• Home
  • Get Started!
  • Speaking
  • Blog
    • Cleaning
    • decluttering
    • organization
    • All posts
  • Podcast
  • Books
    • Jesus Doesn't Care About Your Messy House
      • Get a Discussion Guide
    • Organizing for the Rest of Us
    • Decluttering at the Speed of Life
    • How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
  • Video
  • Shortcut Solutions
    • 14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests e-book
    • Make Dinner Happen
    • The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course
    • Printable Checklists E-Book from A Slob Comes Clean
    • Teaching Kids to Clean e-book
    • Giving God the Worst of Me - free e-book
    • My Book Publishing Journey
    • Take Your House Back
  • Decluttering Coaches

Dana K. White

A SLOB COMES CLEAN

Reality-Based Cleaning, Decluttering, & Organizing

 

  • About
  • Contact
  • TV & Media

  • Home
  • Get Started!
  • Speaking
  • Blog
    • Cleaning
    • decluttering
    • organization
    • All posts
  • Podcast
  • Books
    • Jesus Doesn't Care About Your Messy House
      • Get a Discussion Guide
    • Organizing for the Rest of Us
    • Decluttering at the Speed of Life
    • How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind
  • Video
  • Shortcut Solutions
    • 14 Days to Opening Your Front Door to Guests e-book
    • Make Dinner Happen
    • The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown Video Course
    • Printable Checklists E-Book from A Slob Comes Clean
    • Teaching Kids to Clean e-book
    • Giving God the Worst of Me - free e-book
    • My Book Publishing Journey
    • Take Your House Back
  • Decluttering Coaches
Videos
Blog
Podcast
Products & Courses
Books
About
Decluttering Coaches

Methodical vs. Maniacal

March 12, 2010 By Dana White | 15 Comments

  • 423shares
  • 347
  • 0
  • 76
methodical vs maniacal Before Clearing Clutter off Dresser Master Bedroom at ASlobComesClean.com
I can do maniacal cleaning.
When my husband and I were first married, pre-kids, he’d go out of town and I would clean like crazy. Dust-mask, rubber gloves, multiple trash bags, and the house would be sparkly and clutter-free, or at least clutter-hidden, when he returned.
Living as I used to live (the house always a sty), I had no choice but to clean like a crazy woman in order to be able to open the front door and let someone in. And then I’d enjoy the clean house and think I deserved a break until one day, a week or so later, I would notice that the pigsty was back.
Yes, I’m good at the maniac thing.
But, as I’ve worked on making real, lasting changes in our home over the past 7 months, I’ve changed my methods from maniacal to methodical. I’ve been working at consistency, real decluttering, and staying focused on maintaining a space once I’ve rescued it from disaster status.
It’s working. It’s working better than any other way I’ve tried.
So, as I’m trying to gear myself up to finally conquer the master bedroom, I want to apply what I’ve learned in the rest of the house.
Last fall, when my husband took the boys camping for the weekend, I tried the crazy woman thing on the master bedroom. It was so far gone at that point that even approximately 20 hours over that weekend didn’t get it to perfection. And the result?
It’s now back in its full-fledged horror-movie state.
I had intended to work on it this week, but then the week got away from me. I found myself with 40 minutes yesterday and decided that I might as well do something. So I took some before pictures which I’m too ashamed to post, and decided to clear the dresser.

40 minutes wasn’t enough, but I came back when I had a few minutes later in the afternoon, and finished up.

Here’s the after:

Yes, that’s one of my wigs.

I took my time. I focused only on the dresser and took every piece of . . . ahem . . . junk to its proper home. I got out my pledge and shined it up and arranged the photos and cleaned the mirror.

Our master bedroom is so bad, that I know in order to “do it right” I’d have to devote an uninterrupted week to it. In the past, on my maniacal cleaning days, I’d pick up all the dirty clothes in the entire room. Then pick up all the trash. At that point, I’d become overwhelmed. And I’d always, always get to the point when I wouldn’t know what to do with those last few things that didn’t have a home anywhere else in the house. And then I’d usually quit.

So, since I’m committed to truly changing my slobbish ways instead of just getting the house ready for one party, I’m going to take my time. I mean, no one has seen the master bedroom in 3 years, what’s one more month, right? I’m going to work on a small section at a time, celebrating each section as its own success, and work to maintain the finished ones.

And that cleared-off, shiny dresser gives me hope.

methodical vs maniacal Before and After Clearing Clutter off Dresser Master Bedroom at ASlobComesClean.com

Save

Related Posts:

Read Newer Post Bathrooms and Budgets
Read Older Post Daily Checklist – Is There Hope for Me Yet?

