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KonMari And Large Families

KonMari first came to my attention via internet buzz, I read posts and forum chatΒ with interest and was 7th on the library reservation list. Β A few weeks ago my friend began reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie KondoΒ and sharing daily updates with me.Β  We wondered what could a Japanese mother of one whose method is influenced by her Shinto faith, have to say to us, Aussie Christian mothers of many with children over a wide age spread, initially it appeared that the differences were too great. Culling certainly looks different for a family who still have children at all stages,Β and as for thanking belongings for doing their job, as KonMari does, well credit here goes to Our Almighty Father for our blessings. However we were intrigued and continued reading (can I claim to have read when it was D who did all the reading, digesting and narrating?) KonMari did work her ‘magic’ on us and managed to challenge our thinking, with adaptions to suit our large families,Β our homes gradually took on a new look, as we daily checked in and cheered one another along.

 

konmari 1

 

Before Christmas in preparation forΒ roofing half our home, all the contents from the ‘roofing half’ were moved into the other half of our home. Inching about furniture and 8000 homeless books was a bother to understate the situation. When after Christmas we gutted part ofΒ the internal of the β€˜old house,’ it became obvious building work would continue for months and half a home of belongings wouldn’t be returning anytime soon, meanwhile I needed to find and maintain my peace. Simply I’d reached the point where it was all too much, I was ready to really listen to KonMari, in other words I was desperate.

 

De-cluttering has been a regular part of our household routine sinceΒ I first read Don Aslett’s – Clutter’s Last Stand. Admittedly though plenty of ‘justifiable belongings’Β had crept back in, “that will be useful, weΒ paid money for that, we might need it” etc etc. Β KonMari encouraged me to take a deeper plunge in de-cluttering, as I moved through our home assessing, I kept her catch phrase in mind ‘does it bring me joy?’ which whilst it sounds hokey and had my husband and children rolling their eyes, the principle encouraged me to ‘let it go!’ Β I also considered why an item wasn’t ‘bringing joy,’ could I change its function or was it time to let the item go? For example, the temporary shelving in our built-in wardrobe had long bothered me, assessing the problem I replaced the shelves with two chest of drawers. The joy principle gave me the impetus to finally fix a long irritation and so it went as I moved through the house. Practically speaking there are items in this home that don’tΒ bring me joy but they have a function and a purpose, so if they were being used or likely to be again, they stayed.

 

konmari 3

 

I can’t claim to have followedΒ KonMari’s method faithfully as I deviated in a few areas such as time taken and her category approach. KonMari says to take six months to declutter your entire home, I didn’t have the luxury of time, my house was driving me insane and it was school holidays, time for aΒ homeschooling mama to catch up on major household projects. Besides when I’m on a roll I just keep going, I blitzed this home in three weeks. As for categories I am and always will be a room by room gal in my method. Although in a way ourΒ rooms are organised by categories; stationary and papers in the learning room and study, clothes in the bedrooms, books in the library and so forth.

 

KonMari encourages you to begin in your bedroom and focus on my belongings only, to not even consider touching yourΒ husband’s belongings. Ms Kondo assures her readers that husbands will be inspired and motivated by you, I admit I was hugely skeptical about this but in the interest of marital harmony I followed the plan. I focused on letting go of my own clothes and whilst I regularly cull I went to a deeper level, those clothes that I think ‘I don’t like but I’ll keep until I replace them,’ gone! Truth is I won’t replace until I’m forced to, asking myself ‘does this make me feel good about myself?’ meant my wardrobe was reduced drastically, so freeing. Something else new,Β KonMari’s method for folding clothes. I skeptically ‘gave it a go’ andΒ folded and placed my clothes on their edges and was totally shocked at how much space this creates in my drawers, there is room to breath! Unbeknownst to me my husband was inspired and also folded his clothes this way, they were that way for a week before I realised. The older children are responsible for their own rooms and they were fine as they had also recently undergoneΒ a deep clean. As our younger children’s room(under 7s) only contain their clothes and I had recently decluttered it, I was able to move on quickly to the communal areas.

