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!

How do you all organise and store your medications? I mean the general ones you have in the house e.g. calpol, painkillers, creams, not anything prescription.

Milk - in a plastic box on the top shelf of a kitchen cupboard. So out of reach yet handy

What will I do next? I shall kondo the jungle garden!
And...

Complete my half-finished novel;
Decorate throughout;
Sew clothes that bring me super-joy;
Re-join the Art Group;
Cook myself more interesting food;
Invite friends and family to stay;

Anything else depends on how much MK has kondoed ME!

Got make-up done tonight, and remembered the wise words from here - anything I had before my two year old was born, has gone out well almost everything It now takes up a drawer which seems more than it used to, but it's all in plastic trays and is really easy to find. I would love to have just one room "finished" but I guess with this process that's not the aim. Trying to stick to her order if I can as it does seem to work.

So many interesting thoughts on here today. My clutter is definitely emotional. I've struggled for years with anxiety and ocd tenancies and whilst I don't feel half as bad as I used to, I have tended to attach emotions towards possessions especially gifts or things I have had a long time. I've really struggled through this process, remembering when I was given certain things and feeling guilty for letting go.

I walked past a charity shop today and saw something we had donated in the window. It was originally a gift and it nearly made me cry through the guilt of giving it away.

The mess throughout the process has nearly tipped me over the edge with anxiety and I'm desperate to finish this now. We only have photographs, letters and to organise what we have left, to go until we are finished. Tools need doing but I'm not going on the shed until it's warmer!

Also I'm not a teacher or child minder or translator; I work in public relations.

I've managed to Kondo my books and the dd's toys and books as well as some boxes we haven't unpacked since moving house years ago

I do enjoy how things look post-Kondo and condensing my books was great, but I just feel nauseated by just how much stuff I had and didn't use and I didn't even consider myself a materialistic person. I also can't believe how much useless tat we've lugged round from house to house. I wish I'd embraced minimalism at a much younger age.

A local charity is picking up stuff tomorrow, so my dining room will be free from all the piles of books and my bedroom from 3 black bags.

milkpudding someone up thread suggested to me to put them in bags by category, so coughs and colds, pain relief etc and label them. I've done this and stored on a very high shelf, but left calpol and a first aid kit where I can reach easily but the kids can't.

Upandaway, I also have OCD tendencies dispels the myth that OCD always means a clean and tidy house and I really do understand that guilt and doubt.

Anyway, what I meant to respond to was your item in the window of the charity shop. I had an old hand-crank sewing machine, £5 from a junk shop when I was a student. I fixed it up, and used it to make all the curtains for my first house. Then I got my electric machine, and the oldie sat unused for years. Finally, last year, I couldn't bear it's redundancy any longer (talk about attaching emotion and guilt to inanimate objects!), and I dropped it outside the chazza. I walked past that afternoon, and they'd already built a window display around it, with some fabric and sewing books they'd unearthed from somewhere. When I passed again the next day, the whole lot had sold. Point is, if your item is worth their window display, you've done them a favou, and that's something to feel good about.

"Does anyone else forget where they've put things? I've rehomed so many things recently, I keep forgetting where they've ended up!"

Yes - I am finding this too!

So another day of calmer more efficient working ( I hope) even though I'm not actually kondoing much at the moment. Although I had a lightbulb moment yesterday when I collected up a whole load of different cream tubes (everything from Ibuprofen gel to hand lotion) from two different bedside drawers and corralled them upright in a small space in one of the drawers - so much easier to find what I need!

Morning

Sitting having yet another cup of tea, and a ponder about today's plans. I might just do some cleaning.

About the emotional aspect of decluttering.... I am currently feeling tidal waves of distress which I am trying to just ride, and stay calm while they pass through me. I have gigantic, oppressive financial issues, a residue of exP, which may mean I lose my home. I have intermittently tried to channel this thought into conscious reduction of my possessions, so that if I do have to leave, there will be less to move and it'll make the whole process slightly less horrible. But this calm approach collides with my anger and frustration and hideous soul curdling resentment that this is even an issue. I have worked really hard during the babyhood and young childhood of my children, and the thought that I could lose it all might just make me insane with fury if I let myself tip over. I'm sorry for the rant, but what we choose to surround ourselves with reflects the essence of our lives, for good or bad. Where I live, surrounded by good, precious friends and neighbours, where the children are content and close to their friends, and school, brings me joy. It's not a big posh house either! But it's joyful. I guess I can use this process to eliminate everything that doesn't bring joy from inside my house. That's still enormously important, regardless of the outcome of the financial stuff.

