How has your summer been going? We here at the Kastner household have been insanely busy dealing with, among other things, health issues (both Joe and I are looking at various surgeries), family issues (my youngest daughter is taking over my granddaughter’s guardianship, so Joe and I now babysit both our grands five days a week) and my granddaughter got a puppy. We haven’t had time to breathe, but at least we have air conditioning, because Colorado is HOT right now.
I’m also trying to spend the summer decluttering so I can organize our very messy house. We moved here when our own kids were small and my youngest grandchild just turned ten, so we have a lot of stuff that just needs to go bye-bye. I’ve tried many organization/decluttering methods to no avail. (Marie Kondo telling me to get rid of all my books? Yeah, not so much…they ALL spark joy!!!) I’ve finally found one that actually makes sense to me. It’s called the Clutterbug method by Cassandra Aarssen. According to her, there are four types of organizers, and they all think and organize differently. She calls them…you guessed it…clutterbugs. Butterfly, Ladybug, Bee or Cricket. Take her quiz and discover which clutterbug you are at clutterbug.me and then take the poll below to let me know what kind of clutterbug you are!
Joe and I are both bees. We are perfectionists with tons of projects going who like to micro-organize and are visual thinkers. So I’m using Cass’s ideas to restructure how we organize. It’s actually great fun, and it makes a lot of sense. I’m feeling more motivated than ever to get my act together. Not only that, but it’s given me time to catch up on the AWESOME INSPY ROMANCE PODCASTS!! If you haven’t checked them out, you’re really missing out. I love getting to know our wonderful Inspy Romance authors as they treat us to their thoughts about writing and reading contemporary inspy romance.
So what are you doing with your summer? Reading a lot of inspy romance, I hope. Anyone else decluttering? What method works for you?
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~~Love Courageously~~ Publisher's Weekly Bestselling, award-winning author of 30 novels, Deb Kastner enjoys writing contemporary inspirational western stories set in small communities. She feels especially blessed to be able to include faith as a natural and genuine part of her characters' lives. Deb lives in beautiful Colorado with her husband and a pack of miscreant mutts. She is blessed with three adult daughters and two grandchildren. Her favorite hobby is spoiling her grandchildren, but she also enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music (The Texas Tenors are her fav), singing in the church choir, and exploring the Rocky Mountains on horseback.
I’m a butterfly. You are probably a Butterfly if you have clothing on top of your dresser and on the floor, but your closet and drawers are practically empty (except for those items you don’t use or love).
Well I do put things away but I do have clothes all over the place. I try but I fail a lot.
Hi Deb! Thanks for the fun morning read. I can so relate with you and watching the grandkids. After retiring from teaching 9 years ago, I watched my grandkids 4 days a week, took kids to school and appointments. Last year due to Covid, I was the teaching coach to my oldest three grandkids – grades 10, 7, and 1. I was a caregiver to my seven year old granddaughter from 3 months on. She will be 8 in October. My oldest grandson passed his driving test yesterday. Can’t believe he will be 16 the end of the month. Making memories the grandkids with the grandkids is both exhausting and memorable. Still recuperating from the grand girls sleepover on Sunday with my 4 and 7 year old granddaughters.
Love the website Clutterbugs. Thanks for sharing. Will be exploring it more. I took the quiz and I am definitely a bee. I still have piles from being the teaching coach to my 1st grade granddaughter. As a teacher, my colleagues laughed at my piles of paperwork. I could always find the work sheet, newsletter that was needed. Whenever I clean up and put away the piles, that is when I can’t find anything. Therefore I will be exploring the website more. At seven decades need to downsize my stuff – crafts, pictures, books, clothes, baby stuff (used with watching grandkids), toys, and more.
Best wishes with your health, family and in your writing.
I’m a cricket but I had a hard time with the quiz as some of the questions didn’t apply to me. She needed to add that everything was put away in bedroom etc. Thank you for sharing as it was fun.
Cricket here. However, I think I may lean toward some of the other bugs depending on the category.
I am a cricket, also, and I agree with Lelia above, I answered the questions as close as I could. I enjoyed your post today. Happy writing!
I loved this, thank you so much for the great reference. Turns out, I’m a butterfly. I am getting ready to retire next year, sell my home, and move into a camper, so I am really purging. It feels great!
