Month: November 2016

Revisiting The Rule of 3

/ rachelgoes262 / 2 Comments

jude-christmas-2016

I have previously written about how I incorporated the rule of three  into my decluttering goals. At the time, my goal had been to ensure that surfaces contained no more than three items that I found to be either meaningful or useful. To go all KonMari  again, I do not see the point in wasting space to contain items that do not bring me joy. I also do not see the point in wasting precious time in cleaning, dusting, or organizing items that are not either meaningful or useful.

I am proud to declare that I have been quite successful in minimizing all surfaces so that they only contain three items.

Having surfaces that contain only three items simplified my life in such a way that I decided to take the rule of three and run with it. I also applied the rule of three to my walls. I went through each wall in my house, and there are now only three decorative items per wall. I cannot tell you how much easier it is to clean my house now that there are only three items per wall and three items per surface.

When I applied the rule of three to my walls, I noticed that many items that were on my walls did not bring me joy. I decided to replace those items with things that do bring me joy. For example, I had some of my photography printed and framed, and now my artwork is gracing my walls, were previously was some commercial print that I neither liked no held any personal meaning to me.

Some walls in my house have less than three items on them. Some have only two items, and I am looking at a wall now that only has one thing on it. It is very relaxing to sit in my living room either before or after a long day and be able to enjoy sitting there. I also now have less things to dust, windex, and clean.

The rule of three inadvertently spilled over into other aspects of the declutter process as well. I culled my wardrobe again. While I am one of these people who will probably never have only 33 or 37 or 42 items of clothes, I do want to be sure that I only have clothes that fit my body well, that I love to wear, and that fit into my dresser and closet without overflowing my available space.

My dresser contains four drawers, and I have decided that one drawer is for pajamas and nightwear, and everything must fit into the drawer. If the drawer starts to overflow, then I need to get rid of items so that everything fits comfortably. I applied the same concept to all underclothes, such as socks.

One drawer contains my jeans and other pants that do not need to be hung in the closet. My work pants are hung in the closet so that they are not wrinkled. As most Americans. I realized I had an obscene number of jeans. I culled my jeans so that I only have three pairs. That is way more than I wear in a typical week. I kept my three most favorite pairs. Applying the rule of three to my jeans has also allowed me to upgrade. I was able to replace one of the $10 pair of Walmart jeans with a $40 pair of Levi’s, which I’m sure will last me much longer, and I am way happier with the fit and feel of them.

In applying the rule of three to the closet, I have three sweaters for when it is cold in the winter, three summer dresses, three hoodie sweatshirts, and three suit jackets. I currently have five pairs of work dress pants, but that will soon be decreasing to four. I have a hard time finding dress pants that fit, so I like to keep more than three pairs of those.

So while I may not have an overall goal number concerning the amount of clothing I aim to own, I have been trying to apply the rule of three to individual categories of clothing. Of course, for shirts, I have way more than three. Shirts do not seem to be as sturdy as pants. For work, I have nine v-neck shirts in various colors (that I will need to gradually replace, as they are becoming worn). I am hoping to get that number down to seven.

I do have a drawer of shirts that I wear when not working that include running shirts, baseball, hockey, and football shirts. I honestly do not know the number, but they all fit quite comfortably into their assigned drawer, so I am not concerned about their actual number. What I have been trying to do is to be sure that I am wearing everything, and if anything is in any way uncomfortable or does not fit well, then it goes into the donate pile.

I only want to be surrounded by the things that I love.

Have you incorporated the rule of three into your life? Have you applied it to surfaces, walls, or drawers? I am finding that it allows me more time to be with the ones I love and do the things I love because I spend less time cleaning and having to weed through mounds of clothing.

Even if the rule of three seems daunting, start with one surface. Choose just one stand or shelf and apply the rule of three. See if it helps to simplify your life.

Adult Snow Days

/ rachelgoes262 / Leave a comment

kitty jude

We have a snow day today. My work is closed. We got over a foot of snow overnight, and are currently experiencing inch an hour accumulation. It’s supposed to top out at 20 inches total today with 40 mph winds blowing all the fluff around. The Sheriff just closed all the roads were I live less than 10 minutes ago.

I have had snow days before. I spent eleven years teaching pre-school and have had snow days when the school district closed. Somehow, snow days as an adult have not been nearly as exciting as snow days as a child. That is, until today.

In my adult experience, snow days have primarily been announced at the last possible minute. There have been many times when I was on the road driving to the school, and then they finally announced the school closure on the radio so that I could turn around and go home. There were days when I hemmed and hawed over whether I thought it safe to try to get to the school when a snow day was not called, but the roads still treacherous, and I had to travel through two different counties to get to the school.

Today was the first time in my life that I experienced a snow day with the day delight as I did as a child. I had not even gotten up to look outside yet. In fact, my alarm had not even gone off yet. I was just kind of waking up and groggy when I received the alert announcing the snow day.

I don’t remember a snow day being called this early since I was a child. It was a wonderful experience to have the stress and pressure of trying to ascertain driving safety taken off my shoulders. My snow tires are not on my car yet (they were actually scheduled to be put on today), and after looking outside, I am not even going to be able to drive anyplace to have them put on. I have not been confident driving lately.