Apple that sounds so difficult :( I hope things work out enough so you don't lose the house. Make sure you contact anyone who can help before you reach crisis point (sure you are already). Like mortgage company, cab, utilities etc.

I finally made it to the chazza
Nice boot load gone.
They didn't want the hangers though.

Means I'm running slightly later for hosp visit but hopefully dh is going for a stent op anyway so won't miss me.

appleblossom I wish I could say something more meaningful than that I'm sorry to hear that . But I really am sorry to hear it.

Having a home is really (for many or most of us at least) the biggest security we can have. I am very lucky to have an affordable - though still not cheap - council house with an assured tenancy. Yet I still find myself worrying that we could lose it (laws have been changing in the country where we live). This morning I reminded myself that even if we owned our house, which is really an impossible dream right now, I'd be worried about a forced acquisition if the council wanted to put a new road through or something like that! In other words, what's really bothering me is the impermanence of life. "Safe as houses" doesn't mean much really. To paraphrase what I read in a decluttering book by Karen Kingston, we think we own all this stuff, but really we don't even own the bodies we stand up in!

Anyway, none of that really helps you right now, but it's just what I've been musing on lately. Life eh?

JKS someone on Freecycle will probably want the hangers if you can face the potential hassle!

OK time to get to work. Today has turned out to be a majorly busy day with two biggish jobs to be done by Friday. Will see if I can do a bit of Kondoing here and there though. Already picked up a few things around the house for the charity shop collection tomorrow.

That's an awful situation to be in apple. Can you go to citizens advice to see if they can advise who to turn to for advice?

apple I feel for you, I really do. I hope you can get through it. Please make sure you're accessing all the help available to you. I am sorry for your situation, as you have clearly worked really hard for what you have.

I am still kondoing the bathroom. Thank you to everyone for your understanding of my guilt and frustration with myself. I have let that go and am just focussing on the job in hand to make sure that I just press on. Last night, I realised that I had seven foundations on the go. Seven. Rather than get upset and cross with myself like I did with the body lotions, I just chucked all but the two most recently opened ones, and ploughed on.

I am also using body sprays as room sprays in the loos, rather than buying new ones. Getting joy out of using them at last, and saving money too.

Thanks Hermione I'd not thought of it like that. I was just feeling sad that it was sitting there looking lonely, I hope it's spotted soon by someone who will really love it, instead of it sitting in my loft. I hate the emotion attaching things to possessions. At my worst ocd times it felt like items themselves has emotions. I love your story about the sewing machine what an honour! It's great how our old stuff is bringing other people joy. Even my old postcards were happily taken on free cycle

Apple, I have been thinking about the house thing a lot recently, and I know where you are coming from. From my experience, there are pros and cons to owning as well as renting. I have owned a flat that I couldn't afford so I sold it, and then a house that took a year to sell and was very expensive to maintain (old, things kept breaking, including water heater and central heating). I currently rent, and in my previous tenancy (5 years) I had a fantastic landlord who made a lot of changes and improvements that I asked for (took up carpets and laid down laminate flooring was the biggest). My current tenancy is via an agent, and I hate not knowing the landlord. He is currently planning some exterior redecorating, wich I should be pleased about, but I just get paranoid and think he is doing up the place to sell it.

I try to remind myself that a home is not (just) a house, it's how you live there. And most people will have many homes in their lives.

I've been lurking and kondoing on and off since last year.
Finally plucked up the courage to post after tackling my unhealthy obsession with stationery this morning.
I felt really sad and stressed about the amount of notebooks, folders and paper I have bought probably going back at least 10 years.
This all started after I had DS, I had really bad PND but wouldn't admit it to anyone except DH who wanted me to go to the doctors but I wouldn't.
I've been merrily kondoing everything I have with hardly any qualms at all but the stationery has really upset me. I wasn't sure why but after much soul searching I've realised getting rid of it signifies the end of certain projects. Must upsetting was giving up on my attempts at an OU degree down to financial constraints.
The reason I started the degree was because I felt useless and that I had no career to go back to after DS.
So unfortunately kondoing some old folders and paper has made me feel all those negative feelings again. I also felt really guilty at the money wasted on them.

