Showing posts with label KonMarie Method. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KonMarie Method. Show all posts

Friday, July 26, 2019

End of July

Hello friends,

The week goes so quickly and Friday is upon us again.

I'm still in summer mode but I'm not doing what people normally do with their summers. I'm not sitting relaxing in my garden or going to the beach or going to concerts. Instead I am doing a major household purge.


After years of purging a few things here and there of my late mom's things, my clothing, and knick knacks, I started purging some of my own papers. Before I knew it it got me into purging my books and wanting to change the furniture around. Why did I start on that?! I was supposed to be purging my papers. I think I was looking for a distraction as I don't like to get into my papers. There is just so much of it to go through.  I also find I can't focus on papers when there are other things that are also needing to be sorted.

I read Marie Kondo's book on the Magic of Tidying Up last year. She sets out a certain order of discarding and sorting which has come to be known as the KonMari Method which has taken off by storm.  I don't exactly follow the method or the order of decluttering but I did learn a few things from the method.  As for the order of decluttering (as depicted in the chart below), I like to tackle different areas as the motivation strikes me. I like to mix things up a bit and do a little of this and a little of that and tidy and clean and reorganize along the way. So many organizing gurus on You Tube run out and buy all kinds of containers to store stuff.  I've learned over the years that this might make things tidy but it only hides the clutter, it doesn't eliminate it.  At some point you will need to deal with it.



In the chart above, book sorting comes before paper sorting. So I guess I am following that rule.  Clothing is the first item to be sorted. I did actually sort a lot of clothing over the past few years, not just mine but my mother's as well and fabrics and so on. It is an ongoing process because I also bought a lot of clothing having gained and lost 50 pounds over the years.

But in between clothing and books I sorted and discarded a lot of miscellany to try and create more "breathing" space. It sounds like I am, or was, a hoarder but I am not. I just have a lot of stuff and I like my stuff to be contained and orderly.  I like everything in it's place but my place is too small for my stuff. That means I have too much of it. I can blame cooking from scratch, shopping for food sales and any other kind of sales (I love a good bargain), craft hobby, sewing hobby & reading hobby.  Now I am at that point in my life where I want a lot less stuff. That is hard when you like to read and do crafts of all kinds and when you were taught to save things for a rainy day or because they might be useful.  It also requires discipline to buy only what one needs when they need it. I will find a way to try and continue with all my interests and do it with less stuff.




Anyway, back to the books.  I've managed to "discard" 10-12 very large shopping bags. I was shocked to discover how many books there were.  It doesn't look like quite so many when they are neatly on the bookshelves.  Fortunately, my local hospital is going to take all of my cast off books but I have to deliver them. I'm hoping to do that on Monday. They  plan to sell the books to raise a bit of money for the work they do with seniors. So it's for a great cause.



In between cleaning and moving bookshelves and deciding which books to give away, I've also purged and cleaned the hallway coat closet. Generally I post giveaways on Freecycle and there are a few women in the community who always ask for my clothing which means they come and get it.  It is always much better to let someone else have use of something that is still in good condition than to put it in the garbage. Friday (today) I will vacuum and get back to paperwork which I'll work on throughout the weekend.

While all this work is going on inside, the exterior walls of my building are also being washed and painted. This should be done not later than the middle of August.  Everything on the patio has had to be moved in preparation. In  the meantime the patio pavers finally got a good washing. They really needed it as they were not washed last year

I have a guest coming in late August and another one in early September so they will find things looking a lot different. Not only that I will be able to enjoy visiting with them in my decluttered home.



They always say when you really declutter you start experiencing shifts in your life. Right now the shift I am experiencing is more freedom of mind and a growing sense of peace and joy in getting rid of a burden.
 


It's hard to believe in another few weeks we will definitely be in back to school mode and back to cooler weather and all the things that come with it. I always look forward to the Fall months when I no longer feel the heat of summer.

All the photos were taken in the month of July 2019 on various days except for the last photo which was taken in June ( I haven't had much time for photo taking). They are all taken between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m.  I've started to notice these past few days the sun is coming up a bit later. Have you noticed that where you live?

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the last days of summer.  Of course some of you are going through winter season. In that case, I hope it warms up for you soon. I know winter can be quite chilly and rainy in a place like New Zealand.



