Long version:
It's time for the dreaded KOMONO category. This category is literally "everything else."
Not going to lie. This category is more than a bit overwhelming. It took me a week of just sitting around thinking about it before I was ready to get started. In the end, I broke it down into several smaller categories. Some of these categories were suggested by Marie Kondo's book, others I made up myself based on my own house. You will need to decide on your own categories based on what you own, and as you get started more categories will become obvious.
Here is the list I used:
CD and DVD
Soaps and Lotions
Makeup and Accessories
Stationary and office supplies
Craft supplies (I had to break this into several smaller categories of sewing, painting, scrapbooking)
Bedding and Towels
Toys
Nick Knacks
Gifts
Games
Cleaning supplies and disposables
Dishes
Food
Medicine
Work supplies
Church supplies
Electronics
Valuables
Tools
Replacement parts and building supplies
Exercise equipment
Outdoor toys and bikes
Luggage
Holiday decor
That's a lot of categories! And the list really does grow as you continue to discover all the many things in your home.
The first thing on my list was to sort my Video Game, CD, and DVD collection. I actually already did a major sort of my media collection just a few months ago. I was encouraged by a friend to get rid of all the boxes and use plastic envelopes instead (Amazon Link). It has been a great change, and I love it!
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| The video cover and the disc both fit easily in each sleeve. |
Now it's possible that your family has already switched to streaming services and you got rid of your discs a years ago. If so, good for you, this step won't take long for you at all. However, I'm behind the times, and I've still got an extensive audio cassette collection (I NEED my Pocahontas soundtrack). So I've still got a lot of discs and and tapes to deal with, and taking a second look at it still terrified me. I'm not sure why, but getting started on the "everything else" part of this journey was really tough. But I did it, and so can you.
Again I pulled out EVERYTHING and put it in one place before sorting. Most of the music belonged to my husband. So I invited him to come and tell me what he needed to keep (remember we don't throw away other people's things). The video games are mostly my kids, so they got the privilege of sorting those and deciding which ones they could trade in for credit at the game store.
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| We did have two full shelves of video games, but all games and controllers fit into two tiny baskets now. |
I threw away two huge (and heavy) garbage bags full of trash like old DVD recordings of movies from off the television. And we really didn't need the practice CD from my daughter's elementary choir concert in 2007.
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| I already had these little disc folders. |
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| Then I grouped the CDs by type. |
It took a couple hours at the kitchen table, but I went from having two full bookcases of media, down to only one half a book case.
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| ALL my media now fits into this half a bookcase (and I even got to keep my LOST series collection!) |
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| This little basket holds all the remotes and extra batteries. |
Once I finally got started, this project was fun and easy, and you can do it too!
Confession of failures: My only failure is that I still own WAY too many. But over time I think they will be easier to part with. I figure many of these categories will need to be revisited as our family's needs change.
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