I’ve been doing this blogging thing for almost nine years now. I started on the day my second child went to kindergarten. He will be in high school next year. When the first summer came around, my main concern was that I wouldn’t be able to keep up the progress I’d made in my home while we enjoyed the gloriously routine free season.
By the third summer, I realized the bigger concern was the impossibility of trying to enjoy the precious and fleeting time with my family while also maintaining the blog. With my personality, I needed my kids to be my summer project.
So since 2012, I’ve done my best to take summers off.
While other bloggers who hear I do this look at me wide-eyed and confused, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. I know it has “stunted my growth” with the site and podcast, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is how I’ve maintained my sanity.
Life is full of a million (good) things I could do, but letting some of those things go so I can have energy for my family is always worth it.
While I’m gone, here are some recommendations to help you keep going on your own deslobification process:
My Books –I wrote How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind as the guide for the overwhelmed home manager. If your home has you on the verge of tears, wondering why what seems so easy for “everyone else” is so hard for you, you’ll understand after you read that book.
Decluttering at the Speed of Life dives deep into decluttering. Really deep. I talk about the mindset changes needed to make real change, teach you my five step decluttering process, and apply the process to the different areas of your home including . . . craft rooms. I also tackle a subject I avoided for years: helping others declutter. There are chapters on helping your kids, friends, husband, and older relatives. I also spend a lot of time on the intensely emotional challenges related to clutter.
Audio versions of both books are available. (Note: You do NOT have to be a member of Audible to get an audiobook through them. You can purchase individual audiobooks and use the Audible app to listen. Look UNDER the orange button at the right of the page. I know it’s confusing. To be more confusing, I suggest you look at the Kindle price as well and see how much it would cost to add the audiobook when also buying the Kindle version. It varies, but sometimes can be almost the same price as the audiobook to get both.)
If you need visual help, I created a video course last year called: The 5 Day Clutter Shakedown ($5 Off Coupon Code: SUMMER18 ; click “add coupon” on the checkout page and the box to enter the code will appear. This coupon offer has expired.) I’ve loved hearing from many of you who watched it with family members and experienced great success because you were finally speaking the same decluttering language. The course also includes audio-only files and written transcripts of each video to help those with different learning styles and varying internet capabilities.
Maybe this is the time for you to read this blog from the beginning. If you’re feeling that familiar yeah, but feeling every time you gain a little hope from reading my site because you’ve failed so many times before, reading the real time process will help. I explain how to read from the beginning here.
Teaching Kids to Clean ebook is a curriculum for teaching your kids basic cleaning skills.
Maybe it’s time to figure out why people are crazy about podcasts. They are free, you listen (like the radio, but whenever you want), and you can clean while you’re listening.
And most of all, be sure you don’t miss a thing by signing up for my newsletter here.
Have a wonderful summer!!
--Nony
Vickie says
Enjoy your summer, and your kids. My son is 26 and I can definitely say how fast those years go by. Hope you savor every minute. 🙂
Karen says
Have a great summer.
Lady Locusts says
Happy Summer Dana!
Liz says
Hi Dana, I’ve been listening to your podcasts for about 6 weeks now. I am starting to use your methods and they are working for me. Ironically I had figured some of them out for myself but not been vigilant about it so hearing it from you has really made me try it out again and try harder. But mostly I wanted to say that it has been a rough few weeks for me and having you in the car with me has been like having a new best friend keeping me company. Your positivity and relatability have meant a lot. Have an awesome summer, I’m glad you are taking a break because it gives me catching up time on podcasts and blog reading. xoxo.
Amy says
I have been listening to you since early December and am so thankful to have found your podcasts!! I like I have much better control over my clutter and it has given me so much freedom! Have a great summer!!
Carolyn says
Have a wonderful summer! I commend you for taking the time off. It’s the last day of school here too, in my daughter’s house with three little ones, the oldest having just completed kindergarten. I’ll look forward to your returning refreshed in the fall.
Kristine says
Have an outstanding summer!!!
Sandra says
I would argue that doing that has stunted your growth. On the contrary, it has allowed you and your family to grow in ways you may never have thought of.
Have a great summer! We will be here when you ‘get back’!
Miss Kitty says
Dana…I must agree…you ARE FUNNY! 🙂 lol I love, love, love your book. I have “listened” to both books. Decluttering at the Speed of Life I’ve listened to like 5x and How to Manage Your Home without Losing Your Mind, just once. Starting it again tonight. I must say…oddly, I feel like we are friends already! lol We have so much in common…mainly the slob-factor, but I’m funny too! haha So while I listen, I feel sooooo much validation. I hear your struggles and feel them myself. I wonder how it is that I work SOOOO hard to get spaces in my home to look great…until…they aren’t anymore. Sadly, I said…well once the kids are all gone! (what kinda mom am I blaming my kids! lol) Yep! It was me…and still is. Yes partly them, but only because I didn’t know how to teach THEM, because I didn’t get it myself. As I made my 3 1/2 hr trek home and listened to the last of your book…I said to myself, “I CAN DO THIS!” 🙂 Your book empowered me and gave me a place to start. Do the dishes! lol If you said Do the dishes once…you said it 200 times! haha Since it was Sunday, I decided to start upon my arrival to my driveway. I set the timer and unloaded my car as QUICKLY as I could, beating the time I THOUGHT it would take me! YEAH ME. Then I had even sorted laundry and threw in a load during that time. Before I went to bed…I did the dishes. 🙂 Upon arising in the morning…I swapped the laundry to the dryer, put in a new load and put the clean dishes away! I am starting the “where would I look for it, take it there now” tonight. Earlier, I did the piles and as you said, life would happened and then my piles got strung back together and UGH! I can’t wait to live the life I am truly worthy of having…slob free! I shared your decluttering book with my co-worker and she is decluttering now as well. We share stories and encourage each other! 🙂 Thank you for being willing to “air your dirty laundry” so that we can know…we aren’t the only ones with this slobification struggle. YOU ROCK!!! 🙂
Nancy B. says
Have a great summer! I purchased the first three years of your blog (makes for easier reading) and am up to page 408 of Year 1. I am really enjoying reading it from the beginning. Reading more of that can be part of my summertime project, as well as making sure I do MY daily tasks (stuff KONGs for the dogs, do the dishes, daily laundry and put it away, put away any shopping, process the day’s mail). AND turn off the computer at 9 pm every night! And if I need more inspiration I’ll re-read your two books 🙂
Kelsie says
I think it is wonderful that you spend your summers “off” having family time, and isn’t that half the perk of having a business like this?! You get to make these decisions! I haven’t commented before, but it is because I usually listen to your podcast on my phone while I am cleaning (for motivation!) but I wanted to let you know how much it speaks to my heart and has helped me understand myself more as a person. Thank you and see you in the fall!
