Kondo thread 10

[SnozzberryMincePie]

Just noticed the old thread was full, so hope no one minds me starting the new one

Have finally done my clothes properly - and have finally got rid of anything I consciously avoid wearing and things that fit "ok" but I don't like the shape/ style of. Everything except ski wear is in one wardrobe and one (admittedly large) chest of drawers. Have just started running so size is a work in progress. Can see me getting massively bogged down in papers so alternating with komono as they're horribly intermingled. Have already recycled and shredded about 6 boxes of papers - next time we move we will not pay to move stuff we don't need - move to digital media means about 20 boxes of magazines also gone since we moved a year ago!

Books, camping gear, beach stuff, play room, shed, outdoor toys, garage, workshop, sports equipment, horsey stuff, sailing kit and loft done. Kids rooms almost finished.
We got a skip and have filled it twice and made quite a lot of money selling stuff.
It has taken up most of July but we can relax and enjoy the summer without stressing over keeping the house tidy.

Oliver two skips! Wow! Well done!! We are just back come holiday and DH said to me last night that he wants to carry on sorting stuff out. We dropped off two bags of clothes today at a charity type shop.

My DH needs all the gear for his hobbies, so we had stuff like ancient perished bike tyres, knacked wetsuits, spare and broken tent poles he's never got round to fixing and a set of sails that the mice had been at etc.
plus both sets of our parents have downsized in the past couple of years so we had all our childhood tat stuffed into the loft.
The DC decided that they didn't want us to keep all their school stuff incase we did the same to them some day.

We've done tools and nails/screws this week. My goodness. Absolutely crazy to have, like, twenty screwdrivers.

Oliver that is seriously impressive. Amazing.

Tools is something I've been trying to get DH to sort for ages! I've found a big box for most of the bits and stuck everything I find in there. The only things not in the big box are the bits I use for general house maintenance- because DH hates DIY!

Signing in! Read Kondo at the weekend and have already finished clothes and paperwork. I refuse to relinquish my books but then they're my job so I am cutting myself some slack. My issue is DP - I'm not doing his stuff, even though he's the messiest person alive, but he's being ridiculous about shared assets like towels. I dug out two ancient hand towels and he's insisting on keeping them. We have the right number of towels and these are particularly horrible..how did everyone else deal with partners not being on board? He's a total hoarder.

I have no idea where the stuff keeps coming from. Yesterday my son took another car load to the dump from our garage. I don't know if we are becoming more ruthless or if someone is sneaking into our garage with their stuff.

However, amazing progress on the OH front. A few month ago I reported that he cleared out 40 years worth of paper work. In the garage he has 4 tool boxes. He never does DiY. After yesterday, we are now down to one. In addition, although we have not had a car for 3 years, he finally agreed to dump all,the car accessories and cleaning products.

I know what you mean about irrational keeping of stuff. He could not understand why I was keeping the clothes airer. Small cylinder thing that I use for jumpers. However, for years, on every garage cull, he has kept, the bread maker, steamer saucepans, 3 woks and a barbecue, none of which had been used for about 5 years. For some reason he has now let go of everything except the vegetable steamer.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for such a transformation! I think the problem is that he doesn't get the idea that there's no point keeping something for 'what if...' reasons, or that if he hasn't seen it or used it in years then we just don't need it. He just finds something and goes 'ooo, great!' and then it goes back to its ignored, unused life

I'm struggling so much with kitchen clutter. I really need a new kitchen with more storage but it'll be 1-2 years before that's possible so I'm trying to make do with what I have.

I really enjoy cooking and bake novelty cakes often so I'm really struggling with discarding things as everything I have in my kitchen I use.
I just don't have enough space for it.

I've bought an extra stand alone larder thing and those extra shelves for cupboards but I'm still completely over run and can never find anything and it never looks or feels calm or decluttered. It's really getting me down.

LittleBee, maybe you are tackling this from the wrong end. Maybe clear out somethings else that is not so much use to you and use the free space to store your kitchen stuff.

I think we get a bit hung up on 'where things should go'. There is nothing wrong in putting a box of kitchen stuff in the bedroom or anywhere else you can create space.

