Saturday, January 19, 2019

Around Here

In my last post I talked about Marie Kondo and what I was doing to declutter my house.  I don't know about you however every second person is talking about this at the moment even complete strangers.  One person I follow on Instagram had taken some things to a local charity shop and there was a Brisbane City Council person outside with a clipboard doing a survey asking if they were decluttering as a result of Marie Kondo.



Maybe because it's school holidays when there is more time combined with a fresh new year however the charity shops in Brisbane I believe are being inundated with items as a result of Marie Kondo.  It certainly has me going though my belongings however it all started out with my sister's move and packing up her house.

The next job I tackled was the books in the house.  I have a big bookcase and also had books in my bedroom, some cookbooks above the fridge and some in a little table in the lounge room.  Thankfully a couple of months ago I tackled the little table in the lounge room sorting out books, throwing out magazines that were years old so that was already done.




I started by gathering all the books from all locations and put them on the hallway floor.  In hindsight I wouldn't put them on the floor because my back was so sore from bending over so I would recommend using the dining table which is a better height and bring all the books from all over your house and put them on the table.  Go through them one by one and then put them in a keep pile or a donate pile.  As I was keeping the books I was putting them into rough categories so when I put them back in the book shelf they were all organized.  I had money/investment books, mindful positive books, gardening and simple living and health/home cleaning etc.


I cleaned the shelves of the bookcase, moved some of the shelves up a few notches, cleaned the glass and on top of the bookshelf which required getting up on a chair, hello dust.  Once that was all clean I put the books back and it feels amazing to have it sorted and neatly back in the bookcase.

I have donated some amazing books like a 400 page hardcover Neil Perry Cookbook however as much as I love to keep it, I just don't use it or cook from it so it was into the charity box.  If there is a cookbook that I like a couple of recipes I just photocopy those recipes and send the book on it's way.  

I threw a lot of old gardening magazines out that were 7-8 years old and I could have donated those too however they were very old.  I did donate some more current ones.  We had 4 boxes of books which were dropped off on Friday and happy that they are now out of my house.  It feels so good to only have those books that I want to keep.  How is your decluttering going at your house.



4 comments:

  1. Job well done Kathy!

    I’ve been doing a few small things here and there, just a draw or something, I’ll tackle bigger areas after the kids go back to school.

    It does feel good to declutter, I watched an episode of her show last night where she was helping a woman declutter after the loss of her husband. The daughter made comment afterwards that the house felt lighter, and I think it helped them all start fresh. It was a very moving episode.

    I had my kids go through their DVD’s last night, they were happy to do it, and although they didn’t get rid of many (maybe 10 out of a large collection) it was s start, and then my daughter instigated grouping them in series as they were putting them back in the draw! And she hasn’t even been watching Marie Condo!!

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    1. Yes that was a very moving episode and I cried during that but the outcome was so lovely. You do feel lighter don't you. We did the DVD's [well the kids put them into a box and I have to get the final word on them] and we have about 30 to go to charity. A lot of wiggles, and younger years but we don't need them in the drawer taking up space. Feel good that's for sure. It's always good to get the kids involved because it teaches them how to keep their things tidy and pass on what they don't need too.

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  2. I found books one of the hardest things initially to think about letting go - until I twigged that it would be so much nicer to have things which reflected my interests right now. Well done on clearing so much ... I do wonder what's going to happen to all the donated stuff, because along with the de-cluttering, there is a real swell of let's-make-do-with-less.

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    1. I agree our interests and passions change and therefore the books I want to keep are different to a few years ago. Not that much however some I'm not that attached too. The excess of stuff in Brisbane in the charity shops is becoming an issue as the Marie Kondo appears to have taen over every single person here.

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