Friday, July 17, 2015

The life-changing magic of tidying up





So I have just finished reading Marie Kondo’s book ‘The life-changing magic of tidying up’ and I absolutely loved it.

I could not wait to finish it so that we could get started de-cluttering our house and lives. I did want to start before I had finished reading the book, however I decided that for me it was best to finish the book and then start.

Surprisingly, when I put a photo of the book up on Instagram a couple of friends had already read the book and started the de-cluttering process.

Kondo’s main point is that everything in your home should “spark” joy. If it does then it needs to go. She also states that you should work by category rather than a room so that you make sure you do a category all in one go. So for instance if you start with clothing (which she recommends) then you need to find every single item of clothing in your house and put it in a pile and then start sorting. You need to touch every single item so see if it “sparks” joy.

The one thing that disturbed me a little was when she talked about how many rubbish bags worth of stuff people got rid of. I hope that she meant that they gave it to charity and only threw out thigns that were old/broken or that could not be fixed by someone else. I really struggle with how many things people throw away and things that could be sold or given to people that need/appreciate them. So I will be sorting things into different piles, things to sell for RCR Cat Rescue, things to list on Trade Me, things to donate and recycling/rubbish.

Hopefully, we can make a start this weekend on clothing and I think that I might document our progress on both my blog and on Instagram. We will probably start with clothing, books/DVD's/CD's, kitchen gadgets, paperwork, stationery, photos etc.
 
You can use hashtags on Instagram to find before and after photos from others which is extremely inspiring. Also, I have just found Marie’s Facebook page.


Have you read Marie’s book or a similar book? Have you de-cluttered recently? How did you find it?

Thursday, July 16, 2015

101 Things in 1001




On the 1st January 2007 I started a list of a 100 things I wanted to do in 2007. I never finished the list. Today while on Instagram I came across a blog post about the ‘101 Things in 1001 Days’ Challenge and I thought that perhaps this is the time to go forth and try and knock some things off my original 2007 list and also add some more.

If I count today (Thursday 16th July, 2015) as my start date then I have until Thursday 12th April, 2018.

  1. Declutter our House
  2. Do a Barrefigure Class
  3. Try Ballet for Adults
  4. Complete a Ball Room Dancing Class
  5. Do a Flick Flack
  6. Complete a Hip Hop Class
  7. Indoor rock climbing
  8. Kayaking
  9. Pilates
  10. Run nonstop for 20 minutes
  11. Walk the Milford Track
  12. Walk to the top of Rangitoto
  13. Bake a Cheesecake
  14. Decorate a cake or cupcakes
  15. Gingerbread house
  16. Homemade sushi
  17. Make Meringues
  18. Complete the photo albums
  19. Eat crayfish in Kaikoura
  20. Finish my quilt with mum
  21. Go to Armageddon
  22. Visit New York
  23. Go to the Opera
  24. Go up Sky Tower
  25. Hold a formal murder mystery dinner party
  26. Improve writing skills
  27. Learn Maori
  28. Learn my times tables
  29. Learn to apply eye make up properly
  30. Learn to back a trailer
  31. Make an outfit to wear
  32. Spend the day touring the Auckland Volcanoes (except Rangitoto)
  33. Write a Short Story
  34. Read 101 books (49/101)
  35. See the northern lights
  36. Watch the sunrise and sunset in one day
  37. Blog every day for a month
  38. Meditate under a waterfall
  39. Visit ten new Cafe’s (10/10)
  40. Complete a jigsaw puzzle
  41. Cook/Bake 101 things that we have not tried (7/101)
  42. Go to Bethells beach
  43. Participate in Book Crossing
  44. Sleep under the stars
  45. Watch 26 movies I've never seen starting with each letter of the Alphabet (22/26)
  46. Complete a 365 day photo challenge (59/365)
  47. Tie a note to a balloon and let it go
  48. Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home décor
  49. Visit Alaska
  50. Not log into Facebook for a whole week!
  51. Take a picture for each letter of the alphabet
  52. Learn a poem by heart
  53. Ask 20 friends to suggest one book, and read them all (4/20)
  54. Visit a lavender field
  55. Visit Hobbiton
  56. Celebrate 5 obscure holidays
  57. Carve a pumpkin for Halloween
  58. Write all my bad memories on paper, burn this paper afterwards
  59. Get one of our wedding photos made into a canvas
  60. Try a hot stone massage
  61. Leave an inspirational note inside a book for someone to find
  62. Take a moonlit walk on the beach
  63. Answer the "50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind"
  64. Visit San Francisco
  65. Attend a live taping of a TV show
  66. Visit New Orleans
  67. Make a birthday cake for someone
  68. Drink absinthe
  69. No fast food for a month
  70. Spend one weekend with only music and books. "Unplug"
  71. Expand my vocabulary by 100 words
  72. Restore a piece of furniture
  73. Make an iTunes playlist of 101 of my favourite songs
  74. Document a "day in my life" in photographs
  75. Put aside $20 for every goal completed
  76. Spend a weekend in Matai Bay, Northland
  77. Write a personal manifesto
  78. Spend the night in a treehouse
  79. Try cooking with 10 herbs that are new to me
  80. Have dessert before dinner at a restaurant
  81. Sleep in an overnight train
  82. Take a photo of the same place every month for year
  83. Take a free online class
  84. Learn 50 new things by clicking the random articles button on Wikipedia
  85. Get rid of 101 things (0/101)
  86. Join a community garden
  87. Visit Sri Lanka and volunteer for Animal SOS Sri Lanka
  88. Make fresh pasta
  89. Visit Tawharanui Peninsula, Northland
  90. Visit the UK
  91. Visit Paris and take a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower
  92. Do a Body Vive Class
  93. Wine Tour, Hastings and Napier
  94. Visit Kaiteriteri Beach, near Motueka
  95. Visit Queenstown
  96. Join or start a pub quiz team
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