Happy Birthday to me! I’m scheduling this post to go up the night before I turn 40.
The Big Four Oh.
To celebrate, I’m waxing eloquent about growing older.
Here goes:
When I turned ten, I cried. I cried because I was getting old.
For real.
Thankfully, my concerned teacher took me out in the hall, asked me what was wrong, and then explained that some people have real problems. Overly-dramatic-grief that life was flying by at ten years old wasn’t one.
On her tenth birthday, her father died. That gave me a healthy dose of perspective.
I don’t remember pontificating a lot about my 20th birthday. I was in college and life was pretty much non-stop fun.
I was excited to turn 30 because it made me feel like a real adult. I’d always been told I looked younger than my age (please don’t burst that bubble today with the truth, it’s my birthday . . . ), but when I could say I was thirty, it seemed people automatically took me more seriously.
And now I’m 40.
Not that I know what the 40s will bring, but I feel like I’m going in as me.
See, I used to be different people in different places.
I had an economics professor in college who made this clear. I was NOT one to join in class discussions unless called upon. I came, took notes, and tried to blend in and not draw too much attention to myself.
This professor just happened, though, to attend a play one weekend. A play in which I wore a somewhat skimpy outfit and sang and danced and generally proved I’m not the least bit shy.
And on Monday morning, she went on and on (seriously, for almost ten minutes) about how offended she was that I was SO different than she had thought from seeing me bored to tears in her class each week. (She didn’t say the bored to tears part.)
But that was how I rolled. There was a time and a place to let the fun and funny me out, and economics class wasn’t that place.
This philosophy made sense to me for many more years.
It might have something to do with why my husband experienced slight heart palpitations at our wedding rehearsal. He had never seen me in my Director Mode until that night. As a theatre teacher, I wasn’t about to pass off the responsibility of directing my own wedding rehearsal. He was a little frightened by my . . . ummmm . . . extreme decisiveness and lack of inhibition while expressing my desires for exactly how this wedding was going to go.
Thankfully, he married me anyway, and is now my biggest cheerleader when I get in my Director Zone.
I went on being different in different situations for about ten more years. Not that I was faking, I just wasn’t being me unless I felt completely and totally safe.
But then, when I was 35, I started this blog.
I had no idea how it was going to affect my life.
I didn’t think I had been hiding a part of myself, it was just natural to NOT announce to the world that I was a slob. So it was logical to use a fake name and not show a picture of myself.
But then I started making some blogging friends (who first knew me as a slob and somehow weren’t horrified) and they convinced me that people needed to see my face. That it wasn’t possible to fully connect with readers without showing I was a real person.
So I had my husband take this picture:
My hope was that by wearing a bandana (which I don’t wear in everyday life), I wouldn’t be recognized if a real-life friend happened to land on my blog.
It was soon after I showed my face that I started to realize maybe . . . A Slob Comes Clean wasn’t my practice blog. Maybe I wasn’t going to one day let it fall into oblivion so I could start my real blog. And if A Slob Comes Clean was my real blog, then it was also my ministry. And if it was my ministry, I couldn’t keep it separated from my “real” life.
My worlds . . . were going to have to collide.
So in those last few years of my 30s, that’s what happened. Because of my e-books and certain search-engine requirements, I now publish under my real name.
People in my real life know about my blog. I don’t go around telling about it, but I also don’t change the subject when they ask what I “do.”
Some of my kids’ teachers know. My husband’s coworkers know. My pastor knows.
(Not just that I have a blog, but that I am a slob. OUCH.)
I don’t know who already has read my heart and knows my innermost thoughts and my deep, dark secret. And that has helped me be the same me everywhere.
I must say that the not-hiding, the not-segmenting-my-life is actually really nice.
We’ll see what the 40s hold.
If you’re in the mood to give me a birthday present, I’d love to know (in the comments) how you first found out about A Slob Comes Clean.
--Nony
Happy Birthday to you & to me! I’m also turning 40 on the 22nd. Glad to know I am not alone! So happy to see someone show their “REAL” self on their blog. My goal for this year is to finally get to where I don’t cringe or try to make excuses or go into crazy cleaning mode just because someone is coming to my house. Again, thanks for your blog & inspiration & HAPPY Birthday to you! Off to get your ebooks now!
Happy birthday, Christi!!!
Happy 40th birthday! I turn 40 myself on Monday, and I’m not sure how to feel about it yet. I was super excited to turn 10. But 20 and 30 just felt so old. Now I know that was just silly :-). But, my brain feels like I’m about 25 so that’s what I’m sticking with!
I’m not sure if I officially met you at one of the Savvy Blogging conferences, but I heard about your site and started reading (maybe from the Twitter stream?). I love how you are so transparent and share your vulnerability. Hope you have a wonderful day!
