothes but some I felt a great fondness for, or just felt good about. Resonates makes sense to me.

I definitely feel the thing discussed up thread about tidying being a path to facing up to emotional issues. I have quite a lot of stuff I need to face at the moment and I think the clearer and more organised things are the more able I will be to do that.

I am about to start on paperwork, which is terrifying. It is all in a tiny room with a whole load of random crap - sewing stuff, packing stuff, present stash, various other miscellanea, and is a total mess. I also find some of it weirdly emotional - payslips from 1995, memories etc, and got really stuck last time I tried to get to grips with it.

We've given our DVDs away. Didn't have many and am now left with three I use.

Second hand book shops often buy books. We made £100 a few years ago on some boxes of good art books.

And an award to Apprentice Pointlessfan...
Hard-Hat Award and, of course...

I read the book after downloading it to my kindle a few days ago and I'm now Kondoing my way around the house! I sorted my clothes very recently after a weight loss so here's not much to discard but I have discovered a love of folding and have been sorting drawers!
I was going to get some underbed storage boxes for jeans and jumpers as all of my clothes storage is hanging space in the wardrobe but then I realised that the free vegetable boxes from sainsburys are perfect! So I saved a bit of cash too!

My shoes and boots are all neatly sorted in a storage bench, DS has neatly sorted drawers- one for school stuff, one for regular clothes and one for all his various sports gear. He's been warned that if he messes it up he'll be in big trouble!!
These are his three drawers...

And I've sorted my own tights, scarves jeans, tops and sportswear which has given me great joy!
I went out for dinner tonight and wore a sweater I've had for ages. I quite like it but it certainly doesn't spark joy so it's gone in the wash ready to be donated.

For others with a disastrous spare room currently used as a dumping ground- do you have plans for it post-Kondo? I was toying with the idea of making mine a craft room (e.g. have the sewing machine permanently out on a table), or an art room, but I would like to hear other's plans. (Mine is a box room.)

I'm toying with moving ds1 (8) out of the shared room with ds2(6). But leaving the bunkbeds so he can move back whenever we have guests (all gps live far away so stay over).
But I oddly resistant to ending the sharing and I can't work out why.

I'd love to have the smallest bedroom for menus that's dd's at the moment.
Maybe her and ds2 could share but she's been awful whenever we've tried her sharing.

Guess I'll give it 10 years when they can start moving out

For menus. Hm.

Oh yes why don't you know I have a lot of menus

For myself!!

Oo good idea tiger I have nowtv and have loads of films on that. Dc have their own dvd box in their bedroom.

I'm going to put all my cds onto the laptop and onto a memory stick and then get rid, I never listen to them tbh they are just in a cupboard since I don't have a cd player just speakers and aux cord.

Thanks IQueen - do I have to start taking sugar in my cuppas now?!

I have been following the "vertical/horizontal" approach to cable locating, and I had the house fully re-wired when I bought it four years ago because it was very dodgy (not quite the surveyor's words!) I will get a gizmo to be on the safe side though - reviews online are mixed, could you recommend a brand?

Sorry for de-railing. I shall return us to Kondo-land by saying I found all the papers I need for my tax return in under five minutes due to my konmari-ed cupboard. Still watched TV instead of filling it in tonight though!

Hah! I filled in the gaps in your post, JKS, and concluded that you ran a restaurant business, and "menus" was shorthand for all the paperwork and admin that you had to donor it. Imagination running away with me. Must try to get more sleep.

Mip, I think a sewing room is a great idea (I am biased about that, though) - anything purpose that will make you, or somebody in the family, use it regularly and value it. The reason rooms end up as dumping grounds is because nobody has ownership of them, nobody feels their space is infringed by everybody's crap, and therefore nobody curates the space.

We are planning a craft/study/art/music room but it's probably 6 months away

I've decided to send all dvd's and cd's off to music magpie. I download and stream almost everything these days anyway. MM are notorious for 'losing' stuff, especially expensive stuff, but my main priority is to get rid of it and music magpie will collect for free, so I'll see any payments as a nice bonus!

Not a vast menu collection, then.