I'm taking the dog out for a walk in a minute to clear my head. I never thought when I started this process that it would be emotionally challenging

apple don't feel sorry for ranting. It's important to acknowledge and vent your anger. It's also entirely justified. I hope you can access support from CAB and/or Shelter.

Well, I Kondoed the komono corner of doom only to realise that another corner of doom has appeared beside the couch! Aargh! I'd already Kondoed beside the couch but between DS and DH it is back to being untidy.

I'm frustrated by it but I'm also thinking I can't have organised it properly or it wouldn't have descended into chaos so quickly. I'm realising through this process that DS is good at tidying if he knows exactly where items are supposed to go. Obviously the komono in the couch corner of doom didn't have a clear enough storage space for DS or DH. I'm going to try to tackle it again tonight once I've finished working.

Thanks folks xx It's a situation that's been dragging on for years, but I'm lucky to have supportive people around me, an excellent solicitor, and every aspect of my finances have been inspected/reduced/cut back on/stopped. The panic and anxiety comes in waves and I had a bad one before, hence the offloading. Thanks for listening/reading. Steptoe, I think I may have read the same Karen Kingston book - Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui? I love it!

I've Kondoed under the sofas, hoovered and tidied up the living room. Might see if I can do books today. Touching each one, seeing if it sparks joy.

I loved the sewing machine story too. That very definitely sparks joy - the idea that something that was no longer of use to you could bring happiness to someone else.

Just spoke to my mum on the phone, she is very good at finding bargains in the sales, and she asked me if she should buy shoes for my kids, as a very posh children's shoe shop near her had a really good closing down sale on. It was really hard for me, but I told her that my kids didn't need any shoes. My kids ALWAYS have a lot of shoes, and often they don't even get worn before they are too small. I am so proud of myself ;)

So sorry to hear about your situation apple; it must be such a worry for you. I really hope everything works out for you.

Following the advice I was given on this thread yesterday, I'm now in the middle of kondoing my teaching materials. I started out by looking at each sheet individually, checking whether I had it on the computer, trying to decide whether I needed to keep it, etc. but after doing about 10% of the first folder I was losing the will to live and decided I have so much teaching material on my laptop (the vast majority of which I'm highly unlikely to use) that I really don't need to keep any additional printouts. So virtually all of it is going... but it's still taking an age to sort through, deciding which paper can be recycled, what needs to be shredded (if there's confidential information on the back) and what I can reuse (if the reverse is blank).

I also cancelled my Glossybox subscription after my latest box arrived this morning and I discovered, once again, that I really don't need or even actually want any of it. If I had €12 to spend on cosmetics, I wouldn't buy any of what I received today. In the year or two that I've been subscribing, it's introduced me to one new product that I now use regularly - and otherwise has just added to my clutter. So it has to go. (The boxes are quite useful, but I certainly don't need to pay €12 a month for those either!)

Nobuyuki, don't be so hard on yourself, I can understand your disappointment and frustration, but it's in the past and you can't change it. I know what you are going through, the past and the emotions attached to it can be very painful, and it's not possible to just delete it. Try to think of it as something you have learned from and that you are not that person anymore. Appreciate who you are now. And well done for going thorugh those papers and confronting yourself with them, it takes courage, and it's not easy.

Have any of you ever heard of EFT? Emotional Freedom Technique? Google it, it looks totally crazy, but I swear it works. I came across it when I was seeing a psychologist after a very traumatic episode when I was a teacher - basically I was teaching a class of particularily hard and nasty teenagers and they ganged up on me so that I ended up leaving the classroom. It was very hard to get over, but this psychologist used EFT (and told me to get another job, which I did!) and I was amazed and how well it worked, it completely removed the horrible feelings about this traumatic incident (and I only had 4 sessions with the psychologist). I still use EFT in crisis situations and I was thinking perhaps some of you would benefit from using it when you go through the emotional parts of Kondoing.

Linzer it sounds like excellent progress on your teaching materials, good job!

And well done on caancelling Glossybox. It looks like a lovely thing (just googled it, never heard of it), but also like a thing that brings clutter into your home.