KONDO Thread 9

[Iqueen]

Kondo your Home and your Life. Live the JOY!

Hello all, can I join?

My New Years resolution this year was to declutter this house and I'm going with the Kondo method. My book only arrived a few days ago so I've done the categories in the wrong order.

So far I've done: toys (Christmas left us with so much tat and I was getting fed up of plastic mountain. Dc are 2 and 8 months so not old enough to either complain or tell me what sparks joy so I've gone with what sparks joy for me!

Books and DVDs were surprisingly easy, the front room looks so much clearer now (or will do once music magpie have collected)

And my clothes. My chest of drawers is bringing me much joy but I remain extremely sceptical as to whether it can remain that way. Also I think I need to Kondo more jumpers. I feel the cold so found it hard to let go of those...

The above were all easy but I'm dreading paperwork and komono which is where the real hard work lies. Also I'm scared of even looking in the shed because it's komono mountain. Shall need to hire a skip for that bit

I have a question. We were gifted a photo frame for Christmas which DH wants to fill with photos of the dcs and display somewhere. I hate it. It's not my taste at all and is at odds with the uniformity of all my other photo frames. Dh doesn't like it that much either as a photo frame but for some inexplicable reason wants to use it.

Now as a good wife I feel I ought to compromise and let him have some input in the home decorations.

However I think KonMari would say get shot because it doesn't spark joy for either of you (in my case far from it, it feels like it would fill the room with negative energy because I would think yuck each time I walked into it). Can't believe I just typed that sentence. Don't get me wrong, I love the pics of the dc he picked out, they're lovely. I just hate, hate, hate the frame. But I can't convince him to Kondo it...

Done clothes, bedding, towels, books, DVDs and toiletries now. Funnily enough toiletries have been most difficult for me as I travel a lot with work and found 57 (I kid you not) toiletry bags, many from various airlines and filled with miniature face cream, hand cream, toothpaste etc! Some are really nice makes like Clarins so I don't want to chuck them. Plus loads of small shampoos, shower gels from various hotels!
I really was surprised at the amount of stuff!! I haven't got rid of loads but do not need to buy any toiletries for a very long time, which is handy as am now on mat leave.
Paperwork is all stored together in the back room. I've made a pile of it as I've found it whilst sorting other categories.
I've also sorted the kitchen cupboards but that was quite easy as the kitchen is really small and was refitted a few years ago so we had a clear out then.
I'm starting to feel like the house is calmer and also bigger. I just want to feel like we aren't tripping over stuff when the new baby arrives, hopefully in the next week or so.
I've really noticed the benefit of it so far .
I will have to reassess clothes again in a few months as I will be able to get rid of a lot of maternity stuff but the now 14 bags I've got rid of so far has been very liberating.

New year, new name, still pregnant, and watching with interest. Everyone's making such good progress, it's inspiring!

Course, just found out a matter of days ago that we're being kicked out of our rented accommodation because it's been sold. So...eek. Not until spring, though, there are rules about that sort of thing round here.

Still, moving (AGAIN), this time with a very small baby in tow, seems like the anti-joy.

sounds of repressed screaming

But with all the kondoing I've done, we don't have a lot of stuff to move. Plus because we knew we would only be here temporarily, not much furniture to shift either and most of it cheap and flimsy IKEA stuff.

Still. Maybe the new place won't have radiators that make strange noises, a roof with a distressing tendency to leak, and a complete lack of sound insulation. That'd be a positive, right?

You must be stinksink? I name change too. Heavily pregnant with a toddler, and you have to move out of your rented house?! Still, once, that happened to me and I moved back in with my parents while I looked around for another place. I ended up staying there for a while and saved a bit and was able to buy. It wouldn't have worked out if I hadn't been kicked out of the rented house, so things that are really hard at the time can turn out to be completely for the best. Packing and unpacking should be easier this time.

I haven't done any kondo'ing for about a week now. SLight hiatus.

I was MsUrsa. I was going to say "the other pregnant lady on the thread" but that doesn't narrow it down.

We are legion. We are kondoing. We are...a bit tired and fed up, most likely. [waves to Bambino2016]

That said, not being stinksink I have no toddler to contend with. Just me and DH and cats and Imminent Baby.