I’m a butterfly, supposedly, but none of the answers to some of the questions really describe me, so I had to pick something close to my preference. Part of mine is that I’m still trying to re-organize after Mom’s passing. Each “step” brings up memories and things to deal with. It will take time, and eventually I’ll get there!
I am a ladybug, at the time I am decluttering, I am working on a pantry. Have a great weekend and stay safe. God bless you and your family. I enjoyed reading your post, Thank you.
It sounds like we have a lot in common! I homeschooled my own children, so having to teach the grands last year wasn’t a complete shock to me, except that I wasn’t writing full time back when I was homeschooling my kids. I can completely relate to you being able to find what you need when it looks disorganized to anyone else. But I’m having a lovely time organizing and labeling.
Cass says all children are butterflies, and I’ve learned a lot about how to use that to my advantage. And I think most of us try and fail at organizing…that’s why I adore Clutterbug so much. She’s realistic.
My husband growled his way through the quiz, which I made him take. He kept saying it didn’t apply to him, but then I’d point out his open but organized baskets and bins and tell him he had to finish whether it applied to him or not. LOL
I personally think most of us are some kind of mixture of bugs depending on where we are and what we’re doing. But categorizing myself as a bee really did help me see a new way to organize that made sense to me.
I agree that some of the questions were hard or didn’t apply, but at the end of the day the quiz did help me understand my organizing style better. Have a great day!
Purging can feel overwhelming at first, but after a while it starts being fun. I envy you moving into a camper. That’s one of our long-term goals, though the Lord has had different plans for us for now.
I felt the same way when I took the quiz. I literally had no answer to some of the questions. But in general (after watching her show Hot Mess House) it made more sense to me, either being a visual organizer or not and then either macro or micro. You can figure out your style by looking at rooms or areas that work for you. Hope this helps.
I felt the same way when I took the quiz. I literally had no answer to some of the questions. But in general (after watching her show Hot Mess House) it made more sense to me, either being a visual organizer or not and then either macro or micro. You can figure out your style by looking at rooms or areas that work for you. Hope this helps.
I just finished my pantry, in combination with our extra food storage area in my office. It really makes a difference, and I have to say I love my labeler! LOL
Turns out I’m a butterfly. I bought a new desk this summer to help me stay organized. It has a file drawer. But my filing consists of stuffing stuff in any random file, with no labels or organization. There are still piles waiting to be filed. Fun post ans quiz.
I’m a cricket :) I think it describes me well.
“Love visual simplicity and organizational abundance. You prefer your everyday items out of sight, but you are a bit of a perfectionist and a very detail oriented person. “
According to the quiz, I’m a bee. If I’m a bee, I’m drowning in honey. The only effective decluttering method for me may be dynamite. Or tipping over a Yankee Candle. Aromatic Arson. I have so many things waiting to be put away that I have no more places to put them away in! So, if I’m a bee, I’ve been stung by my own stinger.
And, yes, lots of inspy romance reading. It turns out to be a very effective means of living in denial where decluttering is concerned. :-)
Ha ha! I love the picture you created of filing without filing. As a Bee I do this because I want it to be perfect when I *do* file…which rarely happens.
I have some Cricket tendencies but I do like my visual organization where I can see pretty things out.
I had such a good laugh over your Aromatic Arson. I know Cass at Clutterbug says you can only organize up to a point, organizing your space, and you have to purge first, but I’m kinda with you on dynamite or fire. Twenty-plus years in this house and it shows!!
I’m actually a bit of a mixture.
My daughter followed Marie Kondo when she organised her drawers. Just beautiful to see now.
I could never be a Marie Kondo, though I totally appreciate her. I can’t give up my books.
I guess I’m a ladybug.
I am also a Bee. We are kind of working on organization and decluttering. My Mom is now living in a nursing home. We have lived with her for 8-10 years. The house has six rooms. There is way too much “stuff”. The house was full before we moved in. We are now working on deciding what goes and stays. It is a challenging job. Thank you for posting the information. God bless you.
I have been camping & reading a lot in the sun. I collect only books & special things.
I’m a butterfly! I organize but only collect what I really want.
Very interesting. The tips she gives on her website sound easy enough, and as you mentioned even fun. Thanks for enlightening us!
I’m a ladybug, however I agree with some of the other comments, some of the questions didn’t apply to me. I like to be organized, but have things readily available. Thanks for the quiz, it was fun.