Time for spring cleaning … and that applies to our diabetes supplies too. Let’s KonMari Our Diabetes Lives! was published by Rachel Kerstetter for DiabetesMine, 27 March 2019 … and it gives some great suggestions!
With all the recent talk of adopting Japanese de-clutter expert Marie Kondo’s approach when it comes to organizing and tidying up — especially since her reality show recently came out on Netflix — I figure there has to be a way for each of us gain control of all the diabetes stuff that inevitably piles up, and organize it in a way that “sparks joy” (or least stops doing the opposite).
For those uninitiated in the so-called KonMari Method:1. Put everything in a pile, 2.Hold each item and see if it sparks joy, if it doesn’t spark joy get rid of it (after you’ve thanked it and said goodbye), and 3.Once you get rid of things, organize what remains.
You can just imagine the rabbit holes this could send you down when thinking about diabetes supplies “sparking joy”…. Right?!
If you try this with your supplies, please let us know what, if anything, “sparked” joy, which things did you find yourself “thanking” and was this helpful for you?
Read more: KonMari (Tidy Up) Our Diabetes Lives!
Click to order the book!
What if you have leftover supplies? There are several organizations who will take your unexpired supplies and distribute them where they are needed most.
I usually make up a package to send to Insulin for Life USA … and if I am including insulin, I pack it in a refrigerator pack with a cold pack. Go to their website for further details: Insulin for Life USA
Read more about this amazing, Florida-based non-profit: Diabetes Emergency Relief Efforts Awarded Top Honors
Another incredible organization is Life for a Child, an International Diabetes Federation program with a vision: No Child Should Die of Diabetes. The program partners with diabetes centers in lower-income countries to provide children and adolescents with diabetes with:
- Insulin and syringes
- Blood glucose monitoring equipment and test strips
- Clinical care
- HbA1c testing
- Diabetes education, workshops, camps, resources
- Support for health professionals
Dr. Francine Kaufman (currently the new chief medical officer for Senseonics, former cmo for Medtronic and extraordinary pediatric endocinologist) and her husband, Neal traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2018 … read her incredible journey to help children living with diabetes. I guarantee this will touch you! Diabetes in Ethiopia
Check out their website: Life for a Child
Insulin-Pumpers.org provides information and support for adults and children with diabetes and their 
families interested in insulin pump therapy. They have a forum for users to ask questions … but the founder, Michael Robinton, has been running this group for many years. He collects supplies donated by members and distributes them within the US diabetes community.
Check out the website: Insulin-Pumpers
Oh I zen out with a very straight diacrap cabinet. It is true my diacrab runneth over, but it is an orderly runneth over.
🙂
A couple of years ago, after I first heard of Marie Kondo, I was cleaning out my office. In a filing cabinet, I found ALL the record logs of my blood sugar from Day 1 of my diagnoses through when I got my Dexcom – about 10 years of books. I had been holding on to them, thinking they were like diaries and that they were medical records that I couldn’t destroy. And in some senses they were – I could open to certain pages and see the dates (and results) fancy meals I ate when I went to a nice restaurant or when I was on vacation. But when I thought of them in the collective, they did NOT “spark joy.!” I threw them all away, keeping just the first one and the last one as souvenirs of that part of my “journey.” I freed up a lot of space – physically AND emotionally!
A couple of years ago, after I first heard of Marie Kondo, I was cleaning out my office. I found a box full of all of the record books I kept of my blood sugar from first day of my diagnoses through when I got my Dexcom (about 10 years!). I had always thought of them as important medical records, or sort of diaries of my meals and experiences over those years. I could indeed turn to certain dates to see the fancy meal I ate on a vacation (and the resulting bad sugar numbers!). When I looked at them as a collection, I decided that they DID NOT “spark joy.” I selected two to keep – the first one and the last – thanked the rest of them, and threw them in the trash. It was amazing how much physical AND emotional space I freed for myself in that action!