Happy Birthday! I love your blog and you make me feel better about myself…..not because I’m clean (and you’re not or anything), but you remind me that I can try again each day to get a routine down that works for our family. Thanks for showing real life to us!
Happy Birthday Dana!! You still look younger than you really are! I thankfully found your blog through a link on Pinterest at the beginning of January. I don’t even really remember how it happened, but I was definitely meant to find you!!. You are truly such a blessing!! I have immersed myself in your blog posts, e-books, podcasts and now webisodes, as I just can’t get enough Nony! 🙂 I feel like you are describing me and my thought processes on so many occasions. I love your humour and find you to be SO motivating!! Thank you for all that you do and keep at ‘er girl!! May your 40th year be your best yet!!
Happy Birthday Nony!
I found you by a link up on Organizing Junkie, I think, you know how an internet link trail can get crazy. I was totally loving reading the blog beginning to end every night! A kindred spirit who knew all the emotional trauma of slobbiness combined with germaphobia tendencies right on my screen! I cried a few times and (if you remember) left lots of looong comments! It was amazing watching your blog grow, so exciting to see others find you and feel a little less like something is wrong with them. Especially in the internet world where things are never what they appear!!!
Thank you, enjoy your birthday!
I found you on a link up at Organizing Junkie (which I have been reading for a long, long time). I actually resisted clinking onto your blog for several months. I knew I would really like you and I just didn’t have time to commit to another blog. But, then in April of 2012, I had another baby. I read your blog from start to finish while I was nursing.
Although I love your cleaning stuff, your rare comment about the mission field is the best part of this blog. My family served for 20 months in the Philippine Islands (March 2013 to November 2014). My husband and I often joked about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year missionaries. And we ate a lot of bugs. And I teared up when you parted with your I Love Lucy collection b/c I knew what they meant to you. This blog has been a very unexpected blessing in my life. I know you didn’t start writing about the clothes on your loveseat in order to encourage missionaries. God loves using what we have to offer. He is so good to invite us to participate in his work. Thanks for participating. I am so thankful.
Happy 40th to you!
I loved this post. As a ministry– I must say, you speak my language. This post hit home with me in so many ways.
Thank you for giving this insightful testimony.
Blessings to you today!
Pat
Happy Birthday Dana! What a surprise to find out we are sharing the same birth date (except mine is for the Big ‘5 0′ (wanna swap, lol!)
Been loving your blog and have been following your ’28 Days’ and ‘Drowning in Clutter’ ebooks this month. Been keeping up the habits from the ’28 days’ one well (dh and dd did the washing up for me last night, birthday treat perhaps?!). I love some of your viewpoints which have made me look at clutterbusting in a different way, especially where you let someone take all your stuff and let them deal with it (still working on that one) and definitely your idea that if trying to making a decision on whether to keep/mend something is making ‘your head explode then just get rid of it’.
I think I found your blog through someone mentioning it on the Unclutterer site that I used to read.
Thank you for your honesty and inspiring viewpoints on real-life home-life!
Happy 40th, Have a Great One!
Thank you! And happy birthday to you!!!
happy birthday nony! i think i found you on pinterest… and really there is no reason not to be yourself, cause you are amazing. you are fun to watch and read, inspiring, motivating and extremely helpful by just letting people join you in your journey of deslobification. And even though i loved to declutter all my life, your two questions are the best!!!
Happy Birthday!!! I think your blog is my favorite. I do follow some other organizational blogs but some of them have homes that just seem too perfect. You seem like someone I’d know from church and you are just relatable. I appreciate your openness and humor. I can’t recall exactly how I found you. I don’t know if it was googling about decluttering or from a link on another blog. If I hadn’t previously bought your books, I’d snatch them up today. lol
Yesterday I read the entries and watched the videos for your master bedroom saga. lol I had just last week tackled the mass of stuff that wandered into my master bedroom starting the week of Thanksgiving. Now, it’s a breath of fresh air in there. Well, except the curtains. I guess I need to google the facts about washing curtains. I’ve never washed a curtain in my life. (Except shower curtains.) See…you teach us all so much!
I’ve been on a decluttering and organizing streak the past few weeks. Just have the dreaded office/game room/front room to go. I don’t know what to call it. It’s holding a lot of “where-do-they-go” items right now. If I recall…you had to declare what your game room was first. Guess I need to do the same.
Happy birthday, again. Thanks for blogging. I think you are a great inspiration and it is a wonderful ministry.
Happy Birthday! I love this post. For some reason it reminded me of this thing I watched that Angie Smith spoke on. It was great, YouTube her name and “mothers day” and watch it if interested. If you watch it, tell me what you think. Does that count as a b-day gift? Also, it took me a minute to remember how I found you, I had it wrong last time I mentioned. I was looking up crafts on Pinterest and visited a blog (can’t remember which) in her profile you were listed as blogs she read. The name intrigued me and I’ve been hooked ever since! I’m up to July 16, 2010 with my “reading backwards” and then I read the newest post. I loved this post and hope you have a great day!!
