
I’m answering some questions that were submitted at AskDanaKWhite.com. The general theme is that it’s hard to declutter when circumstances aren’t ideal. Lucky for us, the No Mess Decluttering Method works in any situation.
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Dana K. White
Hey y'all. My newest book that I have been working on for the Last Five Years comes out on February 11th. In this book I am finally sharing the spiritual side of my desalabification process. The title of the book is Jesus doesn't care about your messy house. At the end of this episode, I'll share more about it, but for now I'll just say that you can claim pre order bonuses now at aslobchemsclean.com Jesus welcome to a Slob Comes Clean, the Podcast. I am Danny K. White. I share my personal d slobification process as I figure out ways to keep my own home under control. I share the truth about cleaning and organizing strategies that actually work in real life for real people. People who don't love cleaning and organizing. Thanks for joining me today. This is podcast number 4:36 and I am going to call it decluttering when you are in less than ideal circumstances. Yeah, so what I'm doing is I am. I put together a few of the questions that have been asked over@asknanyky.com so I'm going to be answering those here. And basically the common theme for these questions is they're living in frustrating circumstances. Not like super bad or anything, but just in situation. They're living in situations that are less than ideal. Right. Like this is going on. But I wish it wasn't. But it is. And so we're just going to talk about that. Like how do you declutter? How do you manage your house in those times? Okay, here we go. You ready? First question. We live in an older home with zero closets. Not for clothes, nothing for linens. We have put up freestanding hanger racks. I was about to read hunger racks and then I was like, well that's interesting. We put up freestanding hanger racks and of course dressers and shelves for things where possible. But I am struggling so hard with take it there now. When nothing seems to have a home that makes sense, where would I look first is always out on the counter in my office where I throw everything. How do you get your brain to remember and feel natural about something's home? Being in a place that just makes no sense. I. E. Towels have to go on a bookcase. Camping supplies has to go in the pantry. My mind never wants to return it to the home I've assigned it to. Cold, dry winter weather is no friend to my skin and can leave me with a dry, itchy scalp. I've learned it may not just be the cold weather making my skin dry. Unfiltered mineral filled water could be the reason why I didn't know that hard water is a leading cause of damaged hair and dry, irritated skin. About 85% of the United States uses hard water filled with dissolved minerals and added chlorine. That's where Canopy's filtered shower heads come in. Canopy, known for their beauty hacks and reimagined humidifier, has an awesome filtered shower head including a handheld version. Their unique three stage filtration system is recommended by dermatologists and it greatly reduces contaminants and odors in your shower water, leaving you with healthy hair and glowing skin. I loved that my Canopy filter filtered shower head was so easy to install and its unique filter replacement feature makes it easy to change the filter too. I like easy. Go to GetCanopy Co to save 25 on your canopy filtered showerhead purchase today with Canopy's hassle free filter subscription. Even better, my listeners can use code clean at checkout to save an additional 10% off your canopy purchase. Hurry. Your hair and skin will thank you. Okay, a couple things here. Assigning a home is different than identifying a home through where would I look first? Okay, now I want to address the reality that this is a hard situation. They live in an older home with zero closets. And I know that there are houses out there like that, right, that they don't have closets. There is not a linen linen situation. Whatever. They have freestanding hanger racks and of course dressers and shelves for things where possible. But I'm struggling so hard with take it there now. When nothing seems to have a home, that makes sense. Okay, if a home makes sense already to you, like if something has an established home, that is easy stuff. Okay, yes, you take it there now. But the key when you don't know where something goes is to ask where would I look for this first? Now you say where I would look for it first is always out on the counter or in my office where I throw everything. Okay, if that is the case, which is the case for I would say 80% of us who struggle with clutter, like, you're not alone here. Right? Like so many of us know exactly what you're saying. This is a question that I hear a lot. Right. Like is your first reaction. Where would I like first? Well, I would look first right there. And I don't want it to be there. Like that's what I'm trying to avoid. I'm trying to change. Right? So we take that out of the equation. So the counter and or in your Office where