Paper, paper, all is paper

Over the past month, I have spent half every weekend clearing out my paper.  

According to Marie Kondo, paper is the third category for clearing, after clothing and books.  It is really my weak point as I find it really difficult to throw papers away!  Marie Kondo listed the papers which people keep:

- old lecture notes (check)

- old cheque books (with just counterfoils remaining) (check)

- old payslips (check)

- old credit card statements and bills (I only keep three years worth, in my defence)

- greeting cards (check)

- warranties and instruction manuals (check)

To which I have to add, old course and education certificates, travel-related paper like old maps and tourist brochures, bank statements, insurance documents, car and home maintenance related documents etc etc.

You get the picture.  My room is a veritable fire trap.  My cabinets and drawers are full of paper, and stacks lie on the desk and side table.  I opened up one big box which has been hidden in my cabinet for the longest time - only to find it full of papers which I had to sort through.  Some were old bills and the like but a lot were letters, cards and little travel souvenirs like postcards and pictures.  Sorting all the papers out took a very, very long and tedious time.

Marie's rule of thumb: discard everything, except (I) those documents which you must keep indefinitely for legal/contractual purposes, (ii) those documents which you need to take action on, and (iii) those you want to refer to and need to keep for a limited period of time.  

I can't say I followed her instructions to a T.  But, somehow her instructions succeeded in pushing me to discard my undergrad notes, my old payslips (except for my very first payslip - consider that komono not paper!), the cheque book stubs, expired warranties etc.  I decided to keep only two years' worth of credit card statements, not three (slowly, slowly).  Old car repair bills (for vehicles which were scrapped years ago) also made it into the bin.

Marie Kondo says in her book that her clients' record is fifteen 45-litre bags.  I'm not sure what the volume of my bags is, but I've filled about ten large shopping bags.  And, I've not quite finished since I still need to get a shredder to shred my bank statements in (I was a little reluctant to just tear them up).   

What I found very useful was Marie's suggestions on how to file papers.  Just keep them in three files reflecting her categories above.  She observed that most people have very elaborate filing systems, so much so that it makes it difficult for them to file papers away.  The far simpler filing system she proposed makes it easier for people to keep their papers.  Thinking about it a bit, I totally agree!!!  I have since simplified my "incoming" documents - instead of sorting them into my handphone bill, utilities bill, credit card etc, I will just put them all in the same big folder marked "2016" which I can then go through and decide what to shred or keep at the end of the year.  (I am afraid that I'm not really capable of throwing away my old credit card bill once it is paid).  So hopefully, this easy filing system will help me keep my papers sorted.

I was so tired of clearing just paper, that along the way, I did concurrently work on other categories.  I finished clearing out my clothes.  Five bags worth, ready to cart away.  Not the empty closets which some Konverts boast of but pretty good, for me.  I also sorted a little komono along the way, clearing out stationary and miscellaneous junk drawers.  

So that's paper (mostly) over.  Now to the rest of the komono.

Tidying up for the new year

It started when I heard that my sister had asked our mother for a book on home organisation for Christmas.  I was shopping for Christmas presents at Kinokuniya and saw this book entitled "the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing" by Marie Kondo.  I vaguely recalled reading  about her off my Facebook feed and so thought the book would be just the thing for my sister and picked it up immediately.

Of course, my mother had got her the exact same book.

So I kept and read the book instead.  Further research online threw up lots of "before & after" pictures, testament to the efficacy of her method.  So I decided to give it a try. 

Marie Kondo's first step is to de-clutter, before deciding how to store what is left.  Her default is to get rid of everything, except those things which "spark joy".  And she starts off with clothes (including bags, shoes, etc), before moving to books, papers and komono (miscellaneous items).  Thus far, this is what I've done:

1. Cleared out my t-shirts and my underwear drawers, and folded them Kondo-style, and stored vertically.  It was amazing to see how orderly the drawers became and how much space suddenly emerged!  And how easy it is to see my things after that.  

I have to admit that I didn't quite follow her instructions with the rest of my clothing.  Because I had recently done a mini-purge, and also because I found out that my relative was sending a box of clothes overseas in about a month or so.  It made more sense to hang on for a fuller "kondo-ing" of my wardrobe nearer the date.  

2.  Cleared out my bag collection and got rid of three huge bagsful of bags.  Because my umbrellas were stored with my bags, I took the opportunity to organise them as well (I didn't purge any because I have been known to leave my umbrella behind me, so will leave it to natural attrition to reduce their numbers).

3. Shoes.  Ok, so I only got rid of two pairs.  Not that I have that many to begin with.  There was one "maybe" which I decided to keep for now.  I'll throw it out when I next buy a pair of shoes; its partly the need to preserve my share of the real estate in the shoe storage areas.

4. Toiletries.  This effectively means I've Kondo-ed my bathroom.  Paid special attention to the cabinet under the sink (where I installed a few Daiso extension rods to create a shelf for good measure).  Confession: I could not bring myself to get rid of my entire collection of hotel supplied goodies. I use them!  I do!!! But maybe I don't need to keep on taking them back any more...

I have to admit that Marie Kondo's instruction to strive for "ultimate simplicity" in storage solutions struck a chord around here.  For years I have had this little plastic chest of drawers under the sink where apparently I am supposed to retrieve soap, first aid things, etc.  In practice the drawers were hardly used and the bandages inside seem a little old.  My hotel "selections" were occupying one drawer but it was also very difficult to find what I was looking for in the drawers.  I got rid of the drawers, and used a shoebox -Marie Kondo's recommended solution instead.  That also put one empty shoebox to good use.  

5.  Books.  Okay, this was not that much of a purge as others have done.  Partly because I just can't bring myself to get rid of too many.  I know that Marie Kondo says "sometime means never" but then I recently read a book which had been sitting there for years so there.... Maybe I got rid of some 45-50 books, but because the bookshelves were overstuffed previously, this means they have just reverted to being nicely full.  And I can actually find books I want to read!   My bookshelves, full as they are, spark joy.

I also worked on the family cookbook collection.  Again, we could have gotten rid of a few more but my mother felt bad getting rid of some which were given as gifts.  

What's left : paper (this is going to be a tortuous session) and komono.   Looks as though I'll need to do another update.

I am hoping that all this decluttering will help me start 2016 on the right note!