My KonMari Challenge! Phase 3: Papers (and the beginning of Komono)

It’s been a while since I posted about KonMari! If you read my last post (My KonMari Challenge! Phase 2: Books) you would have seen that the next phase was to sort out papers. Aaargh! We have just got so behind with this recently, so it was a huuuuge job and not one I’ve been looking forward to. So it has taken a while for me to be able to write this post.

Phase 3: Papers

Sorting the paperwork took three dedicated sessions. We began by collecting all the paperwork in to one place – we just shoved it all into a cardboard box so we knew where it all was! Once we knew we had everything, I did an initial sort through, opening any unopened post, and removing anything that I knew at a glance we realły didn’t need. We recycled lots of this and destroyed anything with personal information on. We kept the box in the sitting room which was actually quite helpful because although it looked horrible and I just wanted to hide it out of the way, it meant I couldn’t forget about it!

A few days later, the two of us sat down and went through our filing cabinet – all the things that were supposedly organised as they should be! However, this has been neglected too, so we sifted through each file and got rid of anything we didn’t need. One thing which I wasn’t aware of was that you only need to keep payslips until you get your P60, so I was able to get nearly ten years of payslips, which slimmed down that file quite a lot!

Finally, we sorted through the box. This had all sorts of papers in it! Old utility bills, payslips, postcards, manuals, holiday mementos – quite a mishmash! We sorted through it, worked out what could be recycled or destroyed, and filed the rest. Whoop!

We do have a small pile of ‘papers’ which aren’t the sort of thing that need filing, so I’ll need to find a home for these too. Some of them are sentimental items, which is the final category within the KonMari method, so I’ll put these to one side until then.

Phase 4: Komono

Since the paperwork has taken such a long time (with days or weeks between each session!) I decided to make a start on Phase 4 in between times. Phase 4 is what Marie Kondo refers to as ‘Komono’ – miscellaneous items, or in other words: everything else! This refers to everything in your home that isn’t either clothing, books, papers or sentimental items. That’s quite a few things!

Thankfully, in her book, Marie Kondo does subcategorise which is helpful or I just don’t think I’d know where to begin! And even more helpfully, some kind people have taken the time to translate this into a list, which means I don’t have to keep returning to the book to see what’s next (nor can I justify procrastinating while I make a lovely list myself!). I love this Ultimate Decluttering Checklist for KonMari Success from Making Lemonade Blog because it’s so nice and clear! Pop over to her site to download your own copy.

So, while papers have been in the process of being sorted, we’ve also cleared out our DVD collection. We managed to get rid of a fair few, and we’ve also saved space by moving the majority of those that we did keep in to these DVD sleeves. What I really like about them is that as well as having space for two DVDs (great for anything with a bonus disc), there’s also room for the artwork. From a practical perspective, this makes it much easier to flick through and find the DVD you’re after, but I also just really like being able to keep hold of the artwork. Our DVDs take up so much less space now!

We’ve kept a few of our DVD cases, for those which come in particularly nice cases, or for some of our series which have more than two discs. However our DVDs, which used to fill three of these crates, now only use one! I don’t think we’ll keep them here, but I want to finish the decluttering before we start to find homes for everything.

I’ve also been through T’s books – which we didn’t do at the same time as the rest of the books because we didn’t think there’d be many to get rid of! We were right. She got rid of one. But I have sorted them into a rainbow; it brings me joy every time I look at it!

Next on my list is cables and coins, and then it’s on to another big one: craft supplies! Wish me luck!