S&B Minimalism / Kondo support thread

[FrugalFashionista]

Are you interested in decluttering, organizing, or downsizing? Or just being more mindful how you approach clothes, shoes, jewellery, makeup or any other objects in your home. Perhaps you are already Kondoing your belongings or are thinking about 333...

I'm a newbie, I've been decluttering our home for a couple of months now before and during a major house move. Is anyone else interested in sharing experiences, goals or ideas or just chatting with like-minded people? Please join us!

Both good ideas, Katie.

Necklace storage - sussed! I have a dress shaped thing on a coat hanger that has pockets and loops for storing jewellery. It hangs in tne wardrobe and means its all there meaning i weasr it more often. The good stuff stays in its box - there isn't much and those boxes live in a shoe box.

We are mid moving house and I chucked out loads of stuff but think I will have another cull when we get into the new house. I packed up all but 1 weeks worth of clothes each and it has changed my life, I don't have masses of washing to do, be put away etc I am very tempted to take the stuff in storage straight to the charity shop - most of it came from there anyway!

I recognise the fantasy shopping, I buy clothes for the person in my head not the actual me. I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe but am still loosing weight but when I am steady I love the idea of quality clothes in a matching palette.

Hi all - loved reading people's experiences of kondo-ing, I've been a bit of a declutter fanatic since moving a couple of years ago. My DH is also a real minimalist and it's really inspired me to try and cut out the junk in my life and house and enjoy the things I really love.

Today while ds was at nursery I went through most cupboards in the house and did a quick sweep for things that will can be carboot-ed in the coming weekends.

Clothes are my main bugbear though, I have 3 wardrobes full plus a walk in in the loft full of dressy clothes I rarely wear anymore and I have been putting off a real purge - partly due to the sheer volume of clothes that I've hoarded and partly because I find it hard to let go of clothes for some reason. I think I will have a closer read of the kondo method to get an idea of how best to tackle clothes!

Oh also wanted to say organising my stuff so that most of it can be seen has made a huge difference to how much I use my stuff (jewellery, clothes, underwear, makeup) and has helped me decide which bits to get rid of and which bits I enjoy using. I'm particularly proud of my underwear drawer which has a few compartmentalised boxes - one for bras, one for knickers and one for socks. It looks nice and neat and means I can see exactly how many bras I own and how I really don't need to buy any more

Forgot to say that if you feel a bit lost with your style, Jennifer Baumgartner's You Are What You Wear is an excellent read and helps with clearouts too.

My necklace and belt storage, less than 10 cm wide, hence impossible to photograph well! It's a narrow space between sliding wire storage baskets and the wall of the closet.

It is possible to do Project 333 in any style, including boho and romantic. The key is that the pieces should fit together, so a coherent style or coordinated color palette helps.

I have quite a few brights, but I usually pair them with a neutral base. My base colors are chambray blues, taupes, grays and soft whites (=tees, vests, blouses, sweatshirts, jeans, tights). I used to have black as my base color but combined with classic clothes it resulted in a dated-looking black+brights pairing. I now pair bright or patterned jackets, tops and coats with a neutral base, or do an all-neutral outfit (= army green, dark gray and navy as 'brights').

I don't usually do pops if color if it means a bright bag or scarf or 'just add an accessory'. I also don't wear scarves very often and usually only wear minimal silver jewellery. However, I sometimes combine a long necklace with a plain top or dress. This summer, I am in love with a bright tassel necklace.

I think sorting out the wardrobe boils down to knowing what you love to wear and knowing a bit about your personal style. Lots of purged items in my wardrobe have been someone else's must-haves - a crisp white shirt or a white tee look all wrong on me...

One more post, here is Marie Kondo's t shirt and vest folding method. I have just folded my tees and vests, the Kondo system is much easier to access and organize than stacks of stuff!

Ha ha frugal found you here I love condo, not very good at it though. The trouble with my clothes buying is that it is driven by cost needs ( I have no money) and I am addicted to bright colours!
I would love a capsule wardrobe but don't really know what one is!( sounds good though)

kondo- bloody auto correct

Remus I have a little display wall for my necklaces and bracelets at the moment, it's my only organised area and a rare successful Pinterest creative thing I copied and it actually worked! I bought a few different pretty hooks from Laura Ashley and Ikea and got DH to put them up randomly on a small area of wall. Being able to see them stops me hoarding as I only want to display pieces that I also want to wear if that makes sense?!

