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.

My kondoing has ground to a halt thanks to work being extremely busy - but the areas I've already done have stayed kondoed and I'm making much more of an effort to bring less stuff into the house other than Eagle Creek cubes.

Since kondoing my paperwork, I'm determined not to let the pile build up again and now try to deal with (file or throw away) any paperwork straight away; the office now looks so much tidier, which makes for a more relaxing work environment.

A major benefit of all this is having more money in my bank account! I haven't bought any beauty products or clothes since Christmas because I have realized I have plenty of everything now I can see it all together and it's tidied neatly. I want to end up having no more than two of any toiletry or beauty item.

Lol at educating's mum!
Maybe I should start a file "grandparents" to keep up to date with their medical stuff.

Not much kondoing here today. But did spread the word to another friend.

Dd broke my glasses today (it was an accident and my fault for putting them in a silly place). Thankfully I found a stash of contact lenses when I kondoed toiletries so could remain calm and forgiving rather then freaking out that I couldn't see (i'm really very short sighted). I think the entire kondoing experience and work was probably made worth it by that one moment alone.

Oh, Lions, what a nightmare, but how wonderful that you had your contacts. I'm very near sighted myself, and I have a habit of keeping my old glasses when I get new ones, so I always have a spare pair. I have rarely needed the spare pair, but they have been a god send the few times I did need them.

Can your glasses be repaired, are you insured (I think contents insurance would cover, it did when I had it)?

Oh no Lions! Glad Kondo helped though. I try not to wear my contacts everyday, but it means whenever I have my glasses on the little one is always trying to pull them off. I'm very impressed with you remaining calm and forgiving even with your contacts!

I think my house is looking messier rather than tidier today despite my best efforts. Oh well, onwards and upwards...

Oh, I am so exited, I had my carpets cleaned yesterday! We have these "tenant beige" carpets that had lots of stains on when we moved in 8 months ago and we have since added more :( But the carpet cleaner guy did a fantastic job, most of the stains that I thought were permanent came off.

But more relevant - it was easy to clear the rooms before cleaning the carpets, as there was no mess! Thank you, Kondo!

Also I have just received a V-neck fine knit top to replace my very worn favourite, and it's even better than the old one, a real ebay bargain! I am currently wearing it with my black skinny jeans that I can actually fit into. I had told myself that if they didn't fit within 3 months, they had to go. There were only a little bit too tight 3 months ago, so think I might have tried them on just before my period where I seem to bloat a bit all over my body, because I certainly haven't lost any weight. My wardrobe seems quite complete at the moment, and I know exactly what's in it!

That's good news, misscph... We've started to think about replacing the upstairs carpets. It's amazing how crappy they look once everything else starts looking nice I don't think it's worth getting them cleaned: they're all different, mostly horrible colours, varying states of disrepair, and they give me electric shocks I'd really like to have the same colour in every room, maybe a coordinated stripe on the stairs.

Big day tomorrow: BHF coming to collect furniture and electricals -yippee! Once they're out, I can put up the new shelving unit, and start reorganising. Hopefully, I can persuade my husband to help me out on Sunday with another run to the library with the last of the books. Once that's out of the way, I'd like to tackle more subcategories of books (novels, recipe books). Fortunately, they're on a more normal scale, and the chazzer will take them.

Is that the last of your dads books Hermione? That'll be a big relief to have them finished. And the bhf collection.

Misscph - well done on fitting into the jeans :)

I've posted a few things on the fb selling page. Wonder how I'll do. It's the chazzer for the things if they don't sell.

Nothing else doing today. Hungover

Hermione/ weasel, thank you, I've done the dressing table and put the excess perfume bottles in a box to use as air freshened and to put in mop bucket to add scent to the water. I also did the top of chest of drawers and almost finished the toys. I did the bathroom a few weeks ago but not kondo style so I have to redo that as well. I did do upstairs bathroom including the cupboard under the sink and it looks really nice without the clutter although the cupboard doesn't look so nice as it needs a shelf replacing. I'm pretty tired though it's physically exhausting but I feel the biggest messes have been dealt with so I can proceed with doing a cupboard at a time now. Also Traid craft are doing a pick up of sacks on Wednesday and need to find electrical pick up as well. I'm also rereading the book. I don't know how to add from smileys list but would give you all flowers.

And last night a skool night, JKS?

I know. Very bad!
Got chatting and didn't realise the time. Ended up coming home at 2am

Thanks JKS - Yep, all the ones I'm giving to the library at any rate. I'm keeping a handful (four books!) as a more fitting, and useful memento. It's going to be weird up there without them! Hope you had fun last night... I'm seriously contemplating going out foraging for tonic this evening

Elly, you're welcome... Sounds like you're making fab progress!

2am!? Wow. I vaguely remember a time I stayed up until 2am ( that wasn't due to a small child of course). Sounds like a good night

It's nice to read everyone is still chugging along, and that all the effort is starting to pay off by life becoming a little bit easier. I'd love to replace all our carpets add them are grim. Glad the cleaning worked well for you missc

I've been meaning to write a bit about my experiment with emptying my bag every day. I was very sceptical when I read the book, but sort of got a bit obsessed by the idea so have been doing it for over a week now.

