495: Decluttering Difficulties or Step-Skipping?

Summary

Podcast Summary

495: Decluttering Difficulties or Step-Skipping?

Host: Dana K. White
Date: January 29, 2026
Theme: Reality-Based Cleaning, Organizing and Decluttering

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Overview

In this episode, Dana K. White explores a common obstacle in decluttering: feeling stuck or overwhelmed—not necessarily because the process is difficult, but because crucial initial steps are often skipped. Drawing on her personal experience and feedback from certified decluttering coaches, Dana emphasizes the transformative power of her five-step, no-mess decluttering process, focusing particularly on the first three “decision-free” steps. She details why adherence to the process is essential, how momentum is built, and addresses the psychological barriers that arise from skipping ahead.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power of Process and Its Origins

• Dana recounts how she developed her five-step decluttering process from her own struggles, realizing its effectiveness only after repeated personal use and while teaching it to others.
  • “My perspective is that I struggle. This is my struggle…And I learned how to declutter by decluttering, by getting rid of my own stuff…” (02:10)
• Emphasizes the necessity of following the process each time, not just knowing it intellectually.

2. The Trap of Step-Skipping

• Both Dana and her certified coaches observe that when people feel “stuck,” it’s often because they’ve skipped the first three steps and jumped straight to the hard decisions.
  • “So many times…when they go into that situation…what they find is that the person…has skipped past the first three steps. They have not done the first three steps, which are specifically decision free.” (05:23)
  • Not just a listener problem—Dana herself is tempted to skip ahead, even as the process creator.

3. The First Three Decision-Free Steps

Step 1: Trash

• Focus: Remove items you already know are trash.
• No decisions need to be made; no emotional energy is required.
  • “It is not possible to get stuck on the trash step…The trash step…is talking about the stuff you already know is trash, not the stuff I know is trash in your space.” (12:47, 13:50)
• The act of looking for trash—not just finding it—builds crucial momentum and clarity.

Step 2: Easy Stuff

• Focus: Remove items you already know where they go or what needs to happen.
• “Easy” means decision-free, not necessarily quick, fun, or physically easy.
  • “Easy does not necessarily mean physically easy. Easy means I already know what to do.” (20:37)
• Example: Dana shares a story about tablecloths full of confetti—not fun to clean, but the next necessary step is clear.
  • “Easy just means I already know what to do. And so many times in the midst of the decluttering process, that’s the thing that gets skipped, is the easy stuff.” (23:48)

Step 3: Obvious Donations

• Focus: Remove donation items for which no questions or decisions are needed.
  • “The third step…that is also decision free, no emotional energy needed, is the part where we look for, duh, donations, obvious donations, things that I don’t have to ask myself any questions about.” (33:48)

4. Why Skipping Steps Increases Overwhelm

• When visual clutter is approached as a series of hard decisions instead of starting with easy progress, overwhelm increases and decision-making gets harder.
  • “If my focus is on decisions first, then it looks like everything is a decision. And so that is a huge part of what is causing me to feel overwhelmed.” (08:14)

5. The Value of Building Momentum

• Progress becomes visible before any emotional labor is exerted.
• The process continually makes remaining items less daunting, so truly hard decisions are fewer and easier by the time they arrive.
  • “You can make so much progress before you ever have to make a hard decision. And the hard decisions that you do have to make are made so much less difficult…” (38:10)

6. Common Pitfalls and Reality Checks

• Temptation to skip steps is universal—even for experts.
• People often believe “this time is different”—that a space is “all hard stuff,” but repeated experience shows there’s always trash and easy stuff to clear.
  • “I was convinced there was no trash in that space…I looked for trash. Well, guess what? Most of it was trash. I was wrong.” (21:00)

7. Building Experience & Lessening Self-Judgment

• Dana encourages listeners not to dwell on self-loathing or irritation when dealing with easy but annoying tasks—just do them, and progress follows.
  • “The easy things are things that make me feel irritated with myself…If I know it has to be done, I’m going to skip the self-loathing and go, okay, I’m just going to get this thing done.” (32:57)

