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.

I poo pooed the folding as over the top. Never been a folder, never had any intention of folding.

However after spending a day folding, I'm seriously amazed at how little space clothes take up, how easy it is to select clothes to wear in the mornings and how enjoyable folding actually is.

I've also gone a bit free style and made a few of my own folds up so that items fit the shallow drawers

That's interesting about book 2

A productive day...just about to drag out 2 bin bags for the tip and 2 for the charity shop through the snow into the car . I now also have a present wrapping drawer

Gatorade Escentual/Give and Make Up will accept lightly used make-up unless it has an applicator wand (mascara, lip gloss, etc.).

anzu Thanks for posting all the information from Book 2. I can see myself buying it before too long!

Thankyou bringme

Get us early birds bringme! Boys already for school too

Just realised that I used to visit friends houses and admire how organised and clutter free they were. I truly had no idea how they did it! Now I seem to have less stuff then them! How weird is that!

Great news, bring! I'd love to be able to get the decluttered items from each category out of the house before I move onto the next category, but unfortunately it just isn't practical so the basement has become a general dumping ground for the time being. Although maybe I could take a trip to the Red Cross this afternoon...

Violetta The DC have already been at school for over half an hour here (although I should probably confess to being an hour ahead ). I've definitely started to notice other people's clutter more since I started the process - things that I wouldn't necessarily have counted as clutter beforehand.

Morning all.

Dh coming out of hospital today. Finally. 4 very long weeks.

He'll be knackered for a while but hoping to then spend some of his recuperating at home time getting his approval to get rid of stuff.

Congrats jks that's great news. Its been a hard few weeks.

Great news JKS

I just realised I posted with my winter name last night - oops!

I Kondoed jackets/coats last night. DS was cuddling one of them saying 'don't let this one go mum. I love it.' I had to stay firm. It's an old raincoat which I adore but the waterproof coating has started to peel off. I've searched and searched for another one the same but have had to admit defeat. At least I can honestly thank it for all the joy it has given me and I have lots of photos of me wearing it!

Really glad he's out of hospital soon ltd

Hi zippidy you'll be hooked! Folding is a big part of it, and does make a big difference.
I've sorted the kitchen, I was like kondo possesed or something!.. Joy? No! Chuck it! Joy? No! Chuck it! Found stuff in the drawers I had no idea we had, or what it was.. Bits of plastic from long gone utensils etc. Feeling joyful now it's gone! Reorganised where things live too, moved the kettle things like that, so it all works much better. I've now just got 1 frying pan, 1 large lidded pan & 3 saucepans. The wok has gone, it was huge and we never use it! It definitely wasn't joyful languishing in the cupboard, getting in the way!

Ooh sorry was a page behind. JKS bet you're so happy your DH is home

polka thanks for reminding me about the wok! I'd put mine back in the cupboard till I was starting another charity bag but then forgot to bring it back out - duh!

Also thanks to whoever it was that mentioned having an empty drawer. Silly as it may sounds, I'd never really considered that possibility before We have very few drawers for our clothes. It's mainly shelving and hanging rails but I rearranged a few items, looked more strictly at my gym stuff and - hurrah! - I now have an empty shelf and an empty hanging rail. and one extra joy-filled top as it had somehow sneaked in beside my gym t-shirts

Regarding clothes, can I ask where you all dry clothes? I always seem to have shirts and trousers over heaters drying as they can't go in the tumble drier. It makes the place look so untidy.

A-place glad to be of service! Farewell to your wok too

Re: drying clothes- I tend to work it so that I'm drying things that aren't tumbledryable on the dining rm, hall & lounge radiators just before bed, so I can whip them off dry in the morning. I did always have the maiden thingy up but since getting rid of loads of clothes, and starting to wash smaller, more frequent loads, I find there's less to have hanging about.

Oh and tops/shirts i hang on hangers over a couple of doors overnight too

Pelican, thanks so much for the JoJo link. DD2 (and last DC) is just growing out of 0-3 months so I'll be delighted to send some much loved clothes to a good home. and get JoJo vouchers

JKS - that's brilliant news!!

I've spent the morning sorting more things in my kitchen.

Empty boxes. Anyone else now have a big pile of empty boxes and containers waiting to be repurposed? Or is it just me . I'm a bit worried that I am becoming a packaging hoarder!!

I have kondoed a couple of piles of komono that have been hanging around. Also, have a couple of bags filled for the charity shop and a bag for dsis.

As a non-wine-drinker , is it excessive to have 10 wine glasses? I have 4 that are used when I have friends over and seem to be fairly indestructible (had them 15 years and only one has broken, so far - have I just jinxed myself?!) but have just taken a boxed, set of 6 fancy glasses out of a cupboard. I've had them for years but they have never been used . Infact, they have never been out of their box . They are really pretty and have now been squeezed put in the glasses cupboard but I keep thinking 10 are too many.

Oh and I was super excited when I took them out of their special box because it has ready made dividers in it so will be heading up to my underwear drawer later .

Sorry, one more point I'd like to ramble about!! My tumble dryer has started cutting out after 5 minutes of drying. If I leave it half an hour, it will start up again then switch off. I'm guessing it could be fixed but the new me wants to just kondo it. I'm very reluctant to replace it because I just don't think anything made now is built to last. This one is 12 years old so I feel I have had my money's worth. My landlady replaced the 17year old washing machine, 3 years ago and when it broke down a couple of months ago, the engineer said it was unfixable so it was replaced. I'm just worried that I'm not organised enough to live without the dryer. There are often drying emergencies in this house. Maybe it's the kick up the bum that I need to properly do my clothes.

Great news, JKS!
Good tips in bra storage, I've always struggled to store them in a way that doesn't make the cups go a funny shape. That's this afternoon's job sorted!