you throw everything. We're taking that out of the equation. So the question becomes, where would I look first if the counter was clear the way I want it to be, where would I look first if my office was actually functioning as an office and not a dumping ground? So where would I look first is the key. Because then I don't have to get my brain to remember and feel natural. I'm going with what's natural so I don't have to remember. I know it's hard. I know it's especially hard when you feel like, I mean, this sounds like it's not a brand new house for you. Okay? Like, you've lived here for a while. These are your frustrations with your house. They are valid frustrations. Right. It's less than ideal, but it is the house that you live in. Right? And even if you did say, which you didn't, but even if you said, well, I think we're going to move, even in a situation where somebody tells me they're thinking they're going to move, I'm like, still declutter for this house that you're in. So whatever house that you're in is what you need to declutter for. The house that you're in has zero closets for clothes or linens. Okay. You do have some freestanding hanger racks and dressers and shelves. So out of what you have, where would you look first for these things? Because the problem is when you're just looking at your stuff and thinking, I need to put all this stuff in different places, you start putting things in places, you start getting super logical, but your brain doesn't go to those places when it's actually time to find the thing. So what we want to do is really zero in on the instinct, right? The instinct of if I needed my towels, where would I look for them first? You're saying your places make no sense. We're embracing the fact that the places make no sense, and we're saying that sense is out the window. We are not going to logicalize this. We are just going to say, if I needed my towels, where would I look for them first? Oh, I would look for them on. In the office. Well, that's not an option. So if the office was clear, if I needed my towels and the office was clear, where would I look for them first? Oh, on the countertop. Okay, well, that countertop is supposed to be clear. So if I needed my towels and the office was actually functioning the way it needs to be, and the countertop was Clear. Where would I look for them first? Okay, don't think too hard. Go with the place where you would actually look for them first. That makes no sense. That is not where you wish it could be. That is not ideal. That is not the closet that doesn't exist that you wish you had. Okay, go with, like, actually, where would I look? Well, I would actually look for those first on the shelf above the washing machine, you know, And I'm not saying that's the place for them. I'm just giving you an example pulled out of my head. So that's the place where I would look for it first. I'm going to go take it there right now. Now I'm going to get there, and I'm going to have to embrace the reality of that space. If there's no room for it there, well, then I got to get it with something else for it. Or if there's, you know, only so much room, I go, you know what? I wish I could have 17 towels. And the reality of this house is that I can only have four. I don't know how many people live in your house. Right. But the reality of this house is this. And so the way that you. Because you said, how do you get your brain to remember and feel natural about something's home being in a place that just makes no sense? You go with what feels natural over above, what makes sense now we have to embrace that space, and we're not letting that be the thing that keeps us from being able to live in our house because it's covering our countertops. Right? Because we already talked about that. So we're not talking about that, but we're going with the place that even though it doesn't make sense, it's the place where I would look for it first. And we make that the home, as opposed to thinking of it as, this is the best place for this item. They need to go on the shelf. It's the only thing that makes sense. And then being mad at myself when I never look there for that item. Okay. It is better to say, where would I look for it first? Take it there now. Embrace the reality of that space. Get rid of something else, or acknowledge, you know what? Actually, there's no room for this thing in my house. Because maybe we're not talking about towels. Maybe we're talking about the 17th pair of jeans. And we go, okay, so I would look first for my jeans on this shelf, But I was thinking of this as well. Where do I look first for my 17th pair of jeans? When that shelf is already full. No, no. That shelf determines how many jeans we can have. Maybe we can only have seven pairs of jeans, right? I know there are people probably listening, going, who needs seven pairs of jeans? Well, I mean, we're not going to go too drastic here, because that'll just make everybody give up before they start, right? But you say, oh, this is the shelf I have for jeans. So make sure that we're acknowledging and embracing the reality of that space when we get there. And