 

konmari 2

 

The biggest ‘game changer’ Β from KonMari’s method was how I tackled the communal areas, IΒ involved the children and listened fully to their thoughts. Whilst the children have always been a part of decluttering projects, I made the final decisions, althoughΒ I would respect a child’s request to keep an item, if they were happy to move an item on and I wasn’t for various reasons, it stayed. This time I totally embraced the children’s opinions, if they said they didn’t like an item or wouldn’t use it, I Let it Go! I changed the words to suit the occasion to the song ‘Let it Go’ and sang itΒ so many times (and out of tune) that the children banned me from singing it πŸ™‚

 

With each communal areaΒ I pulled everything off the shelving, assessed and then only placed back what we decided to keep. Our first communal project was the jigsaws, I pulled all the puzzles out onto a table calledΒ the children and told them to,”choose what you like, or you think worthwhile to keep for siblings.” They made their selections and what was left I gave away! This was a major shift for me as in the past I would justify keeping items the children weren’t interested in by thinking “but that’s educational, another child might be interested in” however if it’s not being used then it has no educational properties, and if nineΒ previous children weren’t interested then not likely the tenth will be.

 

konmari 5

 

Feeling inspired I next tackled the linen cupboard, I was on a roll and became ruthless. My mother loves to gift us with linen and whilst we love her generosity there was no way we were making our way through all we had. Β I called the children, told them to select their two favourite doona covers, which was still being generous, and moved along the rest! yes I did! I applied this principle to each section of the cupboard, sheets, towels etc, the children selected and I moved along what was left. Those items I was keeping until I replaced such as non absorbent tea towels, I moved along now I’ll be forced to replace.

 

TheΒ Learning Room was a real test of putting into practice my new resolution to let go. Twenty-two years of homeschooling had accumulated in many resources and I needed to release sufficient to be able to downsize a whole cupboard. That meant twelveΒ cubes/boxes of materials had to go and for a homescholling mama this was a challenge. “We might need, I used it with Johnny and may need for Jane, I paid good money….” this room could have been my waterloo but my ‘letting go muscles’ were flexed now and I only gained momentum. The boxes of stationary we never used, I sent to Africa and a moratorium has been placed on stationary purchases for at least another year. The sewing material I’d planned to use teaching the girls to sew, ugly, we tossed the lot, we’ll buy new, attractive prints. The smocking project I began twenty two years ago, obviously I’ve never progressed. Asking myself, “do we use, are we likely to?” and being completely honest, I was able reduce so much; the sandpaper letters I’d made when Anna Maria was a preschooler eighteen years ago which have never been used since, the wooden clock that’s needed new hands for the past ten years,Β flash cards, stationary supplies, I cutΒ a swath through the room. Β I was able to gift many quality materials which no longer fit our learning style/needs to a new homeschooling mama and our cupboard to another. Seven computer cases went to a shop that rebuilds electronics and gives them to families in need. We found it easier to give away items if we knew they were going to those in need or were being repurposed.

 

konmari 4

 

I continued to work my way through the other rooms of the house although as some areas had recently been culled I only needed to release aΒ few items that I had been keeping ‘just in case.’ We still have the filing cabinets to do but that’s a project for another day when PC’s attentions aren’t on our current building project. The children continued to be involved as I moved throughout and I continued to listen to them. Β In this way many, many garbage bags and boxes left our home, finding new homes elsewhere.

 

Thus then I came to our books which was a daunting task and one I left till last. The method I employed thereΒ deserves a whole post of it’s own. So stay tuned, I’ll be back with tips on how to cull an 8000 book library!

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16 Comments

  • Marijke

    You’re a hero and an inspiration, well done! After our talk a couple of weeks ago, I’ve done some more culling too. Although with all the moves we have done, it was fairly quick, it does give a lot of peace and quiet in head and home. I can walk around again in our office/sewing/Lego/guest room!

    • Erin

      Marijke
      Aw thank you. Though can’t believe you would have much to cull, as you say moving keeps it down. To have one room work for so many functions is a challenge!

