478: Q&A – Function Over Minimalism and the Power of the First Steps

Summary

Podcast Summary: A Slob Comes Clean – Episode 478: Q&A – Function Over Minimalism and the Power of the First Steps

Main Theme / Purpose

In this episode, Dana K. White answers listener questions on organizing, decluttering, and maintaining a manageable home. She shares her reality-based strategies, focusing on the power of small, consistent actions ("the first steps"), the importance of function over minimalism, and how to handle the emotional hurdles that often come with getting rid of things.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Balancing Homeschooling & Housework Routines

• Question: How to integrate homeschooling back into daily routines without losing momentum in decluttering and basic housework.
• Insight: Dana reassures listeners that the hard work of decluttering pays off, making all household routines easier—even amid big life changes like returning to homeschooling.
  • Quote: “Everything you do in your home...is all going to be easier for the four weeks of intense decluttering that you have done. As long as you've actually been decluttering and not shift shifting.” (04:13)
• Practical Advice:
  • Focus on the "dailies" (dishes, laundry, bathroom pick-ups, sweeping).
  • Prioritize doing the dishes above all else. If you only manage that, it's not a failure—it's progress.
  • Be flexible with timing; do important tasks in brief "lulls" during the day.
  • Five-minute family pickups can fit nicely between activities (“passing periods”).
  • Don't expect to keep up with everything perfectly when life changes; adapt by focusing on what matters most.

2. Emotional Attachment to Clutter

• Question: How to manage emotions when decluttering sentimental or beloved items.
• Insight: Dana emphasizes that feeling emotions is normal—they don’t have to dictate your decluttering decisions.
  • Quote: “My goal is not to prevent myself from feeling emotions. That is not the goal. This process allows me to feel the emotions, but the emotions are not going to determine whether or not I keep something.” (13:38)
  • The “reality of space” is what should ultimately decide what stays.
  • If you truly value an item, make room for it by letting go of something else in its intended space.
  • Allow yourself to grieve the loss or the missed opportunities, but don’t let that stop you from creating a home you can manage.
  • “If I use the feelings to make the decision, I'm going to keep it all. And that's why my house was out of control.” (16:11)

3. Breaking Up Sets & Letting Go of "Rules"

• Question: Is it wrong to get rid of just part of a set (e.g., unused coffee cups from a dish set)?
• Insight: It’s entirely okay to break up sets if certain parts aren’t useful to you.
  • Quote: “It does feel wrong, but it's not wrong. Right? You are not obligated to keep those coffee cups.” (19:24)
  • Sets are a marketing tool, not a decluttering guide.
  • The real rule: whether the item deserves the space based on your needs—not a sense of obligation.

4. Creating Permanent Homes for Items

• Question: How to establish homes for things when spaces are currently “temporary” or cluttered.
• Insight: Use “Where would I look for this first?”—that’s the item’s true home.
  • Piles and clutter spots are not homes—choose permanent, accessible locations.
  • Fill empty drawers or containers with items you want to keep based on this rule, and stop using piles as default storage.

5. Dealing with Paper Clutter (Notes, Handouts, etc.)

• Question: What to do with miscellaneous papers from projects, webinars, or meetings?
• Insight:
  • Use the same two decluttering questions: Where would I look for these? Would it ever occur to me that I already have one?
  • Be specific: “If I needed the gardening webinar notes, where would I look first?” (Ask out loud for clarity.)
  • If storage is limited, keep only what fits, based on utility or sentimental value—sort as you go.

6. Laundry & Clothing Quantities for Kids

• Question: What to do if kids always run out of certain clothes before laundry day?
• Insight:
  • The goal is not minimalism for its own sake, but a functional home.
  • Adjust clothing quantities based on real life—buy more if you keep running out.
  • “You just have real good, legitimate information now to then go get these things. Because the goal is not how few can I have. The goal is what do I actually need that...helps our family actually function?” (25:16)

7. Shopping After Decluttering

• Question: How to manage the urge to shop when you don’t really need anything.
• Advice:
  • Before shopping, review your current possessions—remove what you can, donate on your way out.
  • Let decluttering shift your perspective; often, you’ll see many new purchases as future clutter.
  • “Everything looks like the future clutter that it would be if it's something that would just be future clutter.” (28:46)
  • “One in, one out” rule keeps closet and home from refilling with clutter.