I am still living out of a suitcase so no progress Kondo-ing. But I have worn the same outfit for the past 4 days bit skanky possibly a grey merino jumper and mid blue skinnies. And I'm not bored of it, it feels comfortable and me . I need to wash the jumper but will probably just wear the navy one for a few days now! Quite happy the weather is colder as I love my new jumpers.

Thanks for the necklace storage ideas. I have virtually no hanging space though (not even enough for my clothes, really - I keep inching into dp's space!) and I don't really want them on show eg on a wall. Would prefer some sort of sectioned drawer or something, I think.

Uniqlo

I have navy and grey, I don't like any of the other colours. The men's version comes in a veritable rainbow of shades

I finished kondoing my clothes yesterday. I ended up donating one more binliner of clothes and all of my maternity clothes.

I emptied and sorted through some long-term storage boxes and found a beautiful Sarah Lund type Norwegian handknit lambswool cardigan from the early 1990s. It still looked like new (natural wool is amazing!) and the colors and patterns are super pretty, but it has never been worn much because it has extra wide shoulders and sleeves that are just right for a gorilla. I've made many sweaters in the past so I just took out one sleeve last night, unraveled about 5 cm and refit it - and now it looks just right. Hoping to have enough energy to finish the other sleeve tonight! If I can alter it, it will be my new favorite cool-weather outfit just right for the Scandi summer.

Do you have any clever ideas for the following:

• winter shoe storage
• CD and DVD storage

I've been feeling really inspired reading this thread. I've been kondo-ing the last few months and apart from the economic and space-making benefits, I've found it's really changed my mind-set too - I shop less often, more purposefully, and I am far tidier!

I am another one whose wardrobe is mostly navy/grey/black/white, but now I have most of my basics sorted I'm looking to introduce a few bits of colour. (If anyone happens to have found the perfect navy wool jumper though i would like to hear about it; I am on a quest)

Frugal - if you're not too bothered about keeping the cases of CDs and DVDs (I hung on to them until Kondo and realising that for me they didn't spark joy ) then you could use a CD wallet - they save lots of space. If you wanted to keep the inlays from the CDs you could tuck them into the plastic sleeves (although you might need to fold them), or just keep them in a separate folder.

E.g. www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Acomputers%2Ck%3Acd+wallet&keywords=cd+wallet&ie=UTF8&qid=1438243562

Sorry Detective cross post!

My LO has loads of stuffed toys. We ended up getting one of those collapsible baskets from kids ikea and filling it full.
Doesn't get rid of them but at least keeps them contained until he decides he's too grown up for them...

In terms of other baby stuff, we've just put it in the loft. I'm too tight to get rid and then buy it all again if we need it! Once we're done though I'm going to choose my favourite baby clothes and get a quilt made with them (sentimental, practical and space-saving!)

mintmy perfect navy wool jumper is from massimo dutti several years ago. It's all wool and very warm and neat.
Anyone have the perfect cool bright red jumper? Crew neck and long sleeves preferably.

So so much to sort with this house move. There's still an awful lot to be given to charity - thanks to whoever suggested seeing about a pick up, I'll look into that as there's so much. We're in the new house now with bags and boxes everywhere and unfortunately dh and I both still have to work so it's slow slow slow. The packing has been an awful fling and run job by dh who promised me he would have it all sorted but that hasn't happened so it's an unruly mess everywhere. The only consolation is that we have the rest of our lives to make kondo amends I suppose !

Greenstone my sympathies, your situation sounds really tough! DH and I both are spending our summer vacation to move house, we have been at it for almost four weeks and are tackling the final dozen or so boxes today.

I finished my cardigan DIY project last night (very pleased and planning to tackle a couple of small sewing and clothes repair projects in the coming days.) Need to Kondo my sewing and knitting supplies at some point too.

Today going to Kondo the horror of horrors, our kitchen undersink cupboard.

Shoes and coats Kondoed! DH tackled the cleaning cupboard, tools, shoe polishes and our drawer of user instructions. We found a long-dead DVD player in one cupboard and a box of guano in another

We still have a bit too much stuff and many cupboards are a bit fuller than ideal but overall it feels like we have detoxed the house!