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!

Starface I SO want a mandolin - I keep grating my fingers on my old (40yrs+) round grater, but I can't part with it... my oldest son put it on the eye-level grill to dry, many many years ago, and the handle on top came unsoldered! He mended it for me with a Meccano nut and bolt! Bless!

My word you lot are so motivated, page 6 already! Love reading about your successes as it keeps me motivated too.

Waves to rummi

I love this thread. I have managed to clear out some drawers and keep hold of shoe boxes and clear plastic fruit containers to put the kids knick knacks in.
And I have kept up with folding our clothes including all my socks and knickers so I'm not rummaging around like before.
However I still have a pile of stuff at the bottom of my bed

Hi, I'm delurking to say how inspiring you all are. I bought the book a while a go and am reading bits of it. I'm glad that the "Do it all now" can happen over months rather then a solid block of time.

Crap night. Pukie child.

Thinking about kitchen storage. I've got all herbs and spices in a biscuit box that I just pull out of the cupboard. Have others done this with other items - all the sugar/flour etc?

No but that is a great idea violetta - I can't believe I never though of it before. I am constantly rummaging through my spices in the cupboard and the same with my flours and sugars in the opposite cupboard. Genius

Great to hear how many of you are making good progress. Kondoing has ground to a halt here . We had guests over the weekend so I've had no time. I'm also struggling with the (temporary) mess that Kondoing brings. Our house was tidyish on the surface at least, and the bags of stuff waiting to go to charity etc are driving me mad.

I'm also still massively frustrated that I'm still limited to short bursts to fit around the DCs, I'm still only on clothes and those will have to be redone as I haven't been able to get everything out in one go for some sub categories and it shows.

More positively, I find myself doing little bits of Komdong in odd moments: while waiting for the kettle to boil I managed to round up all the komono in the kitchen which should be in the shed, so I no longer have plumbing supplies sitting on top of the fridge

I have had a semi successful weekend but perhaps set my aim too high. I had planned on tackling toys which meant both DCs rooms. I made good inroads on one . 4 black bags which brings me up to about 16 bags. I have got rid of stuff when I can but now have a backlog of bags to be recycled or taken to charity. I need to sort those on my day off this week before I finish toys.

I then plan on doing all the catergories after electrical items as that's where I got to before I added toys. I think that will be mostly kitchen stuff.

I don't recall MK mentioning sheds and lofts and I definitely need to tackle those.

This is going to take me months.

If you store jars of herbs etc in a,box, label the lids so you can find them easily!

I do the herbs jars in a box too, but I need to sort them out properly. The box is currently on the top shelf of the cupboard that's too full, so I pull them out and get hit in the face with the things that come with. I've cleared a drawer almost completely, so I think I might store them in there instead . The flour cupboard got kondo'd at the weekend though, so pleased with it. Please excuse the over-the-top labelling, it's for DHs sake (and to remove any excuse that he doesn't know what's what!)

Norfolk its brilliant. I've stopped standing on stools rummaging for the cinnamon or basil and not being able to find them

I love labelling, mango, it can't be over the top! DH actually got me a label maker for my birthday! That cupboard looks great, I keep flour in containers like that too.

Mango that cupboard is a thing of beauty.

I may try out the mandolin later today... It may redeem itself...

Although not on kitchen yet I am thinking about it. I am debating the fate of the ice cream maker. But other things will go and bring joy elsewhere.

Pointless I almost bought a label maker when I bought my laminator, but I managed to resist. Part of the reason for the laminator was to make labels with velcro for the toy boxes and the new kondo'd paper system.

Kondo'd clothes meant getting both DDs and myself dressed, including shoes and coats, took less than 10 minutes, and the post-breakfast kitchen clean up, even less. No scrabbling about for hair bands, book bags, tights without holes. DD1 even had to time to watch her favourite TV show, and I had time to do my hair!

didireallysaythat I hadn't seen the 40 meals in 4 hours thing, until now! Amazing! I have a chest freezer, a slowcooker, and I've been trying to simplify my cooking routine for a while. I'm going to take stock of everything in the freezer and see which meals I can do. Thank you.

A slow cooker is a gadget I've been told I should get and have resisted so far. My dc don't really like stews/stew like food so is there any point? Will it go the way of my bread maker: take up space, make me feel bad, then get given away?

But I love my laminator

JKS The laminator is sitting proudly on my kondo'd desk shelving, I only managed to resist the label maker so far . My slow cooker gets used for chilli, bolognaise, amazing slow cooked joints of meat, rice pudding, and curries. I've also made a beef casserole once. I've never made stew in it.

How old are your DC, JKSLrd? Mine hated soups and stews when he was younger, but now veg stew done in the slow cooker is a big part of our staple diet, mainly because it's cheap and easy, and I'm a rotten cook who is bored by anything fancier. He loves stew now (actively loves it, not just tolerates it), and it has the added benefits of being very healthy and very cheap!

For me the slow cooker comes out on a Wednesday which is cubs night, allowing DS2 to eat before DS1. Sausage casseroles, lasagne, jacket potatoes, nothing fancy (still aspiring to the 40 meals blog)

They're 8,6&3.
The 8 year old is the fussiest. He doesn't like anything 'mixed' like lasagne, spag bol etc. I don't cater just for him obv. But not going to learn a new thing plus buy a new gadget if it's not going to be appreciated and eaten.

I mostly like our slow cooker although I'm not sure I'm using it to its best advantage. Turn a lot of things to mush.

Have done cleaning supplies and some kids' books. There are just so so many books. I have lots to go and will allow the children to rescue some and find homes for others. I don't expect they will sustain interest for long so most will go, I think.

Oh, JK, I have a child like that. I feel your pain.

Spices, flours, lentils, etc, are in boxes here too. I actually don't need to Kondo that cupboard. It's already minimalist and ordered

I think I may get rid of my wok. I never use it. I much prefer my heavy-bottomed frying pan so the wok is taking up almost an entire drawer for no reason.

Yep, the wok was an early kondo casualty here. Out of order.

Slow cooker. I have one. I have used it. But I think I need one with a timer so things aren't mush, as we are often out for longer than it needs. Also one that can also go on the hob, so it is truly one pot. I may upgrade post kondo, as I was v impressed with that 40 days thing. But I can only handle so much change at once...

I was going to Kondo the toaster since we never use it but I think DH will resist (as he has done with the bread-maker). I think I'm going to store them on top of the kitchen cupboards so it clears the worktop and perhaps once DH realises that we never bring them down, he'll be more ameniable to us getting rid of them. I don't think he even knows that we have a wok so it can go with no discussion.