← podcasts Archives - Dana K. White: A Slob Comes Clean
podcasts Archives - Dana K. White: A Slob Comes Clean
485: Holiday and Hosting Decluttering
00:33:56
I’m answering your decluttering questions that were submitted at AskDanaKWhite.com What is the best way to downsize/go through Christmas stuff? I am doing your “14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests.” It is lovely,
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
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 485 and I think I'm going to call it Holiday and Hosting Decluttering. Because spoiler y', all, the holidays are coming quickly and if you're in the U.S. they're coming like super quickly. Like a week from today is Thanksgiving. What? And if even if you're not in the us Christmas is coming and other, you know, winter holidays, they're all coming. So just wanted to talk through that. I did want to let you know that my ebook 14 days to opening youg Front Door to Guests is is on sale right now. You can go to aslobcmsclean.com 1414. The link will also be in the show notes and if you use the code fall25 like F A L L 25 meaning you know for 2025 fall 25 you will get it for $5. It's normally 7.99 so if you would like to grab a copy of that I also have a whole series of videos of my 14 days to opening your front door to guests on YouTube that that's free obviously to watch. I have podcasts here that are free to listen to where I talk you through those 14 days. But a lot of people love like go read their reviews. I'm pretty impressed with the reviews on that one. People love that 14 day written guide that has the worksheets and the printables and things to keep you on track. The point of it is to get you to focus on what actually needs to be done and not get off track so that you can be ready to open your front door to guests. Are you looking for gift ideas that do not add stuff potential clutter to your loved one's home? Help everyone on your list stay under their clutter threshold by gifting them a master class membership. This year for as low as $10 a month you get unlimited access to over 200 classes to taught by business leaders, chefs, writers, entertainers and more. With Masterclass you get thousands of bite sized lessons in 13 different categories that fit into even the busiest of schedules. You can learn wherever you are on phone, laptop or even your tv. Masterclass goes with you and there's no risk. Every new membership comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. I have had so much fun going through the standup comedy classes with Steve Martin and I'm perfecting my bechamel sauce in cooking classes with Wolfgang Puck. Maybe you know someone who would love to design their dream home on a budget with Joanna Gaines. They can do it with lessons on Masterclass. Masterclass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to masterclass.com slob for the current offer. That's up to 50% off at masterclass.com slob masterclass.com slobber all right, but I'm going to be answering some questions that have been asked over@askdanikwhite.com and they all are around this theme of holiday and hosting decluttering because decluttering makes holidays and hosting so much easier. Okay, question number one. Hello, Dana. My question is, what is the best way to downsize or go through Christmas stuff? Do you take on the job before, during, or after a holiday season? Yes. Okay, next question. Yeah, I mean, like, it's similar to moving. You know, when I give advice on decluttering for a move, one of the biggest things that I tell people to do is to make it as easy to throw something in the trash or stick it in a donate box as it is to put it in a moving box. Because there's just something about the mentality of moving that makes it feel like, oh, I'm right now I'm moving. Therefore. Therefore I need to just dump things in boxes later, when I'm not so busy moving, that's when I'll make decisions. And for some reason, it ends up being a situation where you're shoving things into boxes that, like, if I, if I just had a trash can sitting right there, I would never have put it in the box. I would have put in a trash can. So it's very similar to that. Like, you are touching everything as you are either pulling it out of the closet or pulling it down from the attic or pulling it from wherever you are enjoying it, seeing it on your mantle, on your tree, whatever, as you're packing it up. All of those are opportunities to declutter. So having this mindset of these are things that I can stick in the donate box at any time. This is one of the reasons why it's so helpful to have an ongoing donate spot. I say donate spot because a donate box is going to leave the house along with the stuff that's inside of it. So it's going to be a new box in the same spot, new meaning whatever boxes randomly come into our house. Because I don't ever need to buy boxes to declutter with. I've usually got some boxes. So this box goes in, whatever box it is, goes in the spot so that everybody knows if I have something that I don't need anymore, that's where I go dump it. So having that lifestyle of decluttering means that I understand