Wednesday KatMari

[rachelmanija]

This has really been a breakthrough for me. I have previously never in my life been able to do any sustained organizing that did not involve some favorite hobby. Marie Kondo's show, at least, is basically about being a therapist for people's relationship with their possessions and their living space; once I realized that and started considering mine in those terms, all of a sudden tidying became my own personal therapy and thus an enjoyable and doable task, rather than something I inevitably got bored or frustrated with, wandered off having accomplished not very much, and then procrastinated on trying again for weeks/months/years.

Also, she has some good practical tips. My big discovery is that putting stuff in transparent boxes makes it a million times easier to find things - I'm very "out of sight, out of mind" for a lot of stuff, so it will essentially not exist for me unless I can literally see it. I have been hitting the Daiso (Japanese dollar store) for boxes. I realize that this is one of those things that's easy and tempting to shame people with: "How did you get this old before learning something any normal person figures out at age five?" But in fact I did not figure it out until age 45, due to watching that show.

I am currently working on the kitchen. Alas, I AGAIN forgot to take proper "before" photos. You can extrapolate what it probably looked like by the fact that yesterday I unearthed a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese that expired in 2011, which is probably also the last time I ate it.





Alex and Erin help me sort stuff from a drawer I had forgotten existed for literally years.



Erin helps me sort packaged food. I did not notice the Hello Kitty crackers till after I took the photo.

My kitchen has two of these cabinets/counters, one on each side. Here's what they both looked like "before:"



And after:



Erin approves my progress! (I feel like I need to note that I do eat stuff other than packaged snacks. It's just that the healthy stuff is mostly in the refrigerator.)





I put things I use daily or near-daily, plus non-refrigerated perishables on the counter, so I will see and eat them rather than having them go bad because I forgot they existed.



Please no negativity in comments. If you don't like this topic, please scroll or blacklist the decluttering tag.

Comments

[sartorias]

Wow! I really like that pretty tray in the bottom one. The top one with the curious kitties had me laughing.

Everything looks so tidy! I bet that feels good.

[grammarwoman]

Organization porn like this really hits my sweet spot. Well done! :)

I follow a few Youtubers that focus on organization that might be helpful for your further pursuits, if you wanted some links?

[rachelmanija]

Sure, thanks!

[rachelmanija]

It does!

Taking the photos is pretty funny because I have to capture the moment when they're exploring but have not yet run to me and thus gotten too close to photograph. It's sometimes extremely brief. I also have some good ones of them both in my new laundry basket (one at a time) - maybe I'll put those up tomorrow.

[asakiyume]

Looking good!

And it's definitely true that having the right holder-thing, whatever it might be, helps so much. Otherwise all your stuff is just... loose.

[sartorias]

Do! More Alex and Erin pix always a plus!

[movingfinger]

Using risers for the items in the back can help a lot with cabinets like those.

I love your clear organizer bins---yes, it really helps keep things from disappearing, when similar things are together and you can see what is in there. Daiso is so good for things like that!

On canned goods, I started writing the date I bought them on top of the can in marker, to make it easier to rotate them and to help remind me to use them.

[rachelmanija]

That's a good idea, thanks. Does Daiso have risers?

I also like the idea of writing the dates on things.

[rachelmanija]

In giant heaps, in my case.

[grammarwoman]

Dana K. White of A Slob Comes Clean has a couple of great books that expand on her basic philosophy in decluttering a space, asking yourself two questions: "If I needed this item, where would I look for it? If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already have one? (If not, get rid of it because I’d just buy a new one if I needed it.)" She also talks about her container concept and establishing boundaries, basically designating a space for things of a type and not letting yourself go beyond that space.

I also like Clutterbug and her four organizing styles for figuring out ways to get and stay organized. Me, I'm somewhere between a ladybug and a cricket, because I don't want to see all my stuff (visual simplicity), and I want the put-away stuff to be somewhat organized. (Warning: she usually ends her YT posts with personal stories that range from funny to embarrassment squick, so be careful.)

I hope you find something useful in those links!

