Tidying Up: Oh My Day 9!

The KONMARI method kicked my butt today! I started simple with shoes. It only took me about 30 minutes to go from 60 pairs to about 40 pairs. Let's be honest...we all know which shoes bring us joy. As of today, I had completed all of the categories under clothes as well as books. KONMARI has the next category as paper, however my guy and I wanted to do paper together, so I agreed to hold off. Boy do I wish I had done paper today.

The next category in the KONMARI method is something she calls, Komono. Komono refers to miscellaneous items. There are so many categories within Komono that you could pretty much start anywhere. So I decided to start in the kitchen. I have "organized" my pantry many times since we have been in our house, but today I focused on tidying up everything the KONMARI way. Oh my goodness!

Mug Cabinet Before

Mug Cabinet After

First of all, there was no way I was taking every kitchen item out of my cabinets and determining what brought me joy. I decided to tackle it in stages. I started with glasses and mugs.Our cabinets have become pretty cluttered in this area, which in turn means we have a lot more on our counters than we need. I was even texting my guy pictures of his mugs to tell me which ones bring him joy. (I think I might be obsessed.) For each of my cabinets I was able to change the shelf heights and store my mini blender and smoothie materials in one, and all of my Keurig items in the other. Huge difference on our counters!

Glasses Before

Glasses After

My guy and I have always disagreed on how we store our glasses, glasses up or glasses down. I'm  an up girl and he is a down guy (Mainly because this is how we were raised.) Once we started living together, I compromised and became a glasses down kind of girl. However, after KONMARIng our glasses, I couldn't believe how many of our nice Crate and Barrel glasses were chipped on the rim, which of course does not bring me joy. According to Good Housekeeping, "The rim of the glass is the most delicate part of the glass, and therefore should be stored up or it will chip." So from now on we are Team Glasses Up, at least for our glassware.

Then I proceeded to organize the rest of our upper cabinets. Our cabinets are so tall. It is a beautiful kitchen, but for 5'4" me, I can't reach anything in the upper cabinets (Lucky for me, my guy is 6'4", but he isn't always home when I am cooking). It is such a pain. When we moved in, we placed mixing bowls on the "No Reach" zone. Ugh! This has been awful. Every time I bake, I need help getting bowls and supplies down.

Tidying the  upper cabinets, quickly turned into the pantry, which quickly turned into the island. It was interesting that the books I organized over the weekend, I felt like now needed a space. The KONMARI method says you will just know as you go through the process where things "feel" like they want to be stored. I don't know if my books "felt" it or I felt it but I am in heaven with my new pantry organization! Two shelves strictly devoted to my baking! I didn't take a "before" picture of the pantry because I hadn't planned to tidy up in there, but it all just sort of fell that way.

The big brown dog was not excited at all to KONMARI today. He still earned two cabinets of his own though in the "No Reach" zone... for obvious reasons.

P.S. Does anyone know a good place to donate kitchen items?

Bag Count:
Me: 7  plus 2 boxes of books and 1 small box of jewelry and 2 boxes of kitchen stuff.
My Guy: 2 bags
Trash Guy: 6 bags

Tidying Up: Day 6, 7 & 8

Oh how I wanted to tell you how much progress I made this weekend. Unfortunately, I did not make much. Saturday after running errands and visiting family, I did tackle books. As a cupcake baker, I have an abundance of baking books. It was hard to decide which cookbooks to keep and which ones to let go. I know back to the whole, "Does it bring me joy?" thing. Also, I had saved a lot of travel guides and professional teaching books from my admin degree. Some books I saved, but most I am donating.I recycled a ton of magazines too. One benefit of online magazine subscriptions, no recycling needed!

Donating

Keeping

The big brown dog found a book he liked too!

My guy did tidy up all of the bottoms in his closet, so he is slowly getting back on board. I even taught him how to fold his jeans and shorts to maximize room in his closet. No tidying tonight though because of the British Open. Shh! Don't tell him Zach Johnson won in a playoff.

Sunday was our day of rest, so no tidying yesterday. Today I tackled jewelry.I forgot that under the clothes section of the KONMARI method is shoes and jewelry. Shoes I plan on tidying tomorrow, but jewelry was pretty easy.

