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

IKnowImComing I've been reorganising my thoughts about food for the last year or so, and made some progress, but still undoing the damage from years of yo-yo dieting. I definitely see a parallel between overeating and over-storing (if some is good, more must be better, right?) Hopefully getting one sorted will support the other.

codandchips that's a great start. And YES, you can ditch it. There are a few bits of paperwork you ought to keep (current insurance policies, degree certificates, complete driving license, marriage certificate, birth certificates, latest mortgage statement...) but all the bank statements, and 30-year-old cycling proficiency and grade 2 violin certificates can go. Photograph the kids art work and get rid of it. Count on it, they won't be pleased to get it all back when they buy their own houses!

I having a bit of a miserable tired day here, so just checking in to reinspire myself - have done some Kondo-ing every day since 1 jan, and I usually fail to get past three days with any kind of 'I will do x every day' resolution so I am feeling mildly proud of myself. Just finished my first pass at papers. Think will do he rest of the list hen return to paper to file better.

I liked the morsbag link - thanks for that.

Can't believe you dared to insult MK catsofa! I was the kind of kid who would have done almost anything rather than go out to 'play' - my sanctuary was being the library monitor and getting to neaten the books instead of stand in the cold noisy playground - so her fanatic childhood tidying and quiet weirdness really endeared her to me!

I enjoyed the WH too so thanks for whoever heads-upped on that. I particularly thought the idea of avoiding shops altogether was a good one after a day dragging a 4yo and 2yo round 8 different shops. It was mayhem and I needed a lot of de-compressing after they were finally in bed last night....

No need for blushing, BeCool! Major overlap between Kondo threads & minimalist threads, as far as I can see, so no need to be on both!

Yeah, it has to be quick bursts, I guess. X and I have a nesting arrangement in which dc stay in house and we're the ones who move in/out, so I don't tend to have child-free time in house. Which is probably a good thing as I'd love to Kondo their stuff, and I probably shouldn't. Even though I want to SOOO badly. I notice that Tim Harford's whole family are Konverts. Sigh.

Love "Konverts"

Hi Harriet - another "minimalist thread" member here! I am still on that tread too but this one is much faster moving and there is something really encouraging about the MK approach - even though I refuse to talk to my possessions!

Not much done now I am bac kworking but this lunchtime I have kondoed the fridge and freezer a bit by using up some stuff that badly needed it!

You don't thank your handbag, educatingarti? How do you think that makes it feel?

Well I've just had a great day.... Was dropping off multiple bags to charity shop. Had to go to bank for dh so brought a bag of coins that had been sorted into little bags well over 2 years ago but as were too heavy never brought them into bank... Totally forgot about them as they were under the bed, so lugged them in today, had no idea how much was in there... £903!!! Can't believe it.... We always have a coin jar on the go. Have a kilner jar nearly full again, but as it's against our great leaders principles I'm going to bag that up and bank again on next day off...
So excited.... Maybe gym membership for the year... Or a holiday!! Woohoo!
Well done everyone on all progress... Best cult ever

timegoesby

don't be tempted to spend it on more stuff

Tiimegoesby, that's amazing! Enjoy spending your w ooh windfall

Sorry I don't know where w ooh came from!!

harriet I was just thinking about you this morning and remembering the summer I was moving house and all you lovely lot from the minimalist threads were encouraging me through ditching so much unwanted stuff. I hope things are going well for you these days

I've put my wedding dress and childhood dolls house in a corralled space to be considered for Kondoing. Can't decide if they truly bring me joy or if I am just hanging on out of silly sentimentality.

Holy crap! That's AMAZING!!! Would you really enjoy the gym membership, or would it just be something else you don't use? Take your time and decide on something really joyful to spend if on.

I started clearing off my bookshelves (I'm not "doing books" yet, I just needed some room) and for the first time I thought "you know, I could get rid of most of these and it would be okay." :) How freeing!

I'm still working on clothes. I was up far too late last night so I'm having trouble getting started. Figure I can at least do some folding while the mindees are playing. :)

and what's the deal on money jars then? Are they a no-no.

My wedding dress is hidden MissAnnersley - I will have to face it at some point and feel a sentimental pull. Probably not joy.

Hermione gym membership more to bring dd swimming as a family! Our council local pool is a bit grim... Seeing her swimming would bring an abundance of joy! Defo not spending it on crap, if this windfall came before I read the book, I'd probably have hit the shops, but now am a reformed character.

lockie1983 MK is dead against money jars, apparently coins are supposed to go into your wallet, to be spent rather than stored presumably. She doesn't really develop the point much. Her main objection seems to be that people don't get round to banking them.

But £903

Lockie MK says to put loose change straight into your purse rather than save it... Even when we were kids we always had a money jar, that was cashed in for a meal on holidays (sausages on a campfire every other night), were I went wrong was by not cashing in for years and then got too much so was too hard to bring to bank. Will find it hard to stop habit of a lifetime... Maybe more frequent trips to bank and use if for day trips, bottles of wine etc

Crossed post, sorry Vert!

On thanking possessions, I felt a little pang thwthe other day then the children cheerfully discarded all their disgusting old sandpit toysTOYS from when they were wee. But I just said, out loud in front of the children, 'Oh well, time for you to go, thanks for lots of happy times!' and it helped a LOT.

Wow £903! Impressive.
We have a big money pig and empty it out and bank the money every now and then.
Normally we split it between the 3 dc. I'm happy to carry on with that. And I love the big silver pig too

My wedding dress (10.5yrs) is still in the wardrobe. I'm not ready to get rid and I finally got the phone number of a seamstress the other day. I want to cut off the puddle train and dye it hopefully to wear as an evening dress.

Omg I want to get a money box now! £903!

I was actually going to get a terramundi but they're really expensive, seems to defeat the point somewhat

I'm trying to wean DH off his money box habit, it's less a box, more an old ashtray on top of the microwave that drives me mental. And guess who's the mug that ends up bagging it up and taking it to the bank? I find as well that now most of our banking is done online I either have to make a special trip, or wait until the DCs get a birthday cheque to pay in.

So while I didn't originally agree with MK on the subject of money boxes, I find myself agreeing with her. Should have known not to doubt the all-knowing MK

ItIsntJustAPhase

Thank you for the heads-up on Tim Harwood's article.

I realised, some years ago that I have wasted thousands and thousands of pounds on STUFF, that didn't necessarily bring me joy - just because the disposable income was there!

Many of us are discovering that our estimate of our number of clothes, CDs/DVDs, out-of-date food, shoes etc is waaay more than we thought. If we add up the original cost of the things we are discarding, we can see that the figures are eye-watering!

Money boxes:

Local shops will often welcome a few bags of change - it saves them a trip to the bank. (Probably not £903 though! )

Cheques (and cash) can be paid into most banks, at the Post Office.

I love my money-box! I'm saving 50ps and have half the price of the English wool-combs that I covet. Then I can kondo the 4 fleeces that I have to spin.

DS needs to raise £££ for a school trip so I'm wondering if I could introduce him to idea of kondoing his own stuff and selling what he doesn't want... Half finished boxes of Warhammer that cost a frigging fortune, for instance...

[waves at arti and missannersley, with gratitude to all of the minimisers for help in shedding SOOO much stuff, emotional and physical!]