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.

It stands up on shelf and can look at each one. Although I should prune which ones are going on as that one is from a school friend in 1991, we aren't close now!

She's much better thanks :). ED referred her to the ENT at Bristol children's hospital and she'll have it reset by them on Monday. The Dr discussed with them whether he needed to metal frame it but they said no. Just hope it doesn't affect her piano exam on Thursday!

Smoosh, really nice way of storing postcards. Personally I keep the on the fridge for about a month, and then I bin them. I have never really understood the British obsession with cards ;)

Good to hear apbut your DDs nose, "Gibble*. I hope the resetting isn't too bad. You sound very calm about it, I am sure it helps.

We store food and bedding for the rabbitss and chickens in a small shed and it's quite chaotic as DCs are in charge. In the weekend I cleared it out and I am now working on making sure the DCs keep it tidy - I really don't want rats! Also repirposed one of DCs old plastic beakers from when they were little as a scoop for chicken food pellets. That was hard for me, as they are from a safari park that we lived near and very precious to me. But they have 3 and surely I only need to keep 2, if any.

This morning the DCs had not put the lids back on the food bins in the shed and had also left a bucket of rabbit poo in there from cleaning out! I fought my instinct to just put the lids back then and there and put the poo in the garden bin, and asked them to come and do it. I find that part of my problem is that I like things done my way, it's just never good enough when someone else does it, and I exhaust myself doing everything myself. I really need to work on delegating and accepting that it's good enough.

misscph - There's a balance though isn't there between being accepting and training te dcs to do a job properly (and if poo left in shed it stinks, and if lids left off food, then rats can get in!)

I knew I was struggling a bit this week but have just dicovered how much. I left the iron switched on for 24 hours!!! Thankfully no harm done except to my electricity bill !

Eek at the 24hr electrickery bill!
I have brought home more boxes tonight for kondoing although I don't envisage having any time to do any until the end of next week. I have cub camp this weekend so may get a chance to do some on Sunday evening. We shall see!

thanks everyone

it took a while! working on the house solidly in school hols, but it's been worth it. very motivated to get it done as first baby arriving very soon! also as we've moved every year over the last 8 years it's meant we didn't amass as much as we could have, and I think now we know this is us settled it's been lovely making sure we're surrounded by what we love I feel really lucky to have discovered kondo early on in my life, as I can only imagine how much harder it gets as we gather more and more things

I keep saying we but I haven't touched dh's things - however he's rather a minimalist at heart anyway (chalk and cheese!) and he decided the other day to look through his bag of wires, and threw out some clothes - not a word from me!

good luck everyone I think I'll keep checking back as still can't shake the feeling that I must have missed something - but it's all worth it!

btw the hardest thing for me was all the sentimental stuff - my parents literally brought up a car load of my old things a few months ago as they're hoping to sell their house - so much stuff it was a pain to leave til last but having done everything else really helped me to see much more clearly what I really wanted to keep. It was hard to accept that some things I just couldn't part with, and it took a while for me to realise that it's okay to hold onto some things just because

Hi everyone, I haven't posted for ages as I've been busy with work and a teething baby so I haven't had time to sort any more of the house at.
However, even with all that going on and being poorly myself last week the areas that I'd already done have stayed tidy. It's amazing!
The spare room is getting me down as it was almost empty but then became the place where we put things until we decide where to store them so it's a mess again. DH and I both have some time off over Easter so hoping to get back on it then and start on the garage. Will try to catch up with the thread later.

Right, dishwasher is not repairable. Appliance guy was really cool and didn't charge (he better not - he already did 3 repairs on it!). I am toying with the idea of just not having one, but in the long run I just don't have the time to do the dishes by hand, and I cook a lot, so there is always lots to wash up. I do enjoy not having to empty the dishwasher, though, and I don't mind washing up by hand, it's the time it takes that bothers me. I think I will see if there are any Easter offers, currently set on getting a Bosch again, but any advice is appreciated.

We paid the extra for a Miele as we wanted the tray at the top for cutlery. And he previous Miele (in the house when we bought it) lasted for about 14 years.

Haven't been kondoing as such. Still on a pause and trying to get rid of the kondoed stuff.
Did get down too big clothes for the dc from the loft yesterday and was petty ruthless with the boys clothes. Rejected lots of tshirts and they still have loads. Plus generally trying to judge if they'd actually wear the things we've been donated. Liberating to really realise i don't have to keep everything in case.
Still have dd's clothes to do. And she always has far too much!

JKS, Miele is unfortunately a bit over my budget. I have already had to frown at DH who thought we could get one for £100 (!). I think £300 is the max., but it's hard to find any with a decent energy rating at that price.