Happy Birthday! In a few years I’ll get to celebrate the big 4-0 as well. 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic, wonderful day! You are such and encouragement to me – I appreciate your honesty and openness. I think I discovered you through BabyCenter a few years back but I am not sure. All I know is I thoroughly enjoy your youtube videos blog posts and ebooks! Have a blessed day!
Bonne Fete Dana….
I first found you on WFMW at we are that family…when you made your ornaments out of clay…and then proceeded to read your blog from beginning to end….(and obviously ignoring my house in the meantime..lol)
I see a lot of me In you..former drama girl and stage manager here…different “roles” is how I live my life…the “mom” the “wife” the “fighting mother mear in iep meetings for 3 kids”
and this year the goal is to sort out all those roles and find the me in there….the quite similar to dancing on stage and capturing everyone’s attention vs the mom jean wearing overweight gal that does NOT want to capture anyone’s attention…. so all that to say happy bday…love you blog and found you at wfmw on a non slob related post…and stayed ever since.
Happy Birthday! Hope it’s a fabulous day!
I think I found your blog through An Oregon Cottage blog. I think she mentioned you in a post awhile back but I honestly don’t remember when or what she said. When I found your blog I loved it immediately and read the whole thing. Felt so encouraged. I am actually a natural organizer but I was in a crazy stage of life (having just had my third baby) and I felt like the piles of things around my home were hopeless. But you encouraged me that every little thing I do is progress and that going through things wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought and that I really could make progress by just decluttering. You were my cheerleader as I slowly got us back to functional and now thriving. And my baby has grown into a curious inquisitive two year old who can (most days) explore his environment without me worrying of what mess I’ve left out that he could get into. 🙂
Oh and I almost feel like we’re neighbors out here in West Texas, although I’m definitely in the stickers-in-your-grass part of Weeeeest Texas way over here in Midland. 😉 It’s hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced the stickers why my kids have a special pair of shoes just for playing outside in. Ha!
A special pair of shoes just for playing outside?? Brilliant! Wonder if I would have thought of that if we had lived there longer!
I found you via google. I think I searched something like “cleaning blog” or “decluttering blog” or something like that. I have been hooked since I started reading day 1. (I read all the old posts and got caught up to current.) I still check in to read your blog almost everyday. You are real and relatable and you are inspiring because you have come such a long way since those very first “before” pictures. Thank you for starting this blog and thank you for continuing it!
Happy Birthday, Dana! Glad you don’t feel the need to hide anymore. I wish I could tell you how I stumbled across your blog last summer but I honestly don’t remember. I do so much research online, I often wind up on pages that have nothing to do with what I started out looking for. Whatever the reason, I just know I’m glad I did. 🙂
Happy Birthday! I turn the big 4 0 myself in March.
Happy, Happy Birthday!! Your forties can’t be anything less than wonderful with the great attitude you are starting them 🙂 I found you on a guest post you did for I believe Money Saving Mom. Yours was the first blog I’d found who I felt I could completely relate to. It was so refreshing to know there was someone with my same issues who was willing to bare it all for the sake of helping others. I feel so fortunate to have found you. Not only do you load me up with laughter, but also tons of inspiration. I’ve learned a lot from you. Thank you! Enjoy your day and your forties!! 🙂
Happy Birthday!
Thank you for your blog and your ministry. I’m not sure how I found you but I am sure God led me to your blog. From the moment I looked through your site, I knew I found home. A place of acceptance and understanding. I could be the one writing most of those posts. Those pictures could be my house. You give me hope not because you struggled with being a slob and now your home is immaculate. It’s the opposite. You still struggle with this despite all of the progress you have made in the last few years. It makes me realize there is nothing wrong with me. I can change but it won’t be an overnight sensation. As frustrating as that thought is, it’s also a comfort. Thank you for sharing your pictures and being the voice of slobs everywhere. Hmm I should share your blog with my husband, mother, and sister so they can understand that slob-vision is a real thing. 🙂
Happy Birthday!! I found your blog thru Money Saving Mom.com 2 summers ago when you offered your “Teaching Kids to Clean” e-book. (Just don’t ask me if my kids help clean!! :))
Happy Birthday!!!!!
I can’t remember how I cam across your blog, but I think it was from a mention or sidebar link from another website. So glad I found you though!
You really are an inspiration, and my favorite thing about your blog is your openness, honesty and wit. I LOVE the before and after photos 🙂
Wishing you a wonderful day!
