Konmari Round 2: Sewing Patterns

Sorry for the radio silence! Life has been pretty busy lately between moving prep, sewing binges for the IRCC6 (more on that coming soon!) and general summer life busyness. But I have been doing some more Konmari! Today I'm sharing my sewing pattern Konmari round 2. (You guys have already seen a few of these in my sale posts. 1 & 2) Enjoy!

Konmari Round 2: CDs and DVDs

I'm digging right into Konmari round 2 with my CDs and DVDs. This category is a hard one for us because we love movies! See how many we parted with in the second round of culling.

Komanri Round 2: Plans and Strategy

I can't believe that we are halfway through June already! The hubby and I and our 3 birds will be moving in just two months so that means it's time to do round 2 of Konmari! I have decided to chronicle this second round but I'm going to be handling it a bit differently than round 1.

I went into the whole Konmari process originally knowing that we would be downsizing late summer 2016. I knew that downsizing would really give me an extra push to let go of more things but I went ahead and did one round of Konmari because I really wanted to start simplifying. Also, after finishing this process, I still kept finding more things to let go of so I knew a second round of Konmari was in order.

Now that we have selected a new apartment and have a move in date, I'm feeling very motivated to continue to declutter! We're going from a 3 bed 2 bath condo with a 1 car garage to a 2 bed 2 bath apartment with no garage. We're losing about 300 sq. ft. of living space plus the garage and cutting our patio by 2/3 so it's going to take some reorganizing of our belongings! The hardest part is that we'll lose a bedroom closet, a walk in closet in the master and a coat closet so storage is key.

Instead of following the order Mari recommends in her book, I'll be going in which ever order I feel is best. Mari has picked out her order by starting with less sentimental things and working your way up to more sentimental things and doing things in this order helps build your decision making skills. I've already been through this process and feel like my decision skills are already great. Plus, I know which areas I'll really need to downsize and which areas have already been decluttered pretty thoroughly.

I'm not going to be documenting this round in quite as much detail because that was a huge project and this round I'm on a deadline and will have to get stuff done pretty quickly. But watch this space for more decluttering! Please let me know if there is a particular category you'd like to see get Konmari'd in round 2 and I'll try to work it into my filming schedule.

5 Months Post Konmari: Minimalism & What's Next

I can't believe it's been five months since I finished Konmari! Like I said in my wrap up video, I don't really miss anything. In fact, I can hardly remember most of what I got rid of. (Or where I would have stored it.) I'm really enjoying being a minimalist and I don't think I'll ever go back to being a mindless consumer.

In today's video, I'm talking a bit about how minimalism is going for me, whether or not I'll do another Konmari and what else is up next on my minimalism radar.



Books:
Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson
The More of Less by Joshua Becker

The Simple Year blog:
http://thesimpleyear.com/

Reusable shopping bag pattern and tutorial:
http://www.stitchedbycrystal.com/2011/09/tutorial-fat-quarter-reusable-grocery.html

Konmari Organization Part One

I'm not doing a detailed vlogging of the organization part of the Konmari method, but I did want to share some of my progress today! I'll take you to a couple places around the house where I've implemented new organization.

Post-Konmari Sewing Room Tour

My sewing room has gotten quite the reorganization after finishing the hobby Konmari section! I promised you guys that I'd share the finished project with you so here it is!



I was able to get a lot more empty space in the main area since I got rid of one organizer and put the other one in the closet. It's so nice to have all of that extra space for cutting out fabric now! I also was relocated my table so I can enjoy the nice view while I create! Plus I finally got some art out even if it's not on the wall yet. (And one piece needs new glass....)

If you missed the before tour, here it is also!

My Konmari Journey Part #21: Sentimental Items and Photos

I've finally reached the very last category of the Konmari method which is sentimental items and photographs. Really, I was expecting this category to be much harder than it actually was. I had tons and tons of photos to go through but many of them I didn't really have a strong emotional attachment to. Oh, well.



Now that I've completed the process, I'm going to be doing a wrap up video talking about what I liked, what I didn't like and how successful I thought I was. If you have any questions or comments about this process, please leave a comment and I'll try to answer it in my wrap up video.

My Konmari Journey Part #20: Clothes (Again)

Since I did not do all of my clothing in the first go around, I did want to go through them again near the end of the Konmari process. So here it is!




I did end up getting rid of a few more things and ended up with about 40 items in my closet and perhaps another 10-15 in my drawer plus underthings and pjs. Yay tiny closet!

The next video will be my sentimental items and photos! Since we're near the end, I'm taking questions to go in my wrap up video. If you have any questions about this process or what I thought about it, please leave it below.

My Konmari Journey Part #19: Knitting & Embroidery

This is the last section of the hobby Kimono! Woohoo! I'm tackling knitting and embroidery supplies since I don't have much of either.




All that's left is sentimental items and photos and then we're done with Konmari! Yay!

My Konmari Journey Part #18: Sewing Tools

I'm finishing up the sewing stuff today! We're almost through Konmari and I'm so excited! Check out this video to see how I do in this last category.



Once I finish up my Konmari, I'll owe you guys another sewing room tour. I'm still working on it but I have moved a lot of stuff around. If you missed the first one from right after we moved it, here it is!

My Konmari Journey Part #17: Sewing Patterns

Today I'm going to Konmari my sewing pattern stash. This means taking out every. single. pattern. I own and laying them out on the floor all at once. *gulp* When they are all packed away, it sure doesn't look like I have that many.... I have an extensive collection of vintage patterns and quite a few reproduction patterns plus historical patterns that I've drafted myself. Ok. I can do this!



