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.

Thanks, bringmejoy. Just got a bit overwhelmed by it all today. Everything is so muddled that I just don't know how I will ever get it all into categories to sort. Kitchen and bathroom were relatively easy because there is slightly more space to play with. However, upstairs is a different matter. Things have been stuffed and squashed into any available space for years and now it is so out of control.

I have made a bit of progress. The toy cupboard that didn't fit in the big cupboard is now in, temporarily!! The main cupboard is really deep so the toy cupboard is sitting at the front of it (meaning there is a lot of wasted space behind it but will have to be dealt with another time) so I have managed to store all the toys from the new rotation system in it.

Unfortunately, whilst trying to rebuild the cupboard, I knocked over a massive pile of paper so have spent the last hour sorting it out and found a very sad newspaper cutting which has kind of stopped me in my tracks. It's now gone into the sentimental pile to also be dealt with another time.

HHH I'm sorry. Hope you are okay.

I must say I haven't ever done the true Kondo thing of just getting everything put into a pile and holding each thing. It would drive me Far too crazy and I have a life to try to manage. So I sort of do the categories in my head, and just do the holding thing with questionable items.

It was interesting watching my husband as we went through papers. Most stuff was easy, but he was stopped by a first bank statement, and spent ages going through it looking at what he'd bought as a student. I just (mentally) put it aside into 'sentimental' when we were done. In reality it is just in a pile somewhere in the loft, but that's okay.

Marking place on the new thread! I also use the packing cubes - they are fantastic on holiday - particularly if moving around a lot.

For those with shoes in the hallway issues, I have the IKEA BISSA cabinet www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90248426/#/50242737 (bought pre Kondo so not breaking the 'no new storage rule!) and my rule is any shoes not inside it go upstairs to the shoe storage up there. It only stores about 8 pairs max so those tend to be the ones the family are currently using. I used to have an open basket of pure mess so kondoed the basket. I think open baskets are anti-Kondo now.

Linzer they so are! Eagle Creek are heavy duty and like I say, you can get cheaper ones - Amazon etc. When we go on holiday, we share 2 cases between 4 of us and the cubes make it so much easier to divide up. Can't believe I just to lay clothes all on top of each other in a random way. Every year when we come home I used to start a purge of belongings, saying we managed to live out of a suitcase for 2 weeks, we don't NEED all this stuff. Am desperately hoping that packing this year will be a breeze and won't have to do another purge as I'm kondoing it all now! Am also going to look at www.puttingmetogether.com to finally get a grip on how to buy less and dress better....

I am attempting the kids' toys...... With the kids' help!! Hmm, not sure how successful this will be!

I like the look of that website, coat. Going to have a good read of it later.
ohhelp that is a great idea. We have a weird alcove in the living room that is just wasted space at the moment but some sort of wheel-out storage would be great there.
The house solved another storage problem today. I've been meaning to buy a sturdy magazine file to put all the cling film, foil etc in to store it vertically. Today I found one in the garage. It is one my aunt decorated for me with decoupage when I was a teenager so it has horses all over it and it definitely brings joy! It is now in a kitchen cupboard storing all the foil etc. Hooray!

Not much proper kondoing here today but a few more bits from dh's office into the exit pile. His office is looking surprisingly good - only surprisingly because I've had v little to do with it, he's done it himself! He just seems able to get rid of stuff all of a sudden.

Hello, mind if I join you?!

I've been talking to myself about decluttering for ages, and then (adult) DD announced that she'd read some of the Kondo threads and planned to start herself.
I've procrastinated for a couple of weeks whilst dipping in and out of the threads but today I started by clearing out my wardrobe. I couldn't ditch quite as much as as I'd like to because I can't afford to replace anything at the moment, but I've reduced the contents by at least 60% and the remaining items are/will be worn. There is one particular jumper that needs
to go but not until the cold snap is over, I don't have enough thick ones.

I've got a bag each for the charity shop and clothes bank, a small one to eBay, and two for a boot sale I'm doing with DD next month. They have a charity van at the exit of the boot fair for any unsold goods so I can guarantee that I won't have to bring anything back!

My motivation is that I will be moving out and leaving DH, possibly as soon as Easter. I haven't told him I'm actually going yet, but even if I don't up and go while he's at work (as suggested by the counsellor that has worked with us both), it will be much easier to pull everything together and work out what I will need to buy when the time comes.

The more I read, the more excited I am about my new minimalistic life ahead

hiccup I find myself shoving things in cupboards/any space I can find every fortnight before our cleaner comes (when we first hired her two years ago the idea was I would use time I spent cleaning to declutter instead...hmmm...)

