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

Squirrelsmum can you ebay the rocks? Other shops might buy the stock. If you don't ebay can you ask a friend to do it for you? With household items the rule is after you have used something, put it back. I can see that this is much more likely to happen in a clearer streamlined house even for the kids and DH . Although I will have to train them up a bit first I expect. I'm half way through the chucking stage and already the tidying up is much easier/faster. It's been a revelation to me as previously I spent hours fighting with the mess daily and it was like ground hog day. Previously it would always quickly get back into the same messy state quickly and id feel down about it and embarrassed when friends visit.

Milly you mustn't worry, everyone's very supportive here. Also it's natural for discussion to role into related tangents and the psychology behind tidying/clearing. I think this thread/kondoing will throw up a lot of stuff for a lot of people over time.

Btw, for all my complaining about clutter pre-Xmas I feel that we've been a lot more rational with the presents. Ds' pile was a lot smaller than last year (thank goodness) - we were very aware that he still had e.g. lego sets from his b'day in Sept that still haven't been built, so even though it seemed wrong to not have any for xmas he didn't - and hasn't missed it.

The only thing he asked for was a lego/superhero videogame, so he had that, then a surprise Transformer that he was wowed with. Then he had a watch (learning to tell time at school), new handlegrips (badly needed for his scooter), a couple of books and a couple of build it yourself science kits (from relatives).

Baby dd (16 months) got this pet toy and she's loved putting little toys in and out of the doors, (and her brother has liked opening and closing the doors for her with the keys) - then as she gets older she can do more with it herself. Oh and she got the ginormous rabbit toy DH got her - which actually she's been using as a floor cushion, so he's almost forgiven for the size of it.

It would have been very very easy to buy them both more, but I think they'd just have been more overwhelmed and no happier for it. There was so much more we could have bought for them, but when you really look at toys its easy to see how repetitive they are.

[disclaimer - we already have squillions of toys - so we're by no means minimalist/virtuous and the kids are very very far from deprived)

Hi, please can I join? I am drowning in stuff (mostly DCs stuff, mine is all boxed in the garage and can probably be chucked) and we have a small house. I feel very physically stuck here and I think clearing out is the way to go, then I can think about doing up the house to sell and move somewhere I want to be.

Am off to buy the book, it seems like a good way forward

Secretly looking forward to getting a few of the mountain of Amazon boxes we have and boxing up stuff to pass onto oxfam. And instead of collecting the nectarbpoibts so I can buy more stuff (!) I think it's time I just gave the nectar points to oxfam as well.

I've never been one for new year's resolutions as I think you can set yourself up for a fall, but I genuinely feel like this may be the 12 months in which I kondo my head and start to regain control of my house, my life, my head.

Thank you all

Milly I don't think you need to delete unless you feel uncomfortable having the posts on here.

Welcome Colleysmill and Romeyroo! Get stuck in!

We are about to move house with a packing company doing all the boxes etc.

Do I kondo before or after the move? (Or both)

Welcome to new people!
Think we've had our tidiest Xmas ever but looking forward to cracking on over the weekend.

Kondo before the move so you won't have to do as much packing!

families definitely before and after move - lose any obvious 'joyless' objects now, so you're not paying to move rubbish, then be more systematic and ruthless when you unpack.

Families I think you'll need to do both. I regret not doing ours before we moved, brought so much unnecessary stuff with us but equally there's bound to be stuff that gets missed!

