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.

[misscph1973]

Got a repair man working on my dishwasher at the moment. After a week of doing the dishes by hand I have not been this eager to part with lots of money for quite some time.

[TimeGoesBy]

In an early thread someone mentioned the blog unfancy when we were talking about capsule wardrobes and like the good Kult member I am I've being looking at it for inspiration (also trying to stop buying magazines, so blogs filling a gap!). Anyway yesterdays post was about our book... Think we are part of the zeitgeist my friends!
PS first attempt at a link, high giving myself

[TimeGoesBy]

*Fiving not giving... Less smug now

[homeaway]

Aplace

Are the offending items logically where you would want them if you started with a blank canvas ? I don't know what they are but for me things like gloves and coats have to live in the hall , it would not work anywhere else . Maybe imagine what you would like it to be like , not what it is ?

JKS happy birthday for tomorrow , enjoy the day !

[SnowKitty14]

I haven 't been able to do much this past week due to life getting in the way of kondoing but hoping to do some on Sunday and next week. I was a bit stuck but a bit of a delay has given me a chance to think things through a bit and I am raring to go again!

bring - I also have a komono box as I am getting a bit fed up with having some tidy drawers and cupboards but mess elsewhere!

Happy Birthday to you JKS!

Thank you for all the excerpts from the second book. I am another one who wouldn't want to blindfold stuffed toys!

Anyway, I have to go and catch up on this thread over lunch and hopefully be back to it soon. It is great to hear how everyone is doing.

Oh, and I managed to get another konvert last week! I was talking to a team-mate at curling who told me she was decluttering. I told her about the book and the folding, dealing with items by category etc and next thing I know, I received an email saying she has ordered the book from the library and has sorted and folded all her tops!!

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

Homeaway that is a really good question and may be the crux of the matter. It includes some of DS' toys. Most are in his room but these are his favourites which always gravitate to the play corner in the sitting room but they don't store neatly. I think I have to acknowledge that for his joy they are going to be downstairs, accessible and that the pretty but unstackable storage they are currently in eg giant Lego head - may benefit from being decanted into drawers. Ooh! Or into giant Lego cubes. . .but our great leader MK would probably not be supportive of that additional storage purchase. I'm off to Google toy storage ideas.

[Pointlessfan]

Happy birthday JKS!
I was staggered today when DH asked if he could lend my Kondo book to a colleague, turns out he's been spreading the word at work! I knew he felt better about the house but I didn't realise he was that into it. I'll have to tell him about the creepy blindfolded soft toys, that'll amuse him!

[MILLYmo0se]

aplace www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=lego%20storage&term_meta%5B%5D=lego|typed&term_meta%5B%5D=storage|typed

:)

[HearMyRoar]

I have also stalled a bit this week. I'm back at work after being on compassionate leave for a few weeks and dd has come down with an awful cough. I have spent all my evenings (and nights) trying to help her sleep. Poor little lamb. Result is no time for finishing the paperwork and I'm flipping exhausted.

I am in awe of the idea of blindfolding teddies. She truly is mad as a box of frogs, but I do love her for it

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

Milly gosh they're amazing! The funny thing is that looking at them reminded me that I have hanging storage for DS that I've never used and that might fit in his play corner. I'm going to dig them out. Thanks!

[CoolCadbury]

A lot of trofast (sp?) in that Lego link and also a lot sorted by colour but that doesn't make sense to me (I keep saying this!). I really liked the tubs where each set was kept. Still, not much help for us as ours is all mixed up. Still, its good to know that it's not just us who struggles with Lego storage!

[standingonlego]

We have coloured lego categories...in trofast. Much faster to sort by colour than brick type (tried both,). We never store as sets as the imagination led "new builds" are the faves of DS here.

And it looks pretty in colours :)

[standingonlego]

The themes tend to have a colour ...so the lego arctic has a lot of orange.

[Wannabechic1]

Open letter to Anzu

Hello Anzu, Im also an expat living in Germany, in a cluttered apartment.
Im halfway through reading the KonMarie book, and I loved the Japanese Drama link that was posted in one of the threads.

I am prepared to learn Japanese to read a few self help books available on amazon japan from an author called Kyoko Ikeda. They´re written in a cute and engaging manga style.

The most popular are ones like saving for women who cant save,
the others are about weight, clutter even punctuality, (all of which I need to address).

I had heard about her books years ago from the just bento website, and I can vouch for the Japanese envelope technique for household saving.

justhungry.com/savings-techniques-for-women-who-cant-save

If you have read any, would you be interested in summarising some of these titles for the group?

