Konmari converts 2019 assemble!

[BasinHaircut]

I’m almost done with Marie Kondo’s book and I am buzzing with excitement about transforming my home by letting go of old belongings.

This morning I went through my clothes (not shoes, bags coats or scarves yet) and got rid of 2.5 100L bin liner’s worth! I already can’t believe how much space I’ve created.

Planning to do the second half of clothes tomorrow and then convince DH to do his. I’ll do DS’s one day next week when he is back at school (will be impossible with him in the house).

Going to try and go through the categories in strict order and devote at least one of my 2 free afternoons a week to it until I’ve been through everything in the house.

DH has agreed to watch the Marie Kondo series on Netflix with me and I’m hoping he will get involved.

I really think this will improve my mental health and make me calmer and happier.

The Netflix show is lovely, relaxing viewing but I don't see the point of it really. She turns up, gushes adorably, then vanishes, leaving them to bash on with sorting out their crap and getting rid of it.

There's no real practical advice given. It's just people chucking stuff out because their cupboards are going to be on the telly.

stinky I haven’t given myself a deadline yet, because I know and accept that to do this properly and thoroughly is going to take time.

I only really have 4-5 hours a week ‘spare’ over 2 seperate days and I’m not always going to be able to devote that time to Kondo-ing so I’ll do what I can when I can.

Would be good to be done by the summer though.

user maybe get all of your slim clothes together and treat them as a category on their own and only keep what sparks joy?Then store away neatly in the loft and give yourself a timeframe in which they fit or have to go?

Or if finances allow just get rid and promise yourself you will buy new stuff when you get there.

DH was hoarding a load of stuff that will fit him ‘when he loses his weight’. He has been saying that for 5 years. It was all hanging in the wardrobe making him feel shit and certainly not sparking joy. He has finally got rid of it all and feels better for it.

Read the book over Christmas and found it surprisingly inspiring. I’m not really the hoarding type and pretty good at chucking stuff out but found the “Does it spark joy?” thing really helpful. It sounds a bit nebulous and I’m finding it hard to convince DH, but it has really helped me clear out the bits and pieces I’m holding onto ‘just in case’. More crucially it’s helping me stave off the accumulation of more stuff because I’m posing the same question before making a purchase - instead of being swayed by sales “bargains” I ask myself whether it really does “spark joy” or whether it is just going to sit around until the next clear out. This is an important factor for me because there is no point clearing out and tidying up if you immediately introduce more stuff to take its place.

I have lots of stuff that I have kept just in case, need to get rid of that as the clutter does affect my mh.

Good idea about the slim clothes except mine have been there about 8 yrs bloody kids

Are all of your partners on board? I’m struggling with my DH saying ‘ we’ve got space to keep X so let’s keep it, it’ll save us having to buy it again if we need it’, but we haven’t needed it for 5 years plus or you haven’t worn it for years!!!!! Arghhhhhhhhhh!

I'm afraid my partner no longer sparked joy so I chucked him out.

Seriously though I can't imagine how much harder the whole thing would be with another grown ups belongings and opinions. I have been on a mission through the house, much harder to have to stop and discuss what to do with things.

Morris I do agree. I enjoyed the light feel of the programme and have definitely been using 'sparking joy' as my barometer as to whether something stays. But in general the programme is just her looking sweet and leaving them to chuck stuff out. I actually laughed at the lack of substance, but I woke the next day and went on a mamouth clear out so I must have absorbed something.

I have given myself till the end of January. I have almost finished the house and then I have the garage. I took alot of bigger items like prams and bikes to the charity shop yesterday.

Agreed with PP I am now looking at new things and checking I actually want to own it (and deal with the packaging, for some reason the packaging and recycling is so annoying to me).

Watching the netflix series, but am peeved that she keeps doing step 1 clothes and step something miscellaneous.

I can do those Marie, but I need help with paperwork! you touched on it with the gay guys but I need more. Books, clothes, linen, kitchen stuff all under control and sparking joy like no tomorrow but I have a real block with paper work, though I am pleased to say that a couple of years ago I managed to shred all my bank statements dating from when I first opened a bank account . Actually in a way I wish I had kept them, interesting social documents of historic value IMO........see my problem?

Erm I have kept all my payslips......... All of them.call me sentimental

Did anyone else find the retired Japanese American chap a bit of a DILF?

The really quiet one? Wife with loads of clothes?

Um, nope

I've got a box of cards from our wedding and one from when the twins were born. They don't really "spark joy" but I don't feel I can throw them

I thought I'd find the sparking joy thing a bit woo. Something I'm definitely not. But in general the concept has really resonated with me.

The house is about 80% done. I've got the kids bedroom to do. But planning a trip to ikea for storage boxes first.

Then I have a box of sentimental stuff that I've gathered as I've gone round the rest of the house. Not too sure how to tackle that one. Think I'll have to go through them item by item. Kids school reports anyone? Scan and throw out maybe?

I've also got a lever arch file each of kids "art work". I wondered about photographing each item and then turning the photos into a printed photobook...

Mind you, I spent 10 mins cleaning the kids school uniforms they'd grown out of yesterday. Where did the clothes end up? In the spare room which took me 2 days to clear last week!

moris ha no but I do wish I was friends with the family in LA with all of the instruments and the adorable tween kids.

stinky DH is sort of on board. I imagine it’s as long as he doesn’t have to do much of the actual work though. He has binned a bag of clothes so far but I’m going to try and make him do it again ‘properly’.

In terms of household stuff I think he will just let me get on with it. He will not give a flying fuck whether I decide to keep the food processor or not, or how many towels I think we need to own.

