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!

Just jumping on new thread. Thanks.

Am currently designing new bathroom and trying to decide whether we have enough storage. It is tricky because while I have aspirations to ditch a lot I'm scared of having overstuffed cupboards again...

Hello! Posted on one of the other threads but have been reading in between sorting out our loft. Local FB selling has been a revelation - a few no-shows and annoyances, but in between that and eBaying a few bits and pieces I've made nearly £200 and cleared a load of boxes. I genuinely didn't realise quite how many baby and toddler toys we still had left, I know I gave loads away to my sister and friends. Someone on eBay gave me £4.70(!) for a 2ml perfume sample (those weeny bottles in some folded cardboard) which would otherwise have remained in my drawer for goodness knows how many years, and I got £30 from someone local for eldest's Nintendo DSi as he had an upgrade for Christmas.

Am also pleased to have kondo'd an old wooden rolling pin that used to tear pastry and fondant every time I used it, and replaced with a fancy non-stick icing one. Before I'd have kept both, for no good reason.

I'm also not Kondo-ing 'properly'. I can't possibly get everything of one 'type' into a room and sort it.

It's still really working for me though as I'm opening a drawer or a cupboard and just touching and chucking everything.

I did the dresser drawers today - I found 14 different key ring things and have very little idea how I acquired them - all chucked. Miscellaneous bits of crap from drawers filled a bin bag.

I've come to the conclusion I need a craft room - I need one dedicated space. Just not sure which room or space I can sacrifice.

Hello! I've made a start this week after reading the book in almost one sitting on Monday. We have the decorators in so all the books are currently on the floor in boxes, once the room is done it will be the perfect time to Kondo my way through them - after reading the book I am actually really excited to get started. I already did all my and DH's knitwear on Wednesday. Feeling very inspired - 2015 will be the year my house is tidy and I finally have time to enjoy my hobbies guilt free!

TimeGoesBy Yes! I usually dither around decisions, and second guess myself with complicated queries at work. I have been far more decisive, both in choosing things for myself, and in answering other people, especially over the last 2 days. I've managed to still get quite a lot done at work, despite constant interruptions. I also kondo'd my desk, and my training files, so slightly more efficient too.

Must get the things I want to ebay listed by the end of the weekend, or it probably won't happen at all.

14 key rings !

Re sorting the fridge, something I've been doing for a while now is writing the date with a permanent marker on the side of chutney, mayonnaise etc when I open them. So when you are having a sort through and it says "use within 6 weeks of opening" you're not stood there sniffing it thinking "I think I opened it on Bonfire night...."

Absolutely loving these threads, have been lurking, please can I join? Been taking bags of stuff into work for colleagues and also giving our lovely nanny stuff for her church sales. Feels great!

Ohhelp -I would think if he can do more for himself that's better for you? So shorter in height. But if they are too wide and need two hands to open that can be annoying too. Hmm.

I've had to move 'exit' stuff as need to put dbro up in the office tonight. Textile recycling is full and ready to go tomorrow. A perfect day to have done some sorting as it's rubbish day tomorrow instead of today.
Huge heavy ikea bag full for chazza.

Have also filled a few boxes for mil's refuge. Some kiddie cutlery and bowls.

Really wish I could commit a good solid few days to make a major dent in stuff. Everywhere I look there's more sigh.

Checking in for some January Kondo-ing!

Thanks for the emergency thread, I'll consolidate the links and lists for the konverts, lurkers, and everyone else

The Book: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo, Cathy Hirano

Summary of the process link from mipmop

Article of top tips by Marie Kondo

Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1

And BeCool's copy of Coughles list of ORDER from Thread 2 for everyone:

"ORDER TO DECLUTTER/LOCATE THE JOY*

Clothes folding by rummy
Books
Papers
CDs
DVDs
Skincare products
Make-up
Accessories
Valuables (passports, credit cards, etc.)
Electrical equipment and appliances (digital cameras, electric cords, anything that seems vaguely ‘electric’)
Household equipment (stationery and writing materials, sewing kits, etc.)
Household supplies (expendables like medicine, detergents, tissues, etc.)
Kitchen goods/ food supplies
Other (If you have many items related to a particular interest or hobby, such as ski equipment, then treat these as a single subcategory.)

KonMari stresses that sentimental items should be left till the end. So for example, when you are doing papers, don't include photos of your children, love letters, old school reports etc, leave anything with a sentimental connection for later."

*As discussed in previous threads, your order for decluttering and finding the joy/spark/recognizing may be different to recommendations.

Oops, I got rummi's name wrong

Here's the video link from Starface's post in Thread 4 for those who want video folding instructions for folding:
m.youtube.com/watch?v=4aBo_MS6CSQ

Thanks missa for the new thread. Phew, cutting it fine there .

