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.

We bought a cheapo handheld vacuum from Asda and have regretted not getting the Dyson ever since as it's rubbish and can't deal with cat hair at all which was mainly what we bought it for.
Making very slow progress but I do have a bag for charity and a box ready to send to Music Magpie. Looking forward to kondoing over the Easter break.

I had an ace £25 refurbished vax but it didn't last me long...6 months and it had died... I suppose at £25 that doesn't matter but I wanted to finally have a snazzy machine... At least once in my lifetime

DH has been complaining about not being able to find any work jeans or socks. Perhaps if he actually did some washing or looked in the laundry basket, he'd find plenty. Meh. Getting really arsed off. I have a pile of coats dumped down my side of the bed which were on the coat rack in the hall. They're all staying for now. I can't fold DH's stuff because it won't fit into the drawers at all. We only have 3 FFS! I did put some more boxes into drawers on Friday but I think this kondoing is going to take FOREVER because I am having to just keep shuffling piles of crap around and I don't have any space to keep stuff folded- Wahh!
My bathroom hasn't been cleaned in weeks and is bogging and the dogs are destroying the house faster than I can put anything right. My iron has been on the stairs for days too as DH STILL hasn't put up the cage which he put up so spectacularly wrong that you couldn't actually get the board on and off the hanger. Numpty.
And I'm tired. And I hate mess and stuff!

Gatorade mentioned, the other day, that her house looked a bit of a bombaite. Perhaps, Gibble, you're coming into the same phase of Kondoing? Anybody else had this? Of the three months I've been working on this, I've been through the following phases:

Month 1: progress in specific categories (clothes, bags, toiletries, books...) but nothing visible overall.

Month 2: house is a shithole, and every weekend spent working on it seems to make it worse. Boxes everywhere, furniture out of place...

Month 3: every bag or box to leave the house, for charity shop or bin, makes a visible difference to the state of the house.

I'm not massively looking forward to going through the same process with downstairs categories, but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

I'm starting to see the finish line but the place has looked like a bombsite each time as the charity shop bags pile up in the hall... Every place I haven't finished decorating looks SO much more obvious atm, but it's getting harder to ignore things I haven't cleaned so am noticing I'm doing more housework!

Haven't missed anything bar one ornament I kind of regret giving up but I think il forget in time and also one cover up waistcoat/cardi thing that hid my love handles when wearing tight tops... I'll just have to Kondo all my excess pounds and get slim though

Getting stuff out of the house is key to staying on top of tidiness as much as possible. There will inevitably be some mess, but getting it gone is crucial to keep it manageable.

Re vax breaking. I bought things in their yard sale before, which had problems. Their customer service was good, things were replaced quickly on two occasions. They can't have made any money out of me! I would say we don't have pets, so not sure how it would cope with pet hair. I suspect you might need something more substantial.

Hi update so far. I've shredded 4 black bags of paperwork and got it all down to the absolute essentials all into one box. I also sorted a box of travel 'essentials' this is our 'go to box' when going on holiday or away. I do have a box of miniature skin care stuff and feel bad just tossing them out. I've made up my mind to use them up ASAP. The office still looks a mess and still have about seven quite big areas to be kondo.

Hermione - I like your stages. Though I'm only in stage 1 so it's worrying!

You can't really see a difference in most areas until you look more closely like inside the drawer of doom for eg.

Listed a heap of boys clothes in one big bundle for fb to get rid of.
Lady coming for Thomas bs and toys later today.
May try and list the toolbox with bits too.
But not much moving atm.

Had hoped to be further along before PIL came on Friday as they haven't been for a while so they could really see the difference.

JKS - It will be interesting to see if your PIL do see any difference. Maybe there's more change than you think. If you are living with things and they are changing gradually, you don't notice it as much IYKWIM.

Just popped in to say hi .

Gibble, I would get anything out of the house that has been sorted and you don' need so that you are not constantly moving it around. If you have something in your hand and you know that it is not going to be kept then put in the pile of things to go out. If you are struggling to get things out of the house, then put store them in your car if you have one so that you can drop them off at the charity shop or wherever you are going to take them. I would find a temporary home for the iron .

The whole process takes time but it is important to get the stuff out of the house as soon as you can after it has been sorted as otherwise the temptation is to go through it again.

Marie says start with clothes but you can start with a small category such as the tea towel drawer if that it is not sentimental to you . Sub categories work well . Just don't start the sentimental stuff first . If the bathroom is getting you down then maybe do the toiletries category and then it should be easier to clean and you will feel happier.

I helped my mum do her laundry room and never has the mantra " put like with like " been so abused.

Anyway, feel free to ignore any of or all of this. :)

I would echo what has been said about getting things out of the house ASAP as soon as you have decided they do not pass the JOY test. I realise this is difficult for some people without cars etc but the principle is key.
I have been feeling such relief as things leave the house. Who knew that the tip could be a place of joy!

