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!

HiccupHaddockHorrendous
Thank you for the compliment on my treasure boxes. I am glad it has helped you to decide what to ditch and what to keep of your children's STUFF.

I'm knocking on! And am viewing children's crap from a more distant perspective. I have some beautiful things that they have given me, over the years, and a few things that they have made, and they all bring me joy. They are displayed either openly, or in my bedroom, and I smile when I see them.

The treasure box things are things that I think they will like, and that will bring them joy.

My oldest son made me teach him to knit (at 12) so he could make a small teddy for his new baby sister. She displays it in her living-room and has a baby son of her own now. I have a small wooden aeroplane model, carefully made by my youngest son, on my dressing table - the propeller has gone, but I still smile. He now has his own business, hand-making beautiful garden furniture. I have about a dozen things like this, which I truly value and would never part with. I think the children will feel joy when they recognise how much these things meant to me.

I think it is important to keep a few things that are special, to us, or our children. Photographs would not be the same.

The toy cull was ok. My older child did his own and only kept about a third of his toys. The younger ones' toys - I did it while they were at school and kept the stuff aside for a few weeks in case they asked for anything that I thought they wouldn't miss but they did.

The Kondo magic has descended here. DH has spontaneously starting folding underwear and rolling socks. With no input from me. Blimey !

HiccupHaddockHorrendous There are better reasons for getting a DH! The trick is to get the right one, Konvert or not!

Keep an eye on that purple kettle - if you start to slip at anytime, it will give you a 'hard stare'!

I was looking at this site, which appears to be pretty fair - 60p a kilo. They collect, and details of what they accept and its condition are on the site.

www.genierecycling.com/why-use-genie.html

All these DHs that are coming on board is a real surprise, but certainly a joyful one! Perhaps they have to think it was all their own idea?

Place marking as I can't keep up! Note to self - check in more regularly to keep up to date

Good though, I guess, that I can't keep up as it means everyone is busy kondoing and there must be some lovely looking homes out there now!

I know mine is certainly getting there and I am no longer pooping myself waiting for the unexpected visitor to call - my house is now at a stage where that wouldn't phase me, I could fling open my front door and invite them in for a coffee! Shame the only unexpected people that knock tend to be the postman or delivery drivers (though they all seem lovely and am sure would appreciate a coffee ).

I just have a question, if you don't mind please?! Haven't got to end of book yet, about halfway through as I would prefer to go with the fact I just wanna crack on and am pooped by the time I get chance to sit for 5 mins to read!!! But has anyone ever got the the end, fully Kondo'd, and are now just maintaining so to speak (I do realise this is not WW or SW honestly!!) or is this a lifestyle change which constantly is worked on?! I am just intrigued that's all

I have this book and can see some of the wisdom but she doesn't seems account for keeping stuff for later DCs
I need a system for what fits DS1 and what is waiting for DS2 and what may be worn by the DDs at a later stage and
argh!! CLOTHES EVERYWHERE

Thoughts/advice on this??

I am quite strict with what I keep for the next child. I go through it all and only keep the stuff that's in v good nick and I really like. That way the next child has enough and I can fill in any gaps with the odd new thing. I don't keep everything.

Olivia

I would only keep the clothes that are in good condition,not stained and give you joy ! I carefully put away my kids clothes and took them out a while ago to discover that some of them had stains on them, i have no idea how i did not notice. If you have space i would store them in clear boxes with lids on and the size written on the box. I know some peopke vacuum pack them but i have never found bsgs that stay shut.

hiccups you can have my DH if you like - PM me your address and I will post him for free! He is in the doghouse for disappearing at 7:30am and not returning home until 5:30pm - was out on a job but he knew I had my tax return to do today. Was told he would call his mum to take kids for a few hours this aft if he couldn't get back in time. He never called and his mum never arrived so tax return still to do! Tomorrow my only opportunity now as other weekends are tied up but tomorrow was meant to be family day (after he has played golf of course - yes we are in England, with bad gale force winds and lashing with rain but yes he is still playing golf every weekend!!).

You can have him for free I won't even charge for postage! Trotting off to see if it's possible to kondo your husband!!!!

inadaydream I have finished the book but am still doing clothes (freezing bedroom!)

In theory, MK is right, it is a once only job.

When everything has a home, and provided that every family member puts things that are used back in their home, the house will stay tidy. In an emergency, family illness etc, things might slip a bit, but it should be relatively easy to re-home any clutter that has gathered.

The only two things that need regular attention afterwards are:

1. Don't buy/bring in non-essentials, (even if they do bring a moment's joy!)

2. Regularly weed out STUFF that is broken, no longer used, worn, or bringing joy.

I'm going through my bookshelves one at a time (couldn't face putting everything on the floor - maybe in the inevitable round 2) and the 'does it spark joy' question is so much easier for me to apply to books than to clothes.

I have so many books that I felt I should give shelf-space to because they are classics, yet I hate the subject matter - murder, sexual violence, domestic abuse (e.g 'American Psycho', 'The Woman Who Walked Into Doors', 'Kane and Abel'.) Not that I hate all books that use those themes, but it suddenly feels so silly to hang on to books that I hated reading! It's definitely sparking joy to put them all in the discard pile

Just read this thread. Well done all. I haven't done much this week as I have been back to work and all that. I started clearing out a few days after Christmas and have got rid of 12 black bags thus far. I have done clothes for myself and kids, jewellery ( found a wedding gift from my mum I thought was lost!), bags, accessories, bedding and towels, books , paperwork , make up and toiletries and today I finished electrical items which also involved clearing out and reorganising 8 kitchen drawers. I found some shoe and mobile phone boxes which are now inside my kitchen drawers housing plugs and chargers, light bulbs and batteries, tape measures, shoe polish etc. I keep opening the drawers to admire my work.