8. Real-Life Examples & Applications

• Dana recounts her “slash” room and how removing “easy” items like an ironing board created visible change and provided a template for moving forward.
• The concept of “procrast declutter”: clutter that accumulates from avoidance of minor, decision-free tasks.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Step-Skipping:
  “If you’re a step skipper…and you skip that first step, you are skipping building momentum…You are skipping the thing that lets you see what you actually have to make decisions about.” (14:14)

• On Easy Stuff:
  “Something easy can be annoying. Something easy does not mean fun. Easy just means I already know what to do.” (24:25)

• On Progress Before Decisions:
  “Every bit of progress…is something that’s done and gone and forever has been done, right? Like, you don’t ever have to think about that item again.” (36:00)

• On Being Wrong (and Learning):
  “I was convinced there was no trash in that space…and I was tempted, but then I said, no, I’m going to follow the process…Guess what? Most of it was trash. I was wrong.” (21:00)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:42] — Introduction to Dana’s process and the episode’s core question
• [05:23] — Behind-the-scenes with certified coaches: Most problems stem from skipping the first three steps
• [07:52] — The first three steps detailed & why they work
• [12:47] — Trash: What counts, why it’s crucial, and why it’s emotionally easy
• [19:25] — “Looking for trash” as a noncommittal starter that always helps
• [21:00] — Personal story: Even experts underestimate what counts as trash
• [20:37, 24:25] — “Easy Stuff” redefined (not fun, not always physically easy, but always progress)
• [29:03] — Example: Moving the ironing board—a small act with big impact
• [33:48] — Obvious donations: The third decision-free step
• [36:00] — “Every bit of progress…is forever done.”
• [38:10] — How momentum changes the nature of hard decisions

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Actionable Takeaways

• When you feel stuck, go back to step one—look for trash.
• Don’t try to make decisions until you’ve eliminated trash, done the easy stuff, and handled obvious donations.
• 'Easy' means decision-free, not pleasant—embrace it for the sake of progress.
• Accept that ‘there's always trash’; let that truth work for you, not against you.
• If needed, consider coaching or listen to Dana’s book while decluttering to reinforce the process.

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Conclusion

Dana’s message is clear and compassionate: Real progress in decluttering is built through consistent, non-dramatic adherence to a process—especially its humble, initial steps. Skipping them leads to unnecessary overwhelm. By sticking with “trash, easy stuff, obvious donations,” anyone can reduce clutter (and paralyzing anxiety) before ever making a hard decision.

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For coaching or more resources, visit:
declutteringcoaches.com
Dana’s book: Decluttering at the Speed of Life (also available as audiobook)

Transcript

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[Dana K. White]