Happy 40th Birthday! I’m not sure how I found your blog but so thankful I did! Thank you for being REAL so that so many of us can relate to you (same struggle)! I’m glad you have such a great attitude heading in to your 40’s. I’m closing in on 59 and remembering 40 as my most daunting birthday. Happy for you to have your successes and share them with all of us to give us hope. Blessings to you!
Happy Birthday!!!!!
I found you on YouTube. You know the suggested videos that come up at the end? Yep, I clicked! 😉
Just bought your 2 e-book special for my Kindle! Woot Woot! Thank you!!!
God Bless,
~ Shannon ~
Happy birthday, Nony! 😀
Happy Birthday! (use the Frosty the Snowman voice for the previous).
I think I found your blog through the 31 days series in October of 2012 or so…probably from the Nester….I don’t really remember. More importantly, why I stayed? I love your voice. Your candor and your sense of humor about being a slob is quite authentic and loverly. I’ve been known to copy a line from your blog and send it to friends (made them snort coffee out of their noses btw!)
Love having you around, friend.
The happiest of birthdays to YOU, sweet woman!! 🙂 ((HUGS))
Happy Birthday, Dana! I just realized I’m old enough to be your mother – yikes! It was shocking enough to look at the calendar and realize my oldest will be 35 in March, but 40? So you still have many stages of life to go through. I didn’t come across you till I was at kids grown, getting married and now a grandmother stage. But I still have learned so much from you. For some reason when I got up early this morning (insomnia – it was EARLY), I thought of you. And really quick, while fixing breakfast, I opened up the drawer in the kitchen with towels, washcloths, aprons and a MOUNTAIN of hot pads, I pulled everything out, sorted into keep or donate. And was done in about 5 minutes. I know, not a visible decluttering, but it’s been bothering me. I didn’t count the hot pads, but there must have been 40!! I kept probably more than I need but go rid of a LOT. All in a bag, ready to donate. So I started off my day thinking of and being inspired by you! God bless you!
Happy Birthday Nony! I hope that you have a blessed day!
I am not sure how I discovered your blog, but I am so glad that I did. I have been following your blog for the last few years. I have read it from the beginning to the present, and I try to check it daily for updates.
I appreciate your humor, your openness, and honesty- and I remain a regular reader because I now know that I’m not the only one who struggles with slob vision! I really like your posts with before and after views.
Keep writing- and making vlogs and podcasts- and I’ll keep following! BTW, I turned 40 a few months ago- 40 is great!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANA! The first time I ever saw you was on a YouTube video my sister put on facebook for me to see a product she was excited about (her hubby bought it for her birthday, I think): it was the Oreck Steam It. She posted she was excited and thankful because her steam it was on the way. One of our cousins said she loved hers, and I commented, “what is that?” So, your video was posted as a real person’s point of view, not as a let-me-convince-you-to-get-it commercial. And I commented, “I like her” because God finally let me know there was someone out there who knew exactly what I was thinking with my slob brain and problems…AND THAT THERE WERE SO MANY OF US OUT HERE! What a relief to find a community of slobbers that are willing (hoping) to change our ways with you as our champion. I’m not sure if I worded that correctly…but I’m just happy you’re here and that you are real. HUGS!
Happy birthday Dana! Welcome to the 40s club. I felt the same this year when I thought about what it will be like to be 40. I believe that my 40s are going to be GREAT. Yours will be, too. Maybe it will include a trip back to Thailand with my family! 🙂 I laughed when I read this post. For some reason it brought back memories of our Stayin’ Alive skit at ICS. Ah, the good ole days when I didn’t have an entire house and kids to manage! Enjoy your special day and in honor of you and your blog, I’m off to clean our bathrooms (they haven’t been cleaned in three weeks…or more) and steam my kitchen tile floor!
Happiest of Happy Birthday to you!
I found you on Pinterest when I did a search on decluttering, it was destiny!
I have been following you since then and you have proved to be a blessing in my life in so many ways.
((Huggs))
Happy Birthday!!
I think I found you on Pintrest, but it might have been on Hometalk while I was finding organziztion stuff to pin to Pintrest 🙂 Eitherway, I’m glad I found you – your honesty is both refreshing and motivating!
Hope you got a chance to do exactly what YOU wanted to do today!!
Happy Birthday to you! I just found you this week on Facebook and have already gotten great tips!
Happy Birthday! I came across your blog while searching “house cleaning schedules” or something like that! I am still in the very beginning stages but you offer me hope and encouragement! Thank you!:)
Happy Birthday! I found your blog a couple of weeks ago on Facebook. It must have been liked or shared by a friend of mine. I have been reading and enjoying your blog ever since, and now I look forward to reading your ebooks! 🙂 I hope you have a wonderful day.
Hi! I turned 40 this year also, well, last year, but my most recent birthday. Happy Birthday! I love your blog and you have helped me so much. Just today as I was cleaning my kitchen and sweeping, I thought of you. I’m not sure how I first heard about your blog, but I really started following it after I got your book from the Healthy e-bundle. What you do is a ministry and praying God continues to bless you in it! Thank you for being transparent and revealing your slob-ness to us! It’s making a difference!