8. Helping Others Declutter (When Stuff Returns)

• Question: How to help a friend who struggles to maintain the progress.
• Advice:
  • Focus on the visibility rule—start by tackling trash and easy items.
  • Use Dana’s five-step process, not explanations: model actions (trash, easy items, visible stuff), use her printables for structure.
  • It’s normal for clutter to return at first; the process teaches and builds muscle over time.

9. Decluttering Large, Empty Spaces (e.g., Attics)

• Question: How to avoid filling up a large space just because you have it.
• Advice:
  • Always “take it there now”– walk the item to its designated place, even if it’s the far corner of the attic.
  • The inconvenience of doing so deters thoughtless accumulation.
    • Quote: “That taking it there now and being so annoyed at that is going to be incredibly helpful to make you with future items go, ‘Well, two hours ago, I would have said the attic, but I don't want to go to the attic.’” (31:50)

10. Clutter Thresholds & Overwhelm

• Question: Can your “clutter threshold” be so low that no amount is tolerable? What if any clutter is overwhelming?
• Insight:
  • You can’t predict your clutter threshold; focus on progress, not perfection or predictions.
  • The feeling of being overwhelmed lessens with each step of decluttering.
  • “Even if it takes you three years...today, it's going to be a little bit better. Each little teeny, tiny decrease in the feeling of being overwhelmed is going to be worth it.” (35:18)
  • Stop aiming for “done”—aim for “better and less” day by day.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• [04:13] On Daily Routines:
  “Everything you do in your home...is all going to be easier for the four weeks of intense decluttering that you have done. As long as you've actually been decluttering and not shift shifting.” —Dana

• [13:38] On Dealing with Emotions:
  “My goal is not to prevent myself from feeling emotions. That is not the goal. This process allows me to feel the emotions, but the emotions are not going to determine whether or not I keep something.” —Dana

• [16:11] On Using Feelings to Decide:
  “If I use the feelings to make the decision, I'm going to keep it all. And that's why my house was out of control.” —Dana

• [19:24] On Breaking Up Sets:
  “You are not obligated to keep those coffee cups, especially if you don't even...They're taking up space that could be used for other things.” —Dana

• [25:16] On Function Over Minimalism:
  “The goal is not how few can I have. The goal is what do I actually need that...helps our family actually function?” —Dana

• [28:46] On Shopping After Decluttering:
  “Everything looks like the future clutter that it would be if it's something that would just be future clutter.” —Dana

• [31:50] On Storing Things in the Attic:
  “That taking it there now and being so annoyed at that is going to be incredibly helpful...” —Dana

• [35:18] On Clutter Thresholds:
  “Even if it takes you three years...today, it's going to be a little bit better. Each little teeny, tiny decrease in the feeling of being overwhelmed is going to be worth it.” —Dana

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [04:13] - Balancing homeschooling and household routines
• [13:38] - Handling emotional attachment to items
• [19:24] - Breaking up sets and letting go of “rules”
• [24:00] - Paper clutter and finding homes for things
• [25:16] - Function vs. minimalism, clothing quantities for kids
• [28:46] - Shopping and avoiding new clutter
• [31:14] - Helping others with recurring clutter
• [31:50] - Decluttering large/empty spaces like attics
• [35:18] - Understanding and accepting your clutter threshold

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Overall Tone

Dana is practical, encouraging, and empathetic. She keeps her advice grounded in real-life scenarios, acknowledges the emotional side of decluttering, but always brings it back to the core principles of function, routines, and realistic progress over perfection.

