I’m good on dishes.
Meaning, we have what we need.
And “what we need” is a whole lot less than what I used to think we needed.
After years of believing in my heart-of-slob-hearts that my real problem was that I didn’t have enough plates or cups or bowls, I realized I was wrong. Once I started to trust myself to actually wash my dishes every single day, I saw my Dishes Situation differently. I saw that I had enough.
One big clue: I used the same favorite dishes every day because they were clean every day. Meanwhile, less favorite dishes sat untouched in the cabinet.
Another big clue: Hubby stopped putting “paper plates” on our grocery lists. Even though, pre-deslobification, they were on the list every single week.
That’s right. I had multiple full sets of dishes and still needed paper plates to survive.
Why does this matter for today’s post? I know that the dishes in our cabinet are all we need.
This meant I needed to use my decluttering-progress-maintenance strategy of “Replace. Don’t Add” when putting away the new set of dishes I got for Christmas. (Here is an affiliate link to the dishes I got.)
A container is meant to contain, to limit the amount of stuff that can fit comfortably in a space.
My cabinet is a container. Its size determines how many dishes I can keep.
It was easy to replace cracked and dingy bowls with my new ones, but it was hard to replace perfectly fine bowls.
I had to decide which were container worthy. I decided on my new ones. My new lighter, less-prone-to-scratching ones.
But when it came to my new small plates, I didn’t have anything to replace. I’d chosen that set (for Hubby to give me) specifically because I wanted some small plates.
So I exchanged space for space. The Corelle small plates took the space where I used to keep my no-longer-great dinner plates. And since the Corelle plates are so thin, the dinner plates I got stacked easily on top of the other Corelle dinner plates I had. Yay for everything fitting easily.
But then, when editing the video for this, I realized that would have looked like a ridiculously small number of dishes to the person I used to be.
If you can’t even comprehend only having this many dishes, I totally understand. You might need my first book, How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind.
But if you’re thinking replacing some dishes is nothing compared to the decluttering you need to do, you totally need my book Decluttering at the Speed of Life which is available wherever books are sold!
If you don’t see the video at the top of the post, click here to watch it on YouTube.
Hi Dana,
I have enjoyed your blog post for years, and incorporated the “Do the Dishes” mantra into my daily routine. As a lifelong slob, I have to say that is the most effective piece of advice ever.
Relating to your replace the dishes theme, I’d like to share an aha moment, that occurred to me almost 10 years ago, while on vacation. We were staying in a timeshare condo, that had sparse, but simple matching and adequate dishes, and utensils. I noticed how easy and even fun it was to put all the matching dishes back into the orderly places. After that, I have alway tried to keep my “nice cupboard”, with glass filled only with matching dishes, like the vacation condo. I still end up with mismatched and gifted cups and glasses, but put them in a lower back cupboard. I wish I could get rid of them all together, but they are usually gifts. I also use them for “to go” cups, not caring if I get them back or not.
Any ideas on keeping all of these mismatches to a minimum? How do I let friends and relatives know nicely, that I really dislike these mugs and novelty glasses?
I love your message! Thanks.
Love your blog. Just found it. I have been trying to follow the replace don’t add for years and it really works. now if I could get the rest of the family on board it would be awesome!
I just started following your podcast and have actually started right from the beginning. I really like how you realize that you had to keep adjusting for your peculiarities and life. It really spoke to me as I am taking care of my husband with Frontotemporal Dementia and life certainly gets in the way. You really have to think while running. I am really looking forward to listening to all of your podcasts.
This really was perfect timing! I just replaced my beat up and chipped old dishes with a new set of Corelle that I got for Christmas!
I’m looking at moving this year. Serious decluttering has to happen, first. At least my 3 girls have been purging their belongings for a couple of years. So, do I do the projects, or throw away the supplies? (nothing of value to sell or give, to speak of.) My issue is being real and trusting God to supply for future needs instead of hanging on to everything “just in case” (think you wrote about this early in your journey).
Hello Dana,
Your first book has made such a difference so I’d really like to get ‘Decluttering at the Speed of Life’, and the ‘5 day clutter shakedown’! I think they’d really help me!
My question is how to pre order and sign up, as I’m in the UK and your links only go to US sites. Can I order from Amazon’s UK site and enter that order number. But I’m guessing you won’t get the affiliate link that way.
Thanks for your help and thanks for your amazing advice and support for deslobification!
All the best
Pippa
Thank you!! It’s perfectly fine for you to use the Amazon UK order number! I’d love to know the release date for the UK, as no one at the publisher tells me that!
Thanks, Dana!
I’ve ordered the book and already read your transcripts for the 5 Day clutter shakedown, which is a brilliant course! Each day was really helpful and I especially think the container concept one will help me.
According to Amazon, Decluttering at the Speed of Life is released on 22 March in the UK.
Looking forward to it!
Pippa
We bought a metal corner shelf for our cupboard that has our Corelle dishes. The dinner plates fit on the bottom and the upper tier holds salad plates.