456: Legitimately Challenging Challenges

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dana K. White - A Slob Comes Clean

Episode: 456: Legitimately Challenging Challenges
Release Date: May 1, 2025
Host: Dana K. White
Title: A Slob Comes Clean
Description: Reality-Based Cleaning, Organizing, and Decluttering

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Introduction

In episode 456, Legitimately Challenging Challenges, Dana K. White delves into some of the most common yet complex obstacles faced by individuals striving to declutter and organize their homes. Drawing from her expertise and experience, Dana addresses listener-submitted questions, offering practical solutions grounded in reality-based strategies. This episode is particularly valuable for those who find traditional organizing methods overwhelming or ineffective.

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Navigating Shared Spaces and Misplaced Items

Listener's Dilemma: A listener shares a common household challenge: misplaced items in shared spaces. Specifically, she describes an incident where her husband accidentally placed his work laptop inside her suitcase, which disrupted the established storage system in their closet.

Dana’s Response: Dana acknowledges the difficulty of dealing with items that don't have a predetermined place. She emphasizes the importance of establishing clear "homes" for each item to prevent future mishaps. Dana advises:

"If you have to ask where something goes every time, set it in the place you would look for it first."
[05:30] - Dana K. White

She suggests assessing whether there's room to accommodate both items without causing clutter. If not, it might be necessary to re-evaluate the contents of the space to prioritize essential items.

Key Strategies:

• Establishing Designated Spots: Ensure every item has a specific place.
• Collaborative Decision-Making: Engage all household members in organizing to maintain consistency.
• Prioritizing Accessibility: Store frequently used items in easily accessible locations.

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The No-Mess Decluttering Process

Listener's Concern: Another listener seeks advice on decluttering without creating a bigger mess, specifically when dealing with a cluttered bookshelf.

Dana’s Approach: Dana introduces her Five-Step No-Mess Decluttering Process, which focuses on systematic removal without overwhelming the space. She advises:

"Remove your least favorite items until what's left fits usable, functionally."
[10:15] - Dana K. White

Instead of emptying an entire space, Dana recommends:

1. Identify Trash: Dispose of items beyond repair.
2. Eliminate Easy Donations: Remove items that are obvious candidates for donation.
3. Assess for Necessity: Determine if there’s a true need for each item.
4. Prioritize Favorites: Keep items that genuinely add value or joy.
5. Functional Reorganization: Ensure everything left has a designated and accessible spot.

Notable Insight: Dana stresses the importance of functional space over mere storage. It's not about how much you can fit into a space but how easily you can access and use what remains.

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Establishing New Homes Post-Move

Listener's Challenge: Moving into a new home presents the listener with the task of establishing new homes for belongings after a deep reset move, where items aren't simply returned to their previous spots.

Dana’s Guidance: Dana underscores the critical question:

"If I needed this item, where would I look for it first?"
[18:45] - Dana K. White

She advises:

• Visualize Usage: Imagine needing the item in the new space and determine the most logical location.
• Avoid Temporary Solutions: Resist the urge to use storage units as long-term fixes.
• Commit to Permanence: Decide on the item's new home immediately to prevent future clutter.

Actionable Steps:

1. Stand with the Item: Physically holding the item can help determine its new place.
2. Name and Placement: Clearly identify what the item is and where it logically belongs.
3. Evaluate Space Functionality: Ensure that the new placement doesn't hinder the room's functionality.

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Overcoming the Temptation of Bigger Containers

Listener's Question: A listener admits struggling with the temptation to buy bigger containers when facing storage limitations, undermining the decluttering process.

Dana’s Philosophy: Dana challenges the notion that more storage equates to better organization. She explains:

"Containers are not meant to put things in. They are meant to serve as limits."
[21:10] - Dana K. White

She elaborates that every container and space acts as a limit, and expanding storage often leads to more clutter. Instead, Dana encourages:

• Respecting Space Boundaries: Acknowledge the finite nature of storage areas to prioritize essentials.
• Functional Storage Solutions: Use containers to define what belongs where, not just to hold more items.
• Decluttering Mindset: Focus on keeping only what truly matters and maintaining accessible spaces.