Happy Birthday Nony! I found you through my itunes app. I was looking for a housecleaning/ organizing podcast to listen to when I walk home from the train station. A Slob Comes Clean came up in my search. I loved the name and it looked like it would be entertaining so i downloaded a few. Turns out I love your podcasts! You’re so funny and relateable. It might surprise you that I’ve always considered myself an organized neat freak but I always felt overwhelmed with all my “stuff”. I’m realizing the only difference between us is that I have all my clutter neatly stashed away! I’ve really learned so much from listening to you, keep up the good work!
I can’t remember how I stumbled onto your site a couple of years ago, but I am so glad I did. I am so thankful for what you do. There is other people out there like me- organizationally challenged. What makes so much sense to most people does not make it in my slob brain. But with your help I am getting better. I hope you have a wonderful birthday. I pray God blesses you richly for letting us see the real you so that others can be helped by what you are learning.
Thanks from a fellow slob in rehab.
Rebecca
Happy birthday! 🙂
Happy Birthday! I read your note and can really understand what you are saying about your struggle to be brave enough to be the real you (slob warts and all). You have made me realize that “slob” = “imperfect” and that is the reality about ourselves that we all must face and come to peace with in order to be ourselves and truly be loveable and relatable. It’s not that we give up trying to deal with our imperfections but rather that we accept them as part of humanity. There is not one of us who does not have a “slob” trait in some area of our lives. We think we fail as people when we measure ourselves to what we think we should be. But if it’s not “slob” it’s another thing, right? Perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts you have given us followers; the ability to recognize that are “slob” traits are what force us to be humble and in that loveable. I remember a friend who always had people around her. Everyone adored her. She just tried to do her best in life but was not perfect. I use to observe her because she seem to have a magical power about her to attract people. Then one day I saw her get shown how she made a mistake on something work related. I watched closely to see how she reacted. She just made fun of herself and admitted her error. I could not have loved her more! She was hero in my book. You, are the same to me. When I was beating myself up emotionally for having a cluttered house I desperately searched the internet for some reassurance that I could be gentler on myself. It took a while, many websites were just reinforcing how I could make this or that super human change and have the clutter free home I desired. Then there came you. You could laugh at yourself and admit you weren’t perfect, yet you were a person I’d love to hang around. I can see from the numbers of followers you have that I am not the only one who feels this way. Thank you for being that beacon of light for those of us who want to admit we are just perfect being imperfect.
Happy birthday! I don’t remember how I found you, but I’m so glad I did:) You are one of my favorite computer-recreational activities. I think I told you this once, but I’m a therapist, and I’ve told a few clients about your blog- women who were really down on themselves for their own disorganization problems, and I just knew would enjoy your fun, light-hearted, validating yet inspiring approach to simultaneous self-acceptance AND change. I know it’s great for me:) Wishing you and your family many happy returns – lots of years full of love, joy and meaning!
I don’t remember the organizing site that I found you linked to but it has been quite some time ago.You were the first one I thought had a real idea of what I faced with cleaning my home and being so disorganized.Happy belated birthday.
Happy Bday Nony!!! Welcome to the best decade of your life! I’m 44 now. I remember turning 40 and some ladies that I knew telling me that it would be the best time of my life, that you kind of “come into your own”. They were right! I’ve started my own blog, have a great family, great girlfriends, and I start Salsa dance lessons tonight!!! I found out about your site (I think) from An Oregon Cottage.com. Enjoy your special day!
Val
Happy Happy Birthday! I mostly just lurk around and rarely comment but I do enjoy reading your adventures! I don’t remember where I bounced from when I bounced over to your blog but felt I had found a kindred spirit right away and signed up to receive your blog via email. You always have interesting posts and insights and I appreciate the honesty that you use when blogging.
Hope you enjoy your 40’s! It’s so much fun as we age we get to act more like kids all the time! 🙂
So, You Go Girl! Good work and keep it up!
Happy Birthday!! I first heard about you from the Ultimate Bundle that Sheila Gregoire shared. I started reading your stuff & felt so relieved that there I am not alone! I can relate to everything you write. Yet you are able to break thru my depressed brain & HELP me! I can do this! God has sent you to me-I truly believe that. Thank you so much!
