Become a Konvert in 2015 - Kondo thread 5. All welcome!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Thought I better set this up when I realised I had inadvertently posted the 999th post on thread 4!

Join us in purging our lives of things which do not bring joy and discover the wonder and magic of folding your knickers!

Anyone kondoing the kitchen?

I stumbled on a 2-part article that may be helpful. Ignore the reference to minimalist kitchen - it's not, by my standards! However, it does help focus on what you need and what you can easily do without.

Part 1 thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/04/how-to-setup-a-minimalist-kitchen-part-1-things-to-avoid/

Part 2 is linked from Part 1.

Marking place. My family leaves on Wednesday and I'll begin properly after that.

APlaceInTheWinter Very true. We may not smile, wearing tight shoes, but it really does show, if you catch a glimpse in the mirrror - not a grimace, but definitely not a joyful appearance.

I got a sensible amount of chocolate for Christmas, so it was kondoed before NY... but I still have the cake to finish kondoing (sigh) - thanks for reminding me. I do procrastinate!

Iqueen - I'm not sure I should have read that link. I'm now eyeing my newly-emptied storage jars, waiting to be packed for the charity shop and wondering if they should stay after all

Pleased to see that I have already got rid of a lot of what she says and also that the things I want to keep do spark joy!!

I feel like today has totally made up for my slow week.
Apart from the loft, I went to the supermarket and returned to find DH going through a box of his old stuff and binning things.
Also realised that the teapot we use is really grotty but we had a nice one "for best" in a cupboard. Old one binned along with really manky compost caddy and replaced with pretty teapot. DH even thanked both items before taking them out to the bin!
Also put the bottle sterilizer in the loft so the work top is much clearer.
Revisited clothes and have another charity shop bag ready to go tomorrow.
DM just texted me to say she's done her toiletries today as a result of me lending her the book.
Exhausted now, going to sit with the cat!

APlace and IQueen with all your shoe talk you've just reminded me about a pair of shoes I unearthed during kondoing and decided to wear last week. By lunchtime I realised why they had sunk to the bottom of the pile in the first place. I could feel myself wincing as I walked and was trying to walk tall and smile, don't think I fooled anyone! Straight into charity bag when I got home (barely worn as well).

Advancing slowly but surely here. After a very productive Saturday we took a boot load of paper to the tip this morning and this afternoon dh started work on the spare room while I took advantage of a napping child and a playdate for the other to sort another 2 boxes of children's clothes and the wrapping paper box of doom. Result: another box for the charity shop, another bag for the bin and another bag of paper recycling.

Slightly minor problem, as I expected DH thinks that the stuff we've moved into the study doesn't need additional sorting. Hmm.

Kitchen saved for now. Plenty of stuff for chazzer Inc lots of recipe books.

I think MK is a bit woo actually: I went to put on a t-shirt that I'd kept and folded. As I put it on I thought, hmm not sure this does bring me joy but it's on now so I'll wear it this time then get rid of.
As I sat down later I saw it had 4 small holes in the front of it. How I hadn't seen them I don't know.

Anyway, I promptly changed into a more joyful top and textile recycled that one!

Sorted flannels while DC were in the bath.

Have a lovely drawer unit that DH's Gdd (I think) made for when DH was born. MIL gave it to me when I had DS1, I 'upcycled' it, repainted it in bright colours and have used it for baby clothes for each of my DC.
The drawers are a bit small for older age clothes - (though that was pre-Kondo) - so it's been sat on the landing. I've started filling it and piling stuff on it, not sure that's been the best plan. Maybe I'll move it into my excessive-hanging wardrobes instead

Jk what a good idea, you could put undies, socks and accesories in there.

Thanks for the minimalist links iqueen. Don't think I'll be going quite that far, but lots of food for thought. Equally to whoever posted the link to unfancy blog. I'll be needing a new spring/summer wardrobe so it looks like there'll be some good ideas there.

Ugh... I kept the most beautiful pair of shoes through my cull. Was planning to wear them to an upcoming event, but I'very been having a sinking feeling at the thought of the pain... I have to get rid of them, haven't I?

I'm not ready to deal with the kitchen yet... It's probably the thing I'm worrying most about, but that might be because there's bugger all in the that doesn't bring me joy! It's a tiny kitchen, and I like to cook, so I've designed it, and organised, and edited and reorganised it until it functions better than a lot of kitchens three times its size. I guess it's quite kondo already.

As for what appliances/gadgets you do or don't need, I don't think you should apply other people's rules to yourself. It would never occur to me to have a bread maker, but I have friends who really do use theirs every single day. Meanwhile I have a pasta machine, which I use about once a month, and wouldn't be without... Whatever that article says, supermarket 'fresh' pasta is not the same as I make myself!

Loving the unfancy blog too. Think I am more minimal than the minimalist blog (and haven't even kondo end in there yet). But gives some good thoughts for those bits I'm dawdling over already ... Yes I know, stop procrastinating and just kondo.

