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.

Thanks for the reddit link. I am actually stunned and amazed that she has 3 DDs under the age of six. I really liked the fact that she said let the DC decide what to choose and discard if they are over 3 years old because that's what I have been doing. And yes, get them folding, I wonder how DS will feel about that. . I might start him on folding his socks.

You know, it's not just space that I have more of, it's time as well. I don't waste time by looking for things, when I tidy up or clean, it takes less time. And I'm thinking differently about house work, I hated doing it before but now, I enjoy keeping my house looking clean, tidy and organised. I guess it's not a chore anymore.

I keep looking for where it says she has kids herself, can you direct me?

Thanks for the link to the webchat, bring. I couldn't see any mention of her having children, though (was initially to read she had three under 6 before realised it was another poster!)?

Great news on your DH, JKS.

Am doing accessories today; I thought I'd already done them with clothes, but find I'm being much more ruthless second time round. Kondoed five scarves, but DD2 commandeered them for herself when she saw me taking them down to the basement. At least they're out of my bedroom if not out of the house, I suppose!

Talking of getting things out of the house, DH has gone to take a car load of stuff to the recycling centre, and we're hoping to fill the car again for the Red Cross shop when he gets back. Which means I have an extra incentive to get on with things this weekend, so that we can take as much as possible to the Red Cross on Monday morning.

Should have refreshed before I posted - I didn't realise that others couldn't find any mention of her having DC either; I thought it was just me. I think that was another poster being helpful Cool, although I initially read it as an answer from MK and was .

Interesting link! Thanks for that.

I read it as the one with three dds under six was someone else writing a response. Did I get that wrong? They also talked about Christmas gifts, which is not an issue for most Japanese.

On drying clothes: so jealous of you who have the opportunity to dry them outside.
In our European apartment we don't have any choice but to dry them inside on a drying rack. I do lug the rack outside onto the balcony when the weather suits, but it is shaded by so many street trees that even that has only limited usefulness. I know street trees should sound nice, but they planted so many together that no light gets through, we need lights on in our apartment even in the middle of the day in the middle of summer, and any plants I try to grow on the balcony struggle to live due to lack of light. Less would be better - hah, another Kondo moment!

We have a condenser dryer, but even the 'extra dry' setting leaves clothes too damp to put away straight from the dryer (and takes forever to get them to that stage). I'm convinced it's a German plan to force people to use less resources, much like the fact that one can only buy front loading washing machines here, and the default water level in the washing machines when you wash is super low (and doesn't get the clothes particularly clean!)

I want Japanese-style clothes drying poles, and the special hangars and accoutrements that go with it, like the hooks that you suspend them from on your balcony. The poles are stiff and straight, so don't have that tendency to sag in the middle that washing lines get, and they have a big enough diameter that stuff hung over them doesn't get crease marks. And they are high enough that you can hang hangars off them with dresses and shirts on the hangars, and so they dry quickly and in the right shape.

There's a picture of them on this blog abrownbearinjapan.blogspot.de/2014_02_01_archive.html

Still trying to find a substitute for them that will work with the layout and construction of our apartment.

Ok, the thread moved on while I was writing.

I'm quite sure MK is unmarried.
To be very blunt, some of the stuff she has written, particularly about her throwing stuff away when younger, makes her sound to me like she has MH issues.

In book 2 she writes about having thrown away her only screwdriver - as it didn't bring joy, her vacuum cleaner - for the same reason, speakers - as she found the shape too 'square'. And then trying to make do without those things. Like trying to use a ruler to tighten a loose screw (the ruler snapped), using paper towels and nothing else to clean her apartment, including the floor, for a long period after chucking the vacuum, (wrote that she eventually caved in and bought a new one), and so on.
Maybe she is exaggerating or inventing to make a point. But if it's true she definitely comes across as outside the realm of 'normal'. (Please do note quotation marks on 'normal'!)

Of course I am not saying that people with MH issues will or should not be married or have children. But the truth is that they are fairly stigmatised in Japan still, and it WOULD make it harder to get married.

Nonetheless, her method does work, and she has built a successful career out of something she is passionate about. So good luck to her.

I am new to this organising. I've read the threads but not the book yet, and I have a couple of questions if anyone can help.
I'm about to start my wardrobe. When I re-store the saved items do I put the folded tops upright in the drawers? What about trousers and jumpers? What gets hung up? Also should you only have out winter clothes with summer ones stored elsewhere?
Sorry for so many questions!

Anyone else 'stuck' on clothes?

I'm going to have another go at clothes this afternoon. I really want to get my home kondoed, but have been stalled since NY.

Thanks to Anzu's tit-bits from Book 2 , I realised that I have never bought clothes 'thoughtfully' - if I 'liked' it and it it fitted, that was good enough! No capsule wardrobe, any colours that took my fancy, at the time.