make sure that if you don't have an answer to the first question, where would I look for this first? If you really can't think of an answer, then you need to ask that second question, which is, if I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already had one? Because the reality is, if your house has no closets, not for clothes, not for linens, nothing like that, you may not be able to keep all the extra stuff that you think you would want to keep if you lived in a house that did have closets. So you need to get rid of stuff anyway. It'd be great to get rid of it in the trash and the obvious donation part. But go hard on that second question and just say, you know what? I need to be getting stuff out of my house, so I need to be honest with myself and say, if I needed this item, it would literally never occur to me that already had one. Which is the reality of when things don't have homes and they're just shoved in places, then we don't have an awareness of what we have, and therefore we end up. I'm saying we, and I really mean me. I end up when my house was a total disaster and I didn't know what I had, and there was just stuff everywhere, and it was in random places and nothing was in a logic. I mean, things were in logical places, but I couldn't find anything, right? Like, I put them in these places, and I didn't know where to go because I wasn't using the where would I look for it first? As my way to determine to identify where the home was, not where it should be, but where it actually is. This is where I would look. This is where it needs to live, right? So that reality that. What was I talking about? Golly, what was I talking about? So good, y'all. I promise, it was so good. What I was going to talk about, what I was about to say was going to change everybody's life. And sorry about that. But anyway, like, oh, like, I need to get rid of it, right? Like, if I need to be honest with myself about that, I would never go looking for it, okay? Because my. Because there was so much stuff. I didn't know what I had. I'd forgotten about it because there was just more than my brain could handle. And so if there was more than my brain could handle, it was better to get rid of it and go buy another one if I ever needed it, which I rarely did. But even if I did, it was better to go buy another one than to have it stay in my house and me not know that it was there and me need it and go buy another. Another one, right? Like, I have one in my house and I'm going to buy another one. That's the real definition of wasting money is to pay for something that I already have because my house is so cluttered that I don't even remember what I have right now. I'm not saying that you're in that situation. I'm just saying go with the instinct. What's happening here is you are deciding all these great places and then trying to shove your instinct into a cowboy boot that doesn't fit. That's not really a saying, but, you know, I mean, that's what it feels like here, right? Like you're trying to shove it into the 17th pair of jeans that is way too small. You are. You're. You're trying to mold and warp your instinct. In reality, it's better just to go, what is the instinct? That's where it's going to go. Okay, where would I look for it first? Less than ideal situation. And yet I personally have experienced and have heard from. I mean, I would. I would actually say over the years, thousands of you who have told me I always hated my home. I thought my home was too small. I thought I didn't have. What, I didn't have enough space. It didn't. Whatever. And then the more I decluttered, the more I realized, oh, my home's actually perfectly fine. Even if you feel the desire to move, declutter. Because if you were going to move, you'd have to declutter anyway. But also, you might declutter and go, oh, actually, I do like my house. That's what happened to me. I literally added square footage to my home by decluttering. I cleared out rooms that had been completely unusable before. Finding an easy solution to a big problem makes me so happy. 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Just trade in any phone from our top brands on any unlimited plan with new line on my plan. Additional terms apply for trade in and pay off your phone offer. See verizon.com for details. All right, next question. Hi Dana, I have been a. I've been following you for years, years in parentheses, and have been so helped by your methods. Thank you. I have a question now about a temporary season with a much lower clutter threshold. I'm due with my eighth baby in April. Yay. Okay. Also, I'm really behind on these. So anyway, I think your baby is probably at least six months old now. Okay. I'm just my eighth baby in April. This is her talking, not me. Okay. All right. Y'all know I had my hysterectomy. This is my first time having a baby with older kids in school and I'm feeling overwhelmed by managing, managing the uniforms, paper, etc in that initial postpartum period while keeping normal life from overtaking our modest sized home. My husband and kids are wonderful and will work hard to keep things going well, but I'd