[lilacsigil]

What helpful kitties! I have all my craft stuff in transparent containers and it makes it vastly easier to check what I have before starting anything - my accidental double purchases are way down.

[havocthecat]

Do people really figure this stuff out in their teenage years? Oh, God, I'm so fucking behind. Whoops.

Oh well. At least I'm starting now?

[movingfinger]

I have seen them in Daisos (where I am now, there is only a small Daiso), but sometimes the hardware store has them---you can get the kind with two or three steps on them, that slide together and apart to fit the space, or you can just use a piece of wood (or two) or inexpensive empty square plastic boxes to lift things up. Sometimes Daiso has kind of flatter plastic boxes, actually trays used in drawers, that can be flipped to make a riser, but ideally you don't want the riser to be two cans deep unless you are "queuing" the cans on it.

If you stack a couple of cut-to-size 2x4s and glue them together, that works well too and the width is about the same as most cans. You can cover it with contact paper for a smoother look. Works only if you have a hardware store do the cutting for you.

The wire racks are too rickety in my experience.

[rachelmanija]

Well, I sure didn't!

How's yours going?

[laurashapiro]

So inspiring! We finished our most recent purge before the current wave of Konmari enthusiasm, and I'm kinda regretting I didn't a) get everything done before I had to go back to work, and b) invest in transparent containers. I've long lusted after glass jars for my kitchen. Someday...

[musesfool]

I find keeping stuff in clear containers is so helpful! And now I have a label maker so I can label things so I know the cake flour vs. the regular flour vs. the powdered sugar without having to open them up!

[evelyn_b]

Your kitchen counters look beautiful! I hope you (and your cats) continue to enjoy the breakthrough.

[sholio]

Cats. So helpful. :D This all looks great!

And add me to the list of people who had no idea clear containers were so useful until quite recently. I use a lot of clear stackable drawer-type things in my closet now.

[princessofgeeks]

I am so happy for you! This is awesome!

[mildred_of_midgard]

I have at other times in my life found milk crates useful, and have recommended them to other people who've found them useful. They're cheap, they come in different sizes, they're relatively see-through, and they're stackable.

Downsides: they're not good for very small things, like pencils, because the holes are so large. If you stack them, you have to lift the higher ones to get to the lower ones, so put your heavy stuff on the bottom.

[osprey_archer]

That beautifully organized kitchen cupboard is hitting me in the same sweet spot as the pantry illustrations in the Brambly Hedge books. So much food! So easy to see!

[daidoji_gisei]

I'm only here for the cats. :D

[redbird]

If Daiso doesn't have anything suitable, we got clear acrylic risers at the Container Store--I'm not sure what the store calls them, we were using them to double-up rows of paperbacks on bookshelves and be able to see (part of) and reach the books in the back row.

I miss Daiso; I checked the other day and the farthest east they've gotten in North America is Texas.

[pameladean]

Hey, I'm WAY older than you are and had not yet figured out this business about transparent containers except, curiously, in the case of dry goods like flour and sugar and rice.

Alex has lovely markings and good Lord, I believe I have remarked on this before, but Erin is enormous! Go her!

I have not forgotten that you suggested I take photos of my bookcases. I cannot get images into comments, but I should be able to do a post. I will mention now that it is hard to get far enough away from many of them to do a good photo and also that they are extremely pre-decluttering, and littered with quite a lot of weird stuff. Well, the hardcover shelves are. The paperback ones are made to precisely fit mass-market paperbacks (*cue hollow laughter*, this was well before the whole distribution system collapsed) and you could put a pen down there, or a bookmark or an energy bar, but not much else. Well, she says, looking, a stapler, a ruler, a small prescription bottle. Yikes.

P.

[rachelmanija]

Yeah, Erin is huge (and Alex is quite small). Erin likes me to carry her around and she's quite a workout. The vet suggested putting her on a diet but she seems perfectly proportioned, just a big solid cat.

My (also MMP-sized - well, some of them) bedroom bookshelves have multiple prescription bottles, plus multiple other forms of strange non-book items.