Clutter, emotions, and folding our socks - Kondo thread 6. All welcome!

[SteptoeAndDaughter]

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 5
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.

Sorry to hear about your mum roar

petite I am the most over emotionally attached to every single possession I own person ever. However it does get easier. When doing my clothes I got rid guilt free the clothes I had bought myself. Then moved onto ones I'd even given,
pjs that always fall down - no joy and gone
jumper that has never fitted - no joy and gone
socks who don't have a friend or have a hole - no joy and gone.

Even though we have nearly finished now as i wear each item I own if it doesn't bring me joy I add it to the chair shop pile.

I have improved so much during this process that I reviewed a thank you card for a Christmas present this week. I read the card and put it straight in the recycling.

upandawayy
There's hope for me then! Even in the short time I've been kondoing, I can feel myself changing...strange but true! I hope it continues.

I was on thread #5. We'd decided to start by clearing out our loft. We're STILL clearing out the loft. The last of the stuff came out of it today. The house looks worse than ever while we're trying to sort it all out.

I finally managed to find a charity shop that was accepting donations and got rid of most of our baby stuff (kids are now 11 and 14!). I tried selling 7 Grobags for £2 each or £10 for the lot on our local Facebook group but no one was interested so I listed them separately on eBay and made £45! This was good but it's made it harder for me to get rid as I keep thinking that maybe I could sell more but of course you have to hold on to the stuff for another week or so, not to mention the photographing, describing, packing, weighing etc.

Anyway, all of this is distracting me from actually doing any proper Kondo work. I've got rid of most of my clothes (none of them actually bring me joy but I can't go round naked!). Just need to get this blinking loft out of the way so I can get everyone else involved on sorting out their clothes. Then it will be books etc.

Good to hear how everyone else is doing.

Am so sorry about your loss roar, all the points you make about keeping things that remind you of someone (And not just because they belonged to said person) make so much sense.

Sorry for my typos btw.

hear so sorry to hear about your mum.

snowkitty it's changed me like I couldn't have imagined. I'm still finding it amusing and extremely pleasing that I don't need to look for anything in my house because it's where it should be. That said I haven't done the shed but at this rate i'll probably want to kondo the actual shed.

Thankyou bringme. I'll copy and paste that information for my friend. Always best to go by recommendation. I was thinking if like to start meditating too but have no idea where to start. I know I need to be a bit more centred and contained.

I've just kondoed OH's t shirt draw. I must say, it is looking good.

Thanks aplace. I ended up folding our clothes in the end. Although some jumpers had to be half folded then rolled to fit the space.

I was utterly dreading the folding to be honest (almost as much as paperwork) but it's been oddly thoroughly enjoyable! DS helped and invented some very workable ways of folding inspired by the folding link on the kondo information thread. The items take up so little space in the drawers now and look so organised. Just need to do sheets and towels now and then it's job done!! Amazing. One huge step for me! We even managed to squeeze in a swim with the kids, so it's been a very full but productive day.

Blimey, I'm in utter shock! I've lived with a chaotic floordrobe for so many years and now this .

How did you beat the floordrobe Violetta?
Personally, I don't know what to do with worn but clean clothes, for some reason I don't want to fold them and store them with the other clothes...

Thanks everyone

I know it makes sense...... Have done some more this afternoon....it does get easier!

oh no! What do I do with once worn items?! . Hadn't crossed my mind but I will need to do something with them.

I've gone from a ikea wardrobe/floordrobe of unused, damaged or washed out clothes to only three and a half drawers full of clothes.

Some time ago, I contacted my bank to stop paper statements. They said new legislation meant they couldn't do online-only statements unless they'd been set up before a certain date. Now I've just logged on to my online banking, to be invited to switch off paper statements for my accounts. Well, thank god for that, but we're they talking crap before, or has there been a change to the law?

I'm so sorry about your mum, roar.