love to make things easier for all of us. Do you have any suggestions for how to prepare for a time when I know I'll have a lower clutter threshold, but I also know will not be forever? Okay. Again, congratulations. This is an exciting time. Right. And so it is ideal, right? Because it's a baby. So that makes it ideal. But it's like, oh, life is wonky for a little while and we'd love to hear how it all went for you because it's over. But, but the reality is this is your situation and if you know that you're going to go through a much lower clutter threshold, which you know that this is your eighth baby, you know, you need to have fewer things to deal with. But you also have older kids now who are dealing with things that are kind of outside of your control as far as papers and all that type of stuff. Right. The number one thing I would do is try to ruthlessly declutter. So I would ruthlessly declutter now before the baby, which was already born. But if someone else is in this situation, I would ruthlessly. I would recommend that you ruthlessly declutter before the baby comes. Really get stuff like if anything is even iffy go ahead and let it go because that'll only make it easier. And I'll give you a little more wiggle room within that clutter threshold. But also, you mentioned specifically the uniforms, papers, stuff like that, declutter in those specific areas. So maybe we do a, you know, I don't know what kind of situation you're in, what, what systems you've had before, but really limiting, even if it means packing some things away until this time period has passed, but really limiting the number of, you know, uniforms. We are going to have five uniforms per kid, and we're going to really focus on, you know, doing the laundry. Maybe the oldest kid, I don't know how old they are, but maybe they can be in charge of the laundry on Saturday. And because it's uniforms, hopefully we can, you know, wash it all together. And we're going to do a load and we get all that stuff done, or two loads, whatever, depending on how big your thing is washing machine is. But you really say, I'm going to narrow down, I'm going to declutter, even if it's for temporary, like, I'm packing other things up. I'm going to do that because what can happen, too. I know I only have three kids, but when my kids had uniforms and some of them were kind of interchangeable and then like, oh, this kid can't wear this anymore, but the brother can actually wear it within another probably six months, or, oh, actually, you know what? This is something that the sister could wear in seven months. And so it feels like, oh, it just kind of stayed around because it was gonna be useful so soon that it didn't feel like something to actually completely pack up. Right. With eight kids, I'm assuming that you really have that going on, right? Like, you can kind of have maybe some three kids that are all wearing the same size right now. And then so really zero in on just having the utmost basics. And then I would, even if you don't like it and it's only temporary, I would put the trash can or recycle bin at the door that the kids walk in when they come in and just say, you know, while this, this is one of your jobs, while the baby is little, is a newborn, and then let's try to continue it after that too, you know, but let's really get. Let's empty out anything that isn't necessary very first thing as soon as you walk in the door, right? It's that same concept of walking straight from the mailbox to the trash or recycling bin. You know, and not going to a second location, like, not putting things down on the dining room table or putting things down on the kitchen counter. It's like, if I can go straight there, I'm gonna be okay. But if we just make a pile at all, it's like it has no hope but to not, you know, but to get out of control. So, again, congratulations. All right. Hi, Dana. I was feeling pretty good about gaining control of our home when we went from not wanting pets to having five in two years. Please don't ask me how. Two large hairy dogs and three cats. My approach, divide and conquer. I crammed all the living room furniture into my office craft space. Dogs, dog hair, and dust were assigned to the living space. As cats came in, I had to add blankets to furniture, visual clutter, and keep bedroom doors closed, further dividing the house. How do I reclaim our home? Or at least how can I improve my approach? Okay, so, yay, we've got babies and pets. This is a. All the stuff that makes me happy. Right. So you've got two large hairy dogs and three cats. They're going to be there a while, like, their lifetimes. Right? I mean, like, I hear of cats that live, like, 15 years, and so I would say embrace it. And instead of it being I'm crammed all of the living room furniture into another place so that I can have this. It's like, this is our reality now. Our reality now is that cats live here or dogs live here. Okay. Getting a robot vacuum might be a worthy investment. I mean, it's Christmas right now, so go to Amazon.com shop comes clean, and start there, you know, so that I'll get the affiliate commission. But I mean, like, this