 Thank you for stopping by to visit.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Various Kinds of Tidying Up

The weather has been very nice here for a few weeks so have been  managing to do a bit of gardening  here and there between many other appointments and social engagements.  I'm still working on trying to finish planting then I will work on cleaning all the patio furniture.  Stage 1 water restrictions were effected on May 15th a full two weeks early due to the record breaking temperatures we've had.


Meanwhile in Kenya they are experiencing record rainfalls which are expected to continue through to June.


A friend's house was damaged and needs restorative work due to the heavy rainfall experienced in his town. They had to mop up all the water that had gotten inside the house too.  The heavy duty rains have only been occurring in the last few years and so restoration work is not a business there as of yet. Anyway I'm sure most people affected by such damage could not afford to pay for that kind of work so it is just as well.



You can see from the above photo that water had made it to the front door.


There was water all around the home.


 Though this home has been damaged, many others in Kenya have been flooded out of their homes.  Still others have lost their lives due to the torrential rains. The country's infrastructure is simply incapable of dealing with the forces of nature.

In related news, I watched a documentary last night that discussed the issue of recent extreme weather events and the scientific projections as to what we can expect in future.  In a nutshell, the weather is going to get even wilder and more extreme and cities and citizens will need to adapt.

Within 35 years it is said that Canada can expect:

• Double the number of extremely heavy precipitation events - with periods of drought in between.
• 5 times as many hot days over 30 degrees.
• 100% increase in wildfires.
• 50% less snowfall across the prairies.
• More hail and 50% more ice storms.
• More intense hurricanes.

We have certainly seen a lot of evidence of heavy rains starting earlier in the season, record breaking hot temperatures, devastating wildfires such as those going on right now in the north country and a lot more hail and ice storms than I can ever recall.  It is difficult enough for developed nations to cope with these kinds of extreme and rapid changes. It is that much more difficult for developing nations to do so.  If anyone is interested in the documentary, you may be able to watch it here depending on where you live in the world.

In addition to doing a bit of work outdoors and trying to enjoy the warm temperatures before they become too hot for comfort I am also working indoors.  I've been working on the ongoing decluttering & downsizing project that has literally been going on for years.  I seem to make so much progress and then end up right back where I started after a short while but I may have hit on a solution that will help me out.

I recently read the books, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and "Spark Joy:  An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up", both written by Marie Kondo, Japanese organizational consultant.  She calls her organizing and tidying method, the KonMarie Method.  I think it was Jeanie from the blog The Marmalade Gypsy who alerted me to this approach to tidying.  After I read her thoughts on the book I investigated and found a long waiting list for the book at the library. I put my name on the list and it took at least 8 months to get a turn to read it. I actually put my name on the list for both books.

The books are easy to read and I found many of the points made by Ms. Kondo resonated with me. The author writes about her early years of organizing and decluttering experiences while still a young girl living in the family home and afterwards. Everything she tried did not really work.  Ultimately she came up with her own method and that is what she now calls the KonMarie Method.  Up until now I've been decluttering and getting rid of things.  But I  have been decluttering slowly, a bit at a time over a long period. I also was still holding on to things that I did not use but felt bad about letting go of for various reasons.  In addition, I looked for more storage and better storage solutions thinking that would help keep good control over the "stuff".  Nothing ever worked for more than a temporary period.

Ms. Kondo's years of hands on experience led her to realize that slowly decluttering doesn't work. You need to do it all rather quickly and she recommends a time line of about 6 months.  She also takes a far more radical approach to letting go of things than I did.  Some of what she suggests seem amusing to the  average North American reader, for example, saying thank you to things that  you are letting go as they have served their purpose.  But in Ms. Kondo's spiritual practise all things are imbued with an energy so saying "thank you" to your sweaters and dresses is something that doesn't seem foolish to her or many of her in country (Japan) clients.  Even though I do not practise her religion I think there is value in appreciating those things we have taken the trouble to purchase or acquire and letting them go with good thoughts and acknowledgement that they have served their purpose. This approach probably frees your  mind not to focus on any feelings of guilt or remorse for wasted funds or for not keeping what someone might have given you. Finally, Ms. Kondo believes that more storage for your things is NOT the answer and in fact leads one to forget about what it is they actually own. I can attest that this is true in my life. I was amazed to discover just how many pair of tan coloured capris I own (*smile).