I was in the hospital last week. For the past two weeks or so, I have been having blackouts and these feelings of “I’m going to pass out.” The hospital put me through stroke protocol. When I first entered the hospital, they thought either I had a stroke or was about to have a stroke. I spent last week on a heart monitor. I honestly do not think that the cardiologist or any of the other physicians know what is happening. I also do not think that they care.

If I am in one place, I can deal with the passing out feeling. The worst that will happen is that I hit the floor. The problem is that I have been blacking out, and it happened once when I was driving. That is a concern.

Trying to drive the past week has been challenging. I either have to try to get a ride places or drive to the park and ride to get the bus to work. Even the bus cramps my style; the bus schedule does not accommodate my work hours.

Having a snow day today was a huge weight off my shoulders. In addition to trying to judge weather conditions, I have been trying to figure out on a day-to-day basis whether or not I am physically well enough to drive. It is very frustrating when the doctors have basically done nothing to help. The only thing I have been told is that blood is not reaching my brain, so I need to lay down with my legs in the air. That does very little to help me to function on a day-to-day basis.

For the first time since I was a child, I am purely delighted to have a snow day. Not only was it announced early, before I even looked outside and say all the snow, but also it allows me to stay home and focus on listening to my body and trying to figure out what is going on with me.

I know that this week of Thanksgiving I am not only thankful for snow days, but also for good friends, that I am physically safe despite all the challenges I am facing (in the face of incompetent medical care in addressing the issues), and that I have a job I love. I have so many things to be thankful for this week that a heart condition, or whatever is going on is not going to get my spirits down. I’m going to keep going until I pass out or get better. But for today, I am going to enjoy my adult snow day. Cheers to hot mugs of tea, good books, and naps.

Baby, it’s hockey season

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hockey1 hockey2

Hockey is hockey is hockey. Baseball is what happens when its not hockey season. I am a huge sports fan, and favor hockey, baseball, and football, in that order. For years I would go to the Thanksgiving Day hockey game. The arena personnel were like family. There are no more Thanksgiving Day hockey games, so last year I cooked Thanksgiving at home.

I have had the privilege of attending a NHL game and a MLB game for my favorite teams. My favorite national teams will not ever change no matter where I live. I consider the fact that I have been able to see my favorite national teams to be a great privilege, as it is not something that the everyday person has the opportunity to do. First, tickets are expensive, and second, geography and work schedules are not conducive to attending national games.

People typically root for the home team. Attending national games is for the people with means to do so. Many people will not have the opportunity to see their national teams live in person. Hometown teams are in our backyards. These are the regional teams, the college teams, the high schools teams, and sometimes simply the frozen corner lot with a bunch of kids from the block running around on ice in sneakers, hitting a puck with a broomstick.

This past weekend, I spent $4 to see the local college hockey team play on Saturday afternoon. There are 4 colleges and universities within a 30-mile radius around me. I knew about the university team (whose tickets cost as much as an AHL game). I did not even know that the local college had a hockey team. Apparently, it’s been there since the 2000-2001 season.

After being pampered by heated stadiums at AHL games, it was shockingly refreshing to watch a game in an unheated arena, wearing full winter outerwear trying to keep warm through three periods of play. Next time, I will bring a blanket. Of course, I am also the fool that sits in row three in an 18-degree ice rink.

While my home team lost, the play was great. The passes were crisp, the checks were hard, the skating graceful, and most of all, you could tell they played their hearts out and enjoyed every minute of the game. This is what hockey is all about.

Not only was the game well played, but it was the most relaxed I have ever been at a game. I was not worried about taking photos to post online, I had no need to constantly check my phone to text someone, I was not preoccupied with thoughts of homework or other things I had to do with my day once the game was done. I was able to sit and enjoy that hockey game more than I have typically enjoyed hockey games. There was no stress of going through security like the have at AHL and NHL games. I always travel light, and carry the smallest purse possible that is large enough to hold the epi pens, but just having the more relaxed atmosphere that did not include pat downs and metal detectors was refreshing. There were concessions that had coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and snacks. There was no pressure over beer or wine and no worrying about rowdy fans around me because they were continually fueled by booze.

This was the first hockey game I attended since I slowed down my life, and it was amazing. I am able to enjoy the things I love so much more now that life has slowed down. What’s more, it’s affordable. I can attend the entire season of college hockey games for what it would cost me to attend one AHL game. While I have seen my NHL team play on home ice once, to do so again would require almost a full month’s pay between the cost of the ticket and travel.

I think I enjoyed this hockey game more than I have enjoyed any other hockey game in recent memory.

To think that this team has been here for the past 15 years, and I had no idea what was in my own back yard. It is good, fun, affordable entertainment. What other activities are in my own back yard that I had no idea exists? Now that life has slowed down, I have the opportunity to open my eyes to what is around me. I no longer have tunnel vision focused on work and school, punctuated by brief periods of “relaxation” that involved some big, expensive trip just for the sake of “getting away.” I am very fortunate that there are so many sports teams around me to support and that ticket prices are reasonable.

What events are in your back yard? I have heard the concept of being a tourist in your own town before, but when I think tourist, I think of museums and plays. I did not initially think about attending college sports events.

So while it may be 27 degrees out this morning, I willingly spent a part of Saturday afternoon in an 18-degree hockey rink watching some college kids on skates hit a once-inch thick piece of rubber with a stick. Baby, it’s cold outside; baby, it’s also hockey season. It does not get much better than this.