Boom! I cleared two small categories in one day: our medicines and vitamins, and our collection of games and puzzles. Medicines and vitamins suffered, like a few other categories, from being kept in four different locations: the master bathroom, second bathroom, the fridge, and a high cabinet in the kitchen. So I gathered them all Read More…
Category: Homemaking
Konmari: Baby Clothes and Diapers
The time is here. I finally tidied the baby clothes, and included cloth diapers as well. Once upon a time, I was pregnant and we moved across the Atlantic. In a largely empty apartment, while we waited for our things to ship, I exercised my desire to organise and decorate in the baby’s bedroom closet. I Read More…
Konmari: Travel Supplies
So, I meant to report on my cleaning up of baby clothes. I did actually do the baby clothes – but I don’t have a good photo and the baby herself is sleeping in the room I need to photograph. So instead you get an account of how I tidied up our travel supplies. First, Read More…
Konmari: Cleaning and Laundry Supplies
Time to clean out the cleaning supplies! First I got out my cleaning supplies from the five different locations where they are stored… This was an interesting exercise because it revealed to me that I’m actually very happy with my cleaning products. Weird, huh? In the last few years, and particularly since moving when I Read More…
Konmari: Tools and Stationery
These two KonMari categories, hardware/tools and stationery, seem similar to me because they are both equipment. They probably seem more akin because we have always stored them in the same cupboard: come to think of it, both in our previous flat and here. Let’s start with tools. For me this includes actual tools, like hammers, screwdrivers, Read More…
Konmari: Recipes
Monday morning, as usual, I was stressed about planning the menu and making a shopping list. Maybe the problem was my messy recipe collection, in binders so thickly crammed that I couldn’t wrench them out of the cupboard without pulling everything else out with them. I decided it was time to tidy my recipes! I’ve designated recipes Read More…
Konmari: Linens and Gift Wrap
Here we have two miscellaneous household categories: linens and gift wrapping supplies. I decluttered them on the same day, and gift wrap seemed too minor to give a post of its own, so I’m grouping them together. Gift wrap: not a lot to say. I culled a lot of secondhand tissue paper and ribbon scraps. Everything Read More…
Konmari: Art Supplies
Time to go through the art supplies. My art supplies have weighed on my mind for a while now. Although English is where most of my studies have been focused, I actually double-majored in English and Art as an undergrad. So I had a huge collection of oil paints, acrylic paints, watercolours, drawing supplies and pads Read More…
Konmari: Sewing Supplies (Where I Actually Sort Buttons)
It’s time to sort through my sewing supplies. Marie Kondo doesn’t have much nice to say about sewing supplies. She urges you to consider whether you really use your sewing kit at all. And she says nobody ever sews on the extra buttons that come with clothes. Excuse me, I do! You know what I also Read More…
Konmari: Valuables
The KonMari subcategory called ‘valuables’ includes things like credit cards, passports, and money. Here’s a category where I obviously haven’t been vigilant, despite going through it periodically as we have moved. I found a credit card which expired in 2010! It’s also a category where, previously, I have kept things on technicalities or out of Read More…