KONDO Thread 9

[Iqueen]

Kondo your Home and your Life. Live the JOY!

I've just done the playroom. Just an initial blitz, there's still too much stuff, I'm sure, but I figure I'll go back to it later as well. There is some stuff DS got for Christmas which I think is crap but I feel guilty getting rid of it so quickly!

Also cleared out 3 crap drawers which has felt pretty ace. I now have a lovely tidy DVD drawer and an empty ottoman which I might put in my room to put my hair stuff/makeup. There used to be a huge chest of drawers there but now that's in my dressing room! Loving it!

Snap with the lamp!!
I pulled out a beatiful lamp. I need a lightbulb but i can manage that i think

Hope you don't mind if I jump on. Supposed to be on bed rest (difficult pregnancy) so am going to be taking it very, very slowly but have already cleared the top of my dressing table and feel so much better for it.

Wish me luck. I am pulling out all my daughter's toys tomorrow and getting her to only put back what she loves. She has no room for upcoming birthday gifts.

My plan worked! DD1 (age 13) has not kondoed per se but she didn throw out a bit of everything and then hoovered.

My son's room, I want to do that myself..................... oh lemme at it. I'll have to think of a way of making him believe he wants a tidy room more than I want to tidy it.

Tomorrow I'm going to do sewing things, DIY equipment. That doesn't sound much but I have a drawer full of just that... I'm slowly down after my initial burst but I'm thinking if I get the house done by the end of January I will be very pleased with myself. Also rubbish collections are fortnightly, recycling the other week. I need to pace myself. My bins are full!

I may have accidentally kondo'd my mums kitchen cupboards today ;)

Does anyone have any tips on how to persuade husbands into getting involved? My husband's wardrobe is overflowing with clothes he hasn't touched for years and although he's impressed with how the rest of the house is looking and how much I've managed to get done in the space of a week, he seems strangely resistant to tackling his old clothes. He wouldn't read the book so I'm trying to figure out how best to persuade him...

I just re-Kondoed my sewing box, it was a gift from a friend but its huge (the size of 2 x 2 litre ice cream tubs) and when I properly kondoed it there's very little sewing stuff in it. I have a bag full of random ribbons for DS's nursery and the equivalent of a freezer bag of actual sewing stuff, so the huge box is in the boot for the chazzer with some bits from around the house (large but ignored teddy and a scarf that a horrid person bought for me).

I'm buying a small but beautiful replacement sewing box and it will live in the airing cupboard with the iron as dropped hems etc are usually only spotted when ironing (DH does the ironing)!

I am rudely crashing in to say that it's well over a year since I Kondo-ed, and today I thought I'd better have a post-Christmas-present-flood declutter...and the whole house took me an hour, including DCs stuff. So, without me really noticing anything apart from how nice my house has felt to live in, it appears Kondo really lasts! This is meant to be encouraging not boasty - I've really enjoyed reading these latest posts, almost envious of people living the joy of getting rid of things (but not so much that I want any of my old stuff back )

It is encouraging yes!

Do you empty your handbag when you get home from work though :-p

Nomore - a drawerfull? I have cupboards full of random diy and craft stuff. My priblembis that I do like diy and making things in general but I'm not into justvone sort of craft, tend to do random things as and when I get an inspiration, so I never know exactly what random item I will need in the future. This isn't just an excuse, I really do use random stuff and wouldn't be able to predict what!

NOMore314 damn it, I failed. But I do store my carrots standing up in the fridge, does that redeem me?!

Wow. Standing carrots. Havent got to that section yet. Impressive.

Joining this thread as inspiration! I followed earlier Kondo threads and managed to go through my clothes and fold tshirts. But I lost momentum and need to start again.

My weakness is not getting items out of the house fast enough eg to charity shops. Then the "charity" bags just become more clutter.

I have just had a hugely hectic week with 6 young kids here for 3 days, which included knocking over my charity shop bag and getting contents mixed with clean laundry of all of them...took an hour to sort all that out!

