Kondoing away the chaos: Kondo thread 7 for yet more life-changing magic

[LinzerTorte]

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 6
Thread 5
Thread 4
Thread 3
Thread 2
Thread 1

Tips and links thread

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've bought a paper shredder and spent this afternoon shredding ten years worth of bank statements and utilities bills. It was very satisfying. I was umming and erring about buying a shredder but I'm glad I did. It's much more thorough than ripping things up.

abdc There's a link in the OP to an image showing you how to fold your clothes ("folding by rummy"). There are also diagrams in her second book, but it hasn't been translated into English yet.

Basically, MK's guidelines on folding socks and tights are:

Footsies - put one on top of the other and fold in half

Ankle socks - put one on top of the other and fold in thirds (fold the toe up towards the ankle, and then fold the ankle third over)

Knee-high socks - fold in half and then, depending on how long they are, in half again or into thirds

Tights - fold in half and then in thirds (starting with the toe); roll up and store vertically. As they have a tendency to come unrolled, store in a separate box.

Woolly tights (from about 60 denier) - fold in half and then continue folding until they're at the right height

MK also says that as they're one of the easiest items to learn to fold, you should start with socks when teaching your children how to fold clothes.

I fold my ankle socks in half and stand them that way. Another fold would be too much I feel.

Days plans out the window as ds2's asthma kicked off. Just back from an early hours a&e trip.
Back in bed while he watches TV and Dh up with the dc.

May even get some kondoing done - silver lining

Sorry to hear about your start to the day, JKS - hope you can get some rest now.

I should really have written "socks" rather than "ankle socks" - she just calls them socks in the diagram in the book, but I wrote ankle socks to distinguish them from footsies and knee-length socks. She does say in another paragraph to fold your socks either in half or thirds, depending on their length.

Hope your son is feeling better, JKS.

Waiting to hear today whether we have a good offer on our flat. If so then we can go ahead with our purchase and will then move in April or May. So much to do before then! Definitely in the right headspace to do the kitchen today. Will start with utensils and cookware.

I'm very thankful for comments I read above about letting go of gifts that you've never used or liked. It's hard not to feel a sense of duty to keep gifts.

Can anyone share their tips for organising their kitchen utensil drawer?

Mine is full to bursting, and when I tried to organise it, even with decluttering, I can't get all the stuff I want to keep back into the drawer in organised form.

Also can any kondo non-purists recommend a good utensil divider thing? I'm not sure shoeboxes will do it but I'm happy to be convinced...

Seamstress does it all need to be kept in a drawer? I'm not sure exactly what utensils you're trying to organise but I have a feeling that Marie would tell you to store as much as you can vertically - if you have a lot of wooden spoons, ladles etc could you get a pot to put them in and stand them upright? Even if you just took some things out to store that way it would leave more space in the drawer for everything else.

These are just my random thoughts on the matter though as I haven't started kondoing my kitchen stuff yet... ulp

m.ebay.co.uk/itm/121458748015?nav=SEARCH

I've just bought this for kitchen/office stuff and it's perfect but not ideal for knives/forks.

Seamstress I agree with Wilding that upright storage is probably best if possible. MK also suggests hanging utensils (other than scissors etc.) from hooks on the wall. Her other suggestions include:

• putting them in a pot/jug/carafe under the sink
• if you keep them in a drawer, using the lid of a large box to keep them tidy
• only separating small utensils (can opener, measuring spoons) from large ones

She's not keen on plastic drawer dividers as she thinks they lead to space being wasted. I have to say I find them quite handy for cutlery and small utensils, but keep all my large cooking utensils out on the worktop in two pots.

I also saw this Ikea jug recommended for utensil storage. I had a look in our local Ikea but wasn't sure whether it was large enough for all our utensils, plus it's not particularly cheap (but I may not have been looking at the largest size).

Thank you all, really useful thoughts. I think MK is spot on that the drawer dividers waste space - it all fitted in in a big jumble, even with the extra crud!

I can see the sense in vertical storage, but our kitchen doesn't lend itself to that - limited surfaces I'm trying to keep clear, cats, bins under the sink. Hm, I do have one deep drawer with some empty space (thanks to kondoing!)

We have three areas for utensil storage - a jug for wooden spoons, spatulas and so on, one drawer for knives, tin openers and so on, one drawer for knives, forks, spoons

I haven't even got near the kitchen yet!

Have boxed up the music magpie stuff for collection tomorrow.
We worked out that the money we'll get from them is about the same as what we spent on iTunes buying the music we actually wanted. So not a profit making exercise but somehow balanced which I like

Spare shelves that I took down up into the loft - at least they're off the landing. And 2 boxes of paperwork brought down for Dh to sort through.

