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.

*shouty

Don't forget to say thank you to the curtains for their many years of service :) Sometimes that does help, weird as it sounds. It definitely helps me to get rid of things anyway.

I mean, are you going to go all Sound of Music and make them into dresses? No..? Then they have served their purpose.

Ha! DD is still young enough that I could bedeck her in curtain material and take pictures but no, I think not. You're right, a big thank you to the curtains is due, and a wave goodbye (so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu... )

I am making slow progress on papers. Managed to get the 'normal' filing done which had been piling up. Decided to use the existing system for that so as not to get confused. Will then take each folder in turn and review. Not quite sure criteria to apply though... Will see how I go. Will have to do in parallel with electronic docs i think as there is so much overlap.

I also hv lots of cuttings of images etc, just for 'fun'. I am gradually moving them over to Pinterest/saving in a folder on my computer. I love looking at them, it's relaxing and inspirational, a bit more creative than my usual activities and my work. Recipes I actually feel quite comfortale with - I have a mix of internet favourites and scanned stuff ... I had a big pile of paper recipes - either torn out of magazines or given to me by family. I went throough them, decided which i had a realistic chance of making, discarded others (and that was a relief - I am not much of a cook and there was GUILT), made sure all remaining were scanned, then uploaded to cloud so that can access from ipad or phone or computer (and now, even my phone! Woohoo! Can see me standing in Tesco looking up ragout ingredients, yeah, rigt....) so that is all very good. Still hv a whole lever arch file of paper recipes tho! Will apply same system when i get to them. I did the loose ones at the start along with kitchen. But obviously - as i am now realising, i didn't actually finish them as a category! But it was still nice to get the 'system' clear in my head and the loose stuff processed into the system.

Sorry for typos. Not keen on this device. Can't be doing with touchscreens (luddite!)

defk0ndo Great work kondoing you email accounts!

I only have one but... it's chocker!

On the bright side, I have been discarding junk emails and kondoing the Spam and Trash boxes daily for the past couple of years. Every so often, when I am bored have a moment to spare, I weed my Inbox of some ancient junk, kept for 'when I get time to read it'.

Lucky, that I hoard emails - I'm going to need some of the oldest received and sent, to prove a point. I also need to access my old desktop to retrieve similar emails from further back. Meh!

a big thank you to the curtains is due, and a wave goodbye (so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu... grin )

This made me smile - I'd love to see your DD in a curtain material dress unidentified, but she probably wouldn't thank you when she got to be a teenager. On the other hand, threat of posting them on Facebook, could be a usefull way of blackmailing helping her do GCSE revision or whatever when she is older!!

Still not much progress here. I probably need to bite the bullet and tackle paperwork but the thought makes me feel sick!!

Hello! Kondoing had fallen by the wayside but we've sold our flat so now I can Kondo the rest before starting the packing process!

First task is to get DH to agree to ditch CD & DVD cases. That'd be several large things we wouldn't need to move.

DS has just gone out with his mates and I'm nearly finished the ironing. I can't decide whether to crack on with the ironing or to go and gather all the cleaning products together and sort them out. That's a scary prospect tbh.
I cut an empty large milk bottle a couple of weeks ago and ranger rolled all of my cleaning cloths into it. It is a thing of beauty now and makes me smile every time a open the cupboard. Especially as it is nestled amongst mountains of shoite.
We bought a new cast iron pan a couple of days ago so now I want to get rid of some others but I think DH may just have a breakdown if he comes home and I have moved on to the kitchen whilst there are still clothes ALL OVER the downstairs of the house!

Thanks, Gibble, for reminding me... I planned to do my cleaning stuff recently and was distracted by some good news. I shall get on to it now (well, in a moment!)

I think cleaning stuff is going to be like clothes - relatively easy. Once it is all out, before us, we will see, at a glance, the stuff we haven't used and probably won't! At least, that's my hope.

Thanks for the tip about the milk 'bottle' too.

After waiting weeks, my kondoed bedlinen has just 'left the building'!

