KonMari Method

It’s practically impossible to talk about decluttering without talking about the KonMari method.  Between the books and the Netflix series, I think almost everyone has at least heard of it.

I like large parts of the KonMari method, and there are parts of it that I don’t care for.  As always, I prefer to get the negative parts out of the way first. 

To me, the biggest drawback to the KonMari method is the idea that you have to tackle such huge projects at once.  For example, clothing is the first category of items to work through.  The KonMari method calls for removing ALL of your clothing from closets, drawers, etc., and going through every single piece, one item at a time. 

I understand that clothing should be relatively easy, and it makes sense to keep yourself from dealing with the same things over and over again.  But, trying to find the willpower, time, mental fortitude, and physical energy for a task like that can be daunting.  It’s easier to put it off for a weekend, then a long weekend, etc.  It’s also the kind of thing that has made me not want to start another project for a long time. 

If we were to pile all of our clothing on our bed, and it took longer than anticipated to go through it, we would literally have no good place to sleep.  We don’t have a guest room.  And spending the night in a recliner or on an air mattress doesn’t sound appealing. 

So, we broke it down into much smaller steps.  I think it’s important to get some easy wins early on.  So, I started with my socks.  I discarded socks that I couldn’t find mates for and even perfectly good pairs of socks that didn’t spark joy.  (More on that later.)  It was a doable project.  I felt good about it and myself when I was finished, and that gave me the confidence to move on to the next category. 

I’ve seen a lot of memes making fun of the KonMari system and talking about how things like a bottle of aspirin or a vacuum cleaner or broccoli don’t spark joy, so that must mean you need to get rid of them.  But, I think my favorite part of the KonMari system addresses that. 

Before you even start with tidying or discarding, the KonMari method tells you to envision your ideal lifestyle, what you want your days to look like, and what you want to surround yourself with.  In my opinion, that addresses the “these things that I actually need don’t spark joy” argument.  Personally, my ideal lifestyle doesn’t include a headache (now the aspirin is a keeper), dirty floors or furry furniture (now the vacuum cleaner is a keeper), or never eating healthy foods (the broccoli will never be a keeper, but plenty of other vegetables are, even if ice cream does spark a lot more joy).

Some of the things I picture in my ideal version of life are not being slaves to keeping the house clean, not being stressed out or late because we couldn’t find something we needed, and being able to have people over to the house any time we want.  If we’ve learned anything from COVID, it’s that time and opportunities are precious.  I don’t want to waste those because I don’t want someone to see how messy my house is.  So, with the KonMari method, those are the goals I’m working toward. 

The “spark joy” part of the KonMari method can take a little while to get used to, especially when applying it to ordinary things.  It kind of clicked for me when I was working on sweaters.  Yes, I broke clothing into very small categories; socks, sweaters, tee shirts, other shirts, pants, jeans, shorts, etc.  Anyway, during the sweater process, I had a lightbulb moment with these two sweaters. 

They both fit me, they’re both colors I typically wear, they’re both a brand I like, and there was no damage (stains, tears, etc.) to either one of them.  I almost never wore the teal one.  I still can’t really articulate a reason why.  Maybe the neckline?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, I never really enjoyed wearing it, but I kept it around because it was a perfectly good sweater, and I had it as a backup if I didn’t keep up with the laundry.   I almost never let it get to the point of wearing the sweater, though, because I just didn’t like it.  The argyle plaid one, on the other hand, I wore (and still wear) all of the time.  Argyle plaid always makes me happy!  I feel good wearing that sweater.  I like how it fits, feels, and looks.  I feel confident in it.  Incidentally, it’s what I’m wearing in my work ID photo because it seemed like a great choice for my first day at this job. 

The argyle plaid sweater (and all of the other argyle plaid sweaters I have) spark joy for me.  I feel good wearing them.  The teal one didn’t.  I was never going to feel great about wearing it.  So, it turns out I didn’t need it, even though it was a perfectly good sweater.  That sweater is no longer hanging in my closet, and I don’t have to move it aside to reach a sweater that I’m happy wearing. 

It sounds almost too simple to make a difference, but when you think about applying it to everything, it adds up to a huge change.  When your clothes are all things you enjoy wearing, your cookbooks are all ones you enjoy cooking from, your pots and pans are all ones you use and enjoy using – you can imagine how much the list can go on - it leads to an overall feeling of being happier and not needing to devote so much mental energy to basic things. 

We’re not 100% there yet, and our house definitely doesn’t look like anything you’ll find on Marie Kondo’s website, but it’s so much better than it was.  We’re benefitting from the things we’ve simplified.  Last weekend, we invited our neighbors over to dinner on the spur of the moment.  We were all outside working on various yard projects and started talking.  Everyone was home, and it was the perfect opportunity.  Because the house was in order and I knew what we had in the freezer, it was easy to decide on a last-minute dinner.  I made a huge pot of spaghetti, so we all ate, talked, and played games.  It was a great evening and one we wouldn’t have been able to have if the house had been too messy for us to be comfortable inviting people over.  That sparks joy for both of us.