As soon as I finished the first book, I commenced clearing out my closets and dresser drawers again even though I just did a similar clear out within the last year or less. I made good progress using the method and hope to continue over the next few months to make even more progress. Ms. Kondo says to work on everything over a short period rather than a long period and the short period is about 6 months. I think I can make some good progress within that time frame.  She also outlines the sequencing of what to tackle in the process of tidying up and gives rationale for why she recommends a particular order.

I have to confess I did not strictly follow the KonMarie method in the work I've done so far.  It is because I do not like to have a big jumble of clothing piled on the floor, or on my bed.  That would be too overwhelming.  But I did try to adhere to the suggestions as closely as possible and make as much progress as possible.  For those that don't want to deal with all clothing at one time, she does recommend tackling a subset of clothing items and working through all subsets until the entire job is done.  The other suggestion I did not follow is throwing things away once I decided I no  longer needed them.  Instead I packed them up and posted them for giveaway. This requires a bit more work but keeps "stuff" out of the landfill and that is important to me. Others may find that having bags around tempts them to go and look in the bags and retrieve items never to get rid of them. I'm happy I do not seem to have this problem so bags are okay until a new home is found for the items.  I also know that there are a few things I will be unable to implement from the books. Things like having nothing in the bathtub (soaps and tools kept elsewhere), having nothing near the sink (soap and implements kept under the sink) and storing absolutely everything in the closet (like books).  These particular suggestions will not work for me but that is okay. My main objective is to pare down my things and keep them in a tidier way.




The red topped storage containers were picked up within a few hours of posting.  There were 5 of them taking up a lot of space.  Though these were purchased not so very long ago I no longer need them because I've decided I do not need to keep so many dried goods in my cupboard.  I plan to empty and give away even more containers.

I dislike throwing out virtually anything that can be used for other purposes but I also don't like hanging onto everything just in case I might  need it  later. One can have too many interests and not enough time to do everything so you have to pick and choose those things you will focus on and get rid of the rest.  I do a lot of sewing and have done a lot for my mom over the past year.  The scraps of fabric were posted for giveaway and also picked very soon after posting.  I mostly keep fabric that will be used later for quilting but I think I still have a tub of fabrics somewhere that can be given away and will need to check for it. Most of it would have been fabric I inherited and will likely never use.




Although it can be frustrating having clutter in a smaller home, the good thing is you are forced to address your possessions and make decisions about what to do with them.  Many people (myself included) mindlessly accumulate things even if we don't necessarily spend a lot of money in  accumulating them. If one is not careful, pretty soon you have far more than you need. I want to be a conscious consumer not a mindless one. I also want to prioritize those things I decide are worth keeping and other things that can be obtained when needed. Not everything needs to be kept on hand just in case it is needed.

In the past, books were hard for me to let go of and paperwork too. I tend to keep a lot of both.  I have gotten to the point where letting books go is much easier because I can get books at the library and return them. Sometimes I buy inexpensive books and give them away when done.  With papers, I don't like to throw anything out until I've deal with it and made sure it is shredded or burned. Making time to do that is difficult but it will be done.  Once it is done, I will have arrived at my goal and my prioritized "clutter" will be my crafting items.

In addition to tidying my things, I've also been busy week tidying my financial matters and planning for end of life.  I've attended a seminar about pre-planning my funeral because I saw an advertisement in the paper.  It got me motivated to make some firm plans when I learned that the cost of a burial plot in my general neighbourhood now sells for approximately $28,000 and that doesn't even cover the cost of funeral services, or any of the others costs like caskets or urns, etc.  The other thing I want to look into is ways to have a  more "green" funeral if possible.

After my meeting I will have a lot of work to do to figure out what I want for my own arrangements and hope to make some firm decisions in the next few months. This will take a load off of my mind as it is something I've been meaning to do for quite some time.

The other related areas I want to address are some adjustments to financial plans, redoing my Last Will & Testament and just getting a better handle on all these issues in general. Though I have taken care of a lot of things, I want to make sure everything is brought up to date and kept in a very organized and clear way for my executor.

What about you dear reader? 
Have you thought about pre-planning a funeral for yourself or a loved one
or do you find this too difficult to deal with?
Do you have to contend with such high costs for burial plots and funeral services?


Perhaps these are not issues that most people like to think about.  
But I think peace of mind over last wishes is such a wonderful gift to give oneself and loved ones. 
There is also the assurance that matters related to costs have been handled. 
When it is time to say goodbye, the grieving family and loved ones don't have to deal with all these decisions for you.

I'm joining in with Our World Tuesday today. Thank you for stopping by!




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