As a teacher, you are blessed with numerous beautiful trinkets from students over the years. It is very hard to part with some, because every student brought you joy, and recycling the jewelry they made or gave you is difficult. However, the number of loom band bracelets I have accumulated over the past two years was quite astonishing. I could probably wear a different one every day for a year and have no repeats!

So, I went by this method, if I could remember the student who gave it to me, I kept it. For example, one adorable sweet student H gave me my one and only cupcake necklace because he saw it in the gift shop at the airport and made his mom buy it for me because he knew I had to have it. It even came in its own cupcake shaped box. Still makes me smile every time I see it.

Also, my sweet pale pink bracelet from student A. She makes beautiful jewelry. She made me a special pink beaded bracelet with an apple and two books that dangle from it. Last, two elastic bracelets from student S. He made it with his mom. His explanation was the sweetest. "I included pink beads because you battled breast cancer and won. I included purple beads because you love the Ravens, and I included blue beads because it is my favorite color and that way you won't forget me." He was sooo right ; )

Before

After

Donation Box

I still have a whole shelf of Tiffany jewelry. All tucked away neat in their little blue pouches. I love each and every piece. Does anyone else have a collection of Tiffany bracelets and necklaces that they no longer wear? I can't bring myself to donate them. Jewelry brings lots of joy, but goodness statement necklaces take up a lot of space!

Bag Count:
Me: Still 6, plus 2 boxes of books and 1 small box of jewelry.
My Guy: 2 bags
Trash Guy: Still 2

Tidying Up: Day 5

Well one week down and what progress I have made! Today I tackled socks, underwear, bras, and pajamas. I didn't start off so great since someone adorable kept stealing the socks off my bed. He is lucky he is so cute!

When you are reading Marie Kondo's book, there is a whole section on socks. I literally laughed out loud.

 Treat your socks and stockings with respect

Never ever ball up your socks

This should be a time for them to rest

Do you think they can get any rest balled up like that?

Who knew my socks were under so much pressure! I thought being a teacher was stressful, apparently the life of a sock is very tense. Ha! This was one part of the book where I thought she was off her rocker, but once again she proved me wrong. Not because I think my socks need to rest, but because her way of storing socks saved SO much space. I was actually able to fit my socks, bras, and underwear all in one drawer. 

The KONMARI way also says to place light colored items in the front of your drawer and darker colored items in the back. In your closet, it should be heavier items on the left and light items on the right. I have yet to organize my drawers by color, but that could be something I do later on-not an urgent task in this process.

My closet and my drawers are all organized now. Every piece of clothing I own, has a specific place, and I still have room in my closet, and a whole unused drawer in my dresser. What?! I KNOW! 

This weekend's agenda? Shoes, Books, and Papers, oh my!

Bag Count:

Me: Still 6

My Guy: Still 1

Trash Guy: Still 2 ( I jammed a little more into the one from yesterday. No one wants used socks, underwear, or bras donated...yuck!)

Tidying Up: Day 4

So today was supposed to be socks and underwear. I switched it with tomorrow's task because I'm not equipped to organize those drawers with out smaller boxes to place the items in at the moment.  The KONMARI method does not want you to buy any storage organizers, but simply use shoe boxes or boxes you already have to help organize your belongings. Now as an addict of the Container Store and all things Bed Bath and Beyond, I was once again skeptical. But she proved me wrong again! I have organized my drawers so easily just using boxes. I did purchase one clear three compartment bin for $7.99 at TJ Maxx but I will explain that in a second.Sorry KONMARI gods!

Today I decided to tackle accessories: bags, purses, belts, scarves, and bathing suits. I definitely bit off more than I could chew. Today's joy took me over 2 hours! I am very pleased with the results.

On the top shelf I have my purses. I used my last Stitch Fix box to organize my clutches and smaller handbags. I will probably cover it later with cute wrapping paper to make it more appealing, but for right now it works.  I used one clear three slotted bin for slips, tights, and leggings. It fits right on my top shelf. I used to have these items in a drawer. It was chaotic and when I tried to find tights to wear I would inevitably have to pull out everything in the drawer to find them. I think it was $7.99 well spent.