The thing that has really struck me is how we keep buying the same things we already own. I found 6 travel plugs today as we can never find them when we go away! WTF.

I now have a bagful of electrical plugs and wires to get rid of, what's the best thing to do with these? They are in working order but just not needed.

Iqueen - I'll keep looking then

Inadaydream - I went to collect a parcel from next door, before Christmas. My neighbours had major work done to their house last Summer and she asked if I'd like to have a look at what they'd had done...there and then...on the spot...no notice, at all!! She even showed me the inside of her bedroom cupboards and there was absolutely no mess or clutter anywhere! I'm still about the whole experience!!! I have friends who are minimalists but they still have the drawers/cupboards/rooms of doom but not next door...I am in awe

Hmm, I think I'll pass on your dh, if that's ok...or send him and I'll kondo him straightaway (like some of the Christmas gifts) .

Good luck with your tax return. I really need to crack on with mine. My accounts are in a terrible mess but they are most years so I'm hopeful that it'll turn out fine and possibly even before the 31st!!!

I should add, working through the process does seem to change our mindset, about the inportance of things. It is possible that we will have to remind ourselves from time-to-time about where we have come from, and the UNimportance of some things.

If our tidy homes make us and our families happier, hopefully we will not slip back into our old cluttering and consumerist ways.

Olivia I think homeaway's advice is sound, especially for the best clothes for the first 6 months. However, every child is a unique little person after that, and some things that have been kept may not suit the next child or his/her's developing personality.

Count - sounds like you are a fair way through the process!!

My friend told me you can take all the cables/wires/electrical a to the designated bin at the tip/recycling centre. I can't remember what she said they do with the wires but they are definitely welcomed.

I'm expecting to come across a few travel adaptors

olivia as a cheaper alternative to plastic boxes, try archive boxes. You can put a sticky label on the front with age and gender, and then stack in a glorious clothing library. Makes it much easier to locate the right box than from a pile of bags. And folding works well in boxes.

But I wonder could vacuum bags be lined up neatly in a box container, filed really... I label my vacuum bags with a bit of paper inside. As long as the paper was at the top it could be easy to find what i want... hmm maybe I need to rethink this... do keep us updated with your solution and how it works out for you.

I agree with only keeping the truly joyful. We get a lot of hand me downs. Previously I have bought quite a bit. This time I just topped up to form outfits and store as outfits now, as it inevitably all gets washed every day. I have found I have needed less because of the organisation. And I have been much more ruthless at getting rid of what doesn't work or I don't like. It's better.

Your DH sounds cheeky leeloo!

We have 3 hand towels, 6 bath towels (one for each person) and four old scratchy swimming/holiday/camping towels. Ideally I'd like 2 towels per person though.

HiccupHaddockHorrendous STOP looking! From experience a DH will turn up when you ahve a full life and aren't looking!

"Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." John Lennon

Your neighbour's drawers - I reckon she is a dreadful hoarder and the only reason her things are so tidy is, because she had a major clear-out before the work was done, or it's still in storage! No wonder she dragged in to see! (Me - Meow!)

Thanks hiccup.

I am quite a way through but as no single room is complete as yet it feels like it's getting worse before it gets better. I have bags of stuff to go the charity chop or tip which is not helping the minimalist look I have in my head.

I forgot I also got rid of half of our DVDs.

Tomorrow I am going to do the kids rooms. I have done their clothes so it will be all the other stuff, mostly toys, just so their rooms are finished.

I'd stored tons of future hand me down clothes too but after the book I ruthlessly went through it all getting rid of about half the stuff. I then vacuum packed it in age groups and slid the bags in back of a wardrobe/under a bed. I'm not sure this is the right way but it's all I could think of.

provided that every family member puts things that are used back in their home, the house will stay tidy
I think this ^^ may be the challenge here. DH has a habit of moving items or/and just creating random piles of komono at the side of the couch. It has always made me but now even more so because it is so anti-MK. I'll just need to hope that Kondoing will slowly rub off on this area as it did on his work clothes.

I Kondoed one side of the kitchen today,I filled one rubbish bag and then packed everything else away in its designated space. I just need to work out where to put the electrical items we don't use. I'd charity shop them but DH is adamant he wants us to keep them. We don't actually have much storage so I'm struggling with where they can go but would love clean surfaces like Hiccups so am determined to find storage somewhere.

You are all doing brilliantly. Hiccup bap pond Cheerful, I hope you will post some 'after' photos.

I gave done a couple of drawers, but not really cracked on. I fear my wardrobe has not remained tidy. I hadn't really done it properly, nit taking everything out and it obviously hasn't worked. I know there are things that don't bring me joy. It pays to do it properly!

On a positive, someone came on Friday from the local radio station to do an interview about the NSPCC launch of Share Aware, which I helped with through MN and when they rang up to say they would be here in 20 minutes, I had no panic, just put the kettle on, a bit of makeup and sat and waited in my Kondoed kitchen.

Iqueen - I'm not really looking. I'm far too set in my ways and there is no space for another grown up in this set up

Ha, ha, yes, I did wonder if they had stuff in storage and yes, they had a huge clear out before the work was done. However, they have been back in the house since September/October. Surely, by now the clutter would have crept back in.

Swimming - I'll definitely post some after pics...I'll have to so I can try to lessen my shame after posting the 'before'. Sounds like you had an exciting day on Friday!! How nice to have last minute visitors without the mad tidying just before they arrive!!

Aplace - I hope your dh becomes a fully fledged Konvert asap.

There is improvent here...just cleared and changed the bed!!

Aplace - I have the same problem. People putting things back. DH with his piles. I was thinking of getting one more upright ikea magazine holder thing in the kitchen and sticking his random items in there.