Another great article iqueen. From that list I have an icecream maker, a lemon squeezer, tongs, a few non functional ornaments, twenty million cookie cutters, a wok, oven gloves and a couple too many knifes/plates. I don't feel ready to get rid totally yet but I could thin things out some more.

Just catching up with the thread, and someone mentioned Kondo-ing their freezer. I am not sure how mine escaped when I did the kitchen and the fridge, but I did it today and it's marvellous. I have shedloads quite a lot of peas to use up, as it turns out I hadn't run out after all

Freezer now has one drawer for meat/fish etc, one drawer for fruit and veg, and one drawer for carbs (which really made me want to inhale kondo the garlic bread there and then). All items stored vertically so I can see what there is. Happy sigh.

I Kondoed DS's baby clothes today, I have about 5 carrier bags to go to the charity shop, and have kept one large carrier bag each for newborn, 0-3, 3-6 months. We have so many secondhand clothes that people gave us, but really, what newborn needs 20 pairs of socks?? I wasn't as thorough as I was with my own clothes, but good enough I think.

Books are next. Starting to get nervous though as I'll soon be heading into stuff that's jointly mine and DH's. He is kind of into it (did a good job with his clothes), but I suspect I will be getting a lot of "that might be useful".

I now have giant bags of stuff that's either rubbish or waiting to go to charity. Bit disappointed at how full my wardrobe still seems to be! But for the first time every item is on its own hanger, rather than several things sharing each one. Bags and shoes culled. Onto underwear next time I get the chance - job getting in the way tomorrow!

I have to say, re the linked minimal wardrobes, I could never survive with so little. With wee ones I find I have to wash things after half an hour just one wear, and perhaps I don't do laundry frequently enough, but I would run out of clothes.

Reading the kitchen comments, I'll be keeping some things. DH bought a mandolin over Christmas. Aargh. So anti-kondo. And we have a tiny galley kitchen, it's hard enough already.

Ha pelican it hadn't even occurred to me to kondo the freezer! I'm guilty of pea hoarding though for sure

In my dreams I've kondoed the freezer and have a drawer of slow cooker meals in bags (have you seen those blogs on 40 slow cooker meals in 4 hours ?) I have all this free time because everything in my house is where it should be, my head is clear of clutter and I've kondoed the extra 1.5 stone I don't need and doesn't bring me joy. Alas my waking hours aren't so calm, but I can dream, can't I ??

Oh, and I ditched the Easiyo yoghurt maker! I have tried so many times and it does not like me.

I said to my DH I might give it one more go and he said'Why? Only two reasons... Save money (not much) or get the satisfaction of may no something. But you should be getting your satisfaction our of something else that you actually want to do. Ditch it. '

I actually cried. I said,' I'm going to write a book and get my satisfaction from that, not, fail at making f**king yogurt. '

Your husband sounds like a sound man Phase!

He does talk sense. Apologies for so many typos.

Just to add we've made £200 selling toys/kids equipment in the last two months. Mostly ebay. An NCT sale. Work colleagues buying items. Saying that the charity shop has probably made hundreds and hundreds from us.

HiccupHaddockHorrendous Well, glass is better than plastic, if you do have second thoughts!

I have lots of 'best' stuff buried or still packed (26 years after moving here) - can't wait to find and use it!

Also, well done on signing up another Konvert!

themummyonthebus Let's hope the next person to get your shoes, finds the joy in wearing them that evaded you!

BTW, a lot DHs are slow learners! When the rest of the house is running on oiled wheels, he probably won't be able to tolerate the study.

Well done with what you both have achieved today!

JKSLtd Ha ha! Loved the Tee-shirt tale! Also, great idea for the heirloom chest.

themummyonthebus I wasn't specifically looking for minimalism, but 'normal' sites often seem to start from too much. I will have more clothes than the number suggested, but I've found that starting from a very low base-line leaves room for us to tweak things to suit us.

Hermione You know the answer to the shoes!

Don't worry about the kitchen. If you have previously got it the way you want it, there may be very little to discard. You might, however, have picked up a few tips on here that will enable you to give the organisation a beneficial tweak or two? I might need some of your ideas for my 9' x 6' too!

I agree absolutely with you about gadgets, but the writer did stress that it was her personal opinion and everybody has their own idea about their ideal kitchen. I wouldn't have a bread-maker in the house either, (unless he was good-looking!) but many people do love them. The writer did have some good arguments for having and not having some gadgets, so it gets us thinking.

Violettatrump I'm glad you found the kitchen article thought provoking - it certainly made me think. I have never had a knife block: I recognised that I probably wouldn't use all of them, and I don't like the idea of having knives openly accessible. My favourite knife is a solitary old steak knife that I use for most culinary jobs! I did hanker for an ice cream maker, until I learned to make it instantly, by whipping double cream with a little sugar and throwing in a handful of frozen raspberries! Yay!

Iqueen I have a favourite knife too oddly! I have three knifes I'm going to chazza shop tomorrow now. Two old ones and a stupidly long sword type knife. I've always wondered what people do with a knife that long! It's no good for veg/meat chopping