might be the time where you say, hey, person who wants to buy me a nice gift? Or, hey, people who have randomly asked if I wanted anything, I want something toward this thing. You know, like what. What can I do to manage? Like, it is fact, if you're going to have animals in the house, that shed, there's going to be animal hair in the house, right? So you adjust to living with that to a degree, but then you also adjust. What are some daily things that you can do? You know, the thing that I always say about things that drive you bananas is, solve that problem today and then solve it again tomorrow and then solve it again the next day. So if it's been a while since you've really dealt with all the hair and it's really driving you crazy, you dig in and deal with the hair, but don't Wait until it gets out of control again tomorrow, deal with the hair and you go, oh, that only took me a quick swish and swipe here and a running of the robot vacuum or a quick whatever, all right? And then do it again the next day. And if you do it for seven days, you're going to figure out the way that works best for you. Okay? But this is, this is reality. Now you've got five animals living there and it's probably the best thing that's ever happened to you, right? Like, I mean, you, you, I, I mean, I'm. You love it, right? You love it. So it is what it is, right? So we learn to deal with it. And not having any living room furniture to sit on for the next 15 years is not an option. So maybe as you do need to replace some of that furniture, you know, because over the course of 15 years, there is a decent chance that you need to replace a couch. Okay, well then this time I'm going to go with a leather couch or, you know, something that doesn't get hair on it. I mean, I'll tell you, I have a friend who has three dogs and when she bought a new couch, like she compared the dog's hair to the actual couch, she, blah, blah, blah. I mean, she went through that was part of her couch buying decision was the dogs that I have. How is that hair going to either stick to and not be able to come off easily of this couch or how's it going to blend in when I don't get it off immediately? That kind of thing. Okay. During these cold months, we spend a lot of time indoors and the house stays closed up. Cat owners know how a litter box can get smelly quickly. 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Go to prettylitter.com slob to save 20% on your first order and get a free cat toy. That's prettylitter.com slob, to save 20% on your first Order and get a free cat toy. Prettylitter.com slob terms and conditions apply. See site for details. If you're a facilities manager at a university, you know students rely on the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the occasional late night snack. So when a dishwasher breaks down and dirty plates pile up, the mess hall can turn messy in the blink of an eye. Enter Grainger with over a million industrial grade products and fast delivery, the product you need now is never far away. So you can turn that dishwasher back into a lean, clean washing machine. Call click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done in the year of the pandemic, I moved twice before finding a dream home which needed significant renos. I've been stuck renovating and literally moving boxes from room to room and living in a disaster zone. The bulk of the serious renos have been finished for over a year now. It's just cosmetics now that I'm doing. Can't afford to hire out anymore, but they are time and energy consuming and general horrible dust mess. Old care anyway. Lots and lots of stuff, right? I also had some life events interfere and I want to clean a minimal house, but how do I declutter if I am stuck in the never ending painting sanding jobs with very little energy left? Do I have to give up one to complete the other? No, you don't have to give up one to complete the other. What I would do if I were you is while you're working on whatever, listen to Decluttering at the Speed of Life. Okay. Or listen to my podcasts. Those are free, but go listen to the book and remind yourself of the no Mess process. Remind yourself of the five step decluttering process that allows you to declutter without making a bigger mess in any amount of time available. Because that's the key, right? And with very little whatever energy you have, you can get decluttering done. You can make decluttering progress. So you spend time 5 minutes if you have it, 30 minutes if you have it. You can do a lot in 30 minutes and say I'm going to throw away trash. I am. Which there's always trash, especially during renovation, right? I'm going to see if there's anything that needs to be donated. Because you said specifically, I want a minimal house. Now, y'all know I don't teach minimalism, but if you want to go to minimalism, decluttering is how you get there, right? And so the more you get rid of, the more you are potentially achieving that house as you are doing this. So remember that getting rid of stuff is only going to make everything else easier. If you have to move a bunch of things to do one of these