how much easier it is to function, how much easier it is to deal with things when I have less stuff. Which means at any point in the process, when it hits me, oh, wait, this is something I could get rid of, then I've got an easy way to do that. So as you unpack your Christmas decorations, having a donate box right there and having a trash bag with you just makes it easy so that as things are coming out of that box so often, it's just a matter of touching this item. You haven't seen it in almost a year. Touching that item so often reveals it as, oh, what, this is broken? This is melted. It melted in my attic in Texas or whatever. Like, this thing is just touching it reveals that it's trash or, oh, this is something from a set of other things that I already donated or that I threw away because I didn't like or whatever. Like this item. This is not my style anymore. This is not the theme that we use anymore, whatever. And this can go in the donate box. Having that mindset as you're touching things that naturally reveals obvious trash and obvious donations, where when I am not in a situation where I've got a trash bag and a recycling bin, if I've got one and a donate box right there with me, I'm not really registering that any of this stuff needs to go because it's Christmas stuff. This is a Christmas stuff box. And so it's that opportunity, right? Like, it's right in front of me now because it's right in front of me, the box and the trash bag, when I touch this item. Oh, yeah, right. Like it's going to go straight into trash or obvious donations. But yeah, all along the process, one of the things that I do is, you know, when I put out Christmas decorations, whatever didn't make it out, I am not going to be the one to tell you if it didn't make it out this year, you need to get rid of it. I don't do that. I mean, because I don't like being told stuff like that. That's just not my personality to respond well to those types of. Of things, but I do go, oh wait, these things didn't get put out. Oh, I can get rid of almost all these. Maybe there's this one that I'm like, I don't know. But I've still got room for it in the same bins. I don't have to. I've still got plenty of space, it fits within the container. But just looking at the stuff that's left in the bins and saying I probably get rid of most of this because it didn't go out. And then putting things, packing things up, you know, the during even as things are out. I don't know, Christmas stuff. I feel like maybe it seemed like a really cool Christmas thing when I collected it and stored it, but then when it actually has to go out in my house sometimes I'll be like, I don't know where this would look good. And so I stick it there. And then over time it just starts to get on my nerves all through Christmas. And it's okay to just get rid of that, donate it, trash it, whatever is appropriate. And then after, of course, you know, as I am packing things back up, I'm touching things again. And if it didn't really have the wow factor that I thought it was going to have have when I put it out, then it can go so all along the way. So that answer to that question is yes. Do you take on the job before, during or after? Yes. I'm an author and a podcaster and a mom and a wife and many more things. Basically, I am a busy woman. Getting help with our meal plans each week can be a game changer. With hungryroot, I can have my weekly shopping cart filled for me and my meal decisions for the week made for me. At this busy time of the year, I find there's even less time and available brain power for meal planning or grocery shopping. Hungry Root helps save time, energy and money, which is a great help to my gift giving budget. With Hungry Roots Smart Cart technology, you get a personalized meal plan that includes groceries and recipes tailored to your tastes and needs. Like having a personal shopper and chef all in one. And it saves a trip out in the cold to the grocery store by delivering all you need right to your door Each week. At this time of year we have parties or family gatherings, so I love having delicious, healthy, simple meals from hungryroot. To stay on track all through the week, take advantage of this exclusive offer. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box plus get a free item in every box for Life. Go to hungryroot.com slob and use code slob that's hungryroot.com slob code slob to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life. So many holiday gifts end up shoved in a drawer or hidden at the back of the closet. One thing that won't become Clutter is Mint Mobile's unlimited premium wireless plan. Get a 3, 6 or 12 month unlimited plan for $15 a month. That's their best deal of the year. All Mint plans come with high speed data, unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network. You can even bring your current phone and number over to Mint with no contracts. No nonsense, y'. All. When my kids were old enough to get a phone, it was the perfect gift because we were going to get it anyway. But they also thought it was the most exciting thing they had ever opened. Don't get them socks, get them Premium Wireless for $15 a month. Shop Mint Unlimited plans@mint mobile.com slob that's mint mobile.com slob Limited time offer upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 months. Plan required 15amonth equivalent taxes and fees Extra initial plan term Only more than 35 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. Capable device required Availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com now that my kids are spread out all over the country, finding ways to stay connected is so important to me. I love the way Aura Frames brings them close even when we're miles apart. There's nothing better than seeing a fun new photo of one of my kids greeting me when I walk through the room. And that's why Aura is one of my favorite gifts to give. My mom and dad both say that the Aura frame I gave my mom is one of their favorite gifts they've ever received. The whole family, all the cousins can send photos to Grammy's frame so she can see what they've been up to. You can download an unlimited number of photos and videos using the Aura app or when connected to Wi Fi. I love how easy it is to share photos in an instant straight from my phone. You can even preload photos before it ships and personalize your gift by adding a message before it arrives. A gift box is even included for a limited time. Visit Aura frames and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Mat frames named number one by Wirecutter by using promo code Clean at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code clean. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year, so order now before it ends. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Next question. Hi, I'm doing your 14 days to get your home ready for guests, which y' all can get a copy of for $5 right now with a call. Call with the code fall25. All right. Hi. I'm doing your 14 days to get your home ready for guests. It's lovely, and if I didn't have anything else to do, I could surely accomplish it, and it would be fun. But anxiety has caught up with my enthusiasm. Okay, question is, what about Christmas shopping and decorating the tree and running around, buying, returning, and finding that random light bulb that has gone out? All these things are taking up my schedule of cleaning the rooms. Help. We are having 12 adults and 19 children in our home at various times. And of course, all of them will be here close to Christmas Day. Okay, so what I would recommend is that you go back through and read it again, especially the scheduling part, because what you're dealing with here is exactly what we go through in the book. Okay, so. So sometimes, and I have no idea, but I know sometimes people will start to read something and have a question and then send me that question, and it turns out that the question was answered in the actual thing. But I will just say that is what this system is designed for. Yes, it's 14 days, but it is not a you do this exactly on this day. It is a, you may have to adjust this to do it all in three days. You might have 30 days. And it talks in there about how to adjust it. What happens is the reason the whole goal of this 14 days to opening your front door to guests, which, again, you can watch the free videos and listen to the free podcasts and all that kind of stuff. The whole point of it is that I have identified and prioritized the spaces that my guests are going to see and spend the most time in. So I go through my house and I identify which things, which spaces they're going to spend a lot of time in. Are we going to have the family dinner in the dining room? Okay, well, that means people are going to be sitting in there staring around. And so I want to pay attention to the fact that there's cobwebs or whatever. Like, I'm going to really spend time working on this. We're going to spend time in the living room all sitting around. We're going to spend Time wherever we, you know, play cards as a family. Those are our priority spaces, and they're written in order of priority. Because I may want to get my attic cleaned out, because, I mean, this wouldn't be this way in my house in Texas, but my attic cleaned out, because that is the place I've always dreamed of. The grandkids going to that special room that we've used as storage, but it's actually a really cool room, and they could go and they could hang out and play in there when they have so much fun doing that. And I've always dreamed of that. But in truth, that is lower on the priority than the dining room, because we are for sure going to spend time in the dining room. Would I like for them to be able to go up to that room? Even though no one has ever been up to that room since my own kids were toddlers? Okay. Nobody's expecting to go there. That is not part of the way we've done things in the past. I want it to be. I want that to be a thing, but I can't work on that. And then all of a sudden go, oh, no. I never cleaned out my dining room. I never decluttered the living room, and there's actually nowhere to sit. And now I end up rescheduling and saying, we've got to have. Nobody can come to my house for Thanksgiving. We've actually got to go to a restaurant. I