Every now and again, someone comes up with new and wonderful ways to downsize, clean, de-clutter, or sanitize your house. The books and websites are becoming as trendy as culinary t.v. shows and cookbooks.
Understand that I'm not being critical when I say that I think each person needs to do what they find helpful to them. If spending countless hours folding and organizing your clothing into little squares is what you enjoy, go for it. If setting a timer for twenty minutes to clean areas of your house works, more power to you. There is in fact no area of my house that can be cleaned in twenty minutes, but that's another problem.
Almost everyone's heard of Marie Kondo and her philosophies by now. She's a delightful young woman who shows you how to "spark joy" by folding and organizing your underwear (of which you shouldn't have too many), into tiny bundles that stand up on their own, like little soldiers in your dresser drawer.
During this time of covid isolation, I'm continuing to provide entertainment for myself. Through it all though, I have to give kudos to hubby for tolerating my nonsense.
As I was folding laundry last week, I decided to Marie Kondo the sheets. That means, once they are
folded in the correct and most space efficient manner, they get placed inside a pillow case, never to be seen again. While I was doing this, I figured, why not add some pizzazz. Wow...never noticed before that the word pizzazz has pizza in it. Reminds me, it's lunch time. But alas, I digress.
So I located a ribbon, tied everything up, and left the sheets on the bed for hubby to put on the high shelf. He probably had no idea what to make of this new found pillow-like package. It was too early by a week or two for his birthday. By the way, I doubt Marie would approve of the wrinkled case and the disorganized bow, but alas, I have to save some part of my persona lest I turn into too much of a
***Stepford wife.
It's not as though I don't have any goals or plans for each day although it's not the way it used to be when our agenda was overflowing with trips, meetings with friends, doctor's appointments, dinners out, baseball games, etc. Nowadays, the calendar is empty, save for the occasional Walmart curbside grocery pickup...our biggest outing. Apart from that, everything is limited to what can be done around the house, inside and out, or on a walk. I guess that's about it.
I am not, nor have I ever been a person who can blindly and rigidly follow a schedule that's laid out. I also have a limited attention span, often moving on to another thing while abandoning the first. You might call me flexible, spontaneous, scatterbrained, or whatever other word fits the category. So I told my friend who follows the Fly Lady website, that I'd more likely be a gnat or a mosquito lady.
Based on that idea, I came up with my own "Mosquito Lady" plan. When we were first in lockdown as I like to call it, because it sounds better than isolation, quarantine, or captivity, I was a mad cleaning machine. I had this crazy idea that I could get my whole house tidy and sterilized in a few days...something I hadn't accomplished in years of living here because I actually had an active life. I also thought I could pursue all the hobbies I'd never had time for. End result, it didn't happen. Part way through, I became resentful, fed up, and went on a ***"Dead to Me" Netflix binge.
My new plan because I am retired and fortunate to have the luxury of doing this, was to do housework and cook for an hour or two in the morning. Then after lunch, go for a walk, pursue hobbies such as reading, writing, practicing keyboard, painting, crafting and lingering in the tub (not necessarily everything every day or in that order). This has made me much happier.
I do occasionally make lists and meal plans, but that's difficult for me because it's not in my nature. On the other hand, I've done some pretty odd, out of my comfort zone things lately and found them strangely satisfying.
Perhaps I'll just go binge watch some Marie Kondo videos on Netflix after all.
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***Stepford Wives - A 1970's Ira Levin book and later a movie about a group of men who created robotic versions of their wives. These robots were physically perfect and also immaculate house keepers with no individuality or interests other than keeping the men happy.
***Dead to Me - Good show. Great cast. Somewhat irreverant and unlikely, with terrific writing and cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Not everyone's taste but the clever writing makes it mine.