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Summary in a Nutshell

This episode provides warm, actionable, and forgiving guidance for anyone struggling to maintain a home amid the realities of work, family, and emotional attachment. Dana's advice is: focus on the basics, use reality and routines as your guide, embrace your emotions but let reality make the decisions, and seek function—not minimalism—for a peaceful, manageable home.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, everyone. Just letting you know that Take youe House Back is on sale through October 3rd. Take youe House Back is the online course that I teach with dawn from the Minimal mom and Cass from Clutterbug. We teach you everything you need to know to truly get your home under control. Learn more and grab the course while it's on sale at a slob comes clean.com take that's a slob comes clean.com slobber slash take. Welcome to a Slob Comes Clean, the podcast. I am Dana K. White. I share my personal des lobification 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 478 and I am answering some questions. Questions. So I am answering questions that were asked [e-mail]. yeah, so I'm answering those. I answer those on. I say I answer those on Tuesdays at noon live on YouTube. However, I have not been doing that lately. I haven't done it since I started back because life has been bananas. I'm on a book deadline plus a bunch of speaking engagements. So I will get back to that in October. It's coming. Sorry that it's been a little late, but I am answering them here on the podcast. So you can always ask questions [e-mail] although they are not answered in real time. Y' all know that if you really want your personal situation addressed, if you want someone to coach you through your personal situation, you need a coach. I train and certify decluttering coaches in my method. You can go to DeclutteringCoaches.com to find somebody there. Everybody there who is listed is trained and certified by me. That is my website. I think sometimes people think it's like, oh, it's like you've listed your things on this website called DeclutteringCoaches.com and I'm like, no, I own that site. It's my site. Okay. All right, here we go. Dear Dana, I am truly a recovering slob's slob. You have helped me so much in making my house more manageable. I had taken a break from homeschooling and I've added the dailies, five minute pickups. I've also added some deeper cleaning tasks to my week, but I will soon be adding back in the teaching four to five hours a day for homeschool. She says she's exhilarated by her progress the past month, but she's fearful about adding the teaching time back in how can I plunk my homeschool routine in the middle of my dailies? Progress with decluttering and other housekeeping tasks without it all falling apart in the past? I end up neglecting all my housework. And if I focus on housework, I get behind in school.

[B]

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[A]

