Author Topic: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up  (Read 95169 times)

Moonwaves

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #150 on: July 06, 2015, 02:01:48 PM »
Hubs is having a bit of a mental shift/crisis that is slowing us down quite a bit. As he is seeing everything we want to get rid of piling up he is horrified and wants to recycle/reuse as much as we can.

We have made multiple trips to the thrift store for anything people could use again, and recycling anything that can be - but a lot of his hobbies or ex-hobbies produce a lot of waste that can't easily be dealt with, and he is having a super hard time with it.

Things like used CD's and DVD's.  Plastic DVD cases can be recycled, CD cases can't. The disks themselves can "In theory" be recycled, but only if you take them to a Future Shop or Best buy, and then they just ship them overseas.

So then he looks into what they do with them - which is poor workers use super, super toxic poisons to separate the tiny little bit of metal from the data layer and then either discard or burn the plastic.

After much discussion and thought, he decided it was better to box them up and take them to our land fill where the will at least stay inert, then to try and "recycle" them make them someone's toxic problem oversees.

He's also got boxes and boxes of old computer cables and phone cables and old technology, which is hard to dispose of in a responsible way. So he is stopping to research the best way to deal with everything - it is definitely slowing us down but I think it is worthwhile and the mental shift and awareness that it is causing in each of us is pretty profound.

 Luckily most of this is stuff that has been bought over the span of years and years, and we don't really buy much anymore. It does highlight that we are on the right path and need to be more conscious of what we buy.
I've struggled with this in the past, too. You could try putting the stuff up on freecycle (or similar) - you'd be surprised what some people are looking for to use in art projects. I had a bag of books that I couldn't even give away to charity shops and whatever about anything else, I couldn't bring myself to just throw out books. A local art student took them though and although I only feel marginally better about books being used for that kind of thing than just throwing them out, at least someone got another use out of them. Might be worth a try.

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #151 on: July 06, 2015, 02:09:17 PM »
Hubs is having a bit of a mental shift/crisis that is slowing us down quite a bit. As he is seeing everything we want to get rid of piling up he is horrified and wants to recycle/reuse as much as we can.

We have made multiple trips to the thrift store for anything people could use again, and recycling anything that can be - but a lot of his hobbies or ex-hobbies produce a lot of waste that can't easily be dealt with, and he is having a super hard time with it.

Things like used CD's and DVD's.  Plastic DVD cases can be recycled, CD cases can't. The disks themselves can "In theory" be recycled, but only if you take them to a Future Shop or Best buy, and then they just ship them overseas.

So then he looks into what they do with them - which is poor workers use super, super toxic poisons to separate the tiny little bit of metal from the data layer and then either discard or burn the plastic.

After much discussion and thought, he decided it was better to box them up and take them to our land fill where the will at least stay inert, then to try and "recycle" them make them someone's toxic problem oversees.

He's also got boxes and boxes of old computer cables and phone cables and old technology, which is hard to dispose of in a responsible way. So he is stopping to research the best way to deal with everything - it is definitely slowing us down but I think it is worthwhile and the mental shift and awareness that it is causing in each of us is pretty profound.

 Luckily most of this is stuff that has been bought over the span of years and years, and we don't really buy much anymore. It does highlight that we are on the right path and need to be more conscious of what we buy.
I've struggled with this in the past, too. You could try putting the stuff up on freecycle (or similar) - you'd be surprised what some people are looking for to use in art projects. I had a bag of books that I couldn't even give away to charity shops and whatever about anything else, I couldn't bring myself to just throw out books. A local art student took them though and although I only feel marginally better about books being used for that kind of thing than just throwing them out, at least someone got another use out of them. Might be worth a try.

Absolutely true . I use sheet plastic cardboard wood and fabric in my art . my mom uses dishes and paper in hers .

swick

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #152 on: July 06, 2015, 02:19:52 PM »
good suggestions, we have been doing that as we can.

Unfortunately a ton of the stuff is other peoples cast-offs that were donated to us (I use to manage an art centre)  that we couldn't use. I have been putting aside things I know might be able to go for free (a very tiny part of me wishes we were in our old town, I use to know what projects people were up to)

part of me wants to create a whole "consumption" series myself - but I know I have too many projects on the go and despite the best of intentions, it won't happen.

