Since I am in the early stages I will warn you that the process itself can create more clutter than you can imagine, and once you've decided what to keep and what to donate or throw away, you are still left with temporary chaos. In a previous post I showed how I refolded and arranged my t-shirts - after watching a youtube video (of which there are many) on how to fold clothes for this method, I re-did the t-shirts as you can see.
In addition to the built-ins (4 lg and 2 small drawers each on opposite sides of the room, I also have a big chest of drawers that belonged to my late husband. (There is also a huge triple dresser that I probably couldn't get through my front door or the bedroom doors, so it resides in Jeannie's garage!) Click on a picture to enlarge.
This drawer is used for pajamas, and I am able to get summer and winter pj's in the drawer. Before I started decluttering this drawer was crammed with odds and ends which I discarded. In fact, all the drawers in this piece of furniture were crammed to the brim!
Some sweaters and scarves.
The updated t-shirt drawer, followed by a photo of two empty drawers. Now I have excess space.
I'm showing two shelves of my bookcase. Four shelves were crammed to overflowing with books, papers, and other junk. I have stacks on my coffee table waiting to be donated, amounting to about 40 books. I also have about 10 books to add to the "Keep" shelves which I want to show to Steve - they are some camping books he might be interested in. There are still two shelves on this bookcase that are filled with junk (not books) that I need to throw away. I found a box of little shells that I brought back from Ireland, and that is what are strewn in front of my retirement certificate!
I still have some refolding to do, including all my gym clothes. As you can see, nothing is crowded or crammed, and I am loving it already.
The KonMari system recommends starting with clothes, then books, based on experience that these two categories are easier to decide what to keep - what gives you joy. Papers, on the other hand, are going to be awful to decide. That category includes everything from tax returns (keep) to cards and letters, to warranties and "how to use" books, and of course there are so many other categories of papers. I'm going to keep working on the clothes and books until I'm finished with them before starting on the dreaded paper category.
I was surprised and happy to find that there are lots of YouTube videos, from those showing Marie Kondo folding various items of clothing, to videos from folks who have followed this method, their experiences, likes and dislikes, etc.
So that is a big part of what I did yesterday, when I wasn't out pulling grass and weeds.
(I just posted this blog entry and see that the finished result is inconsistent in the use of fonts. I have no idea why that is or what to do about it. It's Google's fault!)
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Thank you Gypsy, I am very interested in this topic.
ReplyDeleteWhat a luxury to now have two empty drawers. I think that helps a lot because you get instant gratification, though I am sure it was not instant as a lot of thought must of gone into what to keep and what to discard.
I have been thinking about this for several weeks, and had already identified in my mind the clothes I don't care much for, and the clothes I'm almost sure never to wear again. Same with the books - I've enjoyed them but I know I'll never read them again. It was actually easier than I thought. I'm already thinking of the paper discards. I have letters and cards from my grandmother (who died in 1997 at the age of 97). I just can't bring myself to throw them away, so I am going to keep a big envelop of mail from my Grandma, one from my Mom, and one for cards from all my kids. I feel good about making that decision, so it will be easier to toss away a lot of other stuff.
DeletePaper is my enemy. I do pretty good at keeping the clutter down on other things. But I have paper everywhere. Every day I try to clean some of it out and it multiples over night. You have really made some great progress.
ReplyDeleteI've hardly just begun yet I feel so good about what I've accomplished so far. I probably have more paper that I just don't know what to do with than anyone I know. But my experience with the clothes and the books shows me just how I can discard things I no longer need or use. Much of all my papers should be in that category, so I'm hopeful I can make a dent in it. I think once you start discarding, and realize the concept of not keeping things just to keep them, then I believe you are half way there. I'm already deciding where to start although I need to finish clothes and books first.
DeleteLooks like you are making good progress in this. Well done. The fonts for me are all the same other than the first paragraph. That is really odd. Although I usually select my entire post and change the font to what I want. I've never had any trouble with it doing what I asked it to.
ReplyDeleteThe font thing must be a problem with my computer because it happens in emails as well.
DeleteYour moving right along with the process. Empty drawers and all.
ReplyDeleteI know I could do more too with books but it's so hard to give them up sometimes.
Once I decided to go this route it has gotten easier for me to discard things I am pretty sure I'll never use again. it was essentially the same for me when I started RV'ing full time and had to pare down my possessions to fit into the RV. Even after I stopped full timing I never went back to gathering a lot of possessions, although I want to have enough clothes so that I can go at least 2 weeks, possibly 3, between washes. I hate doing laundry and would rather do 2 or 3 large loads now and then, than smaller loads every few days.
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