Kids clothes was hard for me. They get lots of hand me downs and my mum is really good at finding really good stuff in the sales, but she is hard to stop. I have however decided that I am not going to stress myself with hanging on to kids clothes that doesn't get worn, it's just not worth it. And I haven't regretted anything I have given to charity/sold/binned.

So this is ancient now, but might have some later posts which are relevant. (Relating to dishwasher brands) :)

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=23002

8 bags to the charity shop earlier... And have already filled 2 more!

I thought I needed to buy another wardrobe and storage chest - now I think I may be able to sell one of the ones I already own! This is crazy how much uneccessary stuff that brings me no joy I own...

Downside it's FAR easier to see what I NEED and shopping for forks and towels doesn't really excite me that much

I think our handyman got us the Miele at trade prices so it wasn't huge money. Can't remember exactly how much now.
Finished dd's clothes. Huge pile to go.
Have to decide where to properly store the too big stuff. The loft is just such a pita.

Towels could be fun, John Lewis and BHS have some lovely ones, not at all boring :D Orla Kierly and Cath Kidston ones are massively out of my budget, but maybe just a hand towel would be lovely....

Hi all, I need to RT(last pages of the)FT, but I wanted to post first as I finally have a bit of Kondo progress to report - 6 fairly stuffed carrier bags of books went to the charity shop today (hurray!) - so over the last 3(?) years of book culling, my modern fiction collection has gone from 2 floor to ceiling bookcases - mostly double rows per shelf - to, as of today, 14 books and probably some of those can go after a reread.

It feels weird (but not bad), I've always been a 'book' person, but since the dc I don't get to read as much, when I do its on the kindle and my tastes have changed too. e.g. I used to find the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic books really funny and they've survived several culls, but I started rereading one a couple of days ago and I found the overspending, living-on-the-edge-of-bankruptcy, lifestyle made me feel really anxious and a bit sick. I don't know if I'm just overreacting and perhaps in the future I'll be 'into' them again, but right now they don't bring me joy, so I'm glad they can go to a good home. Also I used to really like the Kathy Reichs/Lisa Gardiner type crime books but post dc I don't have the stomach for them really...

I still need to go through my collection of 'vintage' children's books - which are about 4 shelves worth. They'll be much harder, e.g. I have 2 sets of Chalet School books, a complete set of abridged Armada paperbacks and over half a set of the complete GGBP books. The first set are the ones I collected as they were published over about 10 years as a child so they're sentimental, the new ones are a bit soulless in comparison, but I like their completeness... perhaps they'll all end up staying as they bring me joy?

So perhaps I'm not a 'book' person anymore, just a 'children's book' person? Is that regression?

Anyway, congratulations to everyone who is still on this Kondo-ing journey. :)

It was noticably easier to tidy up for the cleaner this month...

Have just sold lots of nappies on Facebook - any unsold by Monday are being offered to the nappy library. Certain ugly teatowels have been shoved in the DIY rag bag. Few of dd's clothes added to the charity bag as she's outgrown them.

misscph if you have a car and a bit of time and a strong mate, dishwashers seem to appear on Freecycle and Gumtree a lot. I hate the trays at the top for cutlery myself, but my dad who inherited a Miele says it's fine once you get used to it.

Hoping to attack the garden a bit tomorrow (both building materials and plants!)

NC, I also got rid of some horrible tea towels....

Smoosh some are lovely but I need about 5 bathrooms as can't choose which stands out over others... Ah well I will wait till I find something that sticks out as going to bring me most joy above all other towels I can covet

I already decluttered my books last year... And sent 5 large boxes to charity... Just doing them again, and already filled another 2 boxes I do love this non guilt way of getting rid. Tons were gifts but I just will never get round to being interested in the subject enough to read it - various celeb biographies and recipe books etc

But Iv thanked them and their on their way

Spent money on make up today and felt very extravagant until
I remembered that I haven't bought clothes for month, and have thrown loads of (ancient) make up out. Also got some drawer things and now have a lovely tidy scissor/Sellotape/kimono drawer. Really need to tackle something "bigger" this weekend!

Luckily passed on all the girls clothes & wellies yesterday so they're not hanging around.
The heap of boys clothes I want to offer on fb this weekend - between rugby matches.

Then started thinking about what's next. Electricals- are we meant to u plug everything and make a huge pile? I'm not getting rid of the tv, sky box, etc.

I could do with tidying the cables though.
Maybe it's finding electricals not currently in use?

Hoping the worst of the building work is finished in next month - right now there are at least 20 packs of different screws and 50 of other nails and things around the dining room, all of which have been used in the last couple months. MrNC did chuck out some bits of carpet yesterday though.

Totally transformed 2 cupboards today so happy - finally got my mushroom cupboard I have wanted to create since I moved in 2 years ago but it's been full of boxes of what apparently is mainly junk and can go to the charity shop! Also got DS room nearly kondo'd