Our new town puts on a sculpture walk each year, and one of the pieces is really neat it is the form of a human made out of scrap metal and she is wearing a clear raincoat which was sewn from two clear sheets of plastic that had paper scraps sewn between them. All the pieces of paper were discarded notes - order forms - personal notes - love notes - grocery lists - kids school notes. Very neat! I spent a good half hour walking around the sculpture and reading all the little slices of life.

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #153 on: July 06, 2015, 02:50:50 PM »
good suggestions, we have been doing that as we can.

Unfortunately a ton of the stuff is other peoples cast-offs that were donated to us (I use to manage an art centre)  that we couldn't use. I have been putting aside things I know might be able to go for free (a very tiny part of me wishes we were in our old town, I use to know what projects people were up to)

part of me wants to create a whole "consumption" series myself - but I know I have too many projects on the go and despite the best of intentions, it won't happen.

Our new town puts on a sculpture walk each year, and one of the pieces is really neat it is the form of a human made out of scrap metal and she is wearing a clear raincoat which was sewn from two clear sheets of plastic that had paper scraps sewn between them. All the pieces of paper were discarded notes - order forms - personal notes - love notes - grocery lists - kids school notes. Very neat! I spent a good half hour walking around the sculpture and reading all the little slices of life.

Super cool! I make dresses , wall hangings, and purses out of all recycled materials. It's a lot of fun! And free:)

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #154 on: July 07, 2015, 11:05:38 AM »
Swick, thanks for sharing your/your husband's experience. Not wanting to be wasteful is why I have items to declutter in the first place. My inclination is to find a new purpose for an item that is too broken down for its original purpose. However, it's not possible for me to upcycle everything, so I have to let them go in the most sustainable way possible. It's been hard.

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #155 on: July 07, 2015, 11:20:07 AM »
I read ALOT, and usually go thru a stack of library books, however I come across free books sometimes . I donate immediately upon completion most of the time . it's the rare book I hold onto .

swick

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #156 on: July 07, 2015, 11:29:40 AM »
Books are my Achilles heel. Most of my books are hard scrounged or bought specialized non-fiction, so it hurts to contemplate going through them. I tend to collect free useful books too.

We lived in a town with no bookstore, and no practical way to get them shipped - for 4 years.  I did manage to get rid of a room full when we moved (a literal room, I had them on ever surface, called everyone I knew and told them to come pick up some books) which was awesome because they don't have access to new books easily either.

But my bookcases are over flowing again...so do need to tackle it, but I have been putting it off.

I did manage to go through all of my canning jars! After a bug infestation when we were on holidays a few years ago I started to store everything in Mason jars...which worked wonderfully till we had to move and I had to empty them all. Haven't gotten around to unpacking and going through most of them. Now they are all neatly organized and I know what I have and have easy access. I may possibly have too many, but I'm not going to give them away until after I getan idea of canning season, now that we have access to fresh fruits and veggies again.

mschaus

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #157 on: July 08, 2015, 07:24:57 AM »
For anyone who is interested, there is a two part mini-drama.  It's definitely very japanese in style (we used to live in Japan so I found it entertaining on that level as well).  It does have subtitles. 

Is the mini-drama available online? What is the link, please?

The one I'm aware of is actually a full-length movie in two parts.

Part 1: http://tinyurl.com/phnnmtr
Part 2: http://tinyurl.com/kh2f3gt
Thanks Malaprop & Secretly Saving!

The movie is no longer available at these links.  Does anyone know if it is available anywhere else?  I searched last night but could not find anything and I don't remember the title of the movie (I watched it when the links were active and wanted to watch it again with my daughter).

Anyone know the name of this movie? Then at least I could try searching for it. Would be very curious to see some real examples after reading the book. Thanks!

swick

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #158 on: July 08, 2015, 08:12:04 AM »
I spent some time searching (I don't remember the name) but it seems to be gone. I even check a couple of torrent sites - harder because I'm not sure of the name - seems like it was replaced by a promo spot for the book.

 It wasn't really "real life" examples - I'm sure it was adapted from, but it was a lightly? fictionalized made for TV movie. There are lots and lots of real life example videos on youtube though.

lezaline

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #159 on: July 10, 2015, 10:42:14 AM »
He's also got boxes and boxes of old computer cables and phone cables and old technology, which is hard to dispose of in a responsible way. So he is stopping to research the best way to deal with everything - it is definitely slowing us down but I think it is worthwhile and the mental shift and awareness that it is causing in each of us is pretty profound.