Use code Slob Here we go. I get it. I mean, I've never homeschooled, but I get it right? Like I have always been able. And this is what I would say. I could. I could focus on my house when I had nothing else going on, but that wasn't sustainable because it was very rare to have nothing else going on. And so it always felt like if I started to make some progress and then life happened again, it all flew out the window. So I. I can't even tell you how hard I relate to this question so what I'm going to say is, you said you've specifically been declutter intensely decluttering for four weeks. I just want you to know that when you go back to your routine of homeschooling, everything you do in your home, the host, the homeschooling, the routines that you're going to be doing, the dishes, all that kind of stuff, it's all going to be easier for the four weeks of intense decluttering that you have done. As long as you've actually been decluttering and not shift shifting. If you have been getting things out of the house, everything is going to be easier because those things that used to get out of place do not exist in your home anymore because of the work that you've done. So I want you to go into getting back into your routine of things that have to happen for the way that your life is set up and knowing that it's going to be easier for the work that you've done if you've really been getting things out of the house. Okay, then let's talk about the dailies, the dishes, the laundry, the bathroom picking up, and the sweeping. Those are the four habits, the four tasks that I focus on in 28 days to hope for your Home, which is part of my book, how to Manage your Home Without Losing youg Mind. Okay, that is so good that you have been focusing on those four things. I hope that you did them in the way that I encourage you to do them during in 28 Days to Hope for your Home, which is implementing them one at a time so that they start to feel more natural. You do the dishes for a week, and then you add in the next habit, and then you do the next habit. But as you get into get back into your homeschool routine, you may be doing these things at a different time than you were doing them. Maybe you spent an hour in the morning working through those four things with no other distractions, and that may not be possible anymore. However, they still have value, and knowing which things are the most valuable is really important, especially as you are changing routines or going back into this routine of homeschooling. So remember that the most important thing to do is the dishes. Whatever it takes to do the dishes. And just like at the beginning of 28 Days to Hope for your home, it might be the only thing you can focus on for a while. So as you go back into homeschooling, don't think I'm going to continue doing all my decluttering that I've been doing. I'm going to continue doing these four things that make such a huge impact on my home. I'm going to keep doing those every single day. That's part of what causes it to all fall apart in this time when you're trying to get back into the routine. Instead, say, I now know that the most impactful thing I can do is to keep the dishes done and that if I can't do anything else, if I can keep the dishes done, the dishes will keep my house from getting out of control. Okay? Like, that is the thing that if I can't hold onto anything else, that's the one I'm going to put all my focus into. Instead of thinking of it as the reason my dishes were under control was because I was doing them at X time of day. I was doing them before I went to bed, or I was doing them as soon as I got up in the morning, or I was doing them, you know, at 10 o' clock in the morning. That may have to go out the window. You may be completely exhausted. Especially in this first week that you're getting back into your routine. You may be completely exhausted and you just don't have it in you to do the dishes, all the dishes at night. Instead, when can you do them? And instead of planning out when you can do them, just know that throughout the course of the day, if you have a lull, maybe the kids are working on something and you're like, okay, I can do something around the house. If you have a huge list of things that you want to keep doing, like you've been doing for these last four really, really focused weeks, it can be easy to be like, oh no, what do I do in this little bit of time? There's so many things to do instead. You know, if I have a lull where I can actually go work on something, I'm going to do the dishes. If I have some time where, okay, you know, between the time that I get up and the time we start school, oh my goodness. Which I can. I'm going to do the dishes. It may not be at the same time as before, but whatever time I do have, I'm going to do the dishes. And then once the dishes are done, if I have another little lull, I know a five minute pickup and a five minute pickup is the best thing to do as a whole family. So transition, you know, especially since you're in the home and you're doing all kinds of different things, transition between, you know, this thing that we're doing to. We're kind of shifting into doing something else. We're going to do a five minute pickup during that time. Maybe you do four five minute pickups, one between each little time. It's like the passing period that they would have, you know, in a traditional school. So that knowing that dishes are top priority, the 5 minute pickup is the next priority. And then after I've done those two things, if I have a lull, then I'm going to do those other habits of picking up the bathrooms or sweeping the kitchen, whatever. Instead of thinking of it as I'm going to do all the things I've been doing for the last weeks and I'm going to do all of these things that I haven't been doing