mean, like, that. Which. Going to a restaurant is fine, but if the goal that you want is to have people over for the house, then having that prioritization list is key. And then also within the 14 days to opening your front door to guests, is the schedule like you're supposed to put on there? This is the day I'm going to go shopping. Why? Because you have to go shopping. This is the day that I am going to decorate the tree. Why? Because you're having people over for Christmas and you want the tree decorated. That has to be done. So it goes on there. And, you know, because time is a container, too. It will probably push out some of the things that you wanted to do. You might not be able to redecorate the guest room. You might not be able to clear out that attic room that you were thinking you wanted to get cleared out. Why? Because these things deserve space, and it's all adjustable for that purpose. So knowing and being incredibly realistic in looking at your calendar is part of the 14 days. So. So that. That's. That's one of the very first exercises is writing in these things. Because the problem is I can think, I've got two weeks to do this. I've got two weeks to do this. Oh, that's gonna be. And then when I actually look at my calendar, I realize, oh, I thought I had two weeks, but I'm on a business trip for these three days out of these, this two weeks. And then this is the day my mom's having surgery and I am gonna be taking her to the hospital and staying there while she's. Oh, and then this is the day when such and such is happening at work. And all of a sudden, what I thought was 14 days is actually nine days or three days. And so that's part of it. These things that you're saying now, sometimes the running around, buying, returning, and finding that random light bulb that has gone out, some of these things might be the thing that you let go. You might decide when you look at your calendar realistically, you might realize, oh, because I really want to clean out that room so that the kids can have the magical Christmas that I've been envisioning for that room for the last 15 years. Because. And the. The grandkids are now at the perfect age for that kind of thing where they'll just love it, because that's priority. I might realize I am not going to fix that one light on the tree, which. I know, I know there's the old joke and the old things that people would say about, oh, well, the one light goes out and you have to figure out which one it was, because then the whole set of them goes up. Is it that way anymore? Because I've never had that experience with any light strand ever. So I feel like maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the kinds of lights that I get, I don't get the cool kinds like everybody else gets, I don't know. But I've never actually had that experience. So it might just be that there's one light out, and that one light out might get on your nerves. But if it's a choice between getting that room clean, cleaned out so that it can be what you've envisioned it to be, and spending half of a day running around town trying to find the perfect replacement light bulb, that's a choice you get to make. Not everything is going to get done okay. And that's the thing, too, with this, you know, the. The 14 days to opening your front door to guests is not really a. I'm not telling you what to do. I. I do tell you. You have to clean the kitchen and then you have to do the dishes every day after that in order for the kitchen to not get back out of control and then be its own full day project. Okay, it and you, you have to clean the bathrooms. That is part of it. But other than that, it is you deciding these are the things that need to be done in my home and these are the things. This is the time that I have to do it in. And you are the one prioritizing what happens and what doesn't. So get a copy at a slubcampsclean.com 14 using the code Fall25 to get it for $5. Okay, let's see. So I've been following you for a while. I had reached the point where I felt like I was close to my clutter threshold and was curping up with day. Just kidding. It really does say curping. So I thought it was funny to say curping, but it's just a typo. It made me laugh. Was keeping up with daily routines and keeping the house picked up. It was glorious. I decided that over the holidays I would not take on any more decluttering projects but would enjoy my progress today and Christmas fun. And then after the new year, I do one more round and tackle the two remaining frogs in my life. Well, it's December 13th and the house is a wreck. There's clutter everywhere. Clean laundry had been sitting in the dryer for a week. We're making cookie trays, blah blah, blah. Anyway, I'm exhausted. Here's my question. Does this happen to everyone over the holidays? Even normal people? Is this a sign I was kidding myself about how high my clutter threshold really is? How do I tell the difference between normal holiday chaos and a sign my house isn't nearly as under control? It sounds like you've been skipping the daily stuff. Here's the good news and the bad news. The decluttering makes the daily stuff so much