Example Insight: Dana shares her personal experience with organizing crayons using buckets. She realized that the shelf size dictates the bucket size, teaching her to work within designated limits rather than expanding storage unnecessarily.

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Dealing with Water Damage and Renovations

Listener's Situation: A listener is grappling with water damage in the basement, leading to a cluttered space filled with items stored in a shed. She seeks advice on how to declutter and prepare for flooring replacement without exacerbating the mess.

Dana’s Strategy: Dana advises a prioritized decluttering approach before considering storage solutions. She recommends:

• Aggressive Sorting: Remove all damaged items immediately.
• Mass Disposal: Separate trash from items that can be donated.
• Function-Based Storage: Only keep items that are essential and easy to access post-renovation.

Dana emphasizes the importance of tackling the mess head-on to prevent the situation from worsening. She mentions:

"Go ahead and do that now, and you'll have an idea of whether or not you actually need a storage unit."
[23:50] - Dana K. White

Practical Steps:

1. Trash First: Immediately dispose of any damaged or unusable items.
2. Donate What You Can: Transfer items in good condition to donation centers.
3. Assess Necessity for Storage Units: Only consider storage if a significant portion of essentials remains.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Dana K. White offers invaluable insights into overcoming some of the most challenging obstacles in decluttering and organizing. From managing shared spaces and establishing new homes post-move to resisting the lure of oversized containers and handling unexpected situations like water damage, Dana provides practical, reality-based solutions. Her emphasis on functionality, intentionality, and respecting space limitations serves as a guiding framework for listeners aiming to maintain an organized and harmonious living environment.

Key Takeaways:

• Establish Clear Homes: Ensure every item has a designated place to prevent clutter.
• Prioritize Functionality: Organize spaces based on how they are used, not just on storage capacity.
• Embrace Limits: Use containers as boundaries to maintain organized spaces without overfilling.
• Proactive Decluttering: Address clutter issues promptly and systematically to prevent overwhelming messes.

By implementing Dana's strategies, listeners can navigate the complexities of organizing their homes with confidence and efficiency.

Transcript

[Dana K. White]

