KONDO Thread 9

[Iqueen]

Kondo your Home and your Life. Live the JOY!

Sorry 'better pictures ' wasn't v clear. I mean there are more thorough diagrams/ better YouTube videos. They are better than nothing though.

I think at the start of the 2nd book she says if you're already committed to kondo-ing then to keep reading, but if you aren't or don't know why you need to kondo then to go and read the first book first. :-)

So really you need to buy both, and in hardback as they are so pretty. :-)

My copy of Spark Joy should be arriving today, looking forward to reading it even if I suspect I will read in preference to sorting. But every bit of inspiration counts, right?

Someone earlier on the thread asked about getting family on board - this isn't quite the same, but I lent the first book to my dm, who is already pretty organised, and she went through her loft like a ninja whirlwind Kondo-er. (I have to keep telling myself she can make quicker progress than me because her dc have already moved out ) BUT and this is the amazing bit, she chatted to a couple of her friends and her SIL about it, some of whom probably haven't been in their lofts for years except to put more stuff in there - and they have been clearing theirs out too So KonMarie is right, it IS contagious!

Well I've bought the first but yes finding the pages is already annoying!

However, I'm impressed by the philosophy. The little sister but was interesting. My mum also hands stuff down though I reckon she's the queen of tidying. But it does mean I have a lot of stuff I feel I can't hand on due to sentimentality.

The big issue in our family is we are all art/ antique lovers, though mum and dad have started getting rid of stuff. I'm talking big very very old stuff including small vintage stuff and everything in between.

Ok so - I have read it a yet obv. But many of my clothes have huge sentimentality! Eg vintage. Do I treat them as clothes or are they actually sentimental things?

Clarella I counted them as sentimental items and left them till last.

I kept one t-shirt from a brilliant gig I went to and pinned my entire kondoed badge collection onto it (90's indie girl here)

Ok - a lot of it's about categories isn't it?

Snozz- that's a good idea! I have tons of gig tops and badges that I'm saving til last... Also my little festival bag that has badges all over it...sob! Think that's staying!

I've been sorting my futility room today. Not in Marie kondo order, but it had to be done! We have a food cupboard in there, plus all of the kids' craft stuff. Under the sink is all the washing stuff and pegs, the iron, some diy stuff, and some random bird seed and stuff that needs to go!!

Oh god and also the medicines and plasters/ bandages etc.

Sooooooo. Much. STUFF.

I was on the first Kondo thread last year and made great progress in some areas. I did all my clothes and I sorted and filed a mountain of paper.

DS who is 12 got the whole KonMari thing straight away and alarmingly kondoed his whole bedroom in about 40 minutes. DD is 7 and kind of gets it but her trouble is that everything seems to bring her joy.

But I've stagnated and am feeling out of control with stuff. Our house is tidy and there isn't much lying around but the cupboards of doom and loft are heaving.

I thought it would be good for me to put my priorities in writing so here goes.

1. Hall cupboard. This is a deep cupboard. There's a ton of stuff in there and the only things I use regularly are the bucket and shoe polish. I'm lacking courage. I hate having to deal with all the stuff.

1. My sewing stuff. It's spread throughout the house and I need to gather it all together in one place.

1. The loft. Ugh, don't know where to start. What do others do? I'm tempted to take it all out and only put back what's worth keeping.

These are areas so I can't truly Kondo. But would love to hear how others have tackled areas like this. So do I do a shelf at a time in the cupboard? Or do I come back from school run tomorrow and take everything out and do it that way?

I get myself tied in knots trying not to put stuff in the rubbish/tip. I can't quite bring myself to say that that's OK. Then I procrastinate and think oh I could get a few quid on FB or whatever. Occasionally I throw caution to the wind and take a pile of stuff to the tip and I always feel good after and never give it a second thought.

Anyone just done a wholesale chucking out? It was easy with clothes as they either went to charity or clothes recycling bin.

Help!

No advice Deux but I also need to clear our loft this time. I can't get up there so dp has to get boxes of stuff down for me to sort. There's no way I can do it in categories. There is some useful stuff up there eg camping stuff but the majority can probably go.

In time, I'm hoping that our loft will contain only our Christmas stuff, the fancy dress box, empty suitcases, the camping stuff and items related to our rental property (spare curtains, warranty docs etc).

That would be so perfect!

I think the idea of getting everything out and only returning what you want to keep is a great idea, but our landing is tiny compared to what we know is up there!

In time, I'm hoping that our loft will contain only our Christmas stuff, the fancy dress box, empty suitcases, the camping stuff and items related to our rental property (spare curtains, warranty docs etc).

That would be so perfect!

I think the idea of getting everything out and only returning what you want to keep is a great idea, but our landing is tiny compared to what we know is up there!

Deux what is in the hall cupboard - I mean what sorts of things, can you get it into categories?

For example, if it's mainly coats/jackets, shoes, cleaning stuff, bedding, craft stuff, games or whatever, you could pick the biggest of the categories that are all in there and start with that category, and have some big boxes handy for the other categories so that anything that wasn't in your first category, gets put in its own categories box as you go. That way you can still do the discarding in categories and keep it Kondo.

Hi everyone

Can I join please? Downloaded the e-book as it seemed cointerintuitive go buy the actual book but already struggling a bit - I think the Kindle is maybe better for fiction books.