I've been pleased with how little mess we've got. I'll be honest, we've spent most of Christmas at my sister's house (Colleysmill is my sister and I just bought her the book!). But most gifts have been tidied away. My in-laws gave me gift vouchers so I can go shopping and treat myself when I've lost a bit more weight! :)

The living room is currently full of Happyland which will need a home finding though

Leeloo - thanks so much for looking all that out for me
We are trofasted to the max already - but I think many drawers could be emptied out and refilled, it's the place toys go to die and the ones they want are all lying out in the living room!
We really need to move out of small 2 bed flat, but equally we could really use staying here for another year for financial reasons, so if I could make our situation more comfortable in the meantime it would be great...
Off to buy book, and thanks again

I dipped into a Marie Kondo thread on Christmas Eve (also looking at stuff on youtube) and ended up clearing out the majority of stuff in my kitchen drawers/cupboards . I realised that there was some stuff that I never use. It's all sitting in bags in the conservatory now. Crockery that is perfect will be taken to charity shop in new year. very Out of date foodstuffs thrown away. All I have left is stuff I use regularly, there's loads of room and nothing is stacked haphazardly on everything else, calming to look at. It's great .

I won't go into details but things didn't end well last night - DS got very upset (over nothing) and I fell out with DH . Discovered this morning that DH has carried up an entire crate of rubbish (old ripped magazines, old Christmas cards, cracker wrappers) and put it back in DS's room. Great. I feel suffocated!

On a more positive note, DS tidied his room and made his bed before coming downstairs this morning.

I bought the book for my kindle this morning and will force myself to plough ahead - in my study this time!

Oh no little! What a pain. Can you sneak it away once school starts? My DH wants to keep some unessessary kids items but I've disposed of them anyway because they get played with so little.

I've been very open about most items and they have only missed one thing oddly - an kids ikea chair which they wanted to make a den with.

littlemarvel , oh dear :( . We have the opposite here, DP seems to wait till DD is stood in front of him to throw stuff in the bin/fire, cue her crying,him ranting and me trying to stay calm while being tempted to throttle him !
Focus on the positive bits I guess - and at least you have your own little sanctuary that you can kondo and hide in !

Oh dear little. I think it is hard if everyone isn't on board. I KonMaried stationery/wrapping paper, etc yesterday and that left the kitchen table clear. I then went upstairs to do some more of DS' clothes. When I came back down the kitchen table was covered in DVDs courtesy of DH just suddenly deciding to move them from where they are normally stored
I felt really disheartened. Suddenly everything felt as though it had moved from being manageable to being an uphill struggle again. I know I'm over-reacting but it has shaken my enthusiasm.

However I did KonMarie a playbox in DS' room which had somehow become a shrine to his babyhood ie still had nappies, baby cream, baby shoes, etc. It's now empty apart from three little teddies that brought him so much joy I can't part with them yet

millymoose a friend's DS developed similar patterns to your DD. She found speaking to the school helpful as they had also noticed that sudden changes seemed to trigger such behaviour at school too. Her DS still uses patterns of behaviour especially during holiday-times. I think it's almost to counter the lack of routine caused by not being at school. I hope between the GP and school your DD gets any support she needs.

Aww - thanks everyone :) It is lovely to have somewhere to vent with people who understand . It is certainly a tough job when you are battling others as well as yourself to get the job done!

Good job with playbox couch - nothing wrong with keeping three little teddies that gave so much joy!

I'm going to have to tackle my paperwork ten items at a time - thinking of more than that brings me to an overwhelmed halt

Made some more progress here. Have kondoed the bags and handbags, electricals, DIY stuff and stationery. The charity shop got a bunch of nintendo games, random komono and a couple of handbags including a Lulu Guinness which needed a small repair but after 4 years I have bowed to the wisdom of our beloved leader and accepted that I am never going to do it and maybe someone else will.
Just the nightmare job of paperwork to finish, then I only have the loft and garden to do.

DH has now taken the kids off swimming but earlier EVERYONE looked horrified when I suggested taking the tree down . Will have to just wait that one out I think

I have completely neglected the kids who have been playing shop keepers all morning. However I have washed the sofa covers, sorted through a very spidery crap filled garage leaving a MASSIVE high mound (8ft by 4ft?) of paint tins, car parts, DIY stuff and so on for DH to sift through later. Poor sod. I'm now aqua vaccing the carpets and making a mental note never to buy a cream carpet ever again.

It's not fair! I want to sledge