Kondo thread 8

[Isisizzie]

New thread for Kondo addicts.

Sorry I can't do all the links that were on the top of thread 7.

Shoot what about a ring binder with plastic sleeves to hold each card? Or can you buy a wedding album and stick them in there?

Although I think "unsorted" storage is less important than "sorted". It's sort of supposed to be a jumbled mess really.

oops, sorry Konverts in Germany, I read that wrong, Annahme just means they take receipt of your unwanted stuff and charge you a fiver. I so wanted it to be true, but no pick-up for me. cry

Off to take some before pics, and now that all 3 DC are peacefully sleeping, I think I'll try get at least one category complete.

Need to go to bank tomorrow, so will drop as much as I can carry at charity shops.
Also lamps to go on Freecycle, and bag of food. Homemade jam is great for the first 17 jars...
Realised I missed Shoes when I did Clothes, so that should be an easy category.

One week to empty the spare room! Aaaggh!! Guess where my filing cabinet is...

Try looking up the bulky waste collections, Sperrmüll is the term to input on your city's website. It depends on your area, round here you phone up and request it (it's free) but in my friend's district, there's a set date once every 6 months where everyone dumps their stuff in the street and the big vans come and take it away. It's perfectly normal to just wander down the street, nose through everyone's discarded stuff and take anything home that you want!

Tidied my saucepan cupboard yesterday. It is a thing of beauty

Tidied my saucepan cupboard yesterday. It is a thing of beauty

Thanks Bertie
I have the dates for our streets Spermüll pickup and its 30 April :-/
Would you believe hubby has managed to be down the pub every single Spermüll date in the last year.

BrandNew don't be save it for when you're with normal people, not us Konverts I'm itching to do my tupperware and the arts and crafts bits and bobs but have to finish the sodding papers, first. and I wasted last night on the computer instead of even trying to get any done

A ring binder or album would be nice but there's so many Id need a few and then not sure where to put them. Mind you it would be a big improvement on how they are currently.

Today I have kondo'd the cd collection and made a start on the garden. Thinking about getting rid of the spare bit of fencing - DH hasn't fixed it in 2 years. He's never going to is he? A pretty plant to cover up the hole instead perhaps

Hello fellow Kondo-ers! I am taking a quick break from sorting STUFF with my husband. He read the book and we both did our wardrobes, then lost momentum. He was adamant that we should keep going, and do things in the order that St. Marie specifies. So slightly against my better judgement we are broadly doing this, and now Kondo-ing our books, alongside trying to clear as much stuff out of the attic as we can.
I have to say that Kondoing the books has been wonderful. I am a total bibliophile, so am happy to keep loads of books, and not aiming for a micro-library of just a few volumes. But with the books as with so much else I found that loads of them were not just not sparking joy, they were actively making me feel guilty. So I put them in the charity shop box with pleasure, knowing that every single book we are keeping is one where just the sight of it makes me feel pleased to be alive and to have read it, or pleased that the pleasure of reading it is still to come.
And i think that doing the books is helping to reduce the volume of things generally.
It's just so slow! I am dis-spirited by how slowly we can go. And there's still so much stuff everywhere. And my daughters seem to have inherited my hoarding tendancies, so the chances of them doing any of their things are vanishingly small.

Right. I shall get back to it. I have two bin bags of dresses my Mum gave to me from when I was small. I think I need to ditch them, but they are pulling at my heart strings (and they are sentimental, so I can leave them until last without feeling I am breaking the rules...!)

Oh yes defo keep the dresses for last. Perhaps if you'll never use them but they have value you could make them into something? Can you sew? Children's clothes and old t-shirts and things make great quilts or blankets.

Lots of people make keepsake things from sentimental clothes great idea.

Pil have landed.
So far they've given dd a box of frozen tissues - disposable so that's ok.
And ds1 an empty box of almond (?) shaped like Australia that they thought he'd like. Hmm. That'll be leaving soon!! That's the typical kind of crap they bring here and expect me to add to our household. Just not needed.

But also brought lots of food so can't moan about that.

But I know there is a hidden stash of easter things....how much edible vs cuddly I hate to guess!

Oh god, my PIL are irritating bastards for doing that as well. Tat! Who wants it? WTF! Aaaaaaargh. I cannot express how much it annoys me. PIL go round CAR BOOTS picking up this stuff so mostly it's broken and grubby or half missing as well They gave DH an 80s briefcase once with a chess set inside, about 75% complete. Why???

Haha, JKS and Bertie! I have friends who do that. Usually older people, who I'm sure 'feel sorry for me' and think that I will hugely grateful for any old tat!

I have an online Wish List, but that isn't foolproof - one of my children just has to trump what I've listed. It SO disappoints me, but makes me feel guilty at the same time...