Welcome to a Slob Comes Clean the Podcast. I am Dana K. White. I share my personal DES lobbification 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 495 and I think I'm going to call it Decluttering Difficulties or Step Skipping. So if you are new here, I am the author of Decluttering at the Speed of Life, a book with my no Mess decluttering process. So I lay out that process in the book. I talk through all of the mindset shifts around decluttering and I created a five step process that I based on the strategies that I had learned from decluttering my own home. So my perspective is that I struggle. This is my struggle. Decluttering clutter is my ongoing lifelong struggle. And I learned how to declutter by decluttering, by getting rid of my own stuff, by digging my own way out. And so when I put that those strategies that I had learned things like start with the easiest stuff first and the easiest of the easy stuff is trash. Things like my decluttering questions. If I needed this item, where would I look for it first as I learned those things and then I put it into a five step process. I didn't even understand at the time the power of it being put into a five step process. Like I knew that all of those things were helpful. I knew that I needed to start with the easiest stuff first. I knew that the easiest of the easiest stuff was trash. And so the first thing to do when I looked into a, you know, messy space was to give myself permission to just start with the trash, to just look for the trash, to just deal with the trash first. I knew all those things Were, were helpful to me. I didn't understand how until I put it into a process and until I started teaching and sharing that process and most importantly, using that process myself again and again and again, I didn't understand how much that was going to help me, how necessary it is to have a process and to use that process every single time. So I'm calling this one Decluttering difficulties or step skipping because this is something that I personally run into when I am in, you know, going to declutter and I find myself floundering. It is usually because I have skipped past the first three steps. I have thought this time is different. This time really is just stuff that I need to make decisions about. It's this time is, is not going to be trash. This time is not going to be obvious donations. This time there's not going to be easy stuff that I already know what to do with it. This time is different. And when I'm helping other people, that's what I see. So as y' all know, or maybe you don't, but I train decluttering coaches in my method. So if you go to declutteringcoaches.com that's my website, everybody there is listed, who is listed is trained and certified by me. Right. They're also offering a class which there was a little ad about at the beginning of this podcast, if you're listening to it in real time, where they're going to be teaching a six week curriculum that my team created based on the book Decluttering at the Speed of Life. But anyway, so I have these decluttering coaches and what I love about that is they are out there actually helping people in their unique situations. They're guiding people through my no mess process. And so we have a behind the scenes Facebook group where the coaches are able to support each other and ask questions of each other and get that, you know, feedback from other people who are out there doing the work in people's homes. And one of the conversations that came up recently I loved seeing because I didn't have to come in there and answer it, they were answering it to each other exactly how I would have answered. Which is exactly what I'm talking about today, which is so many times they will work with a client who says, I know Dana's methods, I know Dana's strategies. Here's where I'm getting stuck. I'm getting stuck at this point. And the coach's experiences are that so many times when they basically every time when they go into that situation where somebody says this the process is falling apart at this point or it's not working for me here. What they find is that the person who needs help has skipped past the first three steps. They have not done the first three three steps which are specifically decision free. They are skipping ahead to the decisions. And while the truth is you can pick up any item in your house and ask yourself where you would look for it first, answer that question on instinct. Go to the place where you would look for it first. See if there's any room for it there. And if there's not, get rid of something else in order to make the room. You can do that and it's going to be worth your time. You can go in with the container concept in mind and the reality of the finite nature of space and that you can look at a space and get rid of the least favorites until it fits. All of those things are valuable and helpful, but the reason the process often breaks down is because you haven't done those first three steps. Those first three steps are important and necessary every single time.

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[Dana K. White]

So what are the first three steps? The first three steps are trash, easy staff and obvious donations. The first three steps require no decisions to be made. No decisions get made in the first three steps. And I think that's why it feels like, oh no, no no. I need to use this time right now where I'm decluttering to make decisions. This is when I have the focus and the energy and the purpose of to work on this space. I need to use my time and my mental energy to make hard decisions. That's also the reason we put off decluttering, right? Like we put off decluttering because we think I don't have the energy to make decisions right now. I don't have it in me to to finally face some of the things that I haven't faced for all of these years. But in reality, when I'm looking at a space that is cluttered, what happens in my brain is that I immediately become overwhelmed by the visual mass of stuff. What I am seeing in front of me. If my focus is on decisions first, then it looks like everything is a decision. And so that is a huge part of what is causing me to feel overwhelmed. And. And that feeling of being overwhelmed is clouding my ability to make decisions. It's making decision making more difficult because my brain is assuming. Even though I know, I know it's one item at a time, I know it's final decision by final decision. I know how to make those hard decisions because I ask by asking myself, where would I look for this first? Like, all of these things I know, but the facts are, when I am looking at a space and I'm thinking, it's decision making time, and there's a huge amount of stuff in that space, my brain is automatically assuming that everything I'm looking at is a decision, even though I know it's not. But the fact that I feel like there are 50 decisions in this space is what's making this one decision so much harder to me. Okay, so there's so much power in those first three steps. There's power in it because the progress is going to start happening before I use any emotional energy, before I start making any decisions. The power is in it because I'm going to see progress, see seeing progress, seeing visual success, seeing it get better is so powerful. As I continue moving through the process, it gives me the confidence that I need when I do hit a hard decision. So start with the first step. The first step is trash. Trash is the easiest of the easy stuff. Easy stuff is defined by I already know what to do with this item. Easy doesn't necessarily mean physically easy. I have said this. I mean, there's part of me that feels like, oh, that's being dramatic. To say, I've said this a thousand times, y'. All. I bet I've actually said it a thousand times. I know it sounds like I'm being mean. I promise I'm not being mean. No, I've said this so many times. Like, decision does not necessarily mean physically easy. It doesn't mean I want to do means I already know what has to be done. The easiest of the easy stuff is the trash, because it's going to go straight into the trash bag or the recycling bin. That means that the trash is physically easy. So it the trash, the first step is both emotionally easy, there's no decision to be made. It's stuff I already know is trash. If I have to decide that it's trash, it's not part of the easy stuff trash step that's going to come later. So I am not going to get stuck on any one item. I think that's part of it, is the frustration comes and you're like, I get stuck on something, I get stuck on something, and it feels like the. The process won't work. I just can't. I get stuck here. It is not possible to get stuck on the trash step. It isn't possible to struggle with the trash step. And I know, I know there are many, many people for all kinds of different reasons who struggle with throwing things away. And so that's not what I'm talking about here, okay? I'm not saying that it's not possible to struggle with throwing things away. What I'm saying is that the trash step of my no mess decluttering process is talking about the stuff you already know is trash, not the stuff I know is trash in your space. It's the stuff you already know is trash, okay? So when you're looking for trash, you are looking for things that you already know need to go in the trash bag or the recycling bin. That's what you're looking for here. That's what we mean by. The trash is the easiest of the easy stuff. It's literally just seeing if there is anything that you already know needs to go in the trash or the recycling, picking it up and putting it in the trash or the recycling, okay? It is not about figuring out if something is trash, okay? That's how you make a lot of progress quickly, is by doing that. But when you skip this, it is absolutely normal to skip it. And that's why I have the process, and that's why decluttering at the speed of life keeps selling more books, y'.