The metal recycling center in our area takes these cables for scrap also. You might not get very much money for it, but they would be able to recycle it with the other "copper wire" types of things they also recycle. Hope that helps! We got rid of pounds of that not too long ago. Feels good :)

couronne

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #160 on: July 12, 2015, 09:51:04 AM »
Thanks to this thread (and everyone who has posted), I am currently listening to the book and love it! I am about halfway through, but found myself looking up some youtube videos on folding. I decided to fold my dish towels in the drawer like she suggests and can't believe the difference in how little space is really taken up! I can't wait to finish the book.

pachnik

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #161 on: July 12, 2015, 11:46:27 AM »
Yes, I got a copy of the book too yesterday because of this thread.  So far I love it and I am going to keep track of bags/boxes full of stuff I take to the thrift store.  I am curious to see how much goes.  Been really enjoying and feeling inspired by this thread!

Cheers, fellow Mustachians!

Pachnik

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #162 on: July 16, 2015, 03:36:27 PM »
I finally got this book from the library last week. I'm almost done with clothes, and along the way I decluttered a lot of papers lying around my room. Next up is bathroom supplies. I've also started cleaning more since that seems like an extension of tidying and taking care of things. I consider myself to be pretty minimalistic but I'm halfway through the book and her perspective is really helpful.

Thanks to the person that posted that Reddit AMA thread. I love what she wrote about learning to love what you have that you use a lot (for example, your one winter coat) even if you don't think it sparks joy.

Zamboni

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #163 on: July 16, 2015, 04:24:17 PM »
Swick, I feel for your husband. I have a very hard time throwing useful (or potentially useful) things in the garbage. Most things I feel okay taking to the local thrift shop, but of course they won't take everything.

At first I thought all of her instructions about how to properly fold clothes were silly, but I decided to follow those on faith just to try it out.  Wow! It is amazingly better. I am making much better use of all of the clothes I have now as nothing hides on the bottom of a pile.

And my son seems on board with this whole process. When he wants something new, he now realizes his options are 1) wait for Christmas of his birthday, 2) raise the money somehow himself through work, or 3) sell something! Since he is currently in the long void until Christmas, and I don't pay him more for things like yard work than I think it's worth, selling something is highly on his radar. The catch is that I have to agree we should sell whatever it is, and he has to help me take pictures and write the Craigslist posting.

He has been wanting something for the past couple of weeks that costs about $100. He has only $5, so his creative juices are flowing. He suggested selling my dresser the other day, which I thought was hilarious. It is big, really nice, and would likely fetch a pile of cash, and the irony of the whole situation is that selling the entire bedroom set is on my to-do list once he goes off to college when I downsize my house. I laughed and noted that I actually use the dresser to store my clothes so he needed to look around, perhaps in his room, and think of something else. He then suggested an alternative of something that is more "his" (the late lizard's habitats), which he thought that would be easier to sell and it's just as likely to get the amount of money he needs. We'll probably have to sell the old fish tank, too, to make what he needs. Which means, alas, no more potential for future lizards or fish. It's a win-win, I tell you.

swick

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #164 on: July 16, 2015, 04:47:30 PM »
Zamboni, your son is awesome :)

Our process is still ongoing, have had a couple of crazy weeks of relatives visiting and being out of town and hubby working late. Hoping to get a little more progress done this weekend.

New motivation: Been picking up more and more freelance work, so I actually need to use the office as, you know, an office instead of a dumping ground. I can't work in there with the clutter, I find it painful to be in. So ready to dig back in!

Nickels Dimes Quarters

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #165 on: July 19, 2015, 10:12:58 AM »
I am likely going to be waiting quite awhile to check this out from the local library, both in hard copy or digital format, but in the meantime, I've read the articles and reviews that talk about some specific ideas. I have been on a purge spree the past two years to move as much stuff out as possible. I anticipate moving at some point to live in a multi-unit property that I own and want to move as little "junk" as possible.

I am encouraged by any method that helps move as much stuff out of my home as possible and it looks like a quick read. Today, I am working on getting surfaces cleared off and items put away that are worthy of keeping.