I am realising that you have to do categories and get them finished properly before moving on (except in DIRE EMERGENCIES). Otherwise you don't get the proper sense of JOY at being finished....

Huh?? Gibble can you post a pic of the milk bottle? I'd like to see what you mean, I can't picture it.

YY defkondo, categories are key, because if you do by area you forget that things move between areas and it's harder to choose what you like when you might have three similar items across different parts of the house. So tidying by area is neverending whereas tidying by category, you ought to only need to do once.

I must do CD and DVDs next. I think this will be easy - bin them all! I never use either any more, and they just sit around and get scratched. Although in fact the DVDs are all in a big wallet, so I'll probably just leave them there considering most of them are DH's or DS's anyway.

The ironing has won (so far) but I'm pleased as it's getting it all out of the way. I have got DD to go upstairs and empty out her bureau and I have emptied her chest of drawers. She seems to be sorting as she empties so I a have left her to it and will just go upstairs when she needs a hand. Just having a sit down, a brew and girding my loins for the next load of ironing (DH's).
I think that DD's stuff is going to need another pass but think that this pass will do in order to get the majority gone and her room operable. We can sort items into categories as we go and then, when faced with the sheer volume of items she has in each category, she can focus on trimming them down and using what she DOES have rather than coveting more. The girl has 9 Babylips for heavens sake, then more lipsticks on top!

Does this work?

Disclaimer, I think I have more cleaning cloths than this but they are in the washing loop or in use.
I do ranger roll my tea towels too but am looking for a suitably sized receptacle for them; we don't seem to have had a large milk bottle for a while!

Pourquoi if you're getting rid of loads of clothes, then Clothes for Charity is a great company to use. They send you a ginormous bag, and when you've filled it with clothes they come & collect it. Proceeds then go to a charity of your choice. Saves trips to the charity shop!

@Gibble,

Would dd and ds be old enough to do her own laundry and ironing?

I found piles of unwashed laundry and trying to find a matching sock for DC before school quite motivating to change and get things in order.

It's not easy but I think it's difficult to Kondo for older DC's as they might not have the inventive to keep it up if they haven't put any effort in

Their own *

And incentive*. ( thanks autocorrect £

Just did the craft things. The cupboard they live in is so much more usable now.

The only thing that's getting me down a bit is a tapestry I got when I was 10 and still haven't finished. I want to do it and put it up in the nursery but will never have time to get it done and I've just got all the fiddly bits and backstitching to do (if I remember how). So if I can find the time and motivation then I'll finish it but likelihood is very slim. And I don't want to get rid of it because of the hours of work I've already put in. Not sure what to do about it!

Kiwi keep the tapestry I think you will probably find time to finish it at some point and if you don't then you can kondo it later.

Gibble try and finish clothes before you move onto another category as otherwise you will never have the sense of achievement that you get when you have finished a category.

Grouchy I'm pretty sure there are people on the Internet that finish other people's needlepoint for them.

Kiwi, I will be in a similar boat with loads of half finished projects if I ever finish dealing with the paper clutter.
Your tapestry: does it currently spark joy? Your words sound like it no longer does... perhaps the point of this tapestry I like the woo aspects of the Konami method was the hours of pleasure that you got from doing the bits that weren't fiddly? And now it's time to let someone who enjoys the fiddly bits finish it? I was thinking charity shop but, actually, if you have a local (ie not chain) fabric/craft store/habidashery (even a yarn shop) you might be able to pay someone to finish it for you.

Grouchy - yey for sale! Great reason to push on with kondoing.

I did a huge tapestry years ago. My gran bought it for me then died so it had great emotional significance. And took me years on and off to finish. I had it framed then in one move the frame got damaged and it never got hung up again.
I freecycled it a while back when I realised the joy had been in doing it. And completing it for me - not necessarily for you. Looking at it didn't give me joy as it wasn't a lovely picture and I was sick of looking at it after all those years of staring at it.

Another bag of crap gone through freecycle.
Nibbling away...