Happy birthday Nony. I think I first came across your blog on Facebook..suggested pages. I am 60 and have somehow muddled through raising 5 children as a slob without any organizational housework skills at all! My children were always clean as were their clothes..I even ironed in those days!! But, I discouraged people from visiting so they didn’t see what went on behind closed doors. I have always told people that I am messy but I don’t think they really understood. Anyway, I love the way you are upfront about everything. .. inspirational to young people who are overawed by keeping house. I still struhgle with just 2 of us in the house especially as he is a slob too! Ugh. So I actually use your tactics for decluttering and am slowly organizing this house I have lived in for 34 years..letting go of stuff that really doesn’t have a place. I just don’t relate to other organizing blogs. Those women are neat in the first place. Lol. So thank you for your honesty and sharing your skills with us.. xo
Happy Birthday, Nony! I think I first found your blog from Money Saving Mom (love Crystal). I felt a kindred spirit from the first post I read. Birth husband & I work outside the home & our youngest turns 2 tomorrow, so I finally feel like we’re getting consistent sleep & can really take on decluttering rather than just getting everyone through each day alive. Thanks for your honesty & everything you have done with this blog. You are a true inspiration for making your house a home, even when it doesn’t come naturally to you. I hope you had the wonderful day you deserve.
Also, thanks for the book deal. I just bought them. It got rid of my excuses for buying & reading them. 🙂
Hope you had a great birthday! I found your blog by googling ”cleaning routines for hoarders”! Lol You would believe I was a hoarder if you looked at my master bedroom…but I think I was just looking up cleaning routines and decluttering 2 years ago. Yours is the first blog that actually helps because you understand us slobs have a different thought process. I read a few things for the first year and thought it was really cool, but my home didn’t reflect it until I bought your first ebook in November 2012. Now with 1 year under my belt, my home is far from perfect but definitely cleaner. My kids and I have had more friends over in the past year then in the last 10 years combined. I feel like my children can have play dates here! There is still so much work, but that is huge progress for me. I still have to haul tons of clutter upstairs but it only takes a couple hours now. Keeping the dishes clean and floors swept are key! Who knew? Thank God for you!!
Happy birthday! I found your blog via Pinterest and it was one of the most helpful pins I ever clicked on, for certain! Thank you for this blog, it is a real service to clutterbugs everywhere!
Happy Birthday!! I don’t remember how I came across your blog, but I love it and I SO GET IT! Thank you for sharing your process and struggles because it lets me know I’m not alone. You encourage me so much. Thank you for deciding to follow your calling God has given you!
Happy Birthday! I have never in my life been more aware of the changes I’m going through than I have since turning 40. It’s interesting. And a little scary. But also very liberating. So welcome to the club! I found your blog through my friend, Kathy Hill (House of Hills). She posted about you at a conference she went to. I saw the title of your blog and knew I found a soulmate.
Happy birthday, dearie! 🙂 it was, I think, your Frugal Friday post on making personalized ornaments for kiddos at Christmas. And then I was like, hey! Somebody else is this way! 🙂
Happy birthday!!! How cute is that picture?! I can’t remember the exact phrase I googled but it was along the lines of house keeping schedules and realistic or basic. I do remember that it was right after I looked at Martha’s and thought, Sure I’ll fluff all the pillows daily! No problem! 🙂
I found you through Money Saving Mom, and you have been one of my “favorites” ever since! We must have been made out of the same mold, because everything you have posted, I have realized “I think that way too” and “I do that” and “You mean other people have these issues?” Some things I am getting better at (like not having 15 loads of clean clothes on our couch) but I still need your encouragement and suggestions!! Thank you, and Happy Birthday.
Happy (late) birthday! I found you recently when a friend “liked” your Facebook page. I fell in love with you when I read the early days of your blog and related to almost every sentence.
I like to listen to podcasts while I clean. One day when I got to the end of my favorite show’s podcasts, I looked up cleaning podcasts (because I was cleaning and thought I maybe needed some inspiration) and found yours. Over several weeks I finished listening to your podcasts and decided to check out your blog. I always read blogs backwards, so to the end I headed and have been reading since spring. Once I got to the posts with your webisodes, I realized that I had come across your blog in the past, probably around 2012. But at the time I decided it wasn’t for me, because I thought couldn’t take advice from a slob. That would be like the blind leading the blind. Anyhow, I’m glad I found your blog. I often find myself nodding in agreement. My problem areas are different than yours, but sometimes they intersect with yours.
Happy Birthday Dana! One good thing about getting older is you care less about what people think of you. I can’t remember exactly how I found your blog but I just stumbled upon it searching something cleaning related I believe. You made me laugh so I read more, now I read all the time. You’ve helped me face my own slob issues, n
Hello and happy birthday! You were suggested to me by my husband. I’m not sure how he found your blog, but I guess he thought I needed it lol.
That’s funny!! And not one I hear often!
I had finally decided that I was going to accept the fact that I cannot control my house clutter. I had lived in my home for eight years and after the first two, no one was ever allowed to see the inside of my house without a week of SERIOUS cleaning (mostly done by my nice and tidy husband who works on a boat 20 days out of the month). Anyway, I had accepted my “slob” me and decided that I couldn’t let it keep me from inviting people over. If they couldn’t accept me for who I was, then we couldn’t really be friends anyway, could we?