NDQ

NumberCruncher

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #166 on: July 24, 2015, 07:31:12 AM »
He's also got boxes and boxes of old computer cables and phone cables and old technology, which is hard to dispose of in a responsible way. So he is stopping to research the best way to deal with everything - it is definitely slowing us down but I think it is worthwhile and the mental shift and awareness that it is causing in each of us is pretty profound.


The metal recycling center in our area takes these cables for scrap also. You might not get very much money for it, but they would be able to recycle it with the other "copper wire" types of things they also recycle. Hope that helps! We got rid of pounds of that not too long ago. Feels good :)

Best Buys in our area recycle a ton of old electronics - they have boxes outside for basic sorting of cables, chargers, and I believe a sign that says they can take other things, too, and you just need to go to customer service or something. Everything Swick mentions sounds like it would be free and definitely taken and recycled by Best Buy.

swick

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #167 on: July 24, 2015, 01:58:43 PM »
He's also got boxes and boxes of old computer cables and phone cables and old technology, which is hard to dispose of in a responsible way. So he is stopping to research the best way to deal with everything - it is definitely slowing us down but I think it is worthwhile and the mental shift and awareness that it is causing in each of us is pretty profound.


The metal recycling center in our area takes these cables for scrap also. You might not get very much money for it, but they would be able to recycle it with the other "copper wire" types of things they also recycle. Hope that helps! We got rid of pounds of that not too long ago. Feels good :)

Best Buys in our area recycle a ton of old electronics - they have boxes outside for basic sorting of cables, chargers, and I believe a sign that says they can take other things, too, and you just need to go to customer service or something. Everything Swick mentions sounds like it would be free and definitely taken and recycled by Best Buy.

Hi NumberCruncher, yes BestBuy and the like can take electronics and buis and bobs. When Hubby was doing the research though, he found that they just ship them off to China where they are disposed of very irresponsibly. I didn't do the research myself though, I'll have to ask him where he found his info.

Cassie

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #168 on: July 24, 2015, 05:37:41 PM »
I put stuff in the front yard with a free sign & it disappears quick. Of course you have to live on a road with a fair amount of traffic. You would be surprised the things that people take.

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #169 on: July 24, 2015, 06:39:46 PM »
I put stuff in the front yard with a free sign & it disappears quick. Of course you have to live on a road with a fair amount of traffic. You would be surprised the things that people take.

Same here. Except it's a condo complex. Everything's gone within an hour.

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #170 on: July 26, 2015, 07:23:57 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?


riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #171 on: July 26, 2015, 07:36:54 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?

Depends how much you have. Pretty quick to go thru each piece though (at least for me). Really important to listen to that gut feeling though or may need to do another go thru. A maybe pile can help, as long as those don't all turn into yesses.many times, a "maybe" is really a "no"

10dollarsatatime

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #172 on: July 26, 2015, 08:15:18 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?

I did.  And I had a TON!  The pile came up to my waist and nearly filled my living room floor. ... yeah.  Anyway, I did it all in a couple of days.  I went through quickly the first time and did a try it on pile and a donate pile.  Then I went through the try it on pile the next day.  And now all my clothes fit in the closet for the first time in 10 years. :)

Torran

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #173 on: July 26, 2015, 08:29:51 AM »
Out of curiosity, does anyone who's read this have children, or does the book address living with small children? Coming out of the holidays, I would dearly love to declutter some toys but honestly don't know where to start (probably partly because I can remember who gave what toy and feel like it would be insulting to toss gifts for my children).

Catomi, I haven't read this book yet but I have read "The Joy of Less" (mentioned up thread) and even more relevant to those of us parents out there "Simplicity Parenting". Both are great books for decluttering but the later really did a fabulous job of laying out the "Why" of having less for kids is more, and then provided a ton of great tips on keeping it manageable. Our kids have probably a dozen items around the house and they regularly play with all of them, get along better than other kids I observe with tons of toys (read: have learned to share because there are fewer things around), and can quickly clean up after themselves in just a few minutes because they don't have huge piles of toys everywhere. We aren't perfect but I'm a huge advocate for controlling what comes into the house for kids (we work with family around holidays/birthdays to get more experiences etc.., and if they do get toys they are more along the lines of the super useful, multiuse, creativity inducing toys that MMM talks about).

