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!

Beautiful cupboard Loula just be wary of the need to take things out and put them back in carefully piled up like that. I tried this with my airing cupboard and within days it was a tip again lazy,slattern that I am

welltidy I would get rid (should take my own advice). I am presuming but the fact that its all a bit up in the air at the moment, spoke to me. Keep any that bring you genuine joy and clear the rest - the space might bring room for the decision to make itself. Sorry, this is so woo and presumtuous. Ignore it all if I'm overstepping the mark.

Thanks for the welcomes! Good to see a few fellow translators - I had to google "small country below sea level" Steptoe, but think I know the language now. I also translate into English and my user name is a bit of a giveaway as to where I am.

bring That sounds like a great German class! I'm also an expat (in DH's country), which means that I'm also slightly nervous about kondoing paperwork - plus we seem to accumulate it in huge quantities here, more so than if we were in the UK I think (we have two folders alone related to our house purchase).

misspch Sorry, folders was probably the wrong word - they're actually lever arch files. I think you're right about keeping the English ones, as I dread to think how many hours of work went into them. (Or the hours I spent making and laminating flashcards, which are in a separate box...) I needed much more in the way of teaching materials when I was teaching the DDs' classes (at primary school, on a voluntary basis) as I used to plan the lessons from scratch, but DS's teacher has given me a book and teaching notes to use so I don't really need to lesson plan any more.
I love translating too (much more than teaching!); I've been working freelance for over 13 years now, after a couple of years in-house, and can't imagine going back to working for an employer.

I need to go through a couple more folders with DH (the house ones, mainly) when he gets back from his business trip, but other than than I think paperwork is finished. I did CDs and DVDs not long ago, so must check what's next on the list - I have the feeling that make-up and skin products are coming up, which I'm dreading but which urgently need to be done.

ooooh, interesting! Thank you all for your thoughts.

Gosh, all this Konding is making me really question things too. I think I know that we're not going to have another baby. I have enough on my plate with work, the two DC that we have, their needs, DH's long working hours, I could go on ! I think the decision has made itself. No more babies and no need to hold onto all of these clothes! I suppose maternity clothes can go too.

I have found clothes in the attic from about 8 years ago when I was a size 8. I will never be a size 8 again (10-12 now). It is all on its way out of the door. I am up to 8 black bags of my clothes already

Pointless - how are you? Less dizzy?

Ok so how exactly do I store pillow cases inside duvet covers? I'm very new to folding yet alone rolling!

Update from me - I bought 8 open plastic containers (reduced with vouchers) for the kitchen and so everything is grouped in the correct box inside my cupboards. I keep opening my cupboards to admire my handy work. I've also got a breadbin too from the charity shop to complete my organised kitchen!

I really need to start rolling clothes in drawers but need to get hold of some drawer dividers first. Where have folk been getting theirs from?

Lastly it rested myself to some new pants and a bra today. Only sainsburys stuff but kondoing all my clothes has highlighted just how awful they are!

Oh, wow, several translators in the same thread! Steptoe, I also had to google "small country below sea level" ;) Linzer, if you have been a translator for 13 years, then I think it's unlikely that you return to teaching. And I don't think you need the 22 folders even if a lot of time went into producing your teaching materials. 22 folders is too many. Could you create a "best of" folder and rid anything that doesn't fit into it? I know it sounds mean, but it's a lot of stuff. I have NOTHING from my teaching "career", and I don't regret it. I do have my thesis and my bigger assignments from uni, they are in a cardboard box under my bed. I have kept about 5 academic books from uni, as most of them were outdated anyway. My uni notes got binned when we moved to the UK 8 years ago. My hand writing is so bad I couldn't read them anyway ;)

I use a lot of spices in cooking (lots of curries from scratch) so I buy big bags of spices from the Asian grocer. I decant some into spice jars and store the bags in a box in the cupboard. But I have just ordered 200 g bay leaves from ebay (only tiny bags locally) only to find a 40 g pack (and that's big!) in the spice box! It's all stored vertically, but I still didn't think to check that I had any before I ordered. It's not that it won't get used, but it's just so un-MK ;) Must learn to check - the distance fom my home office to the kitchen it obviously too big ;)

Hi everyone. From the epic life changing tidying of yesterday, I'm wondering where to begin today. According to the rules, I should keep going with books shouldn't I? Do all of mine, from all over the house (I have a LOT of books) and then the DCs and gently store all of exP's until he wants them. But I have a yearning deep within my soul to do all of the komono in the bathroom, give it a really deep clean, and then have a nice long bath tonight. I'm dithering..... the thing is, the books are really tidy, on their shelves, and because I've flirted with flylady, they've been sifted through a few times. Though not with the joy asking questions. I can feel another cup of tea and a ponder coming on!

Do the bathroom first! Life is too short ;) The books will wait, and it sounds like you already have a handle om them anyway.

Bathroom. Use it to clear your head - and enjoy a lovely, long soak to ponder what comes next.

Yeah I agree, it's not what Marie would say, but you have a plan so I would run with it.

Arrgghhhh can't keep up! Well done everyone though - that must again be a good sign. Vow to catch up later to see what everyone has been up to, just place marking!

Currently working through personal paperwork! Boring!!!!

Looking forward to dumping work paperwork too but need to hang onto that until I officially close!