easier. Makes it take so much less time. The bad news is there is no such thing as skipping daily stuff and the house not getting out of control. Daily stuff being dishes, five minute pickups. Those are the two most basic. The good news is knowing that the dishes and the five minute pickups are the thing lets you know, okay, I'm going to enjoy my house, but enjoy it, not enjoy it. Middle of decluttering, middle of crazy life, middle of the holidays. Whatever. Dishes have to be done, period. No matter what. Five minute pickups have to be done. That is how the maintaining of it. And if five minutes are not cutting it, then maybe I up it to 10 minute pickups for this time period. I think it's great. I am a big fan of enjoying your home and, you know, taking a break from the big decluttering projects. But the way to have decluttering projects last is daily stuff. It's the daily stuff. The beauty is the more I do the daily stuff every single day, the less time that it actually takes. And, and before, if perhaps you were thinking of your house as a project, the way that I used to think of my house as a project, the way that I still naturally default to thinking of my house as a project and then going, wait, no, it's not a project. I know this. I've written the books, right? Thinking of my house as a project was thinking of it as I'm going to work, work, work, work, work, and then enjoy the benefits of the work and not work for a while. That's not a thing. It doesn't work. That, that's not possible because the house is not a project. It's a space where things continually happen. Laundry is another thing that can't be. It's not part of the project. It's an ongoing thing that has to be done that isn't a project unless I don't do it and then it turns into a project. So dishes, laundry, five minute pickup. I'm sorry that the bad news is that those things still have to be done even when you're enjoying your house. But the good news is that doing them every day means they will not be taking over your life and you will have a lot more time to enjoy your house in a state where you can actually enjoy it. Not meaning like the state of Kansas, meaning a state where it's under control and it's staying under control. Okay, we're remodeling our upstairs and I'm getting ready to box things up. I have decluttered quite a bit, except my husband's stuff. Another story on that. We all have that same story. We all understand. I have two chests of drawers upstairs that mostly have linens in them. How do I get the quantity down when we often have guests that need a sheet set on a mattress or extra pillowcases and hard to estimate what we will need, so I'm tend to tempted to keep more so we in our house. I'm not saying this is a rule and it's true for every single bed, but in general we've come to a point where I would prefer to basically just have one set of sheets and then wash it and put them back on before I go to bed that night for several beds, we do have two, and that's fine. But even if you are saying that you're basically having one set of guests leave and another set of guests come in, like one set of guests leaves at 10 in the morning and another set of guests comes in at 3:00 that afternoon. And you're basically having to flip it over the course of a day. Maybe you don't have time to run, you know, all the sheets completely all the way through and get them back on the bed. That's still just one extra per bed. So that would be the reality. Here's the thing that all comes down to laundry. I mean, laundry is the actual question here, as opposed to how many of them should I keep Blah, blah, blah, blah. Because if I have one extra sheet set of sheets, then I take one off and I go laundry it, I put the new one on and then it's ready the next time I need to flip it quickly. I, and I say this as someone who used to not have laundry under control. And so I didn't have that understanding of, oh, okay, I could just be washing this set that is not on the bed right now, and then it'll be ready when it's time to change those sheets again. I mean, I didn't used to think that way. I used to just be so behind on laundry all the time that it just made logical sense to me that I needed to have six and seven sets of sheets. But the problem with having six and seven. Oh, I shouldn't have said that, should I? I'm sorry if anybody's kids are listening. I don't even know what it means, but I know it's like a big deal right now. If I have seven or eight. Let's do that. If I have seven or eight sets of sheets, then I don't have to do laundry immediately when I take them off the bed. And do you know what I do when I don't have to do laundry immediately when I take them off the bed? I don't do laundry because I don't have to. And then, and then I don't. And then the next time I'm like, oh, that's right, and I'm behind on laundry, which means I'm. And what am I gonna do? I'm not gonna do the sheets when I do need to do laundry because I'm doing our emergency loads of things we actually have to wear and blah, blah, blah. And so then I know I've got a couple more sets of sheets in there and then all of a sudden I'm out and I'm completely