Anyway, my .02 on the topic. I'm going to grab the Life-Changing Art of Tidying Up to see what other ideas I can gleen.

onemorebike

I'm not a parent but LOVE all of this. It seems all the families I know have a tsunami of toys around the house and I was always worried I'd be too uptight to deal with that if I had kids of my own one day... imagining it was either having toys everywhere or having constant battles to get rid of toys. So it's amazing to read about these strategies for dealing with toys (especially Christmas gifts getting totally out of hand), and the positive effect on your kids.

4alpacas

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #174 on: July 26, 2015, 08:45:13 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?
I did it one day.  I woke up early, had breakfast, and spent about 2 hours sorting.  I spent about an hour putting things away.  And an additional hour itemizing everything and taking stuff to Goodwill. 

I was done before lunch, but I was very motivated to purge.

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #175 on: July 26, 2015, 10:10:56 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?

I did.  And I had a TON!  The pile came up to my waist and nearly filled my living room floor. ... yeah.  Anyway, I did it all in a couple of days.  I went through quickly the first time and did a try it on pile and a donate pile.  Then I went through the try it on pile the next day.  And now all my clothes fit in the closet for the first time in 10 years. :)
Nice! Great job!

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #176 on: July 26, 2015, 10:12:08 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?
I did it one day.  I woke up early, had breakfast, and spent about 2 hours sorting.  I spent about an hour putting things away.  And an additional hour itemizing everything and taking stuff to Goodwill. 

I was done before lunch, but I was very motivated to purge.
Nice work! Yes - being motivated is a huge help!

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #177 on: July 26, 2015, 10:15:48 AM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?

OK - update! I started at 8:00 a.m.  But about 9:00 I had ALL my clothes from throughout the house (not counting the laundry hamper out).  It is now 11:15 and I am about 2/3 the way done!   I have 4 ginormous green bags in the car and half the entryway closet full of hanging formal wear, suits, etc.  I was going to try to spread out my Goodwill donations but think I'm going to take it all today.  I am trying to record things for the deduction, but this is becoming less important than just expeditiously getting rid of all this stuff.   Feeling wonderful and motivated!

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #178 on: July 26, 2015, 03:46:28 PM »
I finally got the book from the library, and am about halfway through it.  Even though I am not done reading, I'm feeling fired up to do my clothes.  Has anyone done all their clothes in one session?  I want to do them all except for accesories (like scarves, jewelry, bags) and coats/jackets.   

How long will it take, do you think?  All day today?

OK - update! I started at 8:00 a.m.  But about 9:00 I had ALL my clothes from throughout the house (not counting the laundry hamper out).  It is now 11:15 and I am about 2/3 the way done!   I have 4 ginormous green bags in the car and half the entryway closet full of hanging formal wear, suits, etc.  I was going to try to spread out my Goodwill donations but think I'm going to take it all today.  I am trying to record things for the deduction, but this is becoming less important than just expeditiously getting rid of all this stuff.   Feeling wonderful and motivated!
And now I am completely done. Finished at 4:30, have all the clothes folded in the "Kondo" way, and dropped off the stuff that doesn't bring me joy at Goodwill.  All in all I think it took 7 or 8 hours (subtracting drive time to Goodwill and stopping at Walmart for a phone cord for my daughter).  The only thing I did not fold in the stand up method was my silk scarves and shawls, which take up half a drawer.   

This method really works!  I am sold.

I have 6 empty rubbermaid storage totes, a 3 drawer rubbermaid, and I no longer have winter items stored upstairs.  I even have one empty dresser drawer!  Yay!

Nancy

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #179 on: July 26, 2015, 04:05:56 PM »
Impressive, BriarRose! Keep it up!

Cressida

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #180 on: July 26, 2015, 06:20:51 PM »
I even have one empty dresser drawer!  Yay!

Yeah! This is one of the best parts. I ended up with 3 empty drawers out of 8.