So, I started inviting people over and explaining that my house was a mess bc I was a bad housekeeper, etc.,… (I did clean up as much as possible before people came over, but as my grandmother would say, “my petticoat was showing”.) One of those whom I had bravely invited over told me that she could be friends with me bc I wasn’t “perfect”, and when I shared my struggles and difficulties, she told me she had been listening to your podcasts. I looked you up and have been following you ever since. 🙂
Oh, and now my mother follows you, too. 😉
Oh my word, that is so cool, Jai!! Love hearing that story. And welcome!!!
Happy Birthday, Nony/Dana! Although a bit more than a year late… I have been reading backwards since around November, occasionally sneaking a peek at the present. I found your blog searching for alternatives to Flylady, and have become a fan.
Just yesterday my daughter had two friends come over to do a school project on pretty short notice, and the house was in reasonably good shape in a short time. I just thought, “the easy stuff first”, and “the visible parts first”, and that helped so much! I also have the two e-book set, and I have to say my favorite for decluttering is the Head Exploding Rule. It really simplifies decision time!
Thank you for your honesty and transparency, and for being so funny! To many many more birthdays!
The younger you looks like your daughter. I can definitely see the resemblance.
Wait…. Are we birthday twins?! I turned 39 yesterday! No wonder I can relate to just about everything you say, it’s like you crawl in my mind & then write about it 😄 only differences are that I’m in the UK, I’m diagnosed with ADD, I’m a single mum to 2 kids who are being assessed for ADHD & autism & my daughter has a REALLY rare type of epilepsy called sunflower syndrome. But anxiety if someone knocks on the door & pretending to be out, or in the bath, having friends come & sort out my whole home & the first few times being so grateful & intent on keeping it that way, 2 days later & you’d think it hadn’t been tidied for a month. Now if someone offers to help it fills me with dread because I know if they came back in a week they’d feel so disappointed that I’ve let it slip so bad. I’d spend a whole day researching the best ways to clean & organise & when I finally lift my head & look around hours later I’d be shocked that my home was still a mess, after all, I’d just spent hours on cleaning & organisation! 😩😄 I’ve read & listened to your book a couple times & felt inspired, I was frustrated that I know how to do everything (probably better than ‘normal’ people) but there was a missing link between knowing & doing. I’ve since listened to the Mel Robbins book – The 5 second rule & I think I finally have all the tools I need to live a much more normal life, I just need to put more effort in & find less reasons to give up.
I can’t believe you’ve only been doing this 5 years! It feels like I’ve been following you for more than that. Only your YouTube videos & on Facebook mainly though, I think I forgot about you blog for a bit but I’m back now. I probably found you when I searched for how to clean a messy house or something like that. Anyway happy birthday for yesterday & thanks for all you do 🎁🎂💐
Hahahaha! I just noticed this was posted AGES ago. I saw a post on Facebook & then read the newer post & just presumed it was from yesterday & I rushed right in without checking the facts. It’s something I tend to do lol 😄 damn you ADD & my over excited brain, oh well, happy VERY belated birthday then 😂😂😂
Hahaha!!! That’s okay! I’ll always take a happy birthday!! And happy belated birthday to you, too!!
Your post on your 40th asks people to tell how they found you. You mysteriously popped up on my FB feed one day a few months ago. It was a grand coincidence because I was in the midst of helping someone sort out their very overwhelming apartment. I bought two copies of your bookand gave one to her. I have talked about you so much and given so many people your info.
I found out long ago that if I keep my kitchen and my bathrooms clean I don’t mind drop ins and can get ready for invited guests relatively easily. Another thing that works for me is to always take something with me to put away when I walk out of a room. There is always something.
It’s your decluttering ideas, rules and questions – I love the black bag – that have inspired me the most.
Also, you are absolutely right when you say you are funny.
I found your site by searching for ‘decluttering’. The SLOB caught my eye because I was feeling like a slob. I’ve been reading from the first post forward every since. I loved my 30s, the 40s were when I became ME, but the 50s have been challenging. Now I’m looking at 60 this summer without my soulmate (he died in 2017), but I’m telling myself at least I’m HERE.
Thanks for naming my SlobVision, laughing at yourself & doing it anyway, and reminding me to do the same.
It’s a few years later after you posted this, but… I found your blog when I watched a replay of a live thing by Mystie Winckler (I think that’s how it’s spelled) about attitudes in housecleaning. Someone in the comments referenced “Nony of A Slob Comes Clean. Just go to youtube and look up Dana K. White”. Interested, I did. After watching quite a few of your videos, I decided to try your blog that you would mention. After browsing it for a bit, I started at the beginning, and now am debating whether or not to continue reading every post to date, or just to go to current. LOL. But I enjoy what you have to say, so as of now I’ve continued to click the link for the next Newer Post, and the next, and the next….