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[Dana K. White]

It sold over 500,000 copies. Now, what in the world? I mean, that. That is the part that's causing you to get stuck. Because if you skip, if you're a step skipper, which, if you're a Seinfeld person, you know that episode, right? If you're a step skipper and you skip that first step, you are skipping building momentum. You are skipping clearing out to make the stuff in step four, that comes later less overwhelming. You're skipping the thing that lets you see what you actually have to make decisions about. By getting out the stuff in step one, you get to the point where you feel less overwhelmed in this space, you've made actual, real progress. And the people who follow the process will tell you and tell me over and over, there's always trash. It is not just me saying that there's always trash. That's why I'm bringing up the fact that I love seeing the conversation that the coaches were having about this is a consistent thing that happens. This is why people often need them to guide them through the process. And I know it feels like I shouldn't have to need somebody to guide me through the easy stuff. But they're not guiding you through identifying easy stuff. They're guiding you through the process to stay on track because you already know what the easy stuff is. But you're probably you may be skipping it. If that's if you're struggling in step four, it's probably because you didn't build momentum. It's probably because you didn't clear out stuff to make your brain feel less overwhelmed because you're looking at fewer things that you're going to have to ultimately make decisions about.

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[Dana K. White]

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[Dana K. White]

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[Dana K. White]