Moonwaves

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #181 on: July 27, 2015, 04:26:38 AM »
Wow, Briarrose, that really is impressive. I haven't quite gotten to the stage of actually doing it yet but I notice that I am being far more critical when just going about my normal stuff. So this weekend, I started putting one or two things aside to get rid of and I'm going to try and do the full thing one evening this week or next weekend. Don't want to start just accumulating a pile that sits there. But it's amazing how the shift in thinking works. Where before I'd think, well, I'll wear that t-shirt sometime I'm sure now I just think, "you know what, you have plenty of t-shirts, you don't like that this one has gotten shorter and no matter how much weight you lose, you're not going to get any shorter so it'll always annoy you" and out it goes. So when I've been sorting laundry, for example, I'm always thinking in the back of my head, "do I really want to have this?" - I even did it with some bedclothes, polycotten stuff that I hate and never use but didn't want to get rid of because it's "useful". I have plenty of bedclothes, I can live without one or two sheets.

Faraday

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #182 on: July 27, 2015, 05:41:09 AM »
I read the free pages on Amazon and was so impressed with this book that I purchased the hardcover edition. I was not disappointed: Marie Kondo is amazing and her insights truly speak to you if you are willing to listen and think about what she says. I've been going through the book slowly and carefully, dog-earing important pages or information I need to work on later.

I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, but I am definitely a "clutterer". I have unfiled papers, books, CD's, DVD's, cables, tools, PC parts and even keyboards strewn everywhere.

My "cluttering" has been bad enough that it's affecting both me and the DW in the ways that the book describes. If you feel affection for "your stuff" but you have an SO who doesn't, you owe it to yourself, and them, to read this book and improve your life.

It used to be important to my career to work with PC hardware, but that's not been true for at least a decade. After getting through the first 50 pages of this book, I realized I'm done with PC hardware and ready to move on to other things. That's been a big step for me to take and one I am excited to put into practice at the house.

DW and I have been through our clothes already in the manner in which the book speaks and we know the techniques described work - we just lucked up and did what's in the book when it came to clothes (we needed the Goodwill donation, too). While we could further improve our work on our clothing, I would say we've not fallen back into our old habits when it comes to clothing, so I know her ideas work, even with bad cases like me.

The real benefit of the book, besides the obvious one of decluttering, is how it challenges you to find the things that bring you joy and to visualize the way you want a room to be after you are done and what lifestyle you want to lead in your home. I can easily see how her clients do not have a "repeat rate".

I wonder to myself if Marie Kondo could ever be elected president of the USA. Then I realize it would age her prematurely and I really don't want that. She is a treasure to this tired, angry world!

I have to add that the ideas of decluttering she has in her book truly complement the ideas of MMM/ERE/Frugal living. Decluttering and cleanup of your physical space supports decluttering and cleanup of debt, budgets and consumption habits. I'm also doing the same with diet (I live "keto") and I'm beginning to see this strong theme in these pursuits emerging and unifying them all into a whole kind of "life pursuit" that is making me a very different and better person.  Experiences and human interaction has become more important to me in ways it just could not have been in the past.

I remember even coming up with verbage to describe my "old ways": I used to say "I like to interact with machines much more than people - they are deterministic and people are random..." Now, that randomness and uncertainty doesn't bother me like it used to because I no longer see randomness and uncertainty as the "bringers of doom" that I used to perceive them as...

Whoa...that's pretty good stuff. I need to put that in another thread here.. :-) :-) :-)
« Last Edit: July 27, 2015, 05:51:21 AM by mefla »

3Mer

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #183 on: July 27, 2015, 05:37:35 PM »
Thanks for all the positive feedback!  The process really does work.  I think I can understand now how this has an impact on your life too.  I think by only keeping things that bring you joy, it is kind of a way of honoring yourself.  So then you automatically give yourself permission to apply this in all areas of your life.  You don't need to get mad or upset at things that don't bring you joy, just thank them for their service and move on!  LOL

My next project, that I hope to work the next free weekend (which won't be for a few weeks), is BOOKS.   That will be tougher than clothes for me, I think!  Even just gathering them all from all over the house will be a real challenge.  Let alone getting rid of large amounts of them.   Little more scary than clothes.   Though lately, I've taken the approach that if a book is available at my library consortium, I don't need to own a copy.  Maybe that will help some. 

penguins4everyone!

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #184 on: July 28, 2015, 12:08:59 AM »
i got this book for Christmas, devoured over the holiday weekend, and then immediately gave the book to a friend (she suggests giving the book away in the book)  I am MUCH better about parting with books now that I do the goodreads app.  When i log a book in goodreads, i can pull it up a month later when i forgot the title and am trying to tell a friend about it.  The good student in me wants "credit" for reading a book even as an adult so goodreads scratches that itch for me, then I can pass on the book to someone else.  For some reason I can never remember book titles, even if i'm in the middle of a book i love.  Can you tell i love and need goodreads.  Since i've been using it for a few years now every book I've read over that period is now rated and in chronological order from when i read it.  Highly suggested for book hoarders.