  • Sharyn

    ‘You’re a hero and an inspiration, well done!’ Totally agree!! You did all that in three weeks! Well done indeed!

    ‘sandpaper letters I’d made when Anna Maria was a preschooler eighteen years ago’ lol. Another sandpaper letter maker here. I hardly even used them too. I tried and failed with my old homeschool books this last holidays. But you’ve inspired me. I think I’m going to have another go at it. We are getting closer to making a move too so time to get rid of clutter.

    Your picture of the pond is really pretty!

    What happened to the little Red Browed Finch?

    • Erin

      Sharyn
      Thank you πŸ™‚ I did life, breath and do nothing but think culling, I believe I might have been rather tunnel visioned to live with πŸ˜‰

      Really, you made sandpaper letters too!!

      Don’t start with your homeschooling books, leave them till last! Start with the easiest to part with. In fact don’t start with books at all if you are preparing for a move, start with an area you find easiest to let go in, flex those muscles first on the easy jog before the hard slog.

      How interesting you like the dam picture, I nearly didn’t include it. Obviously we can get too used to our surroundings.

      The children found the bird trapped in spider’s web and rescued it, cleaned it up then released it.

  • sarah

    It sounds like you have done an amazing job. I am impressed as letting all that linen go. I inherited my grandmother’s and we have way more than we need but i have the one day i’ll need to replace the current linen and it would be a waste to have to buy it mentality. I am number 11 on our reserve list for life changing magic πŸ™‚

    Can’t wait to hear about how you tackled the library .

    • Erin

      Sarah

      I was amazed at myself too! My friend was even more ruthless and got rid of all bar one set of sheets each!
      It would though be much harder to get rid of your grandmother’s linen. Not only the sentimental factor but often they were prettier and better quality don’t you think? So maybe not the linen for you?

      Library post is in the posts stage. It certainly was a process

    • Erin

      Karen
      Yes that will be a challenge although it’s more a case of being selective of what I keep. And moving items along quickly.

      Oh thank you! The bird was fine, he’d gotten caught up in a spider’s web, the children released him once they washed and dried him.

  • Thersea

    Well done, Erin!!! I loved reading this! I should return to my decluttering project around here. I recently culled our family photos according to her suggestions, and it felt sooo good!! I have such a different perspective on what types of photos are important to keep now than I did ten years ago.

    You were so wise to leave the school stuff and books till you had the momentum behind you πŸ™‚ I CAN’T WAIT to read your book post! We only have a very small area for storing our school supplies and even though we only have four or five years behind us, I still feel the need to pull stuff off the shelves and toss all the stuff I thought I *might* use. There just isn’t space for the materials that aren’t actually in use anymore!

    Thanks again! And thanks for sharing all these beautiful photos!

    • Erin

      Theresa
      Thanks! πŸ™‚ and I loved reading your post on KonMari. I’d just assumed you’d finished, lol. What are her suggestions re photos?
      I was though it helped I was ready to part with school supplies, I knew there were items we hadn’t used in years. My teaching style has changed a little or perhaps more I’m happy to embrace who I am, not who others are.
      Glad you liked my photos, I enjoy doing close ups when I can.
      Book post is close to being ready, hope it delivers all you wish for.

  • Sherelle

    Great photos. I too was amazed at the folding method when I changed to it. Hats off to you for culling linen. Towels are just so darned handy! But you’re right, it is very freeing to get rid of “stuff”.

    • Erin

      Thanks Sherelle πŸ™‚ Yes the folding method had to be seen to be believed.
      Not to worry I still kept plenty of towels, 2 each (they all have their own colours), 5 for guests, and the beach towels and several for spills. Too many really.

      Totally freeing, certain the house groaned in delight πŸ™‚

  • Isabel

    Thanks for sharing this! I have 9 children, having homeschooled for 15 years now… I can so relate to the sandpaper letters πŸ™‚ I made some when my now 20-yo was 5! But I do still use those with my littles. Looking forward to reading how you decluttered the books, as it seems such a daunting task! No way it could be second in my list (according to Konmari) I will leave it for last when my “letting-go” muscles are stronger πŸ™‚

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