We live fairly minimally (I think) but inevitably we acquire a lot as a family. I am heavily pregnant so now seems a good tjme to try and get on top of it.

I am sure the way to get my kids (4 and almost 2) to play with their toys ks to put them in a box labelled "charity shop" though...grrr

MrNC is clearly following my dad's advice on decluttering: "save everything for 15 years, then it's so much more obvious what can be chucked out"! Sadly we don't have the luxury of spare houses (my dad kept being posted abroad and 'meant' to deal with what was shipped home after, but would be somewhere else by the time it arrived... my mum used the boxes as extra insulation!)

On the plus side, when I found some boxes of cables yesterday, after about 5 min of explaining what they were and could be used for, MrNC finished with "and it should go in the WEEE recycling" for all but one.

Stiffsink I might nick your idea of positively identifying what should be in our loft. Hard.

Feeling overwhelmed by my house I downloaded the book. It's left me feeling utterly depressed. I have basically been doing what she says, without knowing it was her method. But no-one else in my house will get on board and it is their stuff which is overflowing and oppressive.
What do you do when you partner/kids just refuse to engage with it? My husband is quite adamant that he has cleared as many books as he is willing to, but we still have more than we have storage for and no more space to put more shelves.

stiffsink I too love your idea of identifying what should be in the loft, SO much better than storing everything you didn't know where else to put. I am definitely going to use that, thank you

Well sadly and not unsurprisingly I haven't started The Cupboard. I've managed to avoid it by food shopping, feeding the birds and pottering around.

But I'm going in. The difficulty with this cupboard is that it is much deeper than it is wide and the coats get in the way. I'm going to try to keep the floor clear so that I can get into it. Photo attached. As to what's in there. Coats, shoe polish, buckets, 2 x sewing machines, box of appliance manuals, seasonal stuff ....... < sigh>

I've set some goals - clear floor and one empty shelf to put my ironing basket on.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I'm going to do it shelf at a time. Into 2 folding crates I'm going to put things to 1) sell/charity 2) be stored with similar items elsewhere. I'll have a bin bag for things that can go into the domestic bin.

In the second book she is talking about envisioning the "perfect lifestyle" ie what the end goal is, which is what you're doing with the loft stiffsink so its very Kondo :)

Deux, can you sort some categories from the cupboard? What have you got in there- coats would have been done with clothing? Appliance manuals with paperwork, did you do paperwork yet? The craft/seeing stuff, gift wrapping stuff, several cleaning product categories? It just seems that by trying to tackle "the cupboard" in one go you'll be in danger of just moving things around rather than really tidying as in the Kondo method.

And as an aside, to an outside observer that cupboard really doesn't look that bad! It could be worse!

Just a quick update as I'm feeling the joy.

I've only done the top shelf but have created 2 new categories - manuals/instructions and seasonal/birthday decorations.

We had a new kitchen put in 2 years ago and the appliance manuals/spare bits for dishwasher etc were all stuffed into a shelf in the kitchen. I went through them all and ditched what I didn't need and put them with the other manuals in the red manual tub. I kondoed the rest of the shelf.

That meant I had an empty shelf in a kitchen cupboard and that's really brought me joy. Just doing those 2 small areas resulted in half a black bag of rubbish and oh, and I found the Wii which is in the sell/take to Game box.

I'm feeling inspired.

Bubs, I agree I didn't want to just move stuff around. The coats have been kondoed. It's categories of things that are strewn around the house I'm struggling with; just gathering them all in one place.

good luck deux check in later then we know you haven't become trapped in there

We used to have a cupboard like that (shelves far too deep) so had it converted into a pull out pantry, the only thing I miss about our old house. An alternative is to change the shelves if you can to horseshoe shaped ones so you don't have to reach to the back for things you can make it step-in so to speak,

I did away with an ironing/laundry basket years ago as takes up too much space, I use 2 great big bags like you can get for taking to the launderette as easier to carry up and down the stairs than a basket plus can fold (get me MK!) when not in use

Yep, I'm with you on the challenge of the strewn around stuff. It's making me see how much sense there is in what she says about keeping things in one place. For me they way to tackle this has been planning, writing and rewriting a 'master list' of categories and subcategories, quite specific ones, and where those things currently are so when I have 20mins, I can pick a small category, gather it to the front room and kondo.

I have ideas about eventual storage, but not finalising anything until all categories have been completed. At half way point now (big categories all done, working through all the komono) I have treated myself to a few small storage solutions, because I know the presence of them waiting to be used will act as a kick up the butt to me. But it's a bit naughty and not very Kondo of me!

I've been watching YouTube videos today by an American organiser called Alejandra, it's all a bit twee but has been inspiring my vision of "perfect lifestyle" organised home.

Hello all! De-lurking to ask a question! I have read the book and have done my clothes. I'm on board with it all (despite the madness of some of it) and can't wait to get stated on books and CDs when I have a day off next week.

I really like the idea of everything having a home and can see that working well. I want to know how realistic that is. For example stationary: ds 7 wants to do his homework in the playroom while dd 4 draws in her bedroom while I do thank you cards in the study and write shopping lists in the kitchen. So many times we need pens and pencils. My head is exploding at the thought of only having one place. Is it feasible?

Ps I've really enjoyed lurking for inspiration! Thank you!