overwhelmed by that. So. So really if it's possible to just do a set of sheets or maybe an extra, but really kind of simplifying that and realizing, oh okay. That you know and have an extra for if there is an emergency. If you have grandkids who come to stay and they might need to have the sheets changed more often or whatever, yeah, you'll have that. Also, if you have laundry under control, you'll have an empty washing machine that you can wash it in without feeling guilty that oh, how can I wash this right now when I'm so behind on all these other things? Which is what used to happen to me too. This episode is sponsored by Pura. You can create the perfect atmosphere in your home with a Pura Diffuser. You know what it's like to walk into a home that looks and smells smells amazing. With app controlled technology and amazing scents, you can energize your mornings and cozy up your nights. I've been excited about the smart diffusers and fragrances from Pura Scents and I look forward to changing out fall scents for holiday fragrances. Their scent that's called the Smell of Christmas is perfect for this season. With a blend of cinnamon, clove and orange, Pura is the smart way to freshen your home and bring in those favorite scents. You can even customize your scents with app control, scheduling them to fit your lifestyle. That way you can get exactly what you want. You'll enjoy premium fragrances that last right now. Get a free Pura diffuser with a 12 month subscription risk free for 30 days. This limited time offer won't last, so start your scent journey today@pura.com banking with capital one helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah, really? Thanks. Capital One bank guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply. See capital1.com bank capital1na member FDIC. Please show me. Well, this is an audio podcast, so sorry about that. Please show me how to declutter my ornaments on shelves and cabinets. I so everything is sentimental from holidays, kids, et cetera. Help. Yeah, it's it comes down to the container concept. So if you're new here, welcome. The container concept is basically the realization that I had that changed Everything for me and has changed everything for a lot of other people. That containers are meant to contain. They are not for storing things. They are for containing, for creating limits, for being boundaries that the fat. When I view containers as boundaries, as limits, it removes the value decision from the decluttering process. I don't have to make value decisions. I get to value things, but I am not keeping things based on things like, they're sentimental. My kids made them. Those are all factors that play in, but they are not the deciding factor. So how does that work? Well, it means that when you're thinking of, I have got ornaments all over, okay? And I mean, I'm. I was picturing a tree, but it sounds like you've got. Oh, maybe that's where you. You're storing them. But I've got so many ornaments. And you don't want them all over the house. Maybe they're either all over the house decorating or they're all over the house stuck in different places to store. Ask yourself, where would I look first for my ornaments if my house was under control? If I didn't have them shoved everywhere, where would I look first for my favorite ornaments? I'm for sure gonna stick on the tree, okay? That place, the size of that spot where you would look for those ornaments determines how many ornaments you can keep. This is the opposite of what I used to do and what a lot of people do and what might be what you're doing, which is to think about all of your ornaments, how much you love them, how meaningful they are, all the memories attached. And then think, how am I going to store my ornaments? How am I going to organize them? How am I going to declutter them? Because you're thinking of all of the ornaments that you have. What am I going to do with those ornaments? Instead, don't think about how many ornaments you have first. Think about where you would look first for ornaments that you have room to store ornaments. So Christmas is, you know, Christmas decorations, let's say, you know, we usually decorate after Thanksgiving, which is the end of November, but even like, let's say that you are. Are somebody who does November 1st and you go all the way to middle of January. That is still not the majority of the year. It is still a special occasion, okay? And a lot of people are going to have decorated for a shorter period than that. And these are decorations. They're for fun. They're not necessarily for function. So you've got to have the room that you need for the school backpacks and the shoes the, and the winter coats and the bathing suits and the, you know, pots and pans and things like that. So the Christmas decorations can't take up the room that I need for the things that we need to actually live our lives and function and be able to be home and enjoy each other and buy each other presents at Christmas time. Right? Like, you know, our, our regular lives, our jobs and our school and all that kind of stuff that we do. So where would I look for it first? How much