I hear they're reasonably portable. Babies, not cats.

And while we definitely more stuff this time around, because we didn't bring any furniture with the last move, that means no buying new furniture so that's a plus.

Also, it is an excellent excuse to keep baby tat levels to a minimum.
Apparently, "Because it's totally useless" is not an acceptable response to "Why don't you have a [thing]?", but "we're moving soon, so we're trying to keep the number of large items we have to a minimum until we're settled in the new house" is much more socially acceptable.

There is the possibility of us moving into another property managed by our soon to be former landlord, which is cheaper than the current place, so...maybe it'll all work out? (fingers crossed)

Honestly, I just want to be back in England, but although that will definitely happen in the next 18 months, I don't know when. So it's all a bit up in the air. In the mean time, I have actually packed my hospital bag, and am hoping to Kondo my tax return before the baby gets here. (crosses more fingers)

Ah yes, I remember now. You said something that struck a chord with me, about how if you throw out something you really have to trust that you're going to be financially secure enough in the future to know that you can replace it.

Yes, when people try and give you their second hand shit you have the perfect excuse not to take it. It's a weird one isn't it!? when I moved in to my tiny house a few people tried to offload bits of crap on to me! Even when I'd said no, thank you, I have a coffee table.

My ''baby'' is nearly 10. I'm kondoing without the hormonal urge, hence my more relaxed pace I think!

I am pleased to say I am back, and with something to report, not just to lurk and read!

We got a good few games for Christmas and I think we will be getting some more fairly soon - I'm on the what board games are you playing? thread and it's proving very tempting. They all bring joy though, the ones we have are a mile away from the old punishing games of monopoly I remember and I love playing them with ds1, much more sociable than his electronic games.

And in order to make room for the new ones, I've had a good sort through our sideboard and taken out all the ones that ds1 is now too old for, or that we didn't enjoy that much after all. They will go to ds1's old primary school, for that wet playtimes, so they will get well used there with this weather I imagine and I can feel doubly virtuous as a result. Yay!

Oh - I almost feel guilty for going out of KonMarie's order, but then I thought no, I should do the sorting I'm in the mood for and I was, as she recommends, tackling all of one category at once which I'm convinced is the main reason her method is working for me in a way other suggested approaches just haven't.

And the feeling of satisfaction - it's such a lovely feeling that all those games are stored all together, where we can find them and there are only ones that we enjoy playing. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

cranky well done! I am not doing it in order either (bit of extremely safe rebellion) as some days I have time for one small category but not a big one so rather than wait I get on with the small one and tbh kimono sorting is being done as I go about the house as it will never be in one place at any one time for very long, I still think it is working though and am looking forward to taking the bags to the charidee shop and clothes bank later, they feel like a weight I need to get rid of now I have detached myself from the contents

I've had a revelation. Since Kondoing my clothes drawers I have a spare one. I use this now to put my nightclothes in during the day and my daytime clothes in at night rather than drop them on the floordrobe with all my others So far my side of the room is totally clear after 3 days (unheard of!) while DP's stuff is all over the floor and chair.

Am I supposed to also keep on top of his stuff or just wait until hell freezes over he decides to put it away himself?!

What a great idea Mark!

That is a good idea mark! I have used my spare drawer for something else, though; my top drawer now contains all my makeup and various lotions and potions, in little white baskets, leaving the surface free apart from the little tv and my beautiful mirror!! Winning

Hello, I'm still here and flattered that people remember me!

So many people are trying to pass things on to me for this baby, I keep having to decline as there are 12 bin bags in the nursery to be sorted! Most of it is DS's anyway but there are some pink bits mg niece has outgrown.

I am only washing the neutral stuff from newborn-3 months, there's no point bothering with the rest just yet and the bin bags can just go on DS's toddler bed for now as baby will be in a Moses basket in our room at first. I'll admit I'm rather excited to kondo the baby stuff once I know if its a boy/girl but I know there's tons of bright stuff that will do for either & I'll possibly struggle with discarding those!

Good idea about the drawers. I shove my nightwear in my bedside drawers in the day. Any daytime clothes that are clean enough for another wear go back in the wardrobe (I have very few clothes and would struggle to fill a drawer). I make the pre-worn clothes obvious by putting them on the hanger inside-out and then I know it's not "brand new clean" clothing but ok for just one more wear.