for the last several weeks instead. Think this is the routine and I'm going to fit the most important things into the lulls or the awkward pauses that I have. And knowing that especially in this first week back, or maybe you do great for the first day, but then you're exhausted and you kind of crash and burn. Whatever. If I only get the dishes done, then I'm proud of myself for doing the dishes, then that is not a failure. Right? Because the dishes are the most important thing. All right, next, I have a question pertaining to your two decluttering questions. For those of you who. This is me talking now. For those of you who are new, the two decluttering questions are, if I needed this item, where would I look for it first? And then I take it there. Now, if I can't answer that question, then I ask, if I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I already had one? Okay. Okay. This is the back to the question. Okay, so like you and so many creative and sentimental people, it's hard to declutter. How do you prevent yourself from going there with your emotions? You said you have a lot of emotions about things. I get that when I'm going through my closet, I find things that I love. How do you part with items that you love that you had put away for another time? I was planning to enjoy this item at some point, but I couldn't with the responsibilities in my life. These would be items I don't know what to do with. These items are lovely and I enjoy, but I don't know where to put them because I don't have room in the space where I would look for it first. When I come across an item like that, I feel lost. But then I remember once I saw it, what do I do with it anyway? Okay, do I declutter it. How do you not get. Okay, but here's the key. How do you not get emotional about that? My goal is not to prevent myself from feeling emotions. That is not the goal. This process allows me to feel the emotions, but the emotions are not going to determine whether or not I keep something. What determines whether or not I keep something is whether I would go looking for it in my house and where I would look for it if I was looking for it. Okay. If this item. If I take it to this space where I would look for it first, and you said, and there's no room there, then I can still. If this item is important enough to me, then I'm willing to get rid of something else that's in this space in order to make the room for it. So let's say that I'm talking about my cheerleading POM POMs from seventh grade, which are very big, right? Like, they're huge. And I say, oh, I would look for that in the costume box that we have. Okay? So I go. And I. I don't just keep that in my head as, oh, yeah, that's what I'm going to do later. No, I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to take it there now, and I'm going to face the reality of the costume box and all these things that you're saying, like, oh, I thought I was going to give those to my daughter to play with, or I thought I was going to use them for this or whatever. And those things have passed, but I just. They have so many memories. I just can't do it. I just can't. Just let. Can't let them go. So I go to the costume box, and it's completely packed full. But I love these things. They're highly emotional to me. So what do I do? I say, okay, what am I willing to get rid of in order to make room for these pom poms? Well, when I look at it that way, I might realize, oh, there are five costumes in here that were all the big muscly costumes that, you know, that my boys had that actually, they are too small for anybody in our family. I'm willing to get rid of those in order to put those pom poms away in the costume box, which is where I would look for them first. Or maybe I think, no, no, I really wanted to save those for my grandkids. Okay, well, do I want to save them for my grandkids more than I want to keep these pom poms and that it's not easy, right? Like, it's not an easy decision. And I'm going to feel the emotions, but I'm going to let the reality of space, also the reality of knowing that I have to declutter in order for my house to be under control. I'm going to let that reality make the decision for me. I'm going to feel the emotions. I'm going to be sad that I can't keep those costumes or I am going to be sad that I can't keep the pom poms. Okay, But I. I can keep them. I just can't keep them and everything else. And so I am making the decision that. That they don't deserve space as much as these costumes that I said I was going to keep for my grandkids. And this reality of the space is make is determining that and is showing me which one is more important to me. But also, yeah, I'm going to feel sad. I might cry. I might feel real regret that my daughter went through the phase where she might have cared about those pom poms and grew on out of it, and those pom poms were shoved in the corner of the garage that entire time and we'd completely forgotten that they existed. I may feel real regret I get to feel those things, but I'm not using those feelings to make the decision. I'm using the reality of the space. Okay, because here's what happens if I use the feelings to make the decision. I'm going to keep it all. Because that's what I was doing before, and that's why my house was out of control. Because there was just so much more stuff than I could possibly have. If I think that the way to get rid of it is to not feel this way anymore, then I don't get rid of it. Because I can't actually make myself not feel that way anymore. I'm letting myself feel it. And feeling those things is hard sometimes. But I'm blaming the reality of the space, and I'm choosing a house that is under control, even though that means feeling the regret, feeling the sadness as I let something go. That's not fun. It's not fun.