In a few years when the kids are older I'll turn the playroom into a dining room and hopefully have a unit for glasses and my nice dish set but again that's a long way off. Can't think of any other space anywhere to store things. I have a few non- essentials in the loft that I know I'll use when I have them more accessible but make do without now and my more specialised stuff for baking is in the under stair cupboard but everything else is really daily use 😩 I think I need to look at clever storage more. I know she says you shouldn't go for fancy storage systems but I guess it's alright when you've whittled down the stuff as much as possible?

keep I found it easier once I found a t-shirt that really sparks joy. Find something that you know you love, or maybe you will find it when you go through the drawer. Put it to one side and come back to it if you need to while you're sorting other things and it will remind you of what that feeling is.
I found a t-shirt when going through my drawer that I really love, it is a grey ted baker t-shirt with a sort of ruffle on the front. I love this t-shirt although I need to be slimmer to wear it, when I think about that t-shirt I know which clothes to keep and which ones can go.

I was a little worried that I was going to end up with only about four t-shirts, but then realised that most of what was in the drawer wasn't being worn anyway, so I don't miss anything that I have got rid of.

I'm still donating at least a bag a week to charity in readiness for round 2 of kondoing.

I have a gorgeous chair that I love but it doesn't match our tired old sofa. We've been meaning to replace the sofa for a couple of years but I've been holding out for one with dimensions similar to the joyful chair. Managed to finally find one and the name of the joyful sofa is Condo! Couldn't make it up!

aaaah. Was making progress and seem to have gone backwards over the summer holidays. Could even tell that there was potential to even reach a "sweet spot". Now it looks like a hoarder has broken in.

On the pus side my MIL goes home tomorrow so we con revert back to the usual system. (she is from New Zealand and stays for weeks on end whping wth childcare and we end up wih 2 systems running in the hous coz she does everything her way - I appreciate ths sounds ungreatful but it is also very frustrating).

Hi everyone, just brought the book and am starting on tops today!

The summer holidays have been tough, toys everywhere, clothes everywhere, suitcases everywhere!

DS starts school on Monday (sob!) but I can Kondo like crazy with just baby DD! I love it when a plan comes together 😃

Hello everyone, thinking about giving this a go...but my DH is really untidy and has a lot of old clothes "for DIY, gardening" etc. Would it be ever possible for me to attain a tidy house ? I can't see him changing his ways ! He has the small spare room rammed with stuff he needs to throw put away or which may not ever be useful one day. I refuse to tidy up after him like his mother does. Has anyone successfully tried kondo-ing in similar circumstances ? I have got rid of quite a lot of stuff already but the continual build up of stuff really gets on my nerves. I always have to tidy up before cleaning etc. Is there any hope ?

Eliza have you read the book? In there Marie says that if you tidy up your stuff people around you will follow your example. They do!
DH's office is our dumping ground basically it is still a mess because we sort through stuff downstairs and then it moves up to the office for a final sort and gets binned from there. DH's work desk always used to look a state. He has started to change and tidied his desk all by himself by that I mean without me nagging him and he has kept it tidy.
He has also kept his drawers near. I showed him mine and he was really impressed and liked the layout and being able to see all his t-shirts. I helped him by folding some so he could see if it would work for him and he has kept it up himself.

Hi Kondoers!
It's six months since I started Kondo so I'm having an honest review of progress / maintenance.

To my surprise, clothes storage still working OK. I find the time spent folding stuff is repaid in time saved being able to find stuff easily.
Yep! Still folding knickers and socks!
I got rid of a lot of stuff during clothes cull, especially things that were a pain to iron. The pile of unfinished laundry in utility room has not reappeared.

Only disappointment is that favourite holiday hat didn't turn up.

Alison I understand your pain about missing a certain item. I was thrilled when I found something in or clear out that I thought was lost.

One of my favourite summer tops is pretty much ready for the bin. Really disappointed in the quality and I will miss it next summer

DH has had most of this week off. We have done major work in the garage and started the office. We got rid of loads at the dump and in the office we have a big. It of stuff to try and sell and a big box of stuff to donate.

We have a couple more things to get rid of in the garage and then we might be able to get the car in there during the winter

Hello all, I'm a bit late to the party but am going to start again properly today. KM'd my wardrobe last year, think I need to do it again now no longer pregnant or breastfeeding. Wish me luck!