Cyclechic
Trying to get dh to do the housework tonight so I can kondo rather than clean! Also marking to do but might leave that till Sunday night as usual

I have taken an entire shopping trolley stuffed with books to the charity bookshop! They were very chuffed and made sure dd didn't escape while I browsed a bit (ended up with 4 kids books and 2 for me, and a couple will go back there once read). Looks like I'd actually done shoes already but one pair and a dress I got from a clothes swap have been added to the bags to go.

MrNC is flipping through some old mags that sell on EBay - 3 posted today. When asked bluntly 'do you want this mag more than you want 8 quid', he's quite receptive to the idea.

For those with problems of parents buying Stuff (especially bargains...), I find it helps to be able to channel them into looking for stuff that you would find useful ("Mum, if you see good quality trousers or coats for boys age 7 or 8, especially not boring blue or grey, or waterproofs, or dressing up stuff, or Duplo, that would be really helpful.") I feel quite happy to send 95% of the influx straight to charity when it also includes some expensive clothes I am actually grateful for.

Ds's school library has been telling me about how desperate they are for more stock as so many books fall apart so fast, so as MIL frequents car boots in an area where people actually give things away, and 20 books for a quid is typical, hopefully I can make this into a good match (MIL will give us carloads of potentially useful Stuff no matter what!).

Husband and I just ran down the battery on the new cordless vacuum cleaner, taking it in turns to try to find the grottiest bit of floor and watch the filth fill up the reservoir Horribly fascinating.

I plan to just tie up a few loose ends this week: a few bits to the tip, a couple of drawers to organise, maybe clean under the bed with its stash of lost socks and hair bobbles.

Newbie Kondo'er here! Was inspired to read the book after seeing the last thread- particularly as we are in the process of buying a brand new house and I want to to be minimalistkc and nice and shiney! (Damn those show homes!!). I have an almost one year old daughter and a husband who thinks there is a fairy who goes behind him and picks stuff up, and that dinner magically appears every night, as well as working (thankfully only part time). I know you're not meant to start until you've finished the book, but I couldn't help myself!so far I've done things a little out of order but it was kind of by accident as I was just get things from cupboards and realised how messy they are- so just dived in! So far I have done the cupboard under the kitchen sink (though it was the first thing I did and I think I could do it again), I've done the main bathroom (the ensuite is as bad), and I've done my hanging clothes from the wardrobe, and my tops and trousers from the drawers.- I got rid of two bin bags full of clothes :-)I've also started folding all of our clothes and found I can get to things so much better! Only the rest of the flat to go! I honk it's making hubby a bit anxious as he sees me getting rid of stuff and starts poking through bags of things- he's promptly told off!!

I'm trying to get better at actually getting stuff out of the house, so yday took 4 bags of outgrown clothes, books and assorted komono to the charity shop while ds did an after school club. It just meant being a bit more organised and having stuff in the boot before the school run... So not rocket science, just trying to be smarter with my time. :)

MummyK I think the trick IS to dive right in, and do by type, not location. That's great that you were inspired to sort your cupboards, though! I know I've been tidier since discovering Konodo just wish the others in this flat were

I went to bed at 8 last night so was up before my family, and got some of the papers done. Now to buy a shredder and get them gone!

Is anyone else caught between normal everyday household chores and Konodo-ing? SInce starting, there seems to be one less layer of crap, even though we've not officially started on komodo! But this makes me want to go the rest of the way and clean the stuff, even though I KNOW that "you can't organise clutter".

*clean the last of the stuff off the floor or table or where-ever, I meant!

Never thought I'd type this, but once kondoing is finished, I am going to buy a steam cleaner with extra features, kondo the steam mop I already own, and give the house a super clean. I have never done this before. I am stunned at these words: this will be my reward.

I refused to clean the "dressing table" (top of chest of drawers) when I started kondoing. It got very very thick before I got to that section 4 months later. But now it's clean! And remarkably empty. It was a gruesome but effective daily prompt to carry on kondoing.

Boot fairs yy. My in laws are like this. Along with gifts, I have far less guilt about either moving it out fast, or just saying no. once boot fair season starts I will be using them to get rid to welcoming homes, not buy more! I just hope DH and DD keep the faith too!

Congratulations on the 'dressing table', Starface. I bet it is a daily delight to you now.

I find it strange how some cluttered areas/surfaces become so intolerable that I just have to go off plan and do it NOW. Others, constantly annoy me, but seem to represent important milestones, and remain strategic markers for continuing success.

My ultimate milestone is 'the room of doom'. It is an Aladdin's cave. I'm really looking forward to it, when the kondo journey is complete. It will yield loads to discard, but also some joyful gems to keep. Can't wait!

Argh kondo'd my knitting box to find a nice heap of papers and docs shoved inside it. Typical of DH's tidying method - shove it out of sight and forget about it!!!

Thought I'd finished papers so now back to Kondo'ing yet more papers!

shootpeppapig that's annoying, but I think kondo-ing makes that kind of mess/clutter/hoarding/stuff in the wrong place more visible and easier to deal with quickly than otherwise... Although perhaps papers in with knitting wool would always be obvious!