Oo that was the folding link I found on Pinterest when I was looking for Marie kondo stuff.

I agree about the cutlery divider thing even though I have one. Why do the compartments slope, leaving all that wasted space.

I'm so confused about the socks, lol! If you have chance, would you be able to take a photo of the diagrams? Although I have managed to find an OK sort of fold for socks anyway. Totally baffled by folding pants. I gave up. I've stacked them vertically a bit.

Does anybody else have Ikea MALM drawers and find them too deep? I used to love the fact they were so deep because I could fit more in them but now there just seems loads of wasted space above the items. Actually, it's nice for my tops drawer. But the underwear looks dwarfed by this massive drawer!

Oh hang on I see rummi's link now :)

wow you're all doing so well!!

re: books - another moment of joy! my gil (? grandmother in law?!) saw one of the books I was discarding, and proceeded to read it straight away for hours laughing at the story

I need your help, please as I mentioned before we're looking at nursery furniture ready for new arrival soon. in the spirit of konmarie I think we've decided not to get a wardrobe for the nursery, is this sensible?! we are looking at chest of drawers, but I wondered, is it worth buying one with a changing table on top? won't that look weird in a few years?? or can we just buy a normal chest of drawers and use just the plastic changing table on top? is this safe?! feeling overwhelmed by the choices!?

thanks everyone! on to kitchen next, really CBA as I don't think there's much to discard, just needs reorganising so not too enthused about that!

weasel I found chests of drawers far more useful for baby clothes than wardrobes, so I'm sure you could get by without a wardrobe. I always just changed the DC on a plastic changing mat on the floor so never had any special changing table furniture, although I'm sure it would be better for your back!

Bertie I did wonder about posting a photo of the diagrams, but was a bit worried about copyright issues. They're slightly more detailed (i.e. more types of socks and tights) than the photos in Rummi's link (plus I can understand the explanatory text as it's in German ) - was going to say I'd be happy to PM a photo to anyone who's interested, but I don't think you can include photos in PMs (could always e-mail though).

Weasel I would get the right chest of drawers for the long term and plan round it. For DC1 we tried with a cot top changer but that was a pain once she started pulling up and we ended up getting a cheap changing unit instead. With DC2 we were a bit more relaxed. We bought some rubber rug gripper stuff from ikea and used that to 'stick' a changing mat to a normal, but huge, chest of drawers' top. Friends of ours put some wooden battens round a chest of drawers top, which was probably a bit more secure, but other friends ended up just changing on the floor or bed and thought their changing units were a complete waste of money. Possibly not v helpful, but I am honestly not sure what to advise.

Hi Weasel I've always just had a changing mat on top of a normal chest of drawers with a wicker style basket at the end with nappies, nappy sacs, wipes & sudocrem in. Didn't bother fixing it on. Then when they got bigger and more mobile changed them on the floor. I wouldn't bother getting a changing table personally. I have another mat and basket in the downstairs bathroom and change them on the kitchen table / floor to save having to always go upstairs. (A bit lazy maybe!)

Another changing mat on drawers user here, weasel,,only advice I'd give is to make sure the drawers are high enough so you won't have to bend over too much, and big enough to also have the nappies /wipes on. Or if you have a layout that you can place the gumpf nearby even better, saves wriggly babies knocking them off. Once they are quite mobile we changed on the floor.

Amateur how about some magnetic knife racks on the wall for metal utensils, and as mk says, hooks or a rail for others. We have limited surface and drawer space so I have one utensil pot by cooker and three racks/rails for most bits and bobs

Another floor changer here.
We had a cot top one and it just got in the way and was hardly used. Looked nice in the shop

I also had a set downstairs too. Esp when they are little and need lots of changing. Then when they are bigger and don't want to leave their toys!
The mat slid under the cot with wipes and bags sat on it. Almost sounds a bit MK now I think of it!

Dh has started on his papers. Slowly.
I did lotions, etc in my cupboard. Still daunted by the bathroom cabinet!

So am being distracted by a jigsaw puzzle of my area I got for my birthday

I changed both mine on the floor, sofa or bed on a changing mat. We did have a proper changing station, erm used it once! Lovely mamas and papas one. It looked adorable in the shop!

thanks everyone :) we will just buy a normal chest of drawers and changing mat :)

sorry another baby question but it is mk related, honest! as I don't want anything we won't use in the house! is it worth getting a baby bouncer? don't they only use it for 6 months or so?!

haha yes they do look lovely in the shop! and online with cute babies in all the pictures!

I found the bouncer useful for first few months. There's some cheap ones or you could spend lots on one that does jiggling and music and never use those functions as they're so annoying and make the baby cry ....