small jobs that's really, really, you know, annoying, but you're like, oh my goodness, I've got to do this. If you're touching it anyway, have your donate box in your trash bag there so that as you touch something to move it to get to the, the baseboards that you need to deal with, you're not moving it aside unless it's something that's going to actually stay in the house. If you're going to touch it anyway and it needs to leave the house as trash or donation, you can go ahead and do that, right? So the thing I would say is refresh your memory on the no mess decluttering process and realize that the whole value of it is that you're only going to make progress and that you can make that progress with minimal time and minimal energy. Not that you can't put more time and energy into it, but whatever time and energy that you have, you can make real progress. And so really make sure that you're doing it that way. Because if you are just like, oh, yeah, yeah, I really like the no mess process. Okay, so yeah, I'm going to declutter and you pull everything out. That's not using the no mess process. And that's the thing that feels defeating and ends up being self defeating. Right? So really zero in on the process. Also, you can usually listen to decluttering at the speed of life at. You know, most libraries have copies as well. Okay, next. Got lots of people in less than ideal situations here first. Thank you. Your approach helped me declutter my tiny, cluttered, 800 square foot condo. Question. We are moving into a much bigger house very soon. How do I give myself the advantage of having a decluttered home from the start with all the chaos that comes with a move? It's hard to, for example, take things where they go right away when I'm not sure where things go yet. Okay, so the reality, the less than ideal situation is the chaos of a move. It is fact. It is not fun. Maybe there are people out there who think it's fun to move. I don't think there are very many. Right. Like there's some excitement. I'm not saying there's not excitement, but there is chaos that comes with a move. Because just packing up and then unpacking and all that. But don't decide ahead of time to be defeated in the whole take things where they go right away when I'm not sure where things go yet. Just like in that first question that I answered. It is not about knowing. It is not about being sure where things go. It is about asking yourself, where would I look for this first? Which you do even in a new house. I moved. It's the same thing I did. Where would I look for this first? It feels a little woo woo. But I'm literally only asking myself that question because it did not have an established home. So nothing in my new house has an established home. Right. Like if it has an established home, it's easy. I'm not asking that question. I am only ever asking where would I look for it first if I have no idea where it's supposed to go. But I'm not asking where it's supposed to go. I'm asking where would I look for it first in this house, not knowing where it is, where's the first place I would go to look for it? What's the first drawer I would open? What's the first room I would walk to? That is what you're asking yourself. Okay. So it's not confidence about where it goes, it's instinct about where you would look for it first. Even if you don't know for sure it's going to be there. But if you put it in the place where you look for it first and then later when you're looking for it, you take a moment and say, okay, where would I look for this first? So many times. Not every time, but so many times it's in the first place where you look because you put it in the place where you would look for it first. Got it. Okay. So it. I'm just excited. I'm excited for you that you did so much decluttering. I'm excited that you're moving into a much bigger house. You're gonna do great if you declutter down to an 800 square foot condo and now you're moving into a bigger house. You're going to really. It's going to be great. Just don't start adding stuff because you have space. Right. Okay. So what was the theme of today? The theme was the house. You have is the house you have, right? How do you declutter in less than ideal situations? For the vast majority of the people listening to this podcast right now, you're not living in an ideal situation or you probably wouldn't be listening to this podcast. Right. Like, my house was more ideal than I realized when I started decluttering because I was frustrated with my stuff. And therefore that frustration made me feel like it was my house I was frustrated with. What I was actually frustrated with was the stuff. The more stuff I got out of my house, which is the value of obvious donations, just leaving trash, just leaving things that I acknowledge and admit I would never actually go looking for it. Just leaving all that stuff, being gone brings this less than ideal situation to much closer to the point of being an ideal situation. Okay, all right. I hope this was helpful. Don't forget that take your house back is on sale right now. We have an all day declutter coming up on January 18, 2025. How