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

Catsofa, I do that with carries too. I have now started to wear nicer ones around the house but I have to be careful because my cat also sees me as his personal sofa/scratching post!
I can't remember who suggested dying clothes but that's a great idea!
Also re - clothes that won't be good enough for the charity shop, see if your council recycling collection will take them. Ours does, we just have to put them in a tied bag next to the recycling bin.
I've made good progress with photos today while DD was napping.
I have also started using pinterest to plan which clothes to buy with a Christmas voucher so that I use it wisely and buy items I will wear. I'm trying to change my mentality about having clothes for work/going out/home etc and just have clothes but finding that quite hard.
I am just having a brew and watching Escape to the Country, found myself thinking how the owners of one of the houses had far too much clutter and the house would look much better if they had a clear out. I'm becoming obsessed!!

Cardies not carries!

Woman's hour, Monday 5 Jan 10am Radio 4... STUFF - too many clothes, Christmas junk, children's plastic tat? Phone in, lines open 8am, 03700 100 444

I'm going to listen to that! Thankyou for the link.

I've now kondo'd my Marie kondo book. Given it to a good friend.

DIY/cleaning now for the rest of today for DH and me. I have three boxes of photos and a big stack of magazines to kondo still but both are evening jobs I can do in front of a film.

Things that are 'saved' as too good to use or wear.

Most of us do it! Why??? Don't we think we're worth it - NOW?

Maybe it is a throw-back to using 'the best', when the vicar/doctor called?

A friend of mine spent years, and £££s, collecting her sets of Eternal Beau china, which permanently sit in a glass-fronted cabinet. Even when I stayed with her one Christmas, it didn't come out!

When homes are cleared after the death of an aged relative, there are so many things that are new, and unused: lovely towels, bedding, nightwear, clothes, toiletries, etc etc. What a shame.

(Erm... did I hear "knitting yarn" whispered? ) That's going in the wardrobe in the boxroom, in hanging shoe/sweater organisers!

Use it, or lose it!

Ha, knitting yarn. I got rid of lots, from old projects. And fabric, from projects planned but never executed from up to 15 years ago . Brand new fabric.

Knitting yarn also appeared in my Marie Kondo nightmare when I found a whole garage of forgotten stuff. There was a lot of beautiful unused yarn, stored very attractively, but bringing no joy to anyone, in there...

If anyone else wants to kondo their kondo book I would love a paper copy, I bought the kindle version because it was cheaper, but only have a tiny phone to read it from which means I'm not reading much in one go.

It actually makes more sense to save things as "worst" not best eg to wear/use when decorating, gardening etc so as not to ruin nice things.

Well done, everyone! I can't believe how much progress everyone is making. I've had the weekend off from Kondoing but think I'll have to start accessories tomorrow.

Oh that reminds me, I keep meaning to actually wear the necklaces I have even if I'm not going anywhere, just to enjoy them. I'm going to go and put one on now!

Actually I do quite enjoy them even when I'm not wearing them because about a year ago I made a really nice display/storage area for them by sticking loads of random wooden knobs to the wall, so now they look like this... colours are much better than in the photo but you get the idea.

To the left is my hairband storage, they are all threaded onto a wooden kitchen roll holder. I still have far too many necklaces and hairbands though, they haven't been kondoed yet!

I've just dropped off a boot full of stuff to the charity shop and feel very motivated but not sure what to do next. The sitting room is in a big mess and will take a good while to sort out but the fridge really needs kondoing and the bathroom needs a good clean after yesterday's kondoing. Then there's my bedroom

I've gone for the bake/cookware cupboard before books as I had a book cull not long ago, and the tins were driving me potty! I think someone on here, or a previous thread, suggested a plate stacker to help store tins and trays vertically. Worked beautifully, so thank you whoever suggested it. (I used some wire tacks to fix it to the cupboard, so it doesn't slide about.) I was just going to do the tins, but I realised that I store lots of different things in that cupboard, and then forget about them, so I pulled the whole lot out, cleaned it all, but the random bits and bobs with their matching things, kondo'd the cookware, and re-organised it. Very happy, nothing falls out now. :)

Yes to saving things for best. For some reason I've been doing this for ages with toiletries, but have now stopped. Hopefully I'll have used some up by the time I get round to kondo-ing them! Doing my clothes I realised that I also tended to keep perfectly usable items with some small sentimental value, and then never wear them. I kept one I'll never wear but can't part with, 2 that I've started to use, and donated the rest. The 2 I'm now using are everyday jumpers, but I had another 4 as well. I've always been low on everyday jumpers (always found a reason not to buy any I found and liked), and I wonder if, even though I'd completely ignored these ones, on some level they were holding me back from buying more.

Oooh! Catsofa, I LOVE your jewellery display, and it really resonates with my interpretation of MK! Your jewellery is joyful whether you wear it or not. And if you thin it out a bit, it will only show off the knobs all the more. Lovely!