Hey y'all. The Take youe House Pet course is on sale through Friday, May 2, 2025. We will be doing an all Day declutter on Saturday, May 3rd. So this course is a course that I teach with dawn from the Minimal mom and Cass from Clutterbug. It is so much fun and thousands of people have truly taken their houses back as they worked their way through the course. To learn more about the course and the All Day declutter, go to aslob comes clean.com take that's a slob comes clean.com tape welcome to a Slob Comes Clean the Podcast. I am Dana K. White. I share my personal deslobification 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 456 and I think I'm going to call it Legitimately Challenging Challenges. I am answering questions that were submitted over@askdanak white.com you can always submit a question there. Just know that these questions were submitted a while ago. So I'm it's definitely not a real time thing. If you need real time help, you know what I'm going to say, right? You need to work with one of my coaches who are trained by me in my process to help guide you through my process. So you can find my [e-mail] we actually have added something now that if you need a virtual coach to work with you, you can request the first available virtual coach you'll give some times when you're available and a coach who is also available at that time and who will work for the price that you state will contact you and you'll have somebody you can work with. So okay, let's go with these questions. How do I take it there now if the place where we would look for that item has random misplaced items belonging to other people instead in it instead people who do not want me to tell them where they look for it first or put it away themselves. Example, I tried to put a suitcase on the top shelf of our closet where we always keep it. My husband had left his work laptop there. It has never been there before, but I realize it's important that he can find it, so I asked him where he would look for it first so I can put the suitcase away. He responded that he's busy and we'll deal with it later. I Know, if I put my suit, if I put the suitcase on the floor in front of the closet, it may come off as passive aggressive and we will be stepping around it for weeks. But I can't leave it on the couch where it is now and has been for days. This happens a lot with my kids, too. I don't want to move the important item somewhere they can't find it and start an argument later or create further resistance to the process. Every time you clean up, I can't find anything. So what do I do now? At Verizon, we have some big news for your peace of mind. For all our customers, existing and new, we're locking in low prices for three years guaranteed on MyPlan and my home, that's future, you peace of mind and everyone can save on a brand new phone on MyPlan, when you trade in any phone from one of our top brands, that's new phone peace of mind. Because at Verizon, whether you're already a customer or you're just joining us, we got you. Visit Verizon today. Price guarantee applies to then current base monthly rate. Additional terms and conditions apply for all offers. So this is a legitimately challenging challenge. Right. But as I always say, yes, there are legitimate challenges to living in a house with other people, but I don't want to trade living in the house with other people because I love those people. Right. And so it comes with challenges. It just does. It's a fact. Okay. That living with other people brings challenges, but it's worth it. Right. So how do we navigate this challenge? Well, here's a couple things I'm going to say with this. It sounds like the suitcase going on the top shelf is easy, meaning it is an already established home for this item. And while the suitcase was out of that home, then this other thing went there. So that kind of changes things a little bit. Right? It's this. You said it's never been put in this place before. If there is space to move the laptop to the side so that you can also put your suitcase in. Great. Is there anything that you could see? Okay. I'm not saying like, he should put it away. I know that some of y'all are literally yelling that at your speaker right now. Okay. That is not a helpful thing to say. So I'm not going to say it right. It. Whatever the situation, we are going to deal with the actual situation that you are truly facing. And we're not going to get lost in shoulds because shoulds are not helpful. Okay. All right. I'M sorry, I had to give a little speech to the people who haven't actually said the thing yet, because I'm saying this and no one's heard it at the time when I'm saying it. But also, I know some of y'all are saying it. All right? So that's not helpful. Okay. But you could look and say, you know what, because we're all in a constant state of decluttering, we all need to have less stuff in our home. I would say the vast majority of people listening to me right now is who I'm talking about when I say we all like, it's good to get rid of stuff. So is there anything else that is on that top shelf that you could go, oh, actually, I could get rid of this thing and then I could still put the suitcase up there and there would still be the room for the laptop. Right. I. I think it is valid that you asked your husband, you know, where he would look for it. First, I am going to ask, is there