Anyway this week I tried to do it mindfully so every item I picked up to shove I actually looked at it and thought if it was worth keeping; whether it could be put with other items in a rough categorisation; if I could fold it to at least make the shoving neat. It took me longer to get ready for the cleaner, but I did fill a small bag with kids clothes and bunch together a few items ready for kondoing later. And, like other pps, I don't get things out unless i can think of how I will store them as I kondo. I can't be doing with too many piles of things around for my son to crash into/destroy/trip over.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I seem to be having a very emotional day. Everything is setting me off.

However, I have straightened the kitchen (surprisingly quickly, thanks Konmarie!) and hung out the washing so that has made me feel a bit more in control.

I've also emptied the last of the suitcases containing out of season clothes. They still need sorting but it feels good to know there aren't any other stashes of clothes about the place I hope!!

Does anyone know if cash4clothes-type places take children's clothes?

Our local Cash4Clothes place takes children's and baby clothes and kid's shoes. I went in and asked before filling my bag. If it is part of a chain it would be a good idea to check on the web first. They all seem to have different rules regarding underwear, sheets, towels etc..

Crikey everyone, I disappear for a couple of days and you're four pages into a new thread! Welcome (back) to komrades old and new.

I've been promising to do my fabric stash for a couple of weeks now, and finally made a start on it today. I've ditched more than half of it, and started folding the rest into plastic crates which will stack two-deep in the blanket box. I've only got three of the crates, so I'm going to bend the rules and get a fourth to make the most of the space in the blanket box. Here's a photo the first two filled with fabric.

A couple of people have mentioned trouble with throwing things out because they don't like waste. I think kondoing has been a bit painful for me at times because I've seen just how much I was wasting stuff anyway. If you've bought more stuff than you can use, that's the waste. It doesn't matter whether you throw it away in the bin, or neatly hung up in your wardrobe, or in a box in the attic - the waste was acquiring it in the first place. The difference comes when you decide you deserve something better than living in a landfill site. And when you pare it all back, and become really aware of what you've already got, you're likely to think twice about acquiring more stuff in the future.

Hermione that looks great!
Welcome, married I hope kondoing helps you on the way to a new life of happiness.
Back to work tomorrow and leaving DH in charge for a few days so that should be the real test of whether it stays tidy! Bless him he has already made my packed lunch and polished my shoes for me

marriednotdead - welcome

You are certainly on the way to kondoing your life! Onwards and upwards, and sending you strength!

I am LOVING kondoing the kids' craft stuff. Before it became overwhelmingly messy and stuff shoved all over the place, I used to do tons of craft with them. Now I don't as I can't access the stuff and can't be bothered to root around with three under five snapping at my ankles.

It made me sad to think that my children are missing out because if the clutter!! Can't wait to start doing more craft with them again when it's sorted!

Ah good luck pointless ! And bless your dh!

Thanks Pointless, and good luck today... For you AND for your husband

Zippidy I often feel like I don't do enough with the DC as I feel too overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have; I used to do much more with them when they were younger and had less. So I'm hoping that kondoing is going to help that.

Good luck for today, Pointless!

Hermione That's an interesting point about the waste having already occurred when you buy something. Kondoing has certainly made me think twice before buying anything new; I've realised that having fewer things that are properly stored brings me more joy than buying more stuff just for the sake of it.

Hazy I'm glad it's not just me who rushes round like a headless chicken stuffing things into cupboards once a fortnight before the cleaner comes! There's been a big improvement since I started kondoing, though, as our bedroom and general dumping ground office have stayed tidy since I kondoed clothes and paperwork; now just need to do the rest of the house...

Welcome married; it sounds like you've made a good start on kondoing both your possessions and your life - I hope everything works out well for you. I've found that I'm now looking at things in a different way since I started kondoing and often ask myself "does this bring me joy?" - it really affects your whole mindset.

Coat How many cubes do you find you need for the four of you? The cheapest I've been able to find (including postage to the continent) was a set of three on US ebay for approx. £33, but I have the feeling we'd need two or three sets for the five of us and am not sure I can justify spending that amount. I'll have to have a look at the ones in Ikea next time I go; they don't look quite as good from the website but are far cheaper.

I was reminded of Time's comment on a previous thread about stuff from the middle section of Aldi as I failed miserably at avoiding it today; I only went in to buy some exercise books (another 15 to add to the 62 ) and came out with two pairs of pyjamas (reduced, for DC to grow into) and three pairs of tights for DD2. I don't feel too guilty, however, as it does bring me joy to be able to get something out of the "next-size-up" box when the DC need something rather than having to rush out to buy it and no doubt spend 2-3 times the price as it's bound not to be on offer at Hofer or Lidl that week (and clothes shops here are generally very expensive).

I don't know if this tip will help with packing but when DD packs for her two DCs she puts a whole days outfit eg socks ,pants,t shirt , trousers into a ziplock sandwich bag. One for each child for each day. Makes getting dressed a doddle.