Jesse says
I hope you have a great summer! I love that you take time off. So many people struggle to make time to be with their families because they can’t imagine stepping away for a moment. I think you are modelling something great here and when I have kids I’m going to try to do it too if possible.
In the mean time I’m going to work my way through your first three years in ebook form. I love getting to see how you started out. And it’s amazing how much I can relate. (Oh my gosh I cried when I turned ten too!!) I think it must mean many of us have more in common then we realise, and you are good at bringing us all together.
Karen says
Dear Dana, Thanks so much for your podcast and blog. I just discovered you this weekend, and you’ve already given me tons of inspiration.
My goal is to have a homespace that makes me feel good entertaining in. Entertaining really speaks to who I am in the world, but it’s been a while because I’ve felt so ashamed of the pile-up of trouble spots and unfinished projects in my house that I don’t want to have anyone over. Becasue of you, I think I may actually enjoy the ten million baby steps it’s going to take to get out of this little hole I’ve dug dug over the past few years with my inspired-turned-overwhelming projects.
So thank you, have a great summer, and we’ll see you in the fall. xo
Pamela says
Last night I started reading “How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind,” and I am so glad I found it. You are speaking to my (and my husband’s) project-oriented mind! I have been feeling so defeated by my home. Thank you for your words and work. I am looking forward to exploring your blog and podcasts. (Now I just need to do the dishes before I let myself get online again!) 😉
caroline says
I love summer and I am actually looking forward to the school holidays. My friends think I am insane!
Gayle says
Hi! I have been missing your podcasts, so I came here to find out what the deal was. Glad it’s just a summer break! 🙂 Have fun, and I’ll look forward to your return.
AC says
Well I did it! I had my 3rd baby in January and started reading your blog in February. I started from the beginning and went through every blog post and podcast. I just finished. I have always wondered how people like me with kids, jobs, and a farm still manage to keep beautiful homes. And yet mine looks like a pigsty. You have laid it out so simply! Great work, I admire your creativity and business savvy. While I am more a math and science type I still can relate to what you write about. You have given me motivation to get in a routine of daily tasks then delve into decluttering!
Sara says
Wise mom!! I do the same thing. I hope your summer has been filled with blessings. 🙂
Jennifer says
So I haven’t read every blog post yet – but it sounds like you’re a stay-at-home parent. And at least in the earlier posts I’ve read, it also sounds like you dedicate several hours each day to cleaning. Do you have suggestions on how to work all this neat stuff into your schedule when you’re a single parent who has to work outside the house full time? Because by the time I get home, get dinner on the table, clean up the dishes and dig through the laundry piled on my dining room table to find everybody’s clothes for the next day, it’s about 9pm.
Amanda Ripsam says
I love your podcast I have been listening for a while now. I have been working on decluttering projects all summer long.
Emily says
I have just caught up after reading your blog all the way through from the beginning (which is reading *forward* not backward as mentioned throughout the blog–reading forward through time, vs starting with a newer post and reading back through time). Looking forward to new posts!
We’re decluttering & cleaning & fixing up the house in preparation for a move–to your area (DFW area)…woo hoo! It’s sooo much work! We’ve been working on it for 8 months now.
A suggestion, please…when you quote a reader/email/etc and use that cursive-like font, could you enlarge the font? It’s pretty hard to read. It might be set at the same size as the rest of the blog post, but it’s more scrunched & closed or something (I’m sure there’s a technical term for it). It makes it look smaller, and even when I enlarge my screen, it’s still hard to read. Or choose a larger-looking, more open cursive-style font in its place. 🙂
I’ve also been listening to your podcasts while I declutter. I’m pretty far behind, though, at around #80-ish. So while I wait for your new posts, I guess I have some work to do. No more excuses that I have more blog posts to read while sitting on my rump.
Alina @ DeclutterBlog says
Have a good summer vacation, Dana! You’ve walked a long way, thanks for sharing with us.
Melissa says
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn not only how to declutter, but finding such wonderful, practical, amusing ways to share with the rest of us who struggle with our homes. I am 47 years old and I finally understand how to look at my container. I am on a crazy decluttering mission that has greatly improved several of the rooms in my house and has given me hope for the rest.