Anything I come across that I think he needs to make a decision on I will consult with him, but I’m happy that I can just get on with it without having to bring him in too much.

I wouldn’t let him do much on his own anyway as I’m a control freak

I thought I'd find the sparking joy thing a bit woo Me too - until I started I wasn’t sure whether I’d really know, but I’ve found it a really useful concept especially with clothes. It’s not a question of does it fit or might I wear it again, but do I really love it enough to keep it and i’ve been surprised how often the answer is no! It’s helped me understand why I keep buying navy trousers/jeans for instance - in a constant quest for the perfect pair and yet always pick the same pair out of the wardrobe when looking for a a pair of navy trousers to wear. Clearing out all the ones that don’t quite hit the mark has helped me realise what actually constitutes the perfect pair - only having things I love in my wardrobe saves me loads of time. Whatever I put on I know I’ll love it and I know it will fit me. It has been a total revelation.

Paperwork

if you are self employed everything related to that for 7 years at least technically the Inland revenue can go back 12 years if they suspect fraud but only 7 years for random checks
if employed keep all payslips until you get that years P45 keep them for at least 3 years
utilities a copy online or paper 1 year's worth
receipts until guarantee runs out, photographs of receipts or valuations of big ticket items for house insurance preferably stored on the cloud or outwith the house or in fire proof safe
insurance documents until they run out,
house deeds, birth, marriage, divorce death certificates original qualifications, ie degree these should also be in a fire proof safe
bank statements at least a year
a record of all your bank accounts, shares, isa, stocks endowments life insurance, pension, PHI, will etc where they are etc so in the event of the worst happening it can all be traced easily
( bitter voice of experience it took me months to trace my late mother in laws finances as she had closed accounts shares etc scattered all over the place, there still might be stuff we are unaware of existing) if you have dealt with someones estate keep everything 3 years

@BrassicaBabe I feel the same about my cards. What did you end up doing with them?

@StinkySaurus I've still got them. For now! In my last tidy up I hole punched a hole in the corner of each card and held them all together on a ring thingy. So at least tidy. This time I'm inclined to throw them!

Did it about 2 years ago made 800 quid at car boot 🤸‍♀️

Although I enjoy watching the program (Marie is adorable), I don't think the TV show explains the concept very well at all.
I read the book a couple of years ago, and although I have not done the whole house yet, the bits I have done now work really well.

Its also changed my mindset completely when shopping. Previously I would go to the New Year sales to see if there were any bargains. Now if I need something, I will take my time and choose what I really want and quite happily pay full price for it, knowing that it is the perfect choice. I even walked out of Boots empty handed today after going round the 50% off sale, as there was nothing that I needed - that has never happened before.

I have all the cards we were given when we got married, from when each of our dc were born and their christenings and I stuck them in a pretty scrapbook I bought from paperchase. I added some photos, the invites etc. God knows how I found the time and whilst I never get them out, they spark joy from the cupboard. I hope one day the dc will have them but if not I enjoyed making them at the time!

I am still struggling with my clothes but mainly because if I chucked out everything that didn't spark joy, I would be left with my dressing gown! I need to focus on my weightloss mission before I can tackle clothes and the easier for me areas.

This friday its crafting stuff and utility room. I don't do it exactly as the book says but first do a preliminary sweep.

My kitchen drawers I did last week still spark joy when I open them!

It's also changed my mindset completely when shopping - totally agree with this statement. "Sparks joy" equals "Do I absolutely love it and would I be prepared to pay full price for it?" - it's still good to get a bargain, but only if it's something you absolutely love, otherwise it will still be sitting there unused/unworn six months later so not quite the bargain you thought it was.
User5trillion - I think your weight loss mission is a good one, but you can still tackle your clothes. You joke about wearing your dressing gown, but you must have certain outfits you default to. By clearing out everything else you will see what those outfits are, saving yourself time and space. Then shop only for stuff you will actually wear. As you lose weight you can buy items that fit - as your reward perhaps? Having a wardrobe stuffed with clothes that don't fit or in the vague hope that something you once wore may come back into fashion is depressing - you feel your wardrobe is reproaching you every time you open the door. You don't have to wait until you lose weight to start looking as good as you can.

The time I had put aside today to Kondo DS’s clothes ended up being monopolised by work and taking the car to be fixed. Hopefully I’ll find some time at the weekend though, we don’t have much on this weekend, Sunday is mostly free apart from DS swimming lesson.

Only thing is I can’t do DS’s stuff when he is in the house, he will never let me. I plan to make DH do his properly clothes instead and I should be able to do non-DS books.

Watched another of the Netflix series last night though. The American-Pakistani lady was starting to worry me as she wasn’t open to getting rid of ANYTHING at the start. But she had a lightbulb moment half way though or something and I was so pleased for her. I’m sure she looked younger and like a weight had been lifted at the end.

I've been to Ikea for storage boxes and trays. I am kondo'ing the arse out of the kids bedrooms this weekend!

Lillian -thanks for your reply. Last year I bought new make up and skin care and had my hair cut and coloured- its all part of my long term improvement plan. So today i have just done an online sales shop and bought a small capsule wardrobe. So tomorrow I am going to put up the attic ALL my too small clothes, they don't spark joy, just judge me for my inability to diet! So I will still be fat but looking better and my wardrobe won't judge me anymore!.

Will also be tackling my craft stuff tomorrow and I am quite looking forwards to it.

Brassica- I have been saving boxes, tins, old tupperware to use as containers. We actually have loads of storage we just don't use it very well. I have to sneak the kids stuff out whilst they are at school or it suddenly becomes the most special item ever, even if its broken or not played with for years.