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!

I Kondo'd my food cupboards yesterday. My husband does all the cooking and shopping so we had to do it together. We managed to lose about a third of the dry goods - either well over BBE date - or unlikely ever to be eaten. Eg 6 different kinds of vinegar when we never eat salads.

The children loved helping, too.

Ugh... Not loving the process today. Friend has gone. We drank a little bit too much last night... I'm not really hungover, but feeling a bit deflated.

Packed another 10 boxes of books, and realised I probably don't have enough boxes. Also, there are going to be boxes everywhere for at least a fortnight, because I can only get to the library at the weekend, when I'm not working, and next weekend I'm at a funeral. Can't even pile the boxes in one place, because we're worried about the load on the joists!!!

Sorry to be in a crap mood. My head knows it's still going in the right direction, but my heart isn't in it today.

Dh took the socks out of the drier today and asked me how to fold them - the subliminal MK conditioning seems to be working

I don't feel I've made much progress with Kondoing new sections but we're maintaining what has been Kondoed eg our kitchen table has stayed empty. DS' room is still tidy. His clothes are still organised.

I've also Kondoed the food cupboards so I can't reach the posh crisps. No matter how much I feel like eating crisps, I'm not going to climb up on a chair and a worktop to reach them!

I've noticed the Kondoing is impacting on my food shopping too. Usually I'd buy with no thought to where it would be stored at home but now I'm spending so much time looking in my cupboards that I'm reluctant to buy more food unless I know exactly where it's going to go.

I've dusted off my Kobo too and downloaded a few books rather than buying them and then having to find storage.

pointless I hope M&S honour the voucher. I know when my DB contacted a shop about an out-of-date voucher they said that actually the end date is just to encourage people to use the voucher and that since money can't go out-of-date, vouchers can't really either. Fingers crossed.

DH is irritated with my KM ing, he is annoyed about all the black bags waiting for recycling/ rubbish everywhere. He is saying I should tidy up rather than throw stuff out (but you can't organise clutter, I learnt that from my week of Fly ing!). He has also stopped me from throwing two things out, saying maybe I will need them in future. Very frustrating as he is always saying I need to get rid of stuff. He basically things I am going to get everything out, then abandon KM and leave everything on the floor!

I know this is a bit obvious, but for those with stuff waiting to go elsewhere (books, black bags, etc) can you stick them in your car to store until such time you can get them properly out? Or a shed? I think it does really help to have things out from under foot asap. I've got a boot full of stuff to run to the pre-school next week and a bag of Cds and DVDs for the next time I pass the charity shop.

I put things in cardboard boxes, fill them, tape them closed, put on the oxfam sticker and put by the front door. Stacked up nice and tidy. Alas getting them to the shop ... No so easy !!!

Hi. Can I delurk and join in please?
I have been uplifted by reading everyone's progress.
I haven't read the book yet. My library are still waiting for a copy and I don't have a kindle.
From the tips on these threads I have done mine and dc's clothes and kept them tidy!
I have departed from the order a bit but have started on books and toys and done bedding and most of the kitchen.
with books, I am struggling to know how to organise them back on the shelves. I have grouped some authors together and they look good but not sure what to do with all the others.do you go by size or genre?
Any tips gratefully received!

Last weekend I concentrated hard on really getting rid of stuff. It was odd, I had emptied cupboards merely to "store" the same stuff in a less helpful place. I insisted to myself that I clear or list it all before I started a new category. I was so taken up in the reorganising that I wasn't finishing the job before starting the next category. But it is worth really prioritising getting it out of the house. It clears the space and helps you see differently for the next category. Remember, it's no race. Konmari says 6 months. Do it properly, thoroughly once, it will last longer.

Things have slowed for me, being back at work, but also because I learned this lesson.

Thanks for another dose of motivation while I've been drinking my tea. Going to do my handbag now as it's overflowing and annoys me every day, then I'm going to do bedding. I'm not really following her order but I'm trying to do categories at least. Onwards and upwards

Doing a reread of the book this weekend as too tired to do anything. Do you think a tidy house will help my baby sleep?