So that first step is so incredibly powerful. If you find yourself struggling in the process, the first thing I would say is make sure you're actually following the process. If you find yourself hemming and hawing and all that over things that you know happen that you have to go through in step four, I would say go back to step one. You can always go back to step one because remember, step one is looking for trash. It is not finding trash. I mean, you're going to find trash when you look for trash, but the actual thing that you are doing is looking for trash. There is value in that. Because remember too, as you look for trash, what's happening is what used to be a mass of stuff that overwhelmed you is now individual items, is now separate items that your brain acknowledges. Oh, it's not just a pile. It's the mega pack of gum that I got when I went to Costco. It's which is not trash, right? But now my brain has seen. Oh, it's a mega pack of gum. And my brain is starting to adjust in the background. Okay. Without me having to think hard, my brain is adjusting so that as I go to the next step, I'm ready for it. Because I of looking for trash meant that I now know what I'm dealing with. And that unknown is one of the hardest parts of decluttering. It's that I know this space is going to be. I know this space has too much stuff in it. It's going to be hard. And y', all, I just recently. And there will be a video that'll come up, come out in a little while, but I just recently cleaned out the. My storage closet in my office space. Okay? So I have a lovely walk in storage closet that because I am the person who naturally defaults to being cluttered. And I had a lot of move in and out and things and stuff that happened last fall. And suddenly I couldn't walk into that walk in closet anymore. And so I went to go work on it and I said, you know what? This space is probably, I mean, like I wanted to skip ahead because I told myself, no, I know for sure this, this time there's no trash. This is just stuff that needs to be put away. It's probably just going to be most easy, mostly easy stuff. And I'll have you know, I'll just need to put things away. So I really don't need to do the trash. I mean, I was convinced there was no trash in that space and I was tempted, but then I said, no, I'm going to follow the process because even if I don't find trash, there's still value in looking for trash because it builds momentum to look for trash. It causes my brain to see the individual items. And so I looked for trash. Well, guess what? Most of it was trash. I was wrong. And I know we don't like to be wrong. But that's where the non committal nature of looking for trash without saying. And nobody's saying go find trash. No, I'm saying go look for trash. Because that non committal nature of it, zero emotional energy needed. Knowing that I'm not making any decisions if I come across something that I think, oh, this should probably be trash, but I don't think it's trash. That's not what I'm talking about. Okay? All of that is what lets me get started. And getting started is the hardest part, but it also builds as I keep going. So the second step is easy stuff. The second step of the no mess, decluttering Process is easy stuff. After I've dealt with trash, at this point, I know what I'm dealing with. At least on that top layer of stuff. I have not pulled everything out, but out of what I can see and access, I've gotten rid of trash. Now it's time for me to ask myself what's easy? To clarify. I know I've already said this, but to clarify, easy does not necessarily mean physically easy. Easy means I already know what to do. So I had a video that came out last week where I gave an example of how easy doesn't necessarily mean fun. It just means decision free. It just means I already know what to do with it. And the example were was. Example was the example was or these tablecloths were the example. Whatever grammar, people. Y', all, it's snow day right now. If you hear dripping water in the background, I'm really sorry because it's just the way it is on these ice days when. Yeah, okay, so dripping water. Do y' all have to do that in the north, or do y' all have, like, your pipes are insulated enough that you don't have to do that? Maybe it is. I have no idea. But I know we have to drip our faucets all the time when it's this cold to keep them from freezing. But what was I talking about? Oh, yeah, the easy stuff. So the easy stuff is what's decision free? So in this video, I had gone to work on a space, and I was like, oh, those are the tablecloths from that event that I did. And all I need to do is throw them in the washing machine. I was thinking, yeah, that's easy. I already know what to do. I need to throw them in the washing machine. I. Well, I went to pick one up and I realized, for whatever reason, I had come home from that event with confetti inside the tablecloths because it was getting everywhere and we needed to get out of there. And so we just, you know, did the efficient thing of just folding up the tablecloths with the confetti inside and procrastinated and said, we'll just do that. You know, we'll have to do that later. We can't. We don't have time to do it right now, so. Because if we did, then it would go all over the floor and then blah, blah, blah. So I had to deal with that confetti. I didn't want to deal with the confetti. I was super irritated about dealing with the confetti, but I knew what needed to be done. I knew that I had to wash those tablecloths to get them off the floor. I knew that to wash those tablecloths, cloths, I needed to deal with the confetti. It wasn't fun, it wasn't necessarily quick, it wasn't uncomplicated because, you know, I didn't want to deal with the confetti in a place where that confetti was going to be able to go into every nook and cranny and be found for the next 10 years. It required moving that stuff and moving them to a place where I could dump the confetti and sweep it up and get it out of there. But it was easy because I knew what had to be done. And I was a little. And I just thought it was kind of one of those, hey, here's an example of what I mean by easy. And I was a little like, oh, people really needed this example of what it means for something to be easy. Because I understand that you think easy. Oh, no big deal, right? Easy, for the purposes of this process means decision free. It's the stuff. I already know what to do with this item. I already know what to do with this thing. Therefore it is easy. I may not want to do it, but it is easy. And so many people said I needed to hear this because I wasn't fully understanding that. I wasn't fully understanding that something easy can be annoying. Something easy does not mean fun. Easy just means I already know what to do. And so many times in the midst of the decluttering process, that's the thing that gets skipped, is the easy stuff. And so it's very normal to look at a space and want to skip over the things that I already know what to do with it. But it's just annoying to have to do it. It's the thing I despise doing. It's the thing that I put off before because I didn't want to do it and now I want to put it off again because I don't want to do it. But it's cluttered. If it is not in its home, then it's clutter and it has to be dealt with. And if I skip over those things, then it keeps me from building the momentum that I need. It makes everything that I do feel more difficult. And so identifying easy stuff is often the thing that will get you, I'm going to say, 60% through the project.