an established place for his laptop? Is there a place where he normally puts it? Right. If you've been. Somebody in my kindred spirits call just recently said that, that they call it doing a Dana or Dana in the room or something like that. Is he like, oh, my goodness, here she goes again with the. Where would I look for this first? Right. Like, is there a place, though, where the laptop normally goes that's actually easy. And you. If you know where that is, you may not need to ask him that. Right, Right. And sometimes, sometimes I know for myself. And we, as the person who is really into decluttering and is maybe frustrated that not everybody else in the house is as into decluttering as we are, we can be like, hey, where would you look for this first? When in reality, if I think about it, I'm like, actually, it does have an established home. Maybe it's. It's the bag that he generally takes to work, you know, and uses his laptop, whatever. Maybe it's on the desk where it is. Like, if there's a place where it normally is, there's. The reality is if. If this is a random place where it got stuck away, then there's a decent chance he's not going to remember that he put it in there in that spot. Right. So that the other thing is to, you know, since this is a place that is established for the suitcase, it. It is a valid thing. I'm a. I'm a big fan of just accepting the fact that everybody asks me where things go. Does it drive me bananas sometimes. Absolutely. It does. Right? I'm not saying it doesn't drive me bananas, but it is a fact that, hey, where's the such and such? So I put it in place where I would look for it first. Okay. Now you have to be careful. You've already had this conversation of where would you look for this first? I don't know. Okay, well, then I'm going to set it where I would look for it first. So just ask me when you need it. Right. Like to take the pressure off. Because if he's in the middle of a project and he's like, oh, my word, here she goes again. Decluttering. And you know, you have this reaction every time you clean up. I can't find anything. But decluttering is putting things in their very best home. And if there's no home, then getting rid of it. But you're not going to get rid of his work laptop. Okay. Yeah, there we go. That's my answer. In considering two of your decluttering strategies, I'm a little confused on how to go about this. I know we aren't supposed to dump out a space to declutter, but how do I keep. If you're new here and you're like, what, you're not supposed to dump out a space to declutter. I'm just thought I would let you know this is me stopping in the middle of this thing. Welcome to how things go around here. But I have a no mess decluttering process. And the no mess declutter. Decluttering decluttering process means never pulling everything out of a space because that's how you end up in a situation where it's worse than it was before you started and then life happens and blah, blah, blah. Okay, so I have the no mess decluttering process. That's what they're talking about here. So the person says, I know we're not. We aren't supposed to dump out a space to declutter, but how do I keep from dumping out everything and then put only my favorites back until the space is full? Example, a shelf of books that needs to be decluttered. Do I take them all off and put them back one by one, starting with favorites until the shelf is full? Or. Or do I just identify the favorites and then take the others off? Thanks. Your methods have helped me tremendously. I finally have a system that works. Yay. Okay, so I get that this, you know, is. Is confusing. So the fifth step of the process is to embrace the realities of the space and keep only your favorites. Okay, so remove your least favorite. So basically according to your question that you said is do I identify the favorites and take the others off? Yes. The easier way to do that is to say what's my least favor? And take those off until they fit. But the thing I want to say is that this is the fifth step of a five step process and there is a big reason why there is a four step where there are four steps before you get to that point. Okay, now it may be that you only have books on the bookshelf, but go ahead and go through the process. Even if it's a quick matter of is there any trash? No, there's no trash. Is there anything easy that belongs somewhere else that for some reason it's here and I already know where else it should go? Nope. Okay. Is there any obvious donations? Nope. Okay. Most likely. Especially on that obvious donations. Even if you are at the point where like every single thing there is a book, if you ask yourself are there any obvious donations that's going to remove some things. Everything that you remove makes that step five where you are down to oh no. Every single thing here is something that I wish I could keep, but there's just no space. There's going to be less to deal with, less to be daunting if you have gone through the first four steps before you get there. But yes, at that point, instead of pulling things off and putting your favorites back, remove your least favorites until what's left fits usably, functionally. Get toably all that Mother's Day gifts can sometimes be predictable. Do you find yourself giving the same gift each year? 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[Dana K. White]

This adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than their after school treat. Start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free [e-mail] listen greenlight.com listen we live in a tiny apartment that is decluttered and under control thanks to you. Yay. It's really thanks to you. You've done the work right? The problem is I store a lot of things in a shed at my in laws a few miles from us. Seasonal clothes and decor, books, sentimental stuff, kids toys, collectibles, anything that we don't currently use or have space for. Some of the things I know will be used when we move into a bigger home, but there is just so much in there. I've decluttered a few times. Trash and donations were pretty easy, but I can't use the take it there. Now I would like to simplify that shed so it's easy when we have to switch clothes stuff for the season and know exactly what I have and where it is. Okay, I love this question. All right. So you have decluttered. You have seen the power of having less stuff in your space. Your solution is to have this storage shed, okay? You're very grateful for that and you, you can use it well. Well actually the goal is to use it well, right? And to remember that a storage shed is not the same thing as a dumping ground. Okay? They tend to turn into dumping grounds and it tends to be equated in the brains of people like me that storage equals dumping ground. And so take the dumping ground thing out of it and go. This is a storage space, which means it is for things that will only temporarily live here. And its purpose is to hold those things in a way that I can access easily. So you said seasonal clothes and decor, kids, toys, collectibles, anything we don't currently have space for. I am going to say that if you take it and say the function is the key, that means I need to be able to see and get to what I need without having to move a bunch of other things. When you look at it that way, it is no longer just how much stuff can fit in this space, but instead what can fit functionally in this space. All right, that means I may only have what is up against the walls and can be stacked on top of each other. And the things that are not going to be accessed would be the things on the bottom of the stack, Meaning not stacks and rows all the way to the front door, but stacked around just the edges. Right. If you can have. If you have shelves in there, then you need to be able to get to the shelf without having to move a bunch of things first. Because you said collectibles things for a future home. When you get into a bigger home, those things will be the things on the bottom of these stacks that you can walk straight up to without having to move a bunch of stuff in front of them. And then your seasonal clothes and decor that you are going and getting and using and switching out in your home, those need to be the things that you can get to. You should not have to move a bunch of stuff that's on top of that in order to get to that. Okay? So that's going to need to be your top thing on the stack. But the stack may only need to be three tubs high, right? Because if it's too high, then you can't get that thing off of the stack. So the accessibility and the function that comes through accessibility is the deciding driving factor. Okay? So it's not about filling it up. It's about I can only have the ones that I can easily access for the things that I need. Now, when you think of it that way, that significantly limits. Like if you take a storage shed and you go from it being full to the front door, everything is packed. And the only way to get to anything is to pull everything out. If we go. If we have the mindset that I'm not going to have that anymore, that means a lot of stuff has to leave this space forever and always for good. Like, it just has to be gone, gone from this space. Right. When I look at it that way, then I know that there are going to Be some great things in here. Because you said you've already done trash and donations, they're pretty easy. There are going to be some things in here that aren't going to be able to stay because I'm going to have to get rid of a ton of stuff to get it to where it is easily accessible. Right. And that determine, you know, the. The number of tubs that can be. There are. Those are your containers and you remove as much stuff as you can from those. And then that opens up space for the things that really matter. And then once those are full, those are full. But the function is the key. All right. How to establish new homes for everything after a move, when it is a deep reset move, not a put it where it was before move. Thank you. Okay, so this is something that is a legitimately challenging challenge, right? Like it is moving is a challenge no matter what for everybody. It's not fun. Right? And as you said, it's a deep reset move, not a put it where it was before movement. Anything that you put it where it was before. That's actually easy, right? Like that's in the decluttering process. That's easy. Things that have their obvious space, you know, like, I always kept this in the. The drawer next to the kitchen sink. So I'm going to keep it in the drawer next to this kitchen sink here. Like, go ahead and do those easy things. But the first decluttering question is the key for this, okay? It is the absolute key. And that is how you establish a home. Either in the house that you already live in, but also in the new house