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

I've kept my wedding dress so far. I also found my tiara when I was kondoing the dressing room. DS kept telling me to give it away so a little girl could wear it (he seems to have caught the MK mindset ) but it's so pretty it does give me joy when I see it. I've kept it so far as I try to think of places I could wear it - Tesco in a tiara maybe?!

£903?!

I was chuffed with my £125 before Christmas...and it was heavy enough carrying that much to the bank .

Re sp wohm. I'm still very new to this kondoing malarkey but decluttering, in general, has to happen in big bursts for me...days rather than 15min blocks. I do work at home but rarely get the chance to do any sorting during my work hours ...despite thinking that it would be possible. My DS is 12 and loves nothing more than being allowed 100% freedom to play on whichever electronic device he chooses, all weekend long. I ease my guilt over this by limiting it to only one day of a weekend and try to get out of the house on the other day.

I am willing the week away so that I can crack on with it over the weekend!!

Two fairly big items have been kondoed via ebay today so that's made me happy and another 4 items posted earlier, that sold over the weekend. The holiday fund is increasing and the clutter is shrinking (slowly!!).

I've charity shopped my wedding stuff. We've been together yonks and I've never worn it a second time. I've lots of photos from the day though. Managed to get rid of a couple of dresses also on my second sweep of clothes. I better keep the rest till I've bought some joyful clothes as otherwise I'll be walking around naked!

Just Kondo'd my perfume collection. I halved it easily! I went through a phase of bargain hunting and I ended up with over 30 bottles of perfume as a result. Some I never liked, some had gone off and been thrown away now. I have a headache from smelling them all to see which ones sparked joy!

APlace your post made me think of

To all the CMs I have just been given a very large diary by DH today! Have therefore Kondo'd my crappy paperwork for the business all into this one diary -
Attendance record
Income
Expenses
Fire drill record
Incident record
Visitors log

All condensed so 2 small diaries down and a pile of paperwork to shred! There is plenty of room in the huge diary for more so it's still a work in progress but at least now everything is all in one place and if I can keep on top of it weekly then my accounts for 14/15 will be a doddle (thankfully was on mat leave most of 13/14 as I just ignored the accounts! Have earmarked some time at the weekend to sort and file online).

I've been reading all the threads but not yet posted. Today I just wanted to share a fab Kondoing moment.

The lightbulb in my kitchen light fused. Instead of scrabbling around in the kitchen cupboard looking for the right kind of bulb amongst all the mess I just opened the cupboard, picked out the newly repurposed ice cream tub full of lightbulbs and found the right one.

It was amazing

Like the idea of being called a Konvert.

So linens didn't happen as I found more paperwork where does it all come from?! It's now all sorted and the pile that's been sat on top of the microwave for weeks years is now gone. It makes me smile each time I see it.

I then decided to have another go at toiletries and makeup as I felt there was more I could get rid of. I had a lovely box that MIL gave me as part of an Xmas hamper and wasn't sure what to do with it: Behold my new toiletries storage-

I am hoping my stash will further decrease in size as I use things up and don't replace them.

How's everyone else's Kondoing going today? educatingarti I found a slightly squishy tangerine in my bag. Really need to get into the habit of emptying it daily.

Actually I'm failing at this. I found three binbags of jeans under the bed - I now have FIVE binbags of jeans stored in case I lose weight and can wear them again. Jeans are my favourite item of clothing. I start Weightwatchers this Thursday so it is something I'm going to be working towards... The thing is, I used to be a size 14 - but a combination of pregnancy, thyroid/adrenal problems and yo-yo dieting means I am now a 20-24 depending on shop. The majority of my jeans are 16 and 18 and I'm determined to make it back to 16.

On the plus side, I now have adequate storage for the clothes I'm actually wearing. I expect there will need to be a 2nd round of clothing Kondo'ing, especially when I remind myself that the default is 'It's all being thrown out, what do you want to keep?' but I want to move on to bedlinen now!

Gatorade you must love jeans, that is a lot!

Actually, if I have any criticism of MK (sacrilege ) it's that she's so evangelical about the life changing magic of tidying that she doesn't really cover what to do if your life is already in a state of change. In the next six months I'll probably stop breastfeeding and lose some more weight (hopefully). If I were applying the technique religiously I'd chuck my nursing bras as they are far from joyful, but really I don't want to spend time and money replacing them to last 6 months. Similarly with jeans, Ive kept a couple of pairs that are not joyful but will see me through until I've dropped a dress size (hopefully).

As you say, as long as you are resigned to a second round I think it's fine. Maybe you could get rid of one bag though...

Gatorade

How about a compromise ? You keep the nicest pairs and ditch the rest. When you reach your target you trest yourself to some new ones?

Vende
I suppose one way to look at bf bras is that they bring you joy by making it easier for you to bf so they perform a purpose. When their purpose is finished you get to replace them with ones that make you happy. Can you replace the jeans with something that brings you more joy now and woukd work later ?

homeaway that is a good way of thinking about the bras, thank you! I didn't get a spark of joy when I picked them up but I suppose I'm not going to get that in other categories later on (joyful loo roll?!?).