My closet isn't big so I couldn't get everything in the picture, but on the left is all my fall and winter clothes, divided by my sorter in the middle(already owned this item), then on the right is my spring and summer clothes. I use my sorter in the center to lay my clothes out for the week when I'm working. I find it easier for me if I plan out Sunday night what I am going to wear because I am not a morning person. Some people would disagree with me because I usually am one of the first cars in the parking lot at work, but for the first hour I am up, I am not a functioning adult. The sorter worked well for me this past year, but I'm worried I might just start piling things in it. So I may just take it down and use it in our future nursery (still praying). 

Best thing about tidying up so far, the EXTRA space. I have a whole rack in my closet I am not using plus two more shelves at the top of the closet. The KONMARI method states that all of your belongings should be able to fit in the storage you already have, so we will see what next week brings. I may use my top racks for photos and memorabilia. Items that bring me joy that I don't need to see everyday. 

My next huge accomplishment today was tackling my scarves! I love wearing scarves, but ugh storing them is miserable. I bought a scarf organizer, but it only held 12 scarves. Needless to say, it wasn't working for me. I perused online for different ideas and saw one that used something I already owned...FROM COLLEGE! It works perfectly! I can still see every scarf and each one has its own space. How easy will it be to put a scarf away after I wear it? Brilliant!

The dog really likes my old organizer. I'm not going to donate it yet, because maybe it to will have a different purpose.

Total Bag Count:

Me = 6 bags

My Guy = 1 bag (He still promises to catch up)

Trash Guy = 2 bags

Tidying Up: Day 3

Today I tackled dresses, suits, evening wear (not a lot of that going on here), and jackets/coats. Not as much in my pile in this area.

I think the the big brown dog is over this tidying up stuff every day. Just wait until we get to his toys ; )

It seems to be getting easier to decide what brings me joy and what doesn't. In fact , as I am sorting one category, I am noticing things in other categories that definitely don't bring me joy lying around the house. I am fighting the urge to dispose of those items because the KONMARI method says to stick to the category order. I noticed on Monday it took me 2 hours to tidy up my tops, but each day it is getting much quicker. Today and yesterday took less than an hour. This is progress.

After reading her whole book, there are still a few things that I feel she is a little wacky about in her ideas. The whole greeting your house thing when you arrive home, yeah I don't see myself talking to my house, but hey if it works for some people, great! I also don't agree with emptying my purse every night. I guess it would help my purse from getting cluttered. I am not someone that changes her purse every day to match my outfit. Perhaps in Japan they do, or if you have an abundance of money and purses you do, but for me, who locks her purse up in a teacher cabinet all day, not worth the effort.

My guy bailed last night on his joy. It is much easier for me to tidy up when I am not working right now (Ahh, the glamorous life of a teacher). We didn't get home until 8:30 last night, and he didn't have the energy to organize anything. He promises me he will tackle his categories another night. 

Bag Count:

Me: 5

My Guy: 1

Pinterest Inpiration and a scare!

Is it possible for a website to change who you are or at least make you a little better? If so, Pinterest is my saving grace. As a teacher, I love Pinterest! This year my classroom took on a whole new level of color, creativity,  organization, and cuteness. I just had to share some of my Pinterest inspired products.First up---my teacher toolbox. I don't know why, but this box keeps me so organized, AND it keeps my desk drawers clean.


Next up, my adorable birthday balloons. My students get so excited just to pick out a balloon.
Also, bin ribbons. Seriously?? I have used bins like the one in this picture (dollar store) for years!! Never once did I think to run a ribbon through them.How simple?

The rest of the items are ones I actually found on Pinterest and printed off of another site. These are my favorite because I didn't do any of the work... tee hee. What is a teacher's motto? "Work smarter, not harder." (Took me a long time to learn this motto).

Voice level chart

Cute polka dot cards for my schedule.

These adorable sayings that I framed with $2.00 frames from Ikea.

On a more serious, and less classroom focused topic, two weeks ago I found another lump. Needless to say, I have been stressed beyond belief. I went last week to have it checked, especially since it was on my unlucky left side; the side that got me into this cancer mess in the first place. Of course I had to have two sonograms and a mammogram. Three hours later, no cancer! Just an oil cyst. Phew! I guess this is my "new normal" so to speak. There is a lot to be said for peace of mind.