I will have to petition for english translations from her publishers otherwise :-)

[Wannabechic1]

so now that Ive read through my own link, a good summary is already available there. Please disregard my last post.

Thanks to everyone here for the motivational success stories.
For those with DCs, does your home really stay tidy after? (bar vacuuming and kitchen duties)

[MangoBiscuit]

Wannabe, I haven't finished yet, probably about a third of the way through. So far the tidied places have stayed tidy. Toy rotation for downstairs means that it's super quick to tidy the toys away and have a grown up living room for the evenings. I think I'm most impressed by the clothes. Even DH is folding and filing, so it all still looks lovely. I'm finding there is less random clutter arriving on surfaces, next to none from DD. The odd bits from DH and I tend to get sorted out reasonably quickly too. Partially as there systems for it now, and partially because clutter is starting to look out of place.

[CoolCadbury]

standing agree colour is quicker to sort and much prettier . I like the idea of leaving it in sets but DS has his own ideas and likes to build his own things so that aint ever going to happen.

[LinzerTorte]

I'd be interested to know that too, Wannabe!

I'm still on office supplies and still don't really have any time to kondo, but have been motivated to do exercise books as they're on offer at Aldi next week (which is often around half the price of the stationery store; we need to buy exercise books for school) and I wanted to see what we already had. Was shocked to discover we have 62! A4, quarto, lined, with and without a correction margin, with 20 or 40 pages, etc etc. They're all going to be needed eventually so I'm not going to get rid of any, but I've organised them much better and have written a list of what we have that I'll hopefully remember to update every time an exercise book is taken from the pile. And at least I know what I'll need from Aldi next week and what I don't!

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

wannabe it's a month since I Kondoed DS' room and it's still tidy as are his DVDs, books,PS games, craft items, etc.

The only part that hasn't worked is a small section of his play corner in the sitting room that I mentioned earlier and that's why I know I need to change that storage. I think if it's difficult to maintain then it hasn't been Kondoed properly iyswim.

[misscph1973]

Definitely using things differently, I combine my clothes differently and I have rediscovered a lot of things - it's like I now have a different perspective on how to use certain things.

Here is a little snip from FlyLady about getting rid of the unwanted things:

"Donate the clutter; put it by the curb with a FREE sign on it. Watch it FLY away into new homes that really do need it. The more you get rid of the more you are going to save by not buying more clutter.
As this becomes a habit, you will notice that you are more selective about your purchases. Just wait and see just how much money you are going to save by not buying more clutter. Don’t stash it in the garage for that yard sale that never happens. The act of not having a yard sale (GUILT) is harder on you than letting go of it. You will no longer feel guilty because of that pile of clutter in your garage."

I think she is so right, I really don't think it matters so much how you get rid of things, as long as it's not binned. Don't fret so much over which charity to give it to (I know I do), if you are going to ebay it or put it up for sale locally - just get rid of it! And if your house is on a relatively busy street, then do put the stuff out with a FREE sign on. In the past I have gotten a few things myself that way, I got a chest of drawers, one drawer was a bit broken, but at the time it was so much better than not having a chest of drawers, and I got a Dyson that I thought was easy to fix, it wasn't, so I ebayed it for parts for £20 and used the money to buy a cheap new hoover ;)

[Pointlessfan]

I'm definitely shopping differently. I really stop to think about whether I love the item, if it fits well, how is it washed, what else will go with it etc. I've also resisted several kitchen purchases because they will create clutter. It's saving me money too!
I actually disagree with MK about removing the labels from new clothes straight away as I used to do that and actually would have returned the items if they still had the labels on. I'm now much more careful to keep the tags and receipts until I've tried on the item with other clothes etc and I'm confident that I will wear it.

[TimeGoesBy]

I'm shopping differently too. Didn't buy ANYTHING other than groceries for the whole of January as was sickened by amount of stuff I buy needlessly.
I'm also using beauty products more regularly. Always use Body lotion now whereas before I was "saving" it.
I've rejoined the library too, so instead of buying loads from Amazon (half of which will stay on shelf ) I am going to try and take one novel, one cook book and one book on a topic on which I know nothing every 3 weeks.
Have been cooking more interesting meals now too as I've less time to spend on cleaning!

[homeaway]

A Place

I used to have a a wicker basket with a lid on it for the toys that lived in the kitchen when the kids were small as that was where we spent a lot of time. It meant when i tidied up at the end of the day , i did not have to look at toys. If you had a nice storage item then it would probably not annoy you .