I'll think about the jeans. Part of the problem is that with a toddler and a newborn most of my shopping is done online, I really need to get to a proper shop when I can find the child free time.

Just realised too that at 7 months DC2 is not a newborn anymore. and at the same time!

Well after I've kondoed the few remaining boxes, I'm going to kondo my weight and my finances. I might get a budgeting type app?

I know! I'm pregnant and it's hard to know what I will wear and when. But I've mostly just got maternity jeans now. I'll get more when I need them. :)

I put away some laundry while the mindees were here. I still have one due to be picked up within the hour so I will do more tidying when he goes. I'm on my fifth bin bag of clothes to donate. Feels amazing...though it will feel even better when I dump them! :)

And LOL at the tiara Mango! I love Amy Farrah Fowler.

Gatorade - I didn't have nearly as many but I did have a LOT of clothes too small but that I hope to get into. I went through them carefully and 90% of them I wouldn't wear again even if they did fit. They're totally out of style, worn out or just a bit bleugh. so I ditched almost all of it. kept a few "sentimental" items and promised to treat myself to new clothes if I ever get there!

Vert this joyful is something I'd also been struggling with a little and already decided it needed a slightly wider interpretation, when someone upthread (sorry, forgery who) posted that the English translation is not exactly joy, but maybe more in the direction of resonance. So taking your toilet paper example i would say if you open the cupboard and find hundreds of toilet rolls - well, unless you've got endless storage you don't need them do you? And they hardly cost the earth to rebuy. So you'd donate all but a month's worth.

If you open the cupboard and find 4 rolls, but jumbled up with all your other stuff, then you'd tidy them away as per the normal method.

And if you did have hundreds and did have room to store them after all the Konmarie-ing then you at least would know you've got hundreds and to stop mindlessly throwing them into the shipping trolley every week.

In the more concrete example of your bras, your boobs will stop going up and down soon and both of mine speed nursing in the day somewhere between 12 and 18 months too. When you're only feeding morning and evening you can ditch the worst of the bras and get some normal soft ones - you can pull down under the boob to nurse. My worst nursing bras got chucked when ds2 was around 12 months, i just couldn't bear the sight of them any more!

Violet You Need A Budget is great for getting control of your finances. Am as evangelical about that as I am of the KonMarie Method.

gatorade agree with pp, keep your best pair (in each size range if it's easier) and ditch the rest. I only have one pair.

themummy KonMarie has that story in her book where a woman has kept a huge amount of toilet paper and KonMarie works out how many years they will last if she wipes her bottom x times a day. KonMarie wonders if she ought to be buying the woman soothing cream for all that bottom wiping instead of helping her tidy.

Vert

the internet is your friend especially in the sales. Can you order a couple of pairs and send back what does not fit ? I order a lot on line now but I did discover that crew jeans fit perfectly and they were ten pounds in the outlet so maybe ask dh to look after the kids and hit the shops with a friend.

The toilet rolls remind me of a passive-aggressive note I wrote to my uni housemates, explaining why I shouldn't have to buy any more bog rolls for the rest of the year. I got back after the easter holidays to find that each of the six of them had left a 12 pack of bog rolls on the bathroom floor.

But if people do find themselves swamped in toilet paper, or toothpaste, or tinned tomatoes, or other everyday consumables, don't forget your local foodbank.

I'm off sick again today, but I'm going to have a go at magazines in time for recycling tomorrow.

I am having the nursing bra issue too. I don't even want to save them for next time as they are horrible! I'm cutting down on bfing ready to return to work and have promised myself a proper fitting and some nice new bras with matching knickers out of my first pay packet. I'm looking forward to it but just seeing the nursing bras as necessary for now.

themummy yes I think resonance or ringing a bell is sometimes a more helpful translation than sparking joy. I think I know it now when I feel it (oh the cult of Konmari).
Thanks all for your thoughts, I think I'm going to replace one pair of jeans that are now too big (hurrah!) and stick with the bras for a while longer. Pointlessfan, definitely get rid of the bras between DC1 and 2, especially if they don't spark joy. I found that the cumulative effects of BF, pregnancy, weight loss/gain meant that I was a different size the second time round anyway.

Hoping for more time to kondo today, only managed hats and scarves yesterday (how can one woman need so many winter hats?!). But I feel good about getting the majority of clothes sorted, and at least the charity shop will be able to sell the good winter stuff as it's the right time of year.

Vert - about your DH dumping change in an old ashtray. I'd keep collecting it ( in a second purse?) and when you have a decent amount buy yourself something nice ( and needed of course). Then say to him - "do you like my new jeans/scarf" or "you'll have to look after dc on Saturday as I'm going for a massage" etc. "Oh - I paid for it with all that change you didn't want any more!"

Might cure him?