I have started grown up books! Woohoo! Have started with my bedside bookcase. Feels wonderful to say, 'I'm never going to read that.' or 'Meh, you were an okay read.' But equally, I have lots that I want to read. Have put them on a shelf together. And loads that I love and want to keep.

One category does not fill me with joy, really... Books about my son's special needs. But they have taught me a lot about how to handle him and I think I need to hang on to them. Love isn't always straightforward or filled with instinctive joy. Sometimes it is technical and unintuitive and HARD. But we figure it out if we keep trying.

Went to church this morning. I thought a lot about hanging on to the joy, letting go of what no longer serves us, and God wanting us to be happy. Only shed a couple of happy tears.

Doing books today which means shelves in the living room - finding it hard not to get stuck into the kimono ie very important random bits of football cards etc. I find the bits (books, CDs) I need dh's input on very annoying, like things I can just get stuck into myself!

Regarding point of folding, dh has discarded clothes but then shoved them back in his drawers - I took them back out and folded them and he has twice as much room now. Folding is worth it!

Bear in mind you don't have to have a kindle to read books meant for kindle - I have a kindle reader on my laptop,dh's android tablet and on my iphone.

Well, I'm suddenly feeling a lot better about things. Still boxes everywhere, and we really can't put them in the shed (damp, tiny and full of bikes, lawnmower, tools...) or the car (I estimate half a metric tonne of books here!!!).

However, all the books for the library have fitted into the 20 boxes I bought plus a couple of others we kondoed from elsewhere. A lot of the books on the second set of shelves belong to other subcategories, so they're on hold until this first lot has gone and my energy is restored.

Oh, and now my friend has gone home, I've folded up the spare bed, and plonked a few of the boxes in the spare room, so the study and landing are a bit less oppressive.

Fingers crossed my husband will think it worth his while to help me shift the boxes.

Grouchy for having a non-sleeping baby. A tidy house might help because you'll be less stressed and there will be less to distract baby - it might have a knock-on effect

I agree about clearing bags out of the house as soon as possible. My car boot was full of bags of clothes over Christmas until I made it to the charity shop in the New Year.

I finally finished my strappy sassy sandals and sensible shoes today.
We have a komono corner in the living room so I'm going to tackle it this afternoon. Thanks all for re-motivating me.

Re: putting books back on the bookshelves. I have done it by colour. It's very restful to look at actually.

Kiwi, enthusiastic though I certainly am about this kondo business, I think it's a stretch to hope it'll make your baby sleep. But you might cope better with the sleepless baby if you're more relaxed about your environment.

Looks like today is a day of books for many of us. Keep up the good work, everyone!

I'm surrounded by kids clothes. Not sure why I started. I know there's more in the loft too.

And I don't know if my pt nanny will be on board with random folding! Need more shoeboxes ideally to put on their shelves.

I am filling a box for the refuge though so anything out is good.

Need dh to come home and lie on the bed and say yes to joint stuff that I want to get rid of.

I store my stuff in the car boot. Got another letter from Barnardos telling me my most recent stuff had made them £95 + gift aid.

I got rid of my excess books using plastic bags if you don't have any spare boxes. As long as you don't overfill.

I have kondoed my freezer drawer of my efforts of batch cooking! I decided there's no way I could eat spag Bol from 2 years ago...

Love reading about all your successes. I am a lot slower than you lot and am concentrating on clothes and kitchen for now. Still seems to be making a difference though.

Years ago I read a book called clear your clutter with feng shui. It helped me get rid of letters and cards that used to make me feel sad. One friend used to write such depressing letters, I chucked one and it felt good. Then did the rest. Photos will be hard though I think.

Kiwi, calm and decluttered house might mean calmer mum and baby?

Friend just left and it took 10 mins to tidy up mess, rather then a few hours

Just heard this on radio 4!

The poet, Peter Wyton reading his poem " The Ladies of The Charity Shop"

Can't imagine what the ladies will do after receiving all our bags!

peterwytonpoet.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/ladies-of-the-charity-shop/

No joy at M&S unfortunately. They did say that I should try writing to head office but they weren't very optimistic.
I'm in a lousy mood today, really lethargic and fed up. I am reading through the thread as motivation to do something useful tonight!