I have developed some idea of my style, but that hasn't helped me to co-ordinate much, if at all!

Last night, I decided that if I get out, and hang up in sight, the two or three items/outfits that I truly love, and feel really good wearing, I will be able to feel the necessary absolute joy. That should act as a benchmark, for everything else - particularly tops which have been my sticking point!

Afterwards, I shall be seriously considering the basic colours for a capsule wardrobe. Based on my most joyful outfits, they will be quite different from the colours I would have chosen a few weeks ago! Yay!

HTH others who may be finding clothes a problem.

Rosie29

Hang clothes that really need to be hung, eg formal trousers, woven cotton/linen items, floaty items, coats and jackets.

Jeans, tops, sweaters, underwear work best, folded, and 'filed' on edge (the fold at the top) in drawers, or on shelves in shoe boxes or other containers, when necessary. Use the height of containers and drawers - fewer folds = more space in the storage place.

After kondoing, MK receommends that clothes for all seasons should be stored together. This may not apply for extreme geographical areas, but works well for areas like the UK, where seasons often overlap.

Oops, bringmejoy2015 we crossed!

Yes, I thought that technique would work for other categories too, eg kitchen, bedding/towels, ornaments, jewellery, in my case.

Am feeling I've let the side down as bought some new storage for toys before I've actually sorted them. But I'm sure the drawers will be better than what we have and they were on offer

Iggi, my underwear drawer has lovely new fabric covered storage in it. I bought it before I'd finished clothes. It's still bringing me joy! I promised myself that if it wasn't quite right, I wouldn't stubbornly hold on to it just because it was new.

Have done a provisional first sweep through dh's clothes and got a big pile to go.
He's lost lots of weight so sizing is all over the place.

BrandNew if it's any consolation I bought drawers for DS' crafting items before I'd Kondoed them. It was a few weeks ago now and was definitely the right decision because the storage basket we had was not working, and since we've moved everything into the new drawers, it's made homework, drawing, card-making, etc, much easier. And it's much tidier. I'm sure your new toy storage will be a similar success.

I did a first pass on jewellery today. Lots of bits gone. Lots of well loved sentimental items staying for now.

I agree that she has some quite serious issues. I dismiss some of her stuff out of hand. BUT I think that her problem is taking a sound principle too far. And we can all judge for ourselves where that limit is.

I don't want to embark on an experiment in living, but she (and loads of other bloggers for instance) are welcome to do that.

Thank you for the replies about clothes storage....I'm try to juggle my 4 Dcs and organising, it's annoying when you get on but have to stop to make lunch. Off to do my tops, I'll report back! I have already done my desk area, it looks great, apart from the boxes of things which need to be sorted, if my dh ever comes home from work!

Ah ok, my bad . Thought it was a bit odd because her writing clearly shows that she does not have children. Anzu that example of the screwdriver/Hoover is a bit extreme. She is clearly "quirky" (and that is what I say about my DS). Maybe it's an embellishment. Perhaps some people who read her book took it too literally and she is just wanted to point out actually not everything needs to be discarded, we just have to think about it a different way.

brandnew I bought containers for DS toys. Ah well. Keeps both of us happy.

Oops, my bad for starting the rumours of children based on my pain-dazed reading of the chat...

Hermione that sounds awful - I only tend to get a bad back due to DC (ie when pg, or when lifting heavy babies in their buggies up our stairs) so hopefully when this passes I will be back to normal.

Iqueen great idea on the clothes, hope you can make more headway into them now. From reading the threads it seems people often think they have done a category and then realise there was more to kondo as they live with the results (IYSWIM) so you may find you keep whittling away at clothes as you get better at spotting the joy.

DH has taken DC1 out for his nap; I am now able to walk pretty normally so am going to attempt to Kondo cook books which are on an eye level shelf and therefore don't require bending

I'm on the naughty step with you Iggi, having bought a little wardrobe to hide the (vastly reduced number of) coats in the hall. Fortunately, MK is not actually coming to my house to enforce her rules, so I can adapt as I see fit.

Today, I have done linen.

I have two satisfied shelves above the hot water tank and re purposed a blanket box for duvet covers and sheets. Other miscellaneous linens have a special drawer unit that was a wreck before.

I've only thrown out one black bag, the least of all categories so far but as I did clothes there was towels and stuff caught up in them so I just got rid in the first round.

My house is now an utter mess! I am now at the stage where there are little piles of things on every surface that are 'kimono' (sp?) but if you open drawers and cupboards it looks like a magic fairy lives in them. Wtf, this is a bad (though I'm sure, temporary) look

Yup, laurie we had a similar look here too. Messy on the outside and bliss on the inside.

I am putting all the komono in one big pile box and dealing with it later. I can't leave it on the side of something I have just tidied, too depressing.