 I included a nice pan over of all of my sewing patterns and while you can't see 100% of each cover (not enough space!!!), there are some really cute ones! I ended up deciding to purge about half of my vintage patterns. Now before you panic, they are not going to go to a donation center (alas, most places just trash vintage patterns :( ) and I'm planning on selling some of them but I haven't gotten around to that yet. I did pitch a few modern and repro patterns that I cut up and made alterations to because they won't really be useful to anyone else.

It was really liberating to let go of these patterns. I have a much different sense of style than when I started on this vintage journey and it's nice to let go of patterns that aren't me or that I don't think I'll ever make. Instead, I can just focus on the ones I really, really love!

Have you ever let go of patterns? How large is your pattern stash?

My Konmari Journey Part #16: Fabric and Notions

Ah, the dreaded sewing stash. Full of unrealized potential, fabrics to precious to use, impulse purchases and all of the tiny scraps we're hoarding. I have been actively working to stash bust over the last few years and my stash has remained at a mostly manageable size but we're still going to Konmari it.

This may scare a lot of seamstresses but I have some good reasons to purge my stash. Having moved to a wildly different climate than where most of this fabric was purchased, I have very different wardrobe needs. How much wool can a Florida girl wear after all?

I've also come to realize that I really don't like having two different pieces made out of the same fabric. Projects made from the leftovers never seem to get worn. So I'm going to let go of some of those leftover bits even if they are large enough to use.

And the scrap pile..... At this point in my life, I have no interest in quilting so really, why am I keeping all of these tiny scraps of stuff??? I'll keep some swatches in my swatch book and let go of the rest.

Ok, let's do it!

My Konmari Journey Part #15: Hobbies-Scrapbooking

It's finally time to go through all of my hobby supplies! I knew this was going to be a hard one for me so I'm glad that Mari put it near the end. I've decided to break down this category a bit since I have a lot of hobbies (and a lot of supplies for each....)

1. Scrapbooking
2. Fabric and Notions
3. Sewing Patterns
4. Sewing Tools
5. Knitting and Embroidery

I actually filmed this before getting most of my Bible Journaling supplies which is why you won't see them in this video. 

My Konmari Journey Part #14: Kitchen-Dishes & Glasses

Today, I'm finishing up the kitchen! I decided to combine dishes, glasses and tupperware into one video because I just wanted to finish up the kitchen! It feel so amazing to have this space done. A lot of activity happens in the kitchen and it's so nice to have things moving more smoothly because there's a lot less junk everywhere.

My Konmari Journey Part #13: Kitchen-Baking Supplies

Today, I'm working on decluttering the kitchen. Yay for a purged, organized kitchen!! In this section, I'm going to Konmari baking pans and supplies. I used to be a big baker but now that Will is gluten free, I do a lot less baking.

My Konmari Journey Part #12: Kitchen-Cooking Supplies

I'm moving right along in the kitchen using the Konmari method. I'm working through Mari Kondo's Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up to declutter my home. Today's video tackles a large section of the kitchen which is cooking supplies (except baking stuffs which will be next).



I was really happy with the amount of stuff I got rid of in this section. I also went ahead and did a bit of organizing to make stuff more accessible and I'm loving it so far!

My Konmari Journey Part #11: Kitchen - Food

Yes! We have made it to decluttering the kitchen! I've decided to break this subcategory down a bit more to make it a bit more manageable. I'll do food, baking/cooking supplies, and dishes & tupperwear.

For the food category, I'm focusing on getting rid of expired things again. Also, my husband was diagnosed with a medical condition triggered by gluten which means he's gluten free for life. I haven't done a de-gluten purge of the pantry so I'm sure I'll find some things which can be donated that he can't eat. Alright, here goes nothing!

Konmari Part #10: Household Supplies

Today we're doing a very practical category in the Konmari process- household supplies! This category includes all of the consumables that you use to maintain your home as well as things like mops, brooms, vacuum cleaners and other miscellaneous cleaning supplies. This one is a bit long since I had lots of small areas in this category.

My Konmari Journey Part #9: Household Equipment

Today, I'm sharing with you my household equipment purge! I decided to go ahead and tackle everything in our office area as part of this category. I'm super excited about to have this section done. Why do there always seem to be 8000 pens everywhere?? And since my husbands desk is right next to the front door, it becomes the dumping ground for junk mail and anything else we bring in the house.


One of the hard parts about this category was dealing with things that were in perfectly good condition but that we had so much of that I don't think we'd use them up even in 10 years! Mari's opinion is that you should just get rid of that excess because the "rent" you are spending on the space they are taking up is not worth it. In the end, I did "evict" quite a bit of stuff. Since filming, my husband has gone trough some of his stuff and we were able to get rid of the filing cabinet because we got rid of so much stuff! Yay!

My Konmari Journey Part #8: Electronics

In this week's video, I worked through all of our electronics including the dreaded box of chords! I did do a couple of adjustments to this category. I decided to group kitchen appliances in with the kitchen section because that seemed to make more sense to me. I also left in place any electronics that are used daily and were definite keepers (tv, bluray player, etc). If Marie thinks I'm unhooking all of my tv equipment to pile in the middle of the floor, she's crazy. We don't have duplicates or extras of any of these items so there's really no point.




So this wasn't the most exciting category but I did feel like I got rid of a lot of stuff that was just unnecessary clutter! I'm hoping for the same type of results when I get to the next category which includes office supplies. I never understand how office supplies get so messy all of the time.