I think the nature of the thread is to move bloody fast, and that it has to be that way, so that we all feel a sense of urgency to get our lives kondoed. I don't think it's obligatory to read through the whole thread if it's overwhelming - I know I report a bit in a stream-of-consciousness/check list way - it helps me move in a Kondo way ;)

I am doing my bathroom today as well. I am getting very emotional and really cross with myself about the amount of money that I have wasted, and allowed people to waste on me, when I see how much stuff I have and never use. I have 7 full size bottles of body moisturisers . Some of them are reasonably cheap (maybe 5 a bottle - Jergen organic brand or something) , but some of them are pricey (Clinique, Laura Mercier and the like). That is not to mention the 10 or so bottles of miniature Molton Brown lotions. And I could say the same again about body wash.

I am really disgusted with myself, and its brought me to a standstill. I would like to keep them all as I will enjoy using them, now that i know I have them. But dear god, its excessive.

welltidy don't beat yourself up about it, just appreciate what you have learned and enjoy that you won't have have to shop for body lotion in th e next decade ;)

My local charity shop had a lot of toiletries at one point, and I saw people buying it. I couldn't see if they were unopened. So perhaps worth asking if they want it, rather than hang on to it just because it represents monetary value - it may be of much more value to someone else ;)

My kids have previously put samples and miniatures on the beds when we have had people staying. Kids love pretending we are a B&B (the house IS in fact a former B&B). Perhaps an idea for the miniatures?

Linzer - as a tutor I tend to hang onto a lot of old lesson stuff - just because I never know what age/stage student I am going to get next, so even if I'm not using something and haven't for ages, it may be that it will be what I need for the next student I get.

Could you do a first pass through and get rid of anything you didn't like when you did it/didn't work well, then would any of the rest of it scan and be stored electronically?

We seem to be a community of (present and ex) teachers and child minders with current translators thrown in the mix too. Does anyone not fit these perameters? ( just wondering why these professions might be more in need of tidying/headspace!!)

People will also take opened toiletries on Freecycle if you want to get rid but don't like waste. I have often been surprised at how keen people are for that sort of thing. A while back some friends and I had a stall at a car boot sale and half-full bottles of shampoo sold like hot cakes!

Um that'll be me educating I am Practice Manager in an Architects Practice totally outs self but come from an English Literature background and sort of fell into the job. Dream job would probably be teacher / educator with a bit of editing / proofreading on freelance.

So though my job isn't the same as you lot, I suppose I sort of wish it was.

bringme they are great lovers of paper below sea level as well! My record is 7 separate letters in separate envelopes from the tax department in a single day .

Wow, I can't keep up with this thread any more!

I also store bedding in complete sets, with the duvet cover, sheet and one pillowcase all inside the other pillowcase. I think it was a tip i read on mn ages ago. They are in a box on top of the wardrobe.

Towels are rolled and stood up on end in a box, they stay upright because they are all squashed in together.

I am getting there slowly, only have a few categories left before I get to sentimental items, except that there is a massive amount of stuff in the loft, which I have decided is its own separate category. Hopefully most of it can be chucked; if it's in the loft then it's not in regular use and probably isn't bringing joy. The only exceptions should be the baby and maternity clothes we are saving for dc2, and stuff which is only used occasionally but brings a lot of joy when it does get used, eg. camping equipment .

I don't fit that either, Educating : I'm a student (of Education Studies, admittedly, but I'm fairly adamant I don't want to teach at the end of it even if I have no idea what I actually do want to do... ).

As a student, I've only really had my own stuff to Kondo, and I feel like I'm nearing the end of the process (even if my floor is still covered in bags of rubbish/recycling because the bins are always too full to put more than a handful of extra stuff in). Last night I was able to put a big photo frame I've had propped against a wall, empty, for two years, waiting "until I have somewhere to put it" on top of a low set of drawers that have previously had music and komono on them - the music is now all with it's friends on one shelf (instead of four magazine files, a drawer, and a lever-arch folder on another shelf), and the komono has been thrown/rehomed, and the komono gathering containers removed. Now to find some truly joy-giving photos to go in it...

Things that I've found have really helped during the process:

Focussing on what to keep, rather than get rid of. If you focus on what to get rid of, you end up keeping stuff because you haven't got a reason to get rid of it.

Realising that some things need to go and give others joy - I had a matching purse and bag which a friend gave me for my birthday about 10 years ago, but I haven't used for at least 5 years, since I have a different purse and bag now. Previously I would've kept them, because I do like them but not enough to use them again but I'm now happy to let them go and bring others joy.

The concept that just because someone gave you a gift, you don't have to keep it forever - I have a really ugly bag which my grandmother gave me, and I've never liked, but I always thought I had to keep it because it was a gift. Not anymore!

I'm now starting to Kondo my CDs (out of order, I know, but I love my CDs, so I reckon they count as sentimental items). There are a few I'm not sure about, so I've decided to test them out in my car, and if I don't like them enough to listen to them in there, then they can go (they're mostly CDs I saved from my mum's purge a few years ago, because I like later stuff those artists have made).

Does anyone else forget where they've put things? I've rehomed so many things recently, I keep forgetting where they've ended up! I was Kondoing my bag, and found the first ever letter from my sponsor child (I'd been carrying it around for about 6 moths for some reason!) and then could only recall that I'd put the rest of her letters in a folder. It took a while to locate said folder!

But other things are so much easier to find: software, warrantees and instructions for my laptop and phone, the desktop, DBs' laptops and phones (they're typical disorganised teenage boys, and I know they'd lose the important things if I didn't have them!) are now all in named zip wallets, all stacked (vertically!) in a magazine file.