• 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

Letting People into Our Lives, Not Just Into Our Home

May 16, 2011 By Dana White | 23 Comments

  • 564shares
  • 538
  • 1
  • 25

 

Standing on the Edge of the Cliff - A Slob Comes Clean

Today is a strange day in my deslobification process.

I’m having lots of warm fuzzies over the fact that I have extra laundry to do and am storing a rather large piece of furniture in my garage.

I’ve shared recently that my husband’s sister is moving.

Moving stinks.  

The upheaval, the physical exertion, and the emotional stress make it a miserable experience.  Even when there’s excitement and a new home and a better environment on the other side, the in-the-middle-of-the-move time isn’t fun.

On Saturday, we helped them have a final garage sale, and were thrilled when ALL of the big stuff sold.  The Salvation Army donation haul was amazingly minimal.

Movers had come earlier in the week and moved all of the furniture they wanted to keep into storage, but one (big) piece was left behind.  My brother-in-law was sick about it.  He couldn’t believe that he forgot to have them take the custom-made chest of drawers out of the closet.  He hated to leave it behind, but had no place he could take it for now, since it is heavy enough that two strong men are required to move it.

Forgetting something?  I totally understand that.

When he asked if there was any way that we could store it for the next month, I thought for a second and then said, “Sure!”


Because we could.

We actually have room in our garage right now to temporarily store the chest, AND still be able to park our Suburban.

They hauled it here, and he and hubby put it in a perfectly normal-people-type of spot.

It felt so good to be able to help them out.  It really is a little thing, but pre-blog, I’m not sure what I would have said.  We truly wouldn’t have had the room back then.  And even if I could have shoved things into an (even bigger) pile to make room, the shame of having them see our garage would have been intense.  Just thinking about it, I have a tinge of the headache that I get in these types of situations.

And the laundry?  I actually volunteered to have them drop it off this morning so I could just do it with ours today.  Y’know, since I have a Laundry Day now.  I probably would have offered the same thing before, but my motive would have been to keep them from seeing my laundry room.  

It feels good to have pure motives.

Sometimes, as I get the “company” areas of my home under control, I have a hard time seeing the point in getting every last section of the house under control as well.  If we are the only ones who ever see the garage or laundry room, what’s the point of keeping them clean?  I am quite adept at making scary-room-redirection part of my hostess duties.

It’s for times like this.  Times when people need to not just be planned-for guests, but need to share in our lives.  Our everyday lives.  Our undie-washing and car-parking lives.

I’m linking this up to the homemaking link-up over at Raising Homemakers.

Save

Related Posts:

Read Newer Post Big Thing In, Big Thing Out
Read Older Post Picnic Ideas – Pizza Pockets

Filed Under: breakthroughs, progress | 23 Comments

Comments

  1. Amanda says

    May 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    I move on Friday. Hard to find any friends to help even though I've helped them numerous times. Glad you were able to help out in some way 🙂

    Reply
    • Debi says

      September 18, 2022 at 10:04 pm

      I am so sorry to hear that. That really stinks but I do hope your move goes well anyway.

      Reply
  2. Becky says

    May 16, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    This is so exciting!!!

    Reply
  3. Mary @ Giving Up On Perfect says

    May 16, 2011 at 7:05 pm

    I love this. This is something I've thought about our finances. Of course I want to get completely out of debt because we need a different house and want a bigger TV. But more importantly, we want to be able to give more, to share more. Love it.

    Reply
  4. Betty says

    May 16, 2011 at 7:42 pm

    Brilliant post! Love it!

    Reply
  5. Michelle Massaro says

    May 16, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Great insight, love it. I can relate re garage and laundry room. Have yet to start my journey, it seems so long. Thanks for the inspiration though. =)

    Reply
  6. Rebekah from Simply Rebekah says

    May 16, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    This post is so sweet. Love it!

    Reply
  7. simplify411 says

    May 16, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    You've just changed my life – what a wonderful perspective.

    Reply
  8. Kimberly says

    May 17, 2011 at 11:10 am

    Great, sweet post!

    Reply
  9. Dawn says

    May 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    That is what my goal is, too. I feel bad for all the times over the years I didn't let one of my kids have a friend over because I was too embarrassed about the messy house. So wrong…

    Reply
  10. Nony the Slob says

    May 18, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    Oh Dawn, I soooo understand!

    Reply
  11. Mariliz says

    May 20, 2011 at 12:17 pm

    I hear ya….I still struggle with messes and organization. One of these days I'll get it under control for good!

    Reply
  12. Lisa says

    May 23, 2011 at 3:40 am

    Congratulations Nony!! What progress!

    …Lisa

    Reply
  13. NotaSupermom says

    May 23, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    We have a lot in common. I struggle with clutter. It's always going to be a thing.

    Reply
  14. Tara @ Feels Like Home says

    May 28, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    Isn't it awesome to be able to help out? I'm so glad that you fixed up your garage and had the space to do it. 🙂

    Reply
  15. Cath says

    January 25, 2012 at 8:45 am

    Still hanging on in here, reading your blog, totally mesmerised. Don’t know what I’ll do when I catch up, I’ll have to start again at the beginning!

    You are starting to see the fruits of your labours big time and it is so encouraging to those of us who are following in your wake.

    Reply
  16. Jodi says

    January 19, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    Thank you for this! I sooooo needed it! My little boy would love to have friends over… I never clean my master bath, because no one will see it… I always make excuses of why I should meet my friends at their house… Never telling them the real reason. I WANT TO BE HOSPITABLE! God calls me to be so. Thanks for all your encouragement.

    Reply
    • Dana E. says

      April 11, 2018 at 10:37 am

      AMEN!!! Hospitality… God calls us all to do it, even if it’s not our “gift” I too have that same issue. =/. We can tackle it together. 😊

      Reply
  17. Erin says

    March 5, 2015 at 11:06 am

    I found your blog a couple months ago and have been addicted to reading through it backwards ever since! Such a motivation to me to get our house decluttered and in order while I’m taking a semester off of nursing school. (I’m 21 and live with my slob parents.)
    I’ve been working hard, and was so encouraged yesterday when my older sister came home from work and said, “Wow, it looks like we could almost have people over!” YES!!!

    Reply
  18. Jeanine says

    March 19, 2015 at 4:38 pm

    I want to encourage moms to not be afraid to have kids over (at least those who don’t have to come with their mom.) Some of our neighbor moms with clean homes would never let their kids have friends over to play in their houses. They had to play outside. I let them come in. I let them build forts in the living room, and leave them there for days. Sometimes they’d even sleep in them. Yeah, the house was a mess, but it became the hangout place for all my kids’ friends.

    Reply
  19. Pauline says

    May 25, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    Love this! It’s so true! We are always blessed when we let people in who need our help in some way. And as for the parts of our home that we alone see – well, thanks to reading your blog (I’m a new follower!) I’m learning to try and keep them tidy -er because it just makes me feel good! 🙂

    Reply
  20. Roberta says

    December 7, 2015 at 11:34 pm

    Reading this, I’m just so happy for you. I’m so happy for the progress you’ve made, and the positive change it has made in your life.

    Reply
  21. Amy says

    September 16, 2017 at 3:31 pm

    I just had to comment–this post touched me. This is what it’s all about. I was so proud that we were able to have a place for people to stay and even host a celebration of life after my father-in-law passed away, even though we had a newborn in the house. Your blog was a big part of that, so thank you. ❤️

    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