One thing that I would have liked Marie Kondo to address is digital clutter.  Like, my google drive is full of years worth of unorganized crap.  Wedding planning crap, weekend trip spreadsheets, homework and essays from classes.  Don't get me started on all my never organized digital photos.  With paper it's easy to shred and get over it (love that of course), but digital clutter is clutter too, and she doesn't seem to have a solution there, or even address it as a problem. 

Faraday

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #185 on: July 28, 2015, 05:25:30 AM »
i got this book for Christmas, devoured over the holiday weekend, and then immediately gave the book to a friend (she suggests giving the book away in the book)  I am MUCH better about parting with books now that I do the goodreads app.
...good stuff here...

One thing that I would have liked Marie Kondo to address is digital clutter.  Like, my google drive is full of years worth of unorganized crap.  Wedding planning crap, weekend trip spreadsheets, homework and essays from classes.  Don't get me started on all my never organized digital photos.  With paper it's easy to shred and get over it (love that of course), but digital clutter is clutter too, and she doesn't seem to have a solution there, or even address it as a problem.

penguins4everyone!, I love your MMM name. DW is a lover of all things penguin and flamingo (and not a hoarder, which is cool)

There are apps which can help with digital clutter, and yes, I agree digital clutter is a problem - one that can become serious should the house burn down, because there are important docs which are all electronic nowadays that need to be duplicated and protected.

My photos, I pretty much upload all to Google Images because I take them with my Android phone. There are ways to organize there.

Here's a website that ranks photo organization apps. I've used "Picasa" before and it's OK - part of the Google suite of apps, it's pretty good.
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-digital-photo-organizer.htm

Also, here's a lifehacker link for good photo org apps, which also includes Picasa:
http://lifehacker.com/373220/five-best-digital-photo-organizers

Punky Bikester

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #186 on: July 28, 2015, 12:08:19 PM »
Thanks for all the positive feedback!  The process really does work.  I think I can understand now how this has an impact on your life too.  I think by only keeping things that bring you joy, it is kind of a way of honoring yourself.  So then you automatically give yourself permission to apply this in all areas of your life.  You don't need to get mad or upset at things that don't bring you joy, just thank them for their service and move on!  LOL

My next project, that I hope to work the next free weekend (which won't be for a few weeks), is BOOKS.   That will be tougher than clothes for me, I think!  Even just gathering them all from all over the house will be a real challenge.  Let alone getting rid of large amounts of them.   Little more scary than clothes.   Though lately, I've taken the approach that if a book is available at my library consortium, I don't need to own a copy.  Maybe that will help some.

I have "book troubles," too! However, I did just go through mine, and had a few surprises.

One: the act of actually pulling them off the shelves and organizing them in one place really reminded me of how HEAVY books are. I love my books on shelves, but I hate having to move them around, therefore, I only want to ever move the ones that are truly worth it.

Two: I thought that my worst problem would be keeping whole series of books that I loved in childhood (Redwall immediately comes to mind). However, when I really went through them, I realized that I definitely had favorites, and that the others were just there to "complete" the series. There were some that I downright didn't enjoy and never read a second time! I can therefore pass those along to a "new life," and treasure the favorites even more. Luckily I didn't encounter any sequential series; I don't think I'd have as easy of a time discarding books if I knew there would be a numerical gap on the shelf. :)

Best of luck! My next category is craft supplies... *shiver*

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #187 on: July 28, 2015, 03:53:17 PM »
80% through. I find some of her advice to be woo-woo (thanking your belongings), targeted towards women (took me the entire chapter on bags to figure out she meant purses), and targeted towards urban cities (don't buy in bulk). HOWEVER, the system she creates sounds perfect. The wife is going to be helping out some friends Saturday, so I may take the opportunity to discard and organize clothing, books, and magnetic media (CD's and DVD's).

firelight

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #188 on: July 28, 2015, 04:14:43 PM »
Has anyone konmaried relationships, like the 100s of friends on Facebook or that always-negative aunt? I'm looking for pointers.