is that even a real year? But anyway, if you have been meaning to join, now is the time. Go to a slob comes clean.com take and we will have the link in the show notes. All right, I will talk to y'all next week. Bye. Okay, y'all, I'm back to talk about my new book that comes out February 11th of 2025. If you've ever wondered how I put these current things in with old podcasts, that's one of the features that my ad network allows me to do. And I'm very thankful for that because I know a lot of y'all listen to old podcasts and I don't want you to miss exciting things that are coming out like the new book. This book is called Jesus doesn't care about your messy house, he cares about your heart. And this is a departure for me for sure. So my first three books did not contain spiritual content and that was on purpose. And this book talks about why. Ultimately, this is a book about God's grace, what it means and how it plays out in life. And I'm using this example that feels both too unimportant and too daunting from my own life to explore what grace is. My hope is that exploring this topic, finding out what the Bible really says and how Jesus really views you, will remove the shame around this issue so that you can move forward. Also want to make sure you know that if you pre order, there are pre order bonuses. So I'm going to talk real quickly about what those are. You can pre order from anywhere you can even request it from your library and send us an email and let us know that preorder it from anywhere and then go to a slob chems clean.com Jesus. And there's actually links there of places to pre order if you haven't yet. But you'll go to the the form there and fill out your information with your pre order number and information from your receipt. Okay, so just so you know, we don't have any way of knowing that you pre ordered, okay? We don't get any information about you from the place where you bought the book. They don't send us any information about you. So the only way for us to know that you have pre ordered is for you to come and fill out this form. And they are all digital and they're downloadable, meaning you're going to get them immediately. Now they don't come with your book and again we only can give them to you if you tell us that you've pre ordered and give us your information. But what are the bonuses? Well the bonuses include a preview of the book, it's the first two chapters and then also a five day Bible study based around the theme of the book. And then the last thing is not downloadable because it'll be an invitation that you'll receive to a live Q and A exclusively for those who have pre ordered. So here's how this is going to work. I am going to do three categories of Q and A's and for each category I'm going to do two sessions. Okay, so there will be a daytime and an evening for each of these sessions to hopefully allow you to make it to one of them. But the three categories are divided out to hopefully meet everybody where they are. Because I know that people are at very different places on this side of this journey. Okay, so the three categories are I'm all in. Like you get it, you hear the title, you read the book and you're like, yep, I'm all in. I want to talk more about this. That's the first category. The second category is I've got questions. Like I think I know what you're saying, but I've got some questions about this. We'll have two sessions for the people who are in that place in that category. And then the last category is no, nope, I'm out. But we're friends and so you read the book and so you pre ordered so you can be invited to that one. Because I know that like I said, we're all at different places and we want to be able to really have those conversations. Those will not be recorded because I want to honor the privacy of those who are participating. So it will be something where that's why we're doing each of them twice so that hopefully you can make one. We'll send out the invitations to those sessions probably about a week after the book releases to give people time to get into it and start start reading so that when we have those discussions we're you know talking about the same thing. So I would love for you to pre order if this is a book that you would be interested in or somebody you know would be interested in. Pre orders are so helpful for authors so I greatly appreciate you doing that but ultimately I just want it to be a book that is helpful for you. You can go to a slob comes clean.comjesus both for information on how to pre order and or to fill out the form and claim your pre order bonuses. All right, I will talk to you later. Bye.
Release Date: December 12, 2024
Host: Dana K. White
Podcast: A Slob Comes Clean: Reality-Based Cleaning, Organizing and Decluttering
In Episode 436 of A Slob Comes Clean, Dana K. White delves into the challenges of decluttering and organizing in less-than-ideal living situations. Addressing questions from listeners facing various household obstacles, Dana provides practical, reality-based strategies to help maintain control over clutter despite limited resources or unconventional home layouts.