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[Dana K. White]

Okay Peloton, let's go. That's the new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus. Powered by Peloton iq. Built for breakthroughs with real time insights and endless ways to move. Keep your chest lifted. That's Peloton iq, helping you lift smarter, train safer and move with confidence. With strength, yoga, Pilates and personalized guidance, this is the future of fitness. Let yourself run, lift, flow and go. Head to onepelaton.com to learn more about the cross training tread plus terms. Apply the example that I always give the very first time that I realized, oh, easy stuff was I was staring at a room. It's the the room that I used to have in our old house that I, you know, gave all the different definitions. I always called it. And I would say the word slash. I would say it's a game room slash office, slash guest room, all those things. Slash storage room, whatever. Like, that room was the bane of my existence. The big thing that helped was giving it a single identity. But that's not what today's podcast is about. But as I looked at the space, I remember thinking, I have no idea what to do. This is ridiculous. This is so overwhelming. And I said, I'm going to do the easiest stuff first. And the easy thing was dealing with the ironing board that was in the middle of the room because I knew that the ironing board didn't go there. I don't remember why the ironing board had been brought in there. Of course there's some logical reason, I'm sure an explanation of why it's there. But that explanation actually does not matter. It didn't matter because it didn't belong in this space. So I lugged the ironing board. I folded it up, which is not easy because, I mean, I always had to figure out exactly how to do that. I lugged it to the place where it already had an established home. That's the place where I had gotten it when I had lugged it into that game room to use it. But I took it in there. And I remember the feeling when I walked back to that room after lugging that ironing board, which is not fun, but was Easy, because I already knew what to do. I remember that feeling of going, oh, it makes a difference in this room for that ironing board to be gone. And I realized, oh, okay, going ahead and doing the things that I already know to do. I'm just going to keep doing that. And it's not fun. I didn't enjoy it, but I trudged and trudged and trudged and lugged things. And I just kept asking myself, what do I already know to do? What has to be done that I already know to do? And, y', all, this is the thing that I actually ask myself in every single overwhelming situation. Whenever I start to feel overwhelmed, I ask myself, what do I already know has to be done if this thing that's overwhelming me were to ever actually be finished? And it's the same thing. And I learned that from decluttering. I learned that from, okay, I'm looking at overwhelming space out of this. What's something that I already know has to be done? Another example I often give is multiple empty laundry detergent containers sitting on top of the dryer. That was something that I dealt with in those early days, and I didn't want to have to deal with it because my brain starts going into, but, but, but you have to, you know, whatever. If you're going to stick them in the recycling bin, you have to. Don't you have to clear them out? I'm not sure exactly. Blah, blah, blah. Sometimes it meant me going, okay, what do I have to do in this situation? Do I need to clear it out for it to go in? Recycling, whatever. Which we don't have recycling anymore. But all those questions are part of it, and they're not fun. But the reality was, I knew that I had to do something, that those empty laundry detergent containers needed to be removed. They needed to. And so I had to go through that process. Was it irritating that sometimes if, you know, those things did need to go into the garbage because we didn't have recycling anymore if that took up a whole garbage bag? Just those recycling. Just those detergent containers. Yeah, super annoying. But it had to be done, and I knew that it had to be done. That's what made it easy. So many times. The easy things are things that make me feel irritated with myself, and so therefore it doesn't. This isn't easy because I'm having a reckoning or I'm having a, you know, a moment of. Of getting super irritated with myself. But if I know it has to be done, I'm going to skip the self loathing and go, okay, I'm just going to get this thing done. And y', all, that produces so much progress and is often so much of any space. That's procrast declutter, y'. All. This is the word that I made up years and years and years and years and years ago. Like, procrast declutter is so much of the stuff that I would be looking at. I mean, like, yes, there might have been a really hard decision or two or three that got shoved in this pile in this corner, but then over time, there were lots of other things that I just put off doing that collected and grew the pile and caused me to end up overwhelmed and turned this into a major decluttering project. And so going ahead and doing those things that have to be done, that's how I make so much progress. And I'm again, I'm always shocked and amazed at how many things leave during the easy stuff stage phase of the project. I mean, the step in the process, the third step of these first three steps of my five steps, the third step that is also decision free, no emotional energy needed, is the part where we look for, duh, donations, obvious donations, things that I don't have to ask myself any questions about. Things that are decision free. That's what I'm doing. I get those out of there, y'. All. If you can get out the trash, the easy stuff, and the obvious donations, what is left will most likely be so much less than you thought this project was going to require of you. The progress that you can make in those first three steps is always going to shock you. I mean, most of the time when I deal with a decluttering project, we spend all our time on those first three steps and we make huge progress. And that is the beauty of the process. By the time you get to these hard decisions, they don't feel as difficult anymore because you've already made progress. Because this space is so different than it was when you started, but only because you do those first three steps. So if you find yourself struggling, if you are getting to a huge decluttering decision that is so difficult and it's stopping you in your tracks, I'm stuck. Ask yourself, have I actually done the first three steps? Or how about instead of even asking yourself that, just say, I'm feeling overwhelmed right now, I'm going to go back and see if there's any trash. Because maybe you dealt with trash in the beginning, the trash that you could see and access easily and now you're on this item and you've revealed by getting rid of some other things, some more trash that you could get out y', all. Every bit of progress. Remember, our goal is better and less. Our goal is just to keep making progress. And everything that can go into the trash bag or the recycling bin or the donate box is something that's done and gone and forever has been done. Right? Like, you don't ever have to think about that item again. So at any point when you feel stuck, say, is there any trash that I can see and access? Because maybe some things that didn't look like trash in the beginning, now that you've worked through the process, now you're like, oh, yeah, actually, this is trash now. Before, it felt like, oh, I don't know. And now, of course, it's trash.