[B]

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[A]

Can you please talk about getting rid of pieces of a set like a set of dishes? We never use the coffee cups that came with our dish set, but it's so hard to break up a set. The space that the cups are taking up could be used for other things, but it feels wrong to declutter only part of a set. It's not wrong. You know, I mean, it's just not wrong. Dom from the Minimal mom, which I think take your house back is still on sale. Slob comes clean.com take it was playing at the beginning if it is. But you know, like that's one of the things she says. I'm like, yes, of course. Thank you for saying it out loud. Like it's okay to break up a set because it it does Feel wrong. Like, we're not saying it doesn't feel wrong, but it's not wrong. Right. You are not obligated to keep those coffee cups, especially if you don't even. You already know you don't want them. They're taking up space that could be used for other things. Like, those are the things that determine whether something should be in your home, whether there's space for it, whether it deserves to be in the space that it's in. This made up rule about the set and it being part of a set is not, it's not how we make any decluttering decisions. Okay? And just remember that the whole reason it's part of a set is that they want to be able to say, this is an 83 piece set. Because there is something that makes you go, oh, 83 pieces, that's more value. That's the one I'm gonna get. This one says 63 pieces. This one says 84 pieces. I'm gonna get the one that says 84. I mean, I know this because that's how I used to think. Like, I would look at a set of pots and pans and I would think, oh, I want the one that's, that's, you know, 16 pieces, even though one of them had 12 pieces and the same lid fit multiple different things, which is so much more practical. But I was very drawn to, oh, this one is better value because it has more things in it. Right. And that's. It's a marketing technique. Let's see. This was a little confusing, but I'm going to try to try to make it make sense. The space I would look for it is a temporary space. Lots of clutter, piles in the craft area and separate office area. But I have several empty drawers, covers, containers. So, like, I have space. I have lived with the temporary for a while, but I feel like if things were set up, arranged, decorated, how do I get to the next step when nothing really has a home? Okay, so remember that you give something a home with the question where I would look for it, where would I look for it first? Okay. If something already has a home, I'm not asking myself that question. I'm just putting it in that home. Okay, so the temporary space where you say I have a temporary space is where I would look for it. If that space is clutter and piles, then that's what you're trying to eliminate. Right? Like you're decluttering. You don't want the temporary stuff shifting places where things are in piles and just all that like, that's, that's what we're not going to have anymore once we're done decluttering. And so this, where would I look for it first? Is part of the decluttering process. So if I would look for it in a pile, I remove that pile from the equation because I want that pile to be gone. Okay, so where would I look for it first if it wasn't in a pile? And that is very likely going to be the empty drawers, cupboards, and containers. Okay, like, so that's where would I look for it first? That's an actual place, not a pile in the middle of the floor. Okay, next question. Your process is so helpful in every area. One area I'm stuck on, though, what to do with pages of notes and handouts that I have from miscellaneous things such as meetings with health coaches, food webinars, gardening webinars decorating tips, etc. Okay, so always remember that you can use the two decluttering questions with anything. There really are no exceptions to that. It feels like when something is hard and you've never had a place for it before, or it seems like a very, like, detailed or emotional category or sentimental, it feels like, oh, well, there's got to be a different method for that. It's actually more important to drill down on this method of where would I look for it first? The other thing too is to be very clear, as you say, you know, if I needed this item, where would I look for it first? Go ahead and replace this item with actually saying out loud what it is. So if I needed the notes and handouts from the gardening webinar, where would I look for it first? So, like, actually say what it is. If I needed the gardening webinar notes and handouts, where would I look first for the gardening webinar notes and handouts? Like, say that out loud. Because it feels like when you list off a bunch of things that it's kind of this overwhelming category of stuff that you've been learning all these things, and there's all, you know, where am I going to put all this stuff? Instead, be specific and say it out loud and then go put it there into that place. Like, where would I look first? I would look first for it. I don't really know why, but I'd look first for it in that drawer in the bedroom. Okay, go take it there. Now, if that's where you would look for it, that's