Think I mentioned upthread mildly regretting getting rid of a tray, then finding I had a better one. I actually just found the original, but if it hasn't been missed for so long, someone else will love it.

My challenge for the next 2 months is to use up all the food in the freezer and cupboards, buying only fruit and veg and milk and bread, maybe a bit more. For complicated reasons we are skint until the end of Feb, so covering bills and that's it, so MrNC is really up for me sorting budgets, handling all finances, and selling any junk that stays still. And his clothes as long as he's in the room, so will do that when he's working late from home.

I'm actually really looking forward to having time to do this after next week. Even ds who has the memory of an elephant and loves every tat item he's ever had and cries if one is lost, agrees he needs help to better store all his stuff. Will see how many bags of toys I can hide for some months, as well as trying to gather all the pieces of ones worth selling...

Just an update. My nearly 9 yo dd is doing brilliantly. We mostly emptied her cupboards and I said, 'Find the things you definitely love and put them back.' So after that there was a whole floor of maybes. She got a bit wobbly and we had a cuddle and a break, and some chocolate and loomed at cute pictures of kittens on the Internet.

Now, we are back at it. She is finding loads of broken stuff and stuff she is happy to pass on. If she gets stuck or stressed about something, I just say, 'Let's leave that til later. Do something easier.'

So we'll see. So far not going too badly.

Can I join in the Kondo joy? I got the book on kindle the other day, have almost finished clothes, just got shoes to do now. I feel so free! Even though I try to declutter I got stuck on all the things she says. This is so liberating. The kitchen cupboards are next, they drive me bananas and I'm sick of stuff falling on my head!

Don't know how to tackle the toy mountain though. If they're not mine how do I know if they bring me joy? Some really really don't but the kids (4 and 1) love them. What's the process there. Love this thread, just read the entire lot. Anyone got links to the earlier ones? Had a look but can't find them.

You're all making such great progress!

Aradias, with the 4YO, you could try getting them to pick some of their favourites, and work from there? (I imagine someone else will be along with better advice presently).

As for the 1YO, they are too young to do it themselves, so figure out a few things that they really love, give away as much of the stuff you really hate as possible, and maybe rotate a selection of the rest? That way the toys are still there, but you don't have to look at them all at the same time?

Good luck with the toy mountains, all.

N0More, it's the Kondo obsession with vertical storage. She sticks carrots upright in the bottle holders in her fridge door. Which, admittedly, probably stops them getting all gross and soggy.

Oh thank you I didn't know you could get it on Kindle that means I don't have an extra book in the house(was going to buy it) and I don't need any because I have loads which I love. I have just been through some children's ones and took some out to take to school as we are a bit short sometimes. Anyone that has good quality books they want to re home would find their local Primary school very grateful.

I can't believe how well my daughter has done today! This is such a big step for us.

She got rid of probably two biggish boxes of tat. Some of it is stuff that actually belongs to me or her brother but that is okay,I will go through it and find stuff that we need to keep.

She still has a few categories to go (hair, activity books, one shelf of books, bags). And her cupboards are bizarrely full still, but it is a big step forward.

Every time she asked me what she ought to do with something, I asked, 'Do you love it?' and then believed her.

Some bits she isn't sure about so we are hanging on to those for now to avoid traumatising her.

Also, I realised that we have been practicing this process with clothes for a year or so, and have done books, so we have in fact followed the Kondo method largely.

Aradias, when DS was younger, I used to put any toys that he had hardly played with anymore in the loft for a few weeks, then if he didn't notice and ask for them, I would take them to the charity shop. Not exactly Kondoing, but it worked for us. Now that DS is 5, he is happy to sort out toys that he no longer plays with to be given away. :)

I did towels today.

That's all. But aircupboard is very tidy.

My bins (rubbish and recycling) are both full to the brim.

I feel like I can do more for a while.

..... and i've not done that much!

Same problem with bins here, I really don't want to go to the council tip at all, especially in the driving rain!
My book still hasn't arrived, I checked the e-mail from Amazon and it does say it might be any time within the next 2 weeks, wish I'd just bought it in a shop now!