I know it’s not really your Birthday Today and who knew wat hat a crazy world we would live in 6 years later but wanted to tell you I heard about You from The Minimal Mom and what a Blessing that has been — I knew I had too much stuff but didn’t know how to DEAL with it — again you are a TRUE BLESSING to Me❣️
I am reading this blog through because I found your books in the library (August 2021) and your suggestions WORKED FOR ME!!! My house is under control for the first time in 48 years of marriage! I even have an open space on one of my cabinet pullout shelves!!! Because another food container lid jumped off the back and wouldn’t let it close. Sound familiar?
The house isn’t perfect, but the kitchen is cleaned up when I get up in the morning, the bathroom stays nice, the floor is clean (amazing living in the country!), and many days I have finished the housework before breakfast! If I don’t do the daily chore til after breakfast, that’s ok.
We don’t have to feel guilty about our 60-90 minute bike ride that we try to do 5 out of six days during riding season, and I am able to drop everything and go if someone needs a hand on the spur of the moment. (Without any feeling of guilt for what I need to be doing at home!)
Eventually, I will be caught up with your blog–hopefully before the big 5-0!!
Thanks again!!
Hi Dana, I bought How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind on June 11, 2019 (I looked it up on my Amazon account). I also own Decluttering at the Speed of Life as an ebook, How to Manage Your Home…as an ebook, Organizing For the Rest of Us as an ebook. I bought the first 3 years of your podcast transcripts that are on Gumroad. I have SO enjoyed listening to your testimony. I have seen you on the webinars “Getting Organized HQ” each time you have been on—which I think is 3 times. I have All Access Passes for 3 or 4 years of GOHQ so I will get to enjoy your sweet voice whenever I want for as long as I live😉😉😉😉😉
I was SO relieved when I realized (because of you) that I wasn’t lazy, I was just a slob!!!!! It is funny that I can be very organized in certain rooms, like my kitchen (except for the things OTHER people put on the counters😉😉😉😉😉), but yet struggle in so many other rooms. At one time I had 10 Rubbermaid containers stacked in my master bedroom. They just sat in a corner for quite a while because I didn’t know where to put their contents so I didn’t even try.
I had had some experience with the Flylady’s philosophy and routines and I had read The Sidetracked Sisters Catch Up in the Kitchen. But BOTH those systems were too overwhelming. I use some of the Flylady’s ideas—I have her 11 Commandments taped to my bathroom mirror (I own her 2 cleaning books and then the audio version of her Body Clutter book).
My biggest clutter problems are papers and books. I don’t have ANY trouble losing important papers—my problem is how to handle storing the information I have found of interest in a magazine or on the web so I don’t have to constantly look it up again if it is info I use almost daily. So far my solution has been to put the papers in 3 ring binders.
One reason I have slowly been acquiring ebooks these days—is that it is so great not to have the physical clutter.
My biggest problem of all is going through the HUNDREDS of books I own to get rid of the ones that I have read but don’t intend to read again (I am a big rereader) and the ones that I just don’t really want to read anymore (but feel somewhat guilty about buying in the first place). The other books I want to read and then determine whether to keep them or give them away.
Through the years (as a big reader and having been a homeschooler) I have owned TONS of books and DVDs and I have given away a lot of them, too. It is especially nice when I am able to help out another homeschool family, as my books virtually all look brand new and are the best books (mostly I have classic children’s books and books about Christian discipleship and Bible study).
Anyway, I don’t know if you will read this since I am commenting a post you wrote 4 years ago. But in case you do read this please know that I am so grateful to know that I have found “my people.” Bless you Dana!
Hi Dana, I hope your 40th birthday was wonderful, and all the ones since!
If I remember correctly, I think one of your posts showed up in my FB feed. I read a few posts and was hooked! In many ways, my mind works like yours, so that was validating. I’m in my 70’s and have a LONG way to go to get my house decluttered, but I am starting to have hope that it will happen if I just keep at it. Thanks for all the encouragement, as well as the practical help, that you give to so many of us!
Well, I’ve shared before, but since you asked…
I first heard of you on a group called S.T.E.P. which I love & is very helpful to me in general. But I’m starting to learn I don’t stick with things very long, I dive deep then move on.
I heard people mention your blog several times & really try to encourage people it was THE most helpful place for getting our stuff sorted out in life.
I started watching YT videos after learning about Clutter Bug. I hired an organizer & my homework was to identify what kind of bug I am.
At some point I was introduced to ASCC & Minimal Mom.
I started reading the blog about a year later because of how much reading from the beginning was a good way to understand how your process developed.
Happy 50 this year!
We just celebrated my husband’s 50 a few days ago 😁