that you've never lived in before and everything is different than it was before. Okay. That's how you establish homes according to where would I look for it first? It feels weird in a new house. It feels weird in a new house that is very different and set up very differently from your old house. So we're going to ask the question, if I needed this item, where would I look for it? First, stand where you are with the item in your hand. Name the item. If I needed a travel size lotion, where would I look for it first? And then imagine yourself in your new house needing a travel size lotion and think of where's the first place where you would look like if you did just start sticking stuff everywhere, which is what you're trying not to do. If you had stuck stuff everywhere and every single time you needed anything, it was this big, dramatic, difficult thing. Where's the first place where you would go with no confidence it was going to be there at what you thought was the beginning of a three hour search through your house, tearing everything apart. Right? Like that's what you do. Where would I look first for this? You're asking that question for things that you don't know what its home is. This is how you give it a home. Where would I look for it first? And this is so important after a move, especially after a deep reset move, as you call it. Okay. Is to really identify and embrace those instincts and go with it that way. And if there is not a place for it, then it can't stay in your home. Right. And if, if you continue, you know, the. Taking it there now is the key to this. Go ahead and take it to that space. As you do more and more and more things, as you, you know, bring something to the place where you would look for it first, you're like, oh no, that place is already full. Well, then you have to make the decision. Am I willing to remove something in order to create the space I need for this item or am I not willing to? And therefore this item is actually not as important to me as I thought it was going to was Right. Next, I have been decluttering my kitchen. Some of the cabinets have very high shelves that require a ladder to reach. Recently I reached one of the shelves and pulled the things out, bending to place them all on the counter. I know, not the best idea. It took me a couple days to clear the counter again. But climbing up and down the ladder for each item isn't good either. I still have several of these shelves to go. How should I go about not making a bigger mess and. But still getting the shelves done. Okay. So this is one of those things where it's really important to consider and this is the reason the take it there now is so powerful. Okay. It's really important to consider that if these shelves are so high that they require a ladder to reach and you feel uncomfortable using the ladder to reach them, then these are shelves that don't need to be used for anything that would be used often enough that it would annoy you that you would have to pull out a ladder for that. Okay. What I mean by that is my high shelves, my difficult places to reach. Those are the places where I put things that I only use maybe once a year, and I'm using it at a time. I'm thinking of my Thanksgiving dishes, you know, like my big platter that I don't use any other time, or my huge mashed potato pot that I only use for this, you know, once a year occasion because I don't make big things of mashed potatoes the rest of the year. Right. But the thing is, when I am in Thanksgiving cooking mode, I'm in a very different mindset than I am on a cooking for a Thursday night when I just realized that we only have 20 minutes before we need to eat if we're going to leave on time for the thing that we're supposed to go to. Right? Like that's a very, very different mindset. So my hard to get to spaces I use for very rarely used things. So if you have that in your mind and you go, you know what? The taking it there now is the thing that is probably going to help me get rid of things. Yes, it's going to go slower. Climbing up and down the ladder is gonna be slow, it's gonna be frustrating. But that process of that helps you really, really get in your brain that this top shelf needs to be either empty or only have on it things that I am willing to pull out the ladder to get. Okay? And therefore that means more things need to go into the trash or the donate box. So having the donate box on the counter means that as I take something out and I go, oh no, okay, where would I look for this first? I have to take it there now. And I'm like, taking it there now is going to mean climbing down the ladder. And I'm like, well, you know what? Actually that donate box, I could just set it in that donate box. Or if it's not breakable, although it probably is because it's in the kitchen, drop it in that donate box. I can just do that and then I wouldn't have to climb down the ladder. That mindset is going to really that that physical situation that you're in, that commitment to taking it there now is really going to identify what's actually important to you and what's not important to you. Right? Because otherwise it's like, oh yeah, I'll set the side because I'll, I'll want it, I want that. Right? But if I have to climb down the ladder, then I really know if I actually really want that. That's a huge part of the value of taking it there now is it will really help you identify what things are actually important to you.