where you would look for it. That's where it needs to live. You might have. I mean, if you're decluttering. You probably do have some notebooks or things that you could neatly put it in there and then put it in that space. Right. To make it all together. You may find that the place where you would look first for the gardening webinar stuff is the same place where you would look for the handouts from a decorating tips or things like that. That all might be the same place. But go ahead and ask where would I look first for gardening webinar notes and handouts and, and follow that process all the way. The other thing too is you may get to that place and realize you've got notes and handouts. There's a reason why you're looking for it there. That's the first place you would look for it. You've got notes and handouts from years and years and years worth of those kinds of things. All right, if it's full, then quickly say what am I willing to get rid of without pulling everything out? What am I willing to put in the trash? Or probably the trash or the recycle instead of the donate with this kind of stuff. But what am I willing to get rid of in order to keep these ones that I do want? That's something I recently had and that's going to naturally sort out the things you're actually going to do. When you think of it that way of it's a container, it's a limited space, it takes you out of this is good and useful into. Okay, it may be good and useful, but honestly I'm, I tried that one. I'm never going to do that. Oh, that, that's one that, that didn't really make sense to me. You know, and it naturally sorts out what deserves space and what doesn't. Next, ideas for if your kids always wear through certain categories of clothes before the next laundry day. Yeah, I think that knowing which categories they wear through, like let's say it's their school uniforms or their, their play clothes or things like that. The fact that you're doing a laundry day and the fact that you know specifically what it is that they run out of every time gives you something to buy. You know, I mean, remember, I don't talk about minimalism for the sake of minimalism. Like, minimalism is never my goal. Never. My goal is functionalism. I just want to function well in this space and, and be able to do the things that I want to do. And so if you're thinking. But it's easy to get into this. Okay, I, I did the math before and I decided that they needed this many school clothes and this many play clothes and this many, you know, sleeping clothes. And then we keep on running out of sleeping clothes. Well, you're not failing by realizing, oh, they actually need two more sets of pajamas. Okay. Or, oh, actually, this kid still tinkles in the bed or whatever, and they need more, you know, they need a set of pajamas for every night or something like those. That's not a failure. You just have real good, legitimate information now to then go get these things. Because the goal is not how few can I have. The goal is what do I actually need that we can helps our. Our family actually function the way that we need to function. I've been following your steps, and it makes a huge difference in getting things out of my house. Thank you. Now I'm feeling guilty when I want to go shopping because I really don't need anything and I'm afraid I will buy something and regret it when I do. Do I think of the five steps before I purchase an item that I don't necessarily need, like clothing or decor for the house as an example? Sure, yeah. Like, I think you do. If you're just having an urge to go shopping, go look in your closet first. Like, if you have an urge to go shopping for clothing, go look through your closet, look through your drawers. There's a lot of value in purposeful looking. And just say, is there anything here that would be easy for me to get rid of? And I can go ahead and while I'm heading out to the store, I can drop these things off at one of those little bins where you can donate clothing. Right. Like, that would then have you in a mindset where you are being very realistic about what is actually in your closet or, you know, what, I looked and I didn't have any room and I didn't want to get rid of anything. So it's going to change your perspective on that. But yes, the one in one out is going to really change things. The other thing too is there's no, like, you can't go shopping. I mean, I just. I don't do well with rules like that because I'm like, I'm 51. I can do whatever I want to do. Right. But the truth is, the more I have decluttered, the less I ever buy. When I do go shopping, it has changed the way that I shop. Whether it discount stores or nice stores or, you know, garage sales, thrift stores, any of that kind of stuff, it just changes the way I have the way I shop. Because gotten rid of so much stuff that everything looks like the future clutter that it would be if it's something that would just be future clutter. Right. So, but, but I would say if you are having this urge and you are able go look through your closet and see how that changes your idea of what you need. And then you already know you've created some space before you left. And then if you don't find anything great, you just have more space and that's good too.