of that space can I devote to Christmas decorations? Because if I don't have a defined limited space, that's how I get into a situation where I'm like, well, I can't. I wanted to have my daughter's four year old birthday party, but at my house because she asked to have it at our house because her friend had hers at her house. And my daughter has this idea of, you know, what that's going to be like. And I can't do that because there are plastic tubs lining every wall in the living room and those plastic tubs are full of ornaments. And some of you are hearing me say that and go what? And some of you are hearing me say that and go, how did she know? So it's what space would I look for it, where would I look for it first? And how much space do I have there? That does not keep us from functioning in all the other ways because decorations are, they're important and they're great, but they can't take over and make it hard to function. So the size of that space that I can devote to that, that's what helps me declutter. Not thinking about all the ornaments and wondering where I'm going to put them, but saying this is where I'm going to put them. This is the space I have. This space is a limited space. It is a container, it is a boundary. Which means that I'm going to put my favorite ones in this space first and then once it's full. By doing that process, I have determined and differentiated between most favorites and least favorites. So I'm picturing where I put our Christmas decorations, which I have decluttered them to the point where they can now fit in the closet of our guest room. And yes, I do have a kid who we still call that his room even though he doesn't live at home anymore. But he stays there when he comes to the house. But he doesn't need a closet closet. And it's a walk in closet. So it's a good size. And I did that for convenience. I was like, I want. I don't want these things in the garage. I want this closet to be the easily accessible place where we can have our Christmas decorations. And by having them there, that is a container, which meant I had to declutter down and get rid of my least favorites until everything fit in there. Well, in this space, I. I got some ornament boxes. And, you know, y' all know that I am not. I never say, go buy this container or whatever as step one. That's not step one. Step one is to get rid of the stuff that you have no business getting. You'd have no business having anyway, like we talked about. Talked about in the first question of this episode. But by the time you get to this point where you're like, okay, this is the space, and everything left here feels important, and it feels like it's valid to be in my house. Well, that ornament container, it has these little compartments, and you can actually kind of. They're. They're cardboard, and they kind of fit together, and you can take one of them out to kind of make a bigger compartment for larger ornaments. But those containers that I had, those are. They can go into the container of the closet, the space where I have to store this stuff. They fit in there. So that determines how big the containers can be. And then the containers themselves determine how many ornaments I can have. And so I filled those containers first with my favorite ornaments, and then when they were full, they were full. But here's the thing. It rarely ever comes down to, oh, no, it's full. And now I have to make all these hard decisions. Just knowing that every single thing I put into this container means that something else may not have the room to be there. Naturally sorts out. As I touch the item, it naturally sorts out. Wait, is this one actually sentimental, or is this not. Is this one I've always despised? Is this one that, you know, doesn't even look good, or it's a little bit broken or whatever. It's not that important. Like, it naturally sorts that out. So it's. It makes it easier. Don't predict how it's going to work. To embrace the realities of a container, go with the container. Go through the process, picking your favorite things, putting them in there. 99 times out of 100, you're going to be like, I cannot believe that was so easy. Of course I can get rid of these ones that didn't fit one time out of a hundred. It might be hard, but it's still going to work. Okay. And that's all made up statistics and numbers. I hope that was helpful. Don't forget, if you would like to get a copy of 14 Days to Opening your Front Door to Guests, go read Those reviews@aslobcomesclean.com 14 I think you have to click on the Go purchase this book. Your but you don't have to purchase it right away. I mean, like, you don't have to enter. You won't purchase it until you put your information in. Right. But on that page that you'll go to, you'll see the reviews. And it's just so fun to see how people have used this resource and how many people use it over and over every year. It's really great to see. Okay. And code fall25 to get it's not it sounds like I'm saying 25% off, but it's for the year 25 is the reason it's fall 25. But anyway, it's 2.99 off of the 7.99 price. This makes it $5. Okay, I will talk to y' all later. All right, bye.