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[Dana K. White]

Hey Dana, I love the reality check of your container concept. Every time I reach a limit though, I catch myself thinking, well, I can just get a bigger container, no problem, right? How do I handle that? I love this question. I think it's one that a lot of people face. So the container concept, for those of you who are new, I have other videos and blog posts and all of that where I really dive into what the container concept is. The very short version of it though, is that space is finite and containers are not meant to put things in. They are meant to serve as limits. And when I view containers, bins, baskets, all that kind of stuff, and also every physical space, every shelf, every closet, every drawer as a limit, then it makes decluttering easier because I keep my favorite ones in there and anything that doesn't fit doesn't get to stay right. And so it helps me sort out what's favorite and least favorite. Right? So if the thing is full and I've already removed trash, easy stuff, obvious donations, and I've gone through the two decluttering questions to get anything out, but it's still, that doesn't need to be there. But there's, it's still there and it's still full, then I'm going to pull out my least favorites until it fits in that container. But what do you do when you catch yourself thinking, well, I can just get a bigger container. It's not that you can't get a bigger container, but the reality is the room that this is in is also a container. So let's, let's say though, that you're talking about the example I always use, which is, you know, a bucket to put crayons in. Okay, that was exactly what I used to think was I filled up a bucket of crayons and I still had more crayons. So I bought another bucket and I put crayons in that. And then I bought another bucket, put crayons in that. But the reality was, when I went to go put those shelves, I mean, I went to go put those buckets on the shelf. My shelf couldn't hold all the buckets of crayons. The shelf is a container, too. The size of the shelf determines the size of container that it can fit on it. Right? Like, so I could buy a bigger container, but the place where that container goes is also a container. And so it determines how big the container can be. The shelf that the container is going to sit on determines how big the container can be. And if you're thinking, well, I'll just buy more shelves, because that's what I would think, right? That's what I used to think. Well, the size of the room determines how many shelves I can have. And this size of my house determines how many rooms there are. And I carry it all the way out to go this. Every space, every physical space is a container. My house is a container. And here's the other thing. Function. Okay. I used to think buying more shelves was the answer. I would buy more shelves, and it was hard to function in my house. Kind of like we talked earlier about that storage space. It's all about the being able to access the things and being able to do things. I had so many shelves in my house that it was hard to move around in my house. And also, having more shelves never solved my clutter problem. Ever. Did not. I mean, if. If you're like, oh, it would solve mine, I'm going to ask you, have you bought more shelves and did it get any better or not? Right. Like, for me, that never solved my clutter problem, having more shelves, but it always felt like it was going to. Right? And so the people in my house and the things that we need to do, the function that we need to accomplish in our home, that is the key, right? Like, that's the first thing that deserves space in my home. So if anything that I'm keeping in order to keep a bigger container, in order to keep more stuff, any, you know, shelf or whatever, that's making it harder to move through a room or sit at the table. I mean, I can remember having a shelf in my breakfast area where our table was, that we sat at to eat as a family, that shelf made it hard to maneuver around, to be able to get to my chair at the table. That means that that shelf was making it harder to live in my house. It meant that the shelf didn't fit in the container. Of the room because it kept me from being able to function as we needed to function in the room. Right. And so therefore, the shelf had to go. And once the shelf went, it freed up space and I could do the things that I needed to do. So carry the container concept all the way out, like carry it out to the very, very end and acknowledge that your house is a container. And the first thing that deserves space is the people who live in it, and they need to be able to function within that space. Okay. All right. This is a really legitimately challenging challenge. And I'm sorry that you went through this. We got water in our basement and need to declutter and take up damaged flooring. This is me talking now. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. This just sounds dreadful. Right. Advice for how and where to start trash. I know when everything is a jumble and probably needs to be removed and then put back. Is this a time to rent a storage unit, to hold our belongings while we remove, replace the floor? Maybe. My answer is maybe. Maybe it does is a time for you to remove, for you to have a storage unit. But I'm gonna say not yet. Now I'm saying that, and they asked this question a long time ago, and so they've probably already dealt with it, and I'm sorry for that. But I know there are other people facing this and there are people who will face this. So my answer would be maybe. Here's what I mean by that advice for how and where to start trash. I know. Go ahead and do that. Before you make a decision about the storage unit. Go ahead and go hard on the trash. Go ahead and go hard on the donations, which some things that maybe would have been donations before are actually trash now because of the damage from the water. Right? And so really, really go hard on that, because you're going to have to touch every single thing in that space in order to deal with the flooring. So as long as you're going to touch it anyway, if it's trash, it needs to go in the trash and not to a storage unit. If it is a donation, an obvious donation, it needs to be donated. If it's still in donatable quality, right. It needs to be donated and not taken to a storage unit. So just like you would do if you were moving, because that's basically what it says, like to, you know, replace flooring. Go ahead and declutter so hard before you even think about the storage unit, go ahead. And if there is anything easy that actually belongs somewhere else other than in this basement. Go ahead and take it to that place where it already is established that it belongs. Go ahead and get those things out of there. Because the problem is, you said everything is a jumble. Everything's a jumble, and you're stressed out over the situation that you're in. So everything that leaves, that's easy, meaning it's trash. You already know where it goes, or it's an obvious donation. Everything that leaves makes this a little bit less of a jumble, which makes it a little bit less overwhelming. And you will probably make a lot of progress just on those first three steps of my five step no mess decluttering process. Right? Get those things out. Go ahead and ask yourself the question, because you have to move it anyway. Ask yourself, if I needed this item, where would I look for it first? And if you would look for it in this space, put it in the box that you're going to have to move anyway, either to a storage unit or not, if you don't end up needing one. Okay, go ahead and put that in the box or take it to the place in your home, or admit that you would not go looking for it and it needs to actually be donated. Right. Or thrown away if it's not quality. You know what I'm saying? Right? Y'all. Y'all get that. But go ahead and do all of that and then decide, do you need a storage unit? Because what might happen in a lot of the My listeners situations that would be like this, you might realize, oh, once I got rid of anything that shouldn't have been in here anyway, I was down to the furniture. I was down to, you know, some basics. Maybe this collection of trains that we kept in our basement or whatever. Like, I significantly reduced it. And then you're going to have a different perspective on, okay, those things. I could get those things upstairs. And yes, it's going to be really frustrating for a day, but that's just part of the reality of changing your flooring. Right? I'm going to put those things in there, and then they generally can get the flooring done in less time or time, a shorter enough time that you wouldn't want to rent a storage unit. Okay. Because the storage unit can be something where it's just an opportunity for me to procrastinate. Right? So go ahead, because I'm gonna have to move everything anyway. If you start out with the idea that we're gonna have a storage unit, it is so tempting to throw everything in tubs and boxes to take to the storage unit and think I'll do that later, but go ahead and do that now, and then you'll have an idea of whether or not you actually need a storage unit. Okay. I hope this was helpful, and I will talk to you all next week. Bye.