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Here's a good one. I helped a friend and now the stuff has returned. Love your concepts. There is no clear places. I'm afraid I will not present your solutions to her successfully. She also collects items for another like space that she has to store things. Please help. Yeah, I mean if your friend is willing for you to help, I would just keep helping. You know, I think that a lot of people listening right now, me included, will say that it took a lot of decluttering sessions to, you know, you get rid of a lot of stuff and then some comes back and then you get rid of a lot of stuff and some comes back. Now I can't tell for sure if you have used my process before with your friend or not. It says I'm afraid I will not present your solutions to her successfully. What I would do is not if she's willing for you to go and help again. Follow the visibility rule. Go through the five step process. Get a printable at aslob comes clean.com five like get the printable. Get take it with you. And instead of explaining the concepts to her, just start with trash. Okay? In this space right here, this most visible space, let's just start with the trash and let's get rid of that. And that will also help teach the value of those first three non emotional steps as you're going which is then going to make it easier and easier as you go through again and again. Because the thing too is like if you declutter hard now and you go all the way through to the container concept, it very well may look like it has gone back to being a mess at some point in the future. And yet you go back again and this time it's just trash and easy stuff. And you get through those steps and you're done. And it's back to being what it was. And then you offer again, okay, let's. Let's go through. Let's do trash and easy stuff. And then every time you go through and she starts to see, oh, the trash and the easy stuff is the problem here, then it starts to change the perspective on trash and easy stuff. And, oh, actually that wasn't hard. So it is worth a five minute pickup. That's going to make that, you know, keep, keep that from getting back to being the way it was. But, but if you have used like another decluttering method in the past and you're wanting to use mine now, don't worry about explaining. Just go through the process. Okay, do you see any trash? All right, is there anything here that you already know? What, where it goes? All right, let's go ahead and do that. All right. Is there anything that's obvious? Donations. Okay. And then you start picking stuff up and saying, if you needed this item, where would you look for it first? And then you help her take it there Now. I think this is our last one. Yes, this is our last one for this episode. My question is about attics. We just moved from a two bedroom apartment to a four bed, eight room with an exclamation point house with basement, garage and attic. Yay. So much space, so much container. Even with all our surplus stuff in the attic, it's still very roomy. How do I declutter when I'm not hitting the walls of the container? Okay, take it there now is going to be so effective to keep you from filling your attic to the brim. And I don't mean take it there now as in open up the attic and throw it. Because some of y' all are like, people do that? Yes, we do. We would do that. Like, that's not what I mean. Like go through the actual. Take it there now of I go all the way up the ladder into the attic or climb the stairs, whatever it is you have. And I cross all the way to the place in the attic where I would look for it first. Not just the attic, but where in the attic would I put this item? Look for this first. Go through that process. If you do that the first two or three times, you think, oh, I would look for this in the attic. It's going to change things. That taking it there now and being so annoyed at that is going to be incredibly helpful to make you with future items. Go. Well, two hours ago, I would have said the attic, but I don't want to go to the attic. Because if you don't want to go to the attic now, you're not going to want to go to the attic any other time and you're going to be more willing to get rid of things. So that process of going to the attic and taking it there now is going to cure a lot of that. Okay. Actually, I'm going to do one more question. Is it possible to have a clutter threshold so low you can't get below it? Any amount of clutter makes me feel like everything is out of control. This makes me overwhelmed. So the clutter just gets increased. I'm paralyzed and can do nothing about it. I just found you in the last couple of weeks, had started doing the dishes every day. I live alone. I hope this makes sense. If you just found me in the last couple of weeks, I'm going to say that you are trying to predict your clutter threshold because you say any amount of clutter makes me feel like everything is out of control and that makes me feel overwhelmed. So the clutter just increases. I think you're trying to predict your clutter threshold and it is actually not possible to predict your clutter threshold. I get it. But right. Like you it. I want to predict my clutter threshold. Everybody wants to predict it. They want a quiz, they want some questions to answer to know what it's going to be. So instead of focusing on how hard it's going to be, if you have clutter, if you have trash, get rid of the trash. If you have things, things that already do have a home that are easy, get those things to their homes. If you have obvious donations, put the obvious donations into donate boxes that you can then carry out of the house. Like, go through that process slowly. Because I think what might be happening here is the overwhelm is from seeing the clutter. And you think, well, but any clutter overwhelms me. Okay. But the process itself is going to very gradually and gently with real, actual unbacktrackable progress is going to take you to the point where you have gotten rid of a lot of stuff in your house. So slowly, go through the process. Don't try to predict. Know that it's going to take a long time. It is not a quick, quick fix to declutter your house. Instead, go through the process and know that when you hit your clutter threshold, you'll know that you've hit it because your house will not overwhelm you anymore. But also know that even if it takes you three years down the line, which it very well may, to get to the point where your house doesn't overwhelm you anymore and you're under your clutter threshold day one, like today, even though three years from now is when you might hit this point, today, it's going to be a little bit better. It's going to be a little bit less overwhelming than it is right now if you will declutter. And then tomorrow, it's going to be a little bit less overwhelming, and the next day a little bit less overwhelming. And each little teeny, tiny decrease in the feeling of being overwhelmed is going to be worse. Worth it. It's so going to be worth it. So instead of thinking of this clutter threshold concept that that has kind of stuck. Gotten you stuck, remember that the goals that you have when you declutter are better and less. I'm not going to worry about what my clutter threshold is going to be or how I'm ever going to hit it. I'm just going to make this space better. I'm just going to focus on having less in this space. And that is what will actually get you going and get you started and then get you to the point where you want to be eventually. But focusing on this too far, it's going to be so hard. It's going to be. I don't know that I can ever hit it. It's always too much. Especially if you've only just heard of Clutter Threshold, you may not have a full concept of what it is. Clutter Threshold, for those of you who are new, is the point at which your house doesn't overwhelm you. The point at which you only have a level of stuff in your house that you can actually keep under control easily without being stressed out about it. All right, I think this one really was the last one. Okay. All right. This has been really fun, and I will talk to y' all next week. Bye. Hi, everyone. Just letting you know that Take youe House Back is on sale through October 3rd. Take youe House Back is the online course that I teach with dawn from the Minimal mom and Cass from Clutterbug. We teach you everything you need to know to truly get your home under control. Learn more, and grab the course while it's on sale at A slob comes clean.com take. That's a slob. Comes clean.com take.