Anything dirty (usually weetabixy!) goes straight in the wash, I'm not a minger!

Also, I only do laundry on days with the letter T in them (saddo) so its not a constant chore and there are some days when there are no airers cluttering the place up!

stiff, pregnant lady here too and finding it difficult to Kondo when people keep giving me their baby clothes (at the risk of sounding ungrateful)! Some beautiful clothes though and have managed to completely clear the bottom of dd's wardrobe so I now have places to store the new baby things.

Has anyone got a really messy room whilst you sort out? Our sun room is horrific right now and I know the neighbours can see in. So embarrassing. I know we are supposed to dispose of immediately but I'm not well so having to take it slowly. Trying to sell some things too but they are taking their time to go too.

Thanks for the ziffit recommendation - can I also suggest scanning into zappit at the same time? By choosing the better offer on each app we managed to get total offers of over £150! We won't get that much, but even half of that will go a huge way to buying the car seat.

Does anyone know about sending by courier to ziffit though? We were offered courier pick up but when I was completing the trade the system crashed. The trade went through but I don't have any information on the courier method. Do I need to print off labels? I haven't had any barcodes or such?

Argh... lodger has left but we have lots of boxes and a mattress cluttering up the place for at least a few weeks. Have to completely empty the spare room now - so I now have 3 king-size mattresses on my bed! EBay has come to my rescue and enormous set of furniture has sold, so hopefully the buyer will collect in the next couple days.

Spare bed is dismantled and in the loft room, and all the dusty items that were in spare room behind lodger's stuff and all the linen etc from the sold wardrobes are piled everywhere. And we're in the middle of building kitchen cupboards, and I have all the stuff I used to have at work, all to go through.

At least MrNC is on board with chucking half the stuff we own, purely because there is so much stuff we really can't move! Finding anywhere to assemble any category is going to be hard - though the kids are beginning to agree maybe they could give away a few items...

Getting rid of stuff is my day job for the next fortnight, so will see how it goes. Need to do a bit more just so I can reach the computer and my bed!

Have also lectured MrNC on his huge stashes of toiletries and meds and he's agreed not to buy any more until he's sure we really don't have any of that item in the house...

Yes we have a very messy room where I've gathered paper, photos and other momentos until I can sort through everything. I was gathering everything in one place whilst I worked through all the other categories so I didn't get distracted.
I just need to pluck up the courage to face it now!!!

Thanks Lexloofah, I totally agree about the weight of things that you've decided are going but have yet to get physically gone. So I shall make sure I get those games dropped off tomorrow, when I have to drive past school.

Hello there!

If I may bob on briefly please?!

I've decided to stop procrastinating and get kondoing.

My first decision is to buy on kindle. Too many ref books being acquired - this will be best online!

But - which one to get please?

I'm best with pics and diagrams if that helps!

Thank you muchly!

Is it 'the life changing magic' 2014?

Or spark joy?

I think spark joy is the second book, clarella. The life changing magic of tidying is the first (off the top of my head!)

Yes, that's right! Just double checked. Happy reading!

Reviews aren't too great for spark joy as seems to be first one rehashed and extra madness? With pics?

Procrastinating ....!

cranky glad that made sense to someone. Our local clothes bin was full when I went yesterday (time of year and Kondo mania I suppose) and I did not want to take them home again or leave them in car so drove to the next village - weight gone but was nearly late for pick up!

Carella, having read both, I'd say the first book is better for getting in the kondo mindset, there's lots of narrative about how she wasted time trying different methods of tidying and how /why these failed, which is why she now recommends her method. If you read the first kondo threads you'd probably get the same info. I wish I'd bought a paper copy of it though as there are important pages (like the order to work in) which I couldn't find again in the kindle version.

The first half of the second book assumes you've read the first, but covers the main principles in less detail and has anecdotes about how her clients put her ideas into practice. I found that half inspiring. The second half is going through the areas you have to decluttered and giving advice on those and then how best to arrange the things. This section isn't a 'good read' but is helpful as you do each area. I felt like she'd lost enthusiasm in some of these areas though as some were v brief and not so helpful or inspirational. The pictures were cute, but not that useful - certainly better ones online.