And PS: I have even.... (lowers voice) been throwing the odd thing into the bin or general skip at the tip rather than painstakingly recycling or ensuring it is gifted/repurposed. I know it is not as good, but certain things are just not good enough for the charity shop. Sometimes, it has just been a matter of speed. I am usually VERY careful about recycling etc but this process is a one-off and when I did bin those things, I made the executive decision that I was prioritising my sanity over my contribution to saving the environment. Equally, re selling: I am selling a few things which are big and/or easy to sell, but have purposely taken most to charity or the furniture recycling place, again because getting this process completed speedily is more important to me than the money I could make. At this point in time I am fortunate enough to be able to make that choice.

Gibble... would it make you feel any better if the bathroom had a quick going over? Sometimes I find just taking that small step can help. If not then please ignore. Don't mean to patronise or anything, just trying to help...

JKS, I'm guessing the proportions are different for different people. I'm probably not the most disciplined about getting stuff out of the house before moving on, so more of stage 2 for me, and a bit less of stage 1. Anyway, give yourself a chance... You've had A LOT going on at the same time as this!

Eek! I just ordered the Dyson! In my defence, it was on special offer, and I have been thinking about it for months

XOJane has an article on this - nothing we don't already know though! www.xojane.com/fun/the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up-review

Yes, I'm definitely at the 'I've sorted so much crap out but can't put much away yet' phase. I envision it being like the very last bit of labour - very intense and you don't think it will ever happen, and then it's done and you're just amazed with yourself!

I love my hand-held - it's an Electrolux. Really well balanced in the hand.

I think it's time for me to shove bags in the boot of the car.

Hanks ladies for the support!
I got home from the gym yesterday morning and took the wooden coat hangers upstairs with me so before I got into bed, I hung up the 4 coats which are staying. I know she says to keep like with like but it is not feasible to have all of the families coats hanging on display in our hallway, it makes it impossible to get through.
I do still have boxes everywhere but they don't fit my drawers. I will see if they fit DD's drawers tomorrow afternoon. If they don't, they may work in her wardrobe for books.
I will feel much happier when I have got all of our camping gear up into the loft but I need to figure out who needs what and when because both kids have the need for their rucksack and sleeping bag soon so it may be a case of just re packing the bag and stowing in a wardrobe.

Sadly, I can't tidy my tea towel drawer. I have 1 drawer in my kitchen. 1 drawer. I need to sort it as it's almost empty and just has the cutlery divider in there at present.

The bathroom is kondoed, and was actually done prior to learning about kondoing. It is not requiring any further sorting but I need to remove all the shite that people have scattered around it and put things away in the blasted cupboards! I removed the mountains of washing from in there after I did the coats yesterday morning. I notice that darling DS has removed his toiletry bag (made from a carrier bag- I'm sure he tries to make himself look unloved!) from his rucksack and dumped it and the contents on the floor at the top of the stairs outside his sisters bedroom. Why? She doesn't want or need it! I will put that away when I get home from the gym.

My footwear looks good though! I snaffled a box from work and it is the right depth for my wardrobe and just wide enough to stand shoes in. Most of my shoes fit in it apart from boots which I can tuck down the side. I do have some spare trainers but that's because I bought more than 1 pair as it is so hard to get comfy trainers when I want and my beloved bikes are about to be retired for when I want to have some quick drying trainers. I suppose then, they ought to get washed and put in the loft with the camping gear?

The stuff dumped in the hallway is sadly not stuff to go. It's things like the shite the kids leave everywhere and the mat which I need to change as the darn dogs ripped up what I had done. That's Thursdays job to fit and finish.

It just takes so long to achieve anything.

I don't like being a moaner.

Oh and DH said yesterday that Mil doesn't feel very welcome in our house ATM. I don't know why, I have hardly seen her as she visits on a Tuesday and has recently been brining the kids back barely in time to eat their tea before I have to go to work and they go to band. That leaves no time for chatting really.

Sorry for waffling

Hi all, mind if I join you? DH was watching a talk Konmari gave at Google (he's a total Google fan boy,bought a digital copy of the book, and now he's hooked and I'm obsessed! :D
I'm a bit stuck in currently at paperwork. Soo many papers! :( though there are some books and clothes in the loft that didn't get done and we didn't finish DD's books. .. son I'm tempted to start at the beginning with a "festival of tidying".

Thanks hermione
Arti - I'll find out on Friday what they think. The spare room where they sleep they should see a difference I hope. There's still random komono in there but a lot less.

Managed to go through how boxes of crayons and colouring pencils now have loads to give to school hopefully if they want them.
Also threw in the bin (me too!) a weather thingie that I did try to see if I could fix but previous batteries had leaked in it so ruthlessly binned it. Felt good actually

Decided I'm skipping the valuables and electricals categories for now as I was stuck on them. So it's stationery and sewing type stuff instead. Sewing will be easy but stationery not so much (secret addict!).

Only room for 2 more messages! Can someone please start Thread 8

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/good_housekeeping/2340157-Kondo-thread-8?

New thread link.

Thanks for the heads up, Isisizzie

By hook or by crook
I'll be the last in this book!