[Blue Apron Advertiser]

Right?

[Dana K. White]

Like, that build is really going to happen. So if you find yourself stuck, my advice is that you start again at the beginning of the process. Because the thing is too, like, even if you are like, well, there's no trash, but I'm going to look for trash. There always is. But if there isn't any trash, then it was literally a matter of two seconds that you've spent to look for trash. Like, it's not a waste of your time and it's not a ton of time. But if you're stuck, go back to those first steps. Go back through the process. It is very likely because you haven't actually done those first steps of the process. Okay, I hope that wasn't too, like, mean or anything. I wasn't trying to be mean. I'm just. I'm trying to give you that hope. And the hope is you can make so much progress before you ever have to make a hard decision. And the hard decisions that you do have to make are made so much less difficult, less hard by the momentum that you gain and the success that you experience and the experience that you gain from doing those first three steps that are all decision free. Okay. And don't forget, maybe it would help you to hire one of the coaches to help you for a few hours just to be like, hey, I think I'm doing the process. Maybe I'm not completely following. What? Wait, what? Maybe it would help you to have somebody guide you through that. Go to decluttering coaches.com to find out more about that if there's one in your area. Most of them work online as well, and it's surprisingly shockingly effective to work with someone virtually or just re. Listen to decluttering at the speed of life. Put it in your. You know, get the audiobook and just play it while you work. And I think you're gonna go with the whole process then, and you'll experience what it. What it's like, what it means to gain that real momentum. Don't underestimate the power of building that momentum and how the process builds the momentum for you. Isn't that what we all want, is real momentum? All right, I will talk to y' all later. Bye.