The sales of all sorts of containers are going through the roof!! 
@marvin100 - I have daily home delivery plus electronic subscription to the WaPo. Those are the links from the WaPo website itself when I was reading it today in Chrome. I have no idea how to edit the things.
@happymomof1 Not WaPo but my own little local paper – if I want to forward an article, I have to Google its title, then click on it from the search result, then I copy and paste that (shorter) URL. There may be cleaner ways, but that’s my workaround.
Chuckling a bit that on this MK “Tidying Up” thread we are talking about “tidying up” our links.
When you copy and paste a link here on CC you can in your text box (what I’m typing in right now), just highlight the “?” and everything after it and click delete - that will leave you with the clean, shorter link that will show up when you post your comment.
You can certainly test what abasket recommends by sending the link to your own email and trying it.
I’m watching another episode of Tidying right now, and I’m just amazed at how many shoes and clothes people have. Such a lot of money spent on things…
I read this a few years ago: https://www.amazon.com/Overdressed-Shockingly-High-Cheap-Fashion/dp/1591846544/ref=sr_1_1?
It’s a pretty harsh look at the “fast fashion” trend and our wasteful habits re clothing. I buy far less now.
BBC has a series of articles on disposable fashion and what it does to the environment. Unbelievable, but true.
I am not a fan of single season or single use clothing. Pretty much every item of clothing I buy I wear more than once - most of the times, way more than once - and keep for a few years. My special occasion dresses, too. One can dress stylishly without trendy stuff.
I skimmed through most of a few episodes last night and don’t see how what she does is substantial. She helps them pile things, then goes away for a week. That seems to be the impetus- get something done before she’s back. She lets you hang onto some difficult-to-decide items. But I didn’t see hints on what do do with the daily obstacles- things that have no obvious drawer or shelf to live in.
I realized my burden is not as huge as those folks. I’ve culled a lot. Still A LOT to go.
@lookingforward , I have to agree with you. I think her books must have tons more info. I have to say the door greetings sort of grate on my nerves. The phony high pitch ness.
^lol yes the door greetings- I mute the tv each time.
My biggest remaining issue is where to store the miscellaneous items. Some things are just not in a category that tells me where to keep it. Like binoculars.
I’ve come to value convenient “real estate” and put things I don’t use that often (like binoculars!) in inconvenient real estate. Frequently, that’s my basement, but it could also be a closet in another bedroom. I just moved our picture hooks out of the junk drawer in the kitchen and into a plastic baggie in the basement with the hardware items.
Small steps!
I would like the Tidying Up SHOW and then her books to something like watching Fixer Upper and actually flipping a house - the show gives you a taste of the experience but the real life experience will be much more detailed.
It’s a 10 (?) episode Netflix series - the point is to get people to turn into a situation that might be just like yours within those 10 episodes - and perhaps hook you into buying her books. I’d say based on book sales, mission accomplished.
I was at TJ Maxx today and saw some beautiful, colorful Kate Spade storage boxes for about $10. They were on an end cap facing the main store. All I could think of was how perfect they would be to store stuff in like she suggests!
“My biggest remaining issue is where to store the miscellaneous items. Some things are just not in a category that tells me where to keep it. Like binoculars”
If you were looking for them what’s the first place you’d look? That’s the storage philosophy of my guru A Slob Comes Clean. One of her other philophies is “The container is the limit. “ Your toy box is a container. So is your closet and your book shelf. You can use Kondos spark joy to decide which things can stay if you have too many to fit. Once you’ve hit the limit you can never add something without getting rid of something.
My personal best tidying philosophy is PAPER IS THE ENEMY OF CLEAN. I allow one box of paper per person in my home. This includes kids art work, cards notes etc…
I allow as little paper as possible into my home. It makes am amazing difference.
My binoculars are in a drawer in the dining room because it is near the largest windows where we are most likely to spot a bird and say let’s look at it closer (with it is our bird identification book). If we had to go searching for either of these the likelihood is that the bird will be long gone.
I don’t know if Marie Kondo says this, but another helpful philosophy is “The floor is not a storage space.”
LOL on the miscellaneous items. After living in a house for 25 years, we knew where they all were. Now we’re in a house with less space so some of the old rooms were consolidated or rearranged. I tried putting stuff in more logical locations, which you would think would make it easier, but not always! So far I’ve eventually been able to track everything down. (Binoculars are still in the study, as are our bird books.)
This thread is inspiring me to finally get the old cat stuff out of the garage and bring it over to the Humane Society to see if they can use it. It has such memories of our long term beloved cat of 20 years, and a little of the sweetheart of a cat we tried adopting a year later to whom I was quite allergic so had to return. I guess I just don’t want to admit my cat companionship days are over.
All I can say is that watching her show all afternoon led to 6^ bags of clothes for donation. I didn’t sit in front of TV watching, but would bring one drawer to the bed, sort, try on, and either fold or discard. So much for sweaters, t-shirts, PJs, …
In my son’s room, I discarded one suit, but can’t decide about his Bar Mitzvah suit. That clearly falls into the discard pile. There were only a handful of t-shirts there. Each one was from a math or science competition, or HS. I don’t think he would appreciate a t-shirt throw.
I already did kitchen, linen closets, bathrooms, unnecessary papers. I’m avoiding books and photos. When I have the party in May, those are the items that can be seen in the family room. By 4:00 today, I was too drained to do anything else.
155 - yes! I'll add - any flat surface is not a storage place. I ruthlessly clear crap off tables and countertops. B-)
When DH was a grad student, we had an unfortunate expression when we couldn’t find something: “When in doubt, look on the floor.” 