Filed Under: decluttering, progress | 15 Comments

Comments

  1. Busy Mommy/BFF says

    March 12, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    I'm very impressed with your dresser. Good job…taking it one step at a time.

    Reply
  2. Lindsey says

    March 13, 2010 at 12:22 pm

    Great job! Know how you said 'maniacal'? We're moving today. And only our bedroom and 1/6 of other stuff is packed. And I'm reading your blog instead! Ah well, it will get done soon enough.

    Reply
  3. mommyoffaith19 says

    March 13, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    I am exactly the same way. I talked about this at my blog http://www.mommyoffaith19.blogspot.com. I do the maniacal and need to be better at methodical. Having a preemie is so overwhelming that methodical is starting to bring me so comfort in the orderly but I was in hospital recently and still don't have the house back to pre-hospital cleanliness. It's driving me crazy.

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says

    March 15, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    Around here you don't know what todo with it just throw it in mom amd dads room. Always on my list of things to do for the week but never get to it.

    Reply
  5. Jo says

    March 15, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    The dresser looks really pretty!

    Reply
  6. Nony (A Slob Comes Clean) says

    March 15, 2010 at 2:25 pm

    Thanks Jo! I'm enjoying it so much and love being able t o see my kids pictures that used to be covered up with clothes.

    And anon, I totally get what you're saying. That's exactly how it is at our house.

    Reply
  7. Marty says

    March 24, 2010 at 3:36 am

    I know what you mean about those little things that don't have a home!!!
    What DO you do with them??? ugh.

    Reply
  8. Donna says

    November 29, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Looks awesome!! I’m starting with my dresser!!
    Thank-you for you blog, love it!
    Donna

    Reply
  9. andrea says

    April 28, 2015 at 11:08 am

    Have you read cleaning from the outside in? It has wonderful ideas. The one I remember most is what we leave out and lying around is a clue as to why. We need to look at our mess and live with it a bit to figure out why it exists. Interesting idea. Like figuring out you need to run your dishwasher every night.

    Reply
    • Leila says

      June 19, 2022 at 11:47 pm

      I don’t see that book listed anywhere, including Amazon and Google Books. So you know the name of the author?

      Reply
  10. Nancy says

    April 29, 2015 at 1:44 am

    Ya know an easy way to keep the house clean? Have a pastor husband whose church bldg, got sold and we had to move all church activities to our home! Have to keep the main house, guest bathroom and kitchen clean… That kills me cause I hate empty counter tops!… We also have 3 cats who love to shed everywhere, so all I have to do now, is sweep or vacuum, dust very little cause my hubby seems to feel the need to clean the kitchen… The bedroom is off limits cause the cats are closed in there during church stuff. I also have a hoard craft/sewing/office upstairs. Now the garage is full of our older kids stuff, my former store stuff and now a church’s worth of stuff…

    Reply
  11. Sandra Bailey says

    March 29, 2016 at 3:58 pm

    I didn’t think anyone else was as bad as me. Looks like my room!?

    Reply
  12. Lisa says

    September 30, 2020 at 1:37 am

    See I knew me going back to DAY 1 of your blog would help me!! I have a “master bedroom” that I need to work on too. Thank you for my motivation. If I can work 30 min or so a day then soon I can walk in there.

    Reply
  13. Kim Lockett says

    February 26, 2022 at 6:31 pm

    Argggg, I need to do this! My house is even worse than that and I’m dragging my feet because I know I’ll have to do it all myself.

    Reply
  14. Sara says

    May 30, 2024 at 4:55 pm

    A funny story for you. When my mother married my stepfather, we were old enough (merged family of 9, five teens) they left us at home and went on a short honeymoon. One of my older sisters wanted to help and unpacked a lot of the boxes. The parents got home and were thrilled to see so many boxes gone- until they went back to their bedroom and realized that when sister wasn’t sure where something went, she took it to their bedroom and left it on the bed!
    Two families moving into one house I leave it to your imagination just how deep the bedroom piles were!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Want solutions to your biggest decluttering problems?

Get my newsletter and we'll start by teaching you how to declutter without making a bigger mess.
* = required field

Popular Posts

Why-I-Have-To-Run-My-Dishwasher-Every-Single-Night-at-ASlobComesClean.com sidebar
Five Truths about a Clean Kitchen even without a dishwasher at ASlobComesClean.com sidebar
How to Clean a Messy House at ASlobComesClean.com sidebar

Topics:

blogcast Cleaning daily checklist decluttering failures figuring myself out kitchen laundry Menu Plan Monday organization parenting podcasts progress random stories reader stories recipes sponsored posts Uncategorized

  • PR/Advertising
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Website Terms and Conditions
Search

  • About
  • Contact
  • TV & Media

© Dana K. White | Site by Little Leaf Design