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #189 on: July 28, 2015, 05:00:55 PM »
Has anyone konmaried relationships, like the 100s of friends on Facebook or that always-negative aunt? I'm looking for pointers.

Yrs. I began by deleting 200 fb "friends" then deactivated the account all together.
I've also let go of friends who are negative  complaining sponge types who I felt obligated to see .

wintersun

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #190 on: July 28, 2015, 05:22:32 PM »
I love this book.  I read it halfway through my purging and it has been super useful.  The main thing I am enjoying is the idea of working category by category.  After separating all paper from other komono everything was much easier.  I removed CDs, cords, boxes, books and everything got simpler.

Cutenila,  I have Kondo-ed my social media and it is very freeing.  I am going to give it another round soon. ( Not relationship related but: I also Kondo-ed my emails and most of my computer files.  It feels just as freeing as the physical clutter to me if not more so). 

Re Electronic clutter:  I wonder whether a hash tag such as 2015OUT could be used to let one know that the given file has outlived its usefulness?  Then one could pull up all the 2015OUT tags and delete the whole lot in January 2016.  I hope I am explaining this clearly.

Re vertical clothes stacking: if the items are on a shelf instead of in a drawer doesn't everything come out/get messy when you pull one item out? Also, with too few items to fill a shelf is the next option to use a box on the shelf?

Faraday

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #191 on: July 28, 2015, 07:10:43 PM »
Has anyone konmaried relationships, like the 100s of friends on Facebook or that always-negative aunt? I'm looking for pointers.

I started facebook to keep track of my kids. Unfortunately, now facebook keeps track of me...

So:
Every weekend, I un-friend at least 4 or 5. I'm almost down to actual friends. Then I deactivate the account "until next time" as I need it.
Keeping it deactivated is absolutely marvelous.

CommonCents

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #192 on: July 28, 2015, 09:02:14 PM »
I just don't check facebook often.  When I do, I look at the updates area, which has family members prioritized (about 5).  I don't understand why people have such issues with it.

Moonwaves

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #193 on: July 29, 2015, 08:00:53 AM »
Re vertical clothes stacking: if the items are on a shelf instead of in a drawer doesn't everything come out/get messy when you pull one item out? Also, with too few items to fill a shelf is the next option to use a box on the shelf?
I have been wondering about this as well and had a plan to go and find myself some second-hand drawers to get around the fact that I don't have many and I didn't think vertical folding would work otherwise but yesterday I happened to come across this picture: http://rachellutz.com/2015/03/09/vertical-folding/ and decided that even though my wardrobe might not have drawers, I should at least give it a try before rushing out to buy some (which would actually be against the KonMari method anyway). Itching to get started on my clothes now.

deborah

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #194 on: July 29, 2015, 02:56:17 PM »
YOu could use bookends to hold it up.

AlwaysBeenASaver

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #195 on: July 29, 2015, 09:07:24 PM »
I decided to go through bedding tonight. I discovered we have 7 fitted Queen sized sheets, but we don't have any queen sized beds !

riverffashion

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #196 on: July 29, 2015, 09:32:10 PM »
I decided to go through bedding tonight. I discovered we have 7 fitted Queen sized sheets, but we don't have any queen sized beds !

Ha!

wintersun

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #197 on: July 31, 2015, 05:48:19 AM »
AlwaysBeenASaver, that is hysterical!

Deborah, thanks I will test the book ends idea, that is new to me.

Philociraptor

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #198 on: July 31, 2015, 07:47:41 AM »
Read complete! Gonna do clothing and maybe books too on Saturday. Woot woot!

LiveLean

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Re: The Life-Changing Art of Tidying-Up
« Reply #199 on: August 13, 2015, 01:56:58 PM »
Has anyone konmaried relationships, like the 100s of friends on Facebook or that always-negative aunt? I'm looking for pointers.

Yes indeed. I stopped accepting lunch invites from folks who once were valuable as business networking but no longer.

We stopped accepting so many party invites on the grounds that time is better spent (in some cases).

I stopped reaching out to people who never reciprocate or initiate.

And eliminating social media use by 90 percent keeps me from being involved in the lives of people who don't really matter. Heck, if I've never been inspired to go to high school or college reunions, why the heck do I want to stay in touch via FB?