It's weird because now I feel a bit odd about the idea of not doing it. It really has become a habit and I find it sort of relaxes me and allows me to switch off from work, even though I don't usually manage to sort it until after we have eaten.

I think the main thing is you need to plan a bit and make sure you have an easy place to put everything you keep in your bag. Once you have this sorted then it's simple.

I have a small tray (one of the plastic ones you get tomatoes in) that I put bag things in like purse, pens, lip balm. I also now put my lunch and snacks into a shopping bag that is then easy to pull out and dump in the kitchen to be sorted out at the end of the day.

The empty bag then goes into another bag that hangs on a hook at the end of my clothes rail.

I think that might be the oddest and most boring post I have ever written, but I thought you guys might get my excitement ... Well maybe a bit at least

Kondoed the fridge and have made tasty stew that includes a lot of stuff. Managed to spend some M&S vouchers that I'd found while Kondoing the craft drawer - and only on socks for the boys (necessary and nice ones), one top for work which I think actually will give me joy, and I put other less-nice tops back and hit the food hall for a couple necessary items and some stuff for eating this weekend. So no new clutter.

My shelf with vases on is looking lovely and I'm now even more determined to get all ugly junk out of the living room even if I can't get it out the house!

I'm intrigued by the handbag-emptying... It sounds a bit mental, but I really did think that about rolling knickers a couple of months ago. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME???

NotCitrus - Its a good idea the get the ugly stuff o of the living room, but think about where it's going to live, and for how long. I've had boxes of books everywhere for over a month now, and it gets pretty demoralising after a while.

Very impressed by your restraint with the voucher notcitrus. I would have to fight the urge to buy stuff just because I had a voucher to spend.

It does sound completly mad doesn't it Hermione. I think that's why I wanted to try it. After all, most of the stuff she suggests sounds a tad insane (folding socks?!), but I swear my socks feel softer and nicer, plus they are much easier to find now I fold them. I figured it was worth a go, I am now a total convert! I'm having to hold myself back from emptying dh's bag for him

Lions, I can relate with the handbag. I wouldn't say I empty mine every single night, but I have certainly become a lot more aware of what is in it each day, and whether it is appropriate/needed for the day. Previously I would have all sorts of things in there all the time, in a vain attempt to be prepared for EVERY POSSIBLE SCENARIO, the net result of which was that I had no idea what was in there, the bag was heavy and my stock of tissues/chewing gum/wipes/hairbands or whatever it was was inevitably always just run down on the day I needed it... Now I sort the bag carefully before I leave and leave anything heavy that I definitely don't need, make sure I only have the minimum I needed but that it's fully 'stocked'... I find it a lot less stressful, and it doesn't take long.

Can I just ask how often do you get your carpets cleaned? I absolutely detest carpets, so in the old house I had laminate flooring put down downstairs after 6 months, I paid for half of the cost, the landlord paid the other half. I lived there for 6 years. But in my current house I don't know the landlord, so I don't really want to spend the money only to have to move 6 months later. But wow, the carpet cleaner was amazing, I can almost stand the carpets now! He reckoned every 4 months would be good, judging on the state of them after 8 months, but to be honest I don't think the carpets had had an end of tenancy clean before we moved in, as some of the stains that I thought were permanent actually came off.

How often do we clean the carpets? Err... Never

Lions - if dd had fallen asleep, then there might have been clothes buying, but as it was she was trying to run off and hide under clothes racks...

Hermione - Stuff can live In MrNC's Room, or the crawl space, for as long as need be. He's pretty good at not getting new stuff, just crap at ditching the old. Thank goodness his parents' loft room flooded and everything got mouldy or there would be 10x more! Floppy disks, cables, odd metal widgets - and somewhere is a certain computer vintage thing worth about a thousand quid, so need to ensure that isn't chucked by accident!

Call it assembling the widget category in one place ready for Kondoing... :-)

Hello, haven't been on for ages as work has been too busy for kondoing. But... Ready to get back into the game! Impressed to see what you are a all achieving. I don't so the handbag thing, I get the feeling out mentor switches handbags each day to match her outfits, I bring the same work bag with me every day until it expires, then I repeat the process.

I need to do toys this weekend, I have been talking about it since Christmas

Ground to a bit of a halt here due to work and life, but reading the thread is inspiring me to get restarted

Always good to hear the finished stories thanks.

My carpet cleaner said once a year but that was mostly because we have an open fire that we use (coal dust). As well as 3 kids & 2 cats.

Intrigued by the handbag thing. I'm also more aware of what's in there and taking out unnecessary stuff. But not fully emptying it. Yet.

Have a morning with just me and dd at home so hoping to get some normal tidying done as well as maybe something else. Buggy being collected and paid for today. A bargain for only a tenner but I was happy to just give it away.