Dana begins the episode by acknowledging that many listeners find themselves in frustrating living circumstances—not necessarily chaotic, but not optimal either. She emphasizes the importance of adapting decluttering techniques to fit one’s unique situation rather than striving for an unattainable ideal.
Notable Quote:
"For the vast majority of the people listening to this podcast right now, you're not living in an ideal situation or you probably wouldn't be listening to this podcast."
— Dana K. White [10:45]
Listener's Dilemma:
A listener shares their struggle with an older home lacking closets for clothes and linens, relying on freestanding hanger racks, dressers, and shelves. The main issue is assigning logical homes for items, leading to cluttered counters and disorganized storage areas.
Dana’s Strategy:
Dana introduces a method centered on instinctual organization. Instead of forcing items into places that "make sense," she advises determining where one would naturally look for an item first. This approach aligns with the brain’s natural retrieval path, making it easier to maintain organization without constant mental effort.
Notable Quote:
"Where would I look for this first if my office was actually functioning as an office and not a dumping ground?"
— Dana K. White [05:30]
Steps to Implement:
Listener's Dilemma:
A listener expecting her eighth baby feels overwhelmed by managing uniforms, papers, and maintaining order in a modest-sized home during the postpartum period.
Dana’s Strategy:
Dana recommends a proactive and ruthless decluttering approach before the baby arrives. She emphasizes focusing on specific areas prone to clutter, such as uniforms and paperwork, and involving the entire family in maintaining cleanliness.
Notable Quote:
"The number one thing I would do is try to ruthlessly declutter now before the baby, which was already born."
— Dana K. White [15:20]
Steps to Implement:
Listener's Dilemma:
A listener unexpectedly added five pets to her home—two large dogs and three cats—and struggles with managing pet-related clutter, such as hair and maintaining designated spaces.
Dana’s Strategy:
Dana advises embracing the presence of pets and adjusting the home accordingly. She suggests investing in effective cleaning tools, maintaining daily small tasks to manage pet hair, and adapting furniture choices to minimize clutter.
Notable Quote:
"If you're going to have animals in the house, that shed, there's going to be animal hair in the house, right? So you adjust to living with that to a degree."
— Dana K. White [22:10]
Steps to Implement:
Listener's Dilemma:
A listener is relocating from an 800-square-foot condo to a much larger house and seeks advice on maintaining a decluttered environment amidst the chaos of moving.
Dana’s Strategy:
Dana emphasizes retaining the same decluttering principles regardless of the home's size. She advises not to let the increased space tempt one to accumulate more belongings and to continue identifying natural storage spots in the new home from the outset.
Notable Quote:
"Don't start adding stuff because you have space."
— Dana K. White [28:35]
Steps to Implement:
Dana wraps up the episode by reinforcing the core message: decluttering effectively brings a sense of control and can transform less-than-ideal living situations into more manageable and even enjoyable environments. She announces her upcoming book, "Jesus Doesn't Care About Your Messy House, He Cares About Your Heart," set to release on February 11, 2025. The book explores the spiritual side of decluttering, focusing on God's grace and removing the shame associated with clutter.
Notable Quote:
"The more stuff I got out of my house, which is the value of obvious donations, just leaving trash, just leaving things that I acknowledge and admit I would never actually go looking for it."
— Dana K. White [35:50]
Pre-Order Bonuses:
Dana encourages listeners to pre-order the book from her website aslobchemsclean.com to receive these bonuses and support her work.
Closing Thoughts
Episode 436 offers valuable insights for anyone struggling to maintain an organized home under challenging conditions. Dana K. White’s practical advice, coupled with her compassionate approach, provides listeners with actionable steps to achieve a clutter-free and harmonious living space, no matter the circumstances.