Bed sheets and towels. Does anyone have a link they can post about folding towels/bedsheets on the kondo information thread ? Not sure where to start. TIA

Dragonflies I bought a "little black dress" jewellery organiser like this one, although it was nothing like as expensive - I think this may have been the one I bought. So I now have everything hanging in my wardrobe, and it only takes up the space of a dress. No more tangled necklaces either!

So sorry to hear about your mum, Hear.

Briar, this is a huge issue between DH and I. I hate the pile of clothes by the bed. He thinks it's dirty to put them back. And there is some truth in this. Various creepy crawlies are attracted to sloughed off human tissue on clothes (nice). Don't want dirty clothes hanging round unremembered because of attracting them, maybe. My next plan, once I have trouser hangers and have emptied a box, there will be a box for these mid-worn clothes. It will then require periodic cleaning out.

Kondoing has slowed down here, partly moving things on first, partly back to work post hols, partly teething toddler no sleep. But today I had internal battles. I needed a wedding outfit. I found a joyful one but over budget. I toyed with less joyful on budget for about 2.5 hours. This was painful. I loathe shopping. But ultimately, with MK ringing in my ears, I went back and bought the joyful expensive one. I'm worth it. I can actually afford it.

Roar, so sorry. A long illness is very hard on everyone. May MK be cleansing, and enable you to see more clearly the joy of your mum and your relationship.

hermione, your bank was talking crap, that makes no sense. Pleased for you that you got paperless! I did this week as well, maybe we have the same bank. They also finally introduced foreign transfers online - won't miss ringing them once a month to pay off my student loan in Denmark!

Re once worn clothes - put it back if it doesn't need to go in the wash. The creepy crawly thing - it may be true, but it's hardly black widow spiders. Besides, coats and shoes get put back in the wardrobe after being worn.

I really want to get started on my summer clothes, but (1) I need to ebay my winter clothes first (listing this weekend, 6 yesterday and 6 today, only another 6 to go) and (2) I dont' want to ebay summer clothes yet. I have given so much to charity so only things that I am almost certain will sell are left. But I am just so pleased that I appear to have room in my (admittedly large( wardrobe for more clothes! I hate getting summer/witner clothes out, it takes me a week (I also do 2 DCs clothes. DH is lucky, he never had a lot of clothes, so all his fits in his wardrobe already). But I swear, this is the last year I do it, and I will be sorting it before Easter!

Dish washer developed a leak today, water everywhere. Doing the dishes by hand really makes you appreciate modern technology! I so hope I can get the repair man round Monday morning first thing!

Briar & Violetta , the only clothes I seem to find I wear more than once before washing are hoodies (4 of them, which are hung by their hoods on the back of my door, and are only washed when they're visibly dirty or start to smell ) and checked shirts/jumpers which I hang in my wardrobe. I have a "marker" (which happens to be an age 5-6 polo shirt with my trampolineing badges sewn on it!) in the middle, which separates worn and unworn clothes, so I know whether something has been worn, and whether it's therefore likely to need washing next time. T-shirts are usually washed after every wear, so they don't need to go back in the drawer, and my jeans, which I wear until they need washing, are allowed to be on the floor until the next morning when I put them on again. It's a big improvement over my pre-Kondo half worn "clothes heap", which I would periodically wash the whole lot of, because I couldn't remember what needed washing!

I'm trying to decide if I should ebay or charity shop a big pile of stuff to decent to throw away - if I ebay it, I'm planning on collecting the money and using it to buy DB1 a really decent present for his 18th (five months away, so I've got time), but if I chazza it then it'll be gone sooner...

I have hooks like these on a couple of doors here to hang on clothes I've just ironed or am leaving out for the next day. Maybe could hang up the clothes you're talking about?

Iggi - thankyou a hook type thing could work well.

I would consider putting them away in my drawers but generally I wear the items the following day, then wash them

I just kondoed the first aid kits, took out all of the ragged boxes and put each type of medicine in its own ziplock bag.

It would appear I have stockpiled enough drugs to open my own clinic.