I've been breaking out of MKmode today, to do some old fashioned tidying... Putting the house back to normal before we go back to work tomorrow (if I'm well enough!) it's already noticeably easier to put stuff away, where the categories are sorted, and I couldn't resist a bit of decluttering-by-space as I went along. If you know any item isn't going to survive the cut, why wait, right?

I redid my paperwork alongside my stationary so it's all together neatly today.

Hiccup I've found it easier to, rather than by room, to do it by thing. For example, in my very stuffed bedroom, I have books and bookcases which I did all together a while ago, baskets of paperwork that I started last night and finished downstairs with my incoming paperwork basket, and there is a wicker thing I'm hoping to sort tonight and DP's desk and tall skinny unit and under the bed which I'm going to do with him soon (once we clear the black bags from the latest kondoing as our bins can't take much more ) with separate time I spent on just the CDs and other discs. I keep a large plastic box to fill with things to sort last, I just sort that sections stuff at that time.

In the bathroom, there was just sink and windowsil, the metal storage of bath stuff [which I would kondo but it's the landlords'] and the bath, the tiny wooden drawers, and the toy box (the last of which I still need to do). My front room has the TV area, the couches, the bookcase (with separate time for the DVDs and video games cases], medicine cabinet, the mantle and so on. I take things out, clean it, then sit and sort from a box or other flat surface as my legs can't take me doing all that standing. I don't do it one room at a time, I did the downstairs book case, two sections in the utility/storage area and the kids toys and the video games and DVDs, then I did the upstairs bookcases, then I did several other things including defrosting and kondoing a freezer that was being a pain before I went back into the bedroom and noticed I had more old paperwork I should include in my neat paperwork basket so kondo'd that. Mix of Kondo order with a mix of what is bugging me at that time that I can do.

Yes, I see the logic in that

I'm panicking now because I'll have 5 children here tomorrow and I'm nowhere near ready for them. I don't suppose I'll achieve anything if I stay on MN so better get on with it...will start with taking the christmas stuff upstairs so it can all be put away until next time.

Catsofa - your necklace display looks fab!!

Mango - that is exactly what I hope my pan cupboard will look like

I love that necklace display

Hi everyone,

I was on the original thread but dropped off as life got busy! Now it's 2015 I have decided to re-dedicate myself to Kondoing and clear some more space.

Before I dropped off the old thread I had done my clothes, shoes and bags, books, jewellery, makeup, kitchen items and DD clothes and shoes.

I need to revisit books as we got lots of books for Christmas (some of which I know we won't read so they are going straight to the charity shop)

I have a cardboard box which contained nappies that I am going to use to make a book box for
DD, this will involve cutting the side down at the front then wrapping it in some fun wrapping paper (which I seem to have loads of so it will be great to get it out of the way!)

I am pleased to report that the areas I Kondoed before have stayed tidy, it makes cleaning loads easier and has the added benefit of saving time in the mornings because things are organised (no more hunting for keys etc!)

Thanks to the poster who wrote about give and makeup, I have some toiletries that are languishing in the bathroom which I need to get rid of- great idea to send them there!

I keep finding more paperwork so need to sort through that, we loved house last year so have lots of paperwork relating to the move but I just can't throw it away!

I'm loving the photo's - really inspiring!

Thanks for the v helpful packing advice hoobypickypicky I suspect our stuff is too plain to be attractive to buyers. :( I don't suppose you want a white Denby Tea Set for your business do you?

Blimey, this thread is moving quickly. I have been evangelising about kondoing all weekend to friends , this is hot on the heels mof sending someone a photo of DH sock drawer last week....now off to tackle the baking stuff cupboard.

welcome back everstrong . It's great that your kondoed stuff is still tidy.

Keeping stuff for best. I do that with clothes to a certain extent eg as soon as I get home, I change out of my "out" clothes into loungewear eg apartment pants as per Friends. Partly because I hate feeling constricted and partly because my "out" clothes last a lot longer that way so less money is spent. However, I don't keep best for anything else as my mum is notorious for keeping for best. She has beautiful tablecloths, china, crystal etc which she uses maybe once or twice a year, which I hated growing up. Day to day, we had crap things but out came the beautiful things for guests. So as a grown up I have completely rebelled against it. That's as far as my rebellion goes though.

Oooh, leeloo my mum was talking about buying a white Denby set for my brother.

catsofa love your jewellery display !! Pretty and functional.

I'm starting with books. Clothes are far too emotive for me, I am someone who remembers exactly what she was wearing on special occasions. I can still remember what I was wearing when I met my husband over ten years ago ! Too sentimental are clothes.

So books and downwards for me.

I'm actually pretty good at not keep stuff for best. My mum often wonders why I'm wearing my best clothes round the house/to bounce and rhyme/on a Tuesday