This week's lesson is Komono, and if you are anything like me, you are probably wondering what that even means. Luckily, Ms Kondo gives us a definition of it in her book. It's a Japanese word that basically means all stuff miscellaneous. If you haven't realized it, this week pretty much entails everything else in your home that we haven't already organized, except for sentimental stuff...that's next week. However, this left me wondering how everything else in my house could be labeled miscellaneous because this is the konmari category that I have the most subcategories of. This is the stuff I think of first when I think of organizing my house, and maybe that's because I have so much of it. This is the stuff I wish we had done first and the part of the book I couldn't wait to get to.
This is the category of stuff that I use on a daily basis, or someone in the house does.
So this is the list of subcategories, as suggested by Marie Kondo, in their suggested sorting order...
1. CD's/DVD's
2. Skin care products
3. Makeup
4. Accessories
5. Valuables (passports, credit cards etc)
6. Electrical equipment/appliances (digital camera, cords, anything vaguely "electric")
7. Household equipment (stationery and writing material, sewing kits etc)
8. Household supplies (cleaning stuff, medicine, tissues)
9. Kitchen goods/food supplies (spatulas, pots blenders)
10. Other (spare change, figurines etc)
I don't know about you, but I am a little confused by this list. First of all, I think skin care and make up can be one category. Then I'm not sure what she means by accessories. If she means, hats and scarves, I did that with clothing a few weeks ago. But if she means jewelry, then ok.
Electrical equipment? I would call it Electronics instead. But that's because for me there is big difference between "electronics" and "electrical". This could simply be a little language barrier. English is not Ms Kondo's first language in case you haven't seen the show. But she used the word appliance here so I thought she meant small kitchen appliances like blenders and toasters, but then she used the word blender down in the kitchen category so I don't think she means appliance the way I thought.
But my question is where do you categorize linens, because my linen closet is a mess and really needs a makeover. I'm adding it up under skin care/makeup.
So now, I have a better understanding of what I'm working with.
So, let's get started, shall we? How many items do you have laying around your house because they don't have a "home", and your keeping them "just because". Even I have things I have kept "just because". These are things to really think about. I realized that I was pretty much keeping them just because I didn't know what else to do with them. Anyone else think this is their reason? I can tell you that's the most popular answer amongst my clients. "Just because" is a lot of people's favorite answer because they don't know what else to do with it. My experience has shown me that in those cases, it's normally safe to get rid of it. These are generally the items you can get rid of, and won't miss them since you didn't know why you had them to begin with.
Now, let's talk quickly about some of these categories. I will go over some of them in more detail during the week but as to not bore you all with a super long blog post, I'm going to keep things simple here.
Who still has CD's and DVD's? I do!! I admit it, I still have a ton of DVD's. The CD's not so much, however I will go on a search later for any laying around in the basement. IF there are still any laying around this house, they either belong to the husband or daughter #2. They are the ones more into music. When my husband and I first moved in together (18 years ago) he brought a huge collection of CD's. As technology has evolved he has parted with a lot of them as he has it all digitally now. But there are some he is pretty attached to, and they truly bring him joy! And if I'm being honest, and CD's belonging to daughter #2 are joy bringers also! She is our dancer, and just loves anything involving dancing, singing and music! She is her father's daughter for sure!
The DVD's I will look through, but it's probably safe to say most of them are keepers. Only because I have not fully embraced the digital world of movie streaming. That's a work in progress, and not likely something I will tackle this week...but soon!
Skin care and make up...I don't think I have an abundance of this laying around. I recently got rid of all my make up because it was OLD, and I had been having so eye issues that I thought the old makeup may have been contributing to. So I tossed it all. I only replaced what I actually wore on a daily basis. So pretty much foundation/powder and mascara/eyeliner. My friends that LOVE makeup, cry when they look at my makeup collection...or lack thereof. Seriously though, I urge you to go through your make up and if it's old, replace it. It's not good for you to use since it can be harboring crazy amounts of bacteria. Do you really want that on your face or eyes or lips??? GROSS!!!
Accessories...I will be going through my jewelry box one day this week. I know I have some stuff I should part with. I don't wear jewelry often and when I do, it's normally the same necklace and earring everytime. They are are my staples. But I do have some pieces I keep for more formal occasions. Those are a rarity though!
Valuables such as passports...they have a home in a small safe. Those and a few other important documents.
Household equipment...This seems like an extremely broad category. Does this include art/craft supplies? Office supplies? I could write an entire post just on this category. I'm guessing this is all the stuff that I currently store in my home office. Not everyone has a home office. This is the type of stuff that many families have a lot of, and need to think about the best place to store them. Storage space, ideally, should be near where you will use the items, but also make it easy to put away. If it's not easy to put away, then it will create more clutter. So make things easy to put away, but also visible so you can see where it is easily when you need it. Clear container, and clearly marked labels on containers is key.
Household supplies...medicines, cleaning supplies, etc. Try to find a centrally located space to keep all medicines and first aid items. I keep all mine in a cabinet in the kitchen. This is where those things are mostly used so it makes sense and medicines are in clear containers so I can see what I need. But they are also on a higher shelf, and away from small children. Even though my kids are old enough now to know not to play with medicines. I keep a first aid kit in the this cabinet also. But I go against the rules with cleaning supplies and I keep various cleaning dispersed throughout the house and not in one central location. This is what works for me.
I probably don't need to talk too much about kitchen supplies here. But I will cover them later in the week with some ideas for kitchen storage. That could be an entire post in itself. It is very possible that you have an abundance of kitchen supplies. I did! Mostly because I would see some really cool gadget in the store and just buy it because it was cool! What I didn't think about was that I was never really going to use it. So it would sit unused in a kitchen drawer for years. One such thing was an apple peeler and corer that would make peeling and coring apples so easy! But only if you had a need to peel and core apples. I already had an apple slicer (cuts into wedges) that also cored the apple, which is used on an almost daily basis. But the peeler/corer never got used. It's perfect if your going to make an apple pie though. Let's face it though, I'm never going to make a homemade apple pie when I can buy one already made, or even a frozen one where all I have to do is stick it in the oven! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy baking. Just NOT pies LOL! And IF I ever get a weird itch to bake a homemade pie, I can take the time peel and core by hand. I have a friend who absolutely LOVES TO BAKE, and makes really delicious pies in particular. She actually wanted to buy an apple peeler/corer gadget. So I gave her mine. I know it went to a good home and now I have some space for my more used items. Sounds like a win/win!
As for item #10 on the list, I think I will cover that later in the week also! That seems like a category that could be all consuming.
So for now, get to work sorting and declutter these items, and we'll talk more on putting them away and storing them during the week!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend with your friends or family!
Happy Organizing!