Is anyone else's house starting to look quite empty and bare? I started in September and hoping to finish by end of Feb - it's taking this long because of work and health issues. Once it's all done, I am going to spend some time, energy and (and not too much) money on making it cosy and inviting. I will be replacing, not adding.

I'm starting to think about how I can Kondo my books. I have 6 tall bookcases full of books, and more upstairs. There is no room anywhere for me to put them all on the floor, and I think even three categories may be too few. I think I may just take it shelf by shelf initially and weed out obvious cases, then see how things are.

leeloo1 I'll try to get a better picture of it, the only ones I can find is when it was still under construction, but basically we have what we call 'the wooden monstrosity' which is our main storage area that has an under area that I cleaned out today, a central storage area, and a play area on top where we keep the lego/duplo, art supplies and such. It also has three large shelves on one side for boxes for our family closet area (the way the room works, having the door to the hallway open creates a closed off dressing area with the family closet) and attached around the sides of the monstrocity are our dirty clothes bags (everyone has one plus a family one).

Today's frustration was although we'd already cleaned out the middle and play area a few weeks ago, there were a lot of toys - especially lego - that had found it's way underneath and some that had been shoved in the storage area that I had to pull out (including some they got for New Years) that had obviously been shoved or kicked under by the smalls since then.

It's all sorted now, and the play area is currently locked up (it has a foldable ladder that we can lock up) because of how much was found and attitude towards clearing it up. DP is thinking of adding even more barriers to prevent them pushing things out of the top on the future but it's mostly just part of the mess of having small children, I think. It as just particularly frustrating today because I was in a mood and we'd just sorted it out and some of their new things had been shoved in odd places because they didn't want to put them away.

Oops forgot to say thank you to peonies for starting thread. Today i kondoed the biscuits and cleaned some windows. I need to find a system that works for paperwork; I sorted it a while ago and i bought a concertina file this week with the idea that stuff to deal with goes at the front and stuff that has been dealt with at the back, but it drives me mad as it does not open wide enough. Think i will use it for kid's sfuff as there is not much of that. I tried take away boxes and that was no good , so what have you all done ?I have files for certain things but they take up space so don't want anymore of those.

Spork that is great , I am slowly learning how to use my tablet as my pc is dying....

Thanks for new thread. I've converted DH to the Kondo cult! He has done all his clothes and we were able to give many of his jumpers, coats etc to the local homeless project which feels great.

Our next step is books but I have broken out of order a little bit and done the freezer, tea towels and bath towels and bed linens. The joy I get from opening the freezer drawer and seeing the frozen veg stacked vertically is immense! My heart does a little flutter every time I open the tea towel drawer and can select a bib for the baby without it all falling out. Much joy!

We still have a long way to go but Dh said this eve that he can now believe we'll actually have a clutter free house eventually. Hurrah!

Happy new year all you Kondo fans!

Thanks for the new thread peonies

jksltd I feel your pain, we too just have stuff everywhere. But I've started bags of unsorted things for later categories now. So I have a bag for photos, bag for sentimental stuff, box for stationery, box for craft - so at least it's all in the same place for when I get to that section.

We are venturing into the loft tomorrow. I'm scared because I know there's an awful lot of soft toys up there.

So much joy on this thread !! Thanks for the new one. Loving the inspiration in here.

Not much going on here. Halved the DVDs but still have about 100!! It's more DHs territory than mine, but he was happy parting with the ones he did.

Hoping to get back in the game at the weekend. (And the thread)

Yay - thanks for the new thread. I'm still joining in - I had a slower day today because I'm exhausted from a few late nights, but I'll start again tomorrow. I'm still very much enjoying having a Kondo'd (sp?) wardrobe. For anyone new to it:-

It's sooo much easier to choose an outfit. Really, I should get my clothes ready the night before, but I don't. However, being able to see every item of clothing I could possibly wear makes it so much easier to choose. I know that everything in there could be worn (i.e. doesn't have holes in it, or need a button replacing), actually gives a lot more options than before.

It's also easier to maintain, as I can't help but put clothes back where they belong. I used to have a 'floordrobe' pile that grew and grew until I bunged it all in the wash (whether it had been worn or not), but now it's so easy to fold clothes and slip them back into the drawer.

And it seems mundane but I've kondo'd some deodorant that I didn't like the smell of and left white marks all over everything I wore. I was reluctant to as I'd stockpiled and still had 3 bottles left. Not sure why I was torturing myself with it everyday. It's such a relief to not have to dab myself down every morning and waft my arms around to get rid of the smell!

Thanks for the new thread. Been back at work this week so haven't done much.