So what about you?  Have you used the KonMari method?  What sparks joy for you? 

Kitten Season

It’s the beginning of Kitten Season here at our local shelters. Kitten Season usually begins with the warmer weather and often lasts through the early fall. It’s when shelters and rescues are inundated with kittens due to so many cats who haven’t been spayed having litters.

During Kitten Season, the shelters and rescues need a lot of extra help to take care of so many new babies all at once. Here are some of the ways you can help:

1. Spay and Neuter: This is huge! Eliminating litters of unwanted kittens keeps them out of shelters in the first place.

2. Adopt a cat or kitten from your local shelter or rescue. If you’re looking to add a feline companion of any age to your family, the shelter is the best place to go. You can help save two lives, the one you adopt and the one who gets the space freed up by the one you adopted.

3. Short term foster during Kitten Season: We did this last year with two adorable little kittens named Chandler and Pansy. Sometimes no-kill shelters or rescues have to turn away animals simply because they don’t have enough room. Short term fostering helps to free up some space at the shelter until they’re able to accommodate more animals.

4. Donate: An inundation of kittens means the shelters and rescues are going through a lot more supplies than usual. Cash donations are always appreciated as they can use that for whatever their current needs are. Kitten food (wet and dry), cat litter, blankets, heating pads, laundry detergent, and cleaning supplies are also very much needed during Kitten Season. Even just a few cans of cat food really helps.

Every little bit helps the shelters and rescues during Kitten Season. And it’s a great feeling to look at these sweet little faces and know that you’ve helped.

So what about you? Is it Kitten Season in your area?

Juggling Letters

For those of you participating, you know the A to Z Challenge is in full swing. For those not participating, the A to Z Challenge is a challenge for the month of April that involves blogging every day except Sunday and following the alphabet (A on the 1^st, B on the 2^nd, and so on). Some letters are easy, and you’re forced to choose between a few, even several, really good topics. Some letters are not so easy. And some letters are just plain hard.

There seems to be a lot of general agreement that letters toward the end of the alphabet are hard. Vowels also seem to be somewhat troublesome overall. Other than that it seems to be based on the individual blogger and possibly their theme (if they have one) as to which letters are hard. Here’s looking at you I, N, R, and U.

I found myself doing a lot of juggling letters around when I was planning posts (they’re not all written yet, so I’ll just say planning) and trying to find ways to make different posts work for different letters. It was helpful to write everything out and think of different titles and different angles for approaching the same subject.

I managed to juggle it around and turn what was going to be my B post into my U post and what was going to be my F post into my K post.

So what about you? Are you participating in the A to Z Challenge? Which letters were hard for you? Did you juggle anything around to suit a different letter?

Kohlrabi

Last year’s CSA boxes introduced me to a few vegetables I’d never tried before.  No surprise there, really, since I’m a little late to the vegetable eating party.  (I spent many years with green beans and lettuce being about the only vegetables I would eat.) 

One of my new experiences was with kohlrabi.  I had never seen or heard of kohlrabi before it showed up in our first CSA box.  I thought it looked more like something out of a sci-fi movie than something off of a farm.  Fortunately, the farm has pictures of the more unusual veggies to help folks like me figure out what in the world we have. 

Once I learned that I was in fact in possession of kohlrabi, and not something left behind by a UFO, I turned to Google.  I learned that kohlrabi is basically in the cabbage family, that it comes in a few different colors (isn’t the purple pretty?), that the leaves are edible and can be treated basically like any other green, and that you’re really only limited by your imagination and culinary preferences when it comes to preparing and serving kohlrabi. 

Garlic and olive oil are my main go-to things in the kitchen.  If in doubt, I tend to sauté it in garlic and olive oil, and maybe add a little Italian seasoning.  I love garlic and olive oil, and most of the time it’s a good fallback plan.   I decided that garlic and olive oil would be my plan for the kohlrabi.

It had a texture very similar to potatoes (or apples) but smelled a lot like cabbage.  Cabbage isn’t my favorite thing, so I decided on a lot of garlic at that point.  Because the texture reminded me of potatoes I decide to go with a sort of home fry approach.  I just fried pieces of it in the olive oil with lots and lots of garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. 

It turned out alright.   It had a little more of a cabbage flavor than I liked, but it was alright. Nick liked it a little better than I did.  We basically agreed that it’s something we can eat when it comes in the CSA box, but not something we’d choose to buy on its own.

We also tried tossing some chopped kohlrabi into vegetable soup.  I didn’t care for it.  I thought it gave the whole soup too strong of a cabbage flavor.  Nick thought it was okay. After that we pretty much stuck to the original home fry way of preparing the kohlrabi.

The greens were no problem.  We seemed to have some sort of greens in pretty much every box, so we just cooked a big pot of whatever greens we had on hand almost every week, or sautéed them and served them in quiche. 

So what about you?  Have you tried kohlrabi?  Do you like it?  What’s your favorite way to prepare it?  Do you think it looks a little sci-fi?