I loved this comment left last week on one of my most popular posts: How to Declutter Without Making a Bigger Mess.
I loved it so much that I wanted to share it here!
As someone who had failed SO MANY TIMES at decluttering, I totally understand her skepticism. And I love how excited she is to finally experience success! If you have resisted my “take it there now” strategy, try it anyway. If you’re convinced it couldn’t possibly make things better, give it a go.
I am so excited! About decluttering?? Yep! At least this new way of decluttering. I am a newbie with your mindset and methods, but have tried to declutter the ‘typical’ way for years and years. I’m also the one surrounded by sorting bins and keep boxes and put away boxes, and any other box label I think of at the time to procrastinate the process. And that mess would stay for weeks until I found another large chunk of time to work at it again. UGH! So after reading your book – well, no – after reading a few chapters, I had to try it.
My desk in my home office is always covered with stuff – papers, dropped off items, everything. With not a little skepticism, I tried the declutter by layers and the (thank you) just two questions. Oh my gosh!!! in about a half hour I had a clear desk and two trash bags – throw and donate. Plus I added quite a few steps to my fitbit as I asked the question of items “where would I look for you”.
Okay, one more test – the upstairs hall where I did the old method of empty out the sewing room (still not decluttered btw) into the upstairs hall where – no surprise – for two weeks the sewing room remained unfinished and the new mess in the hall made travel difficult. So I did the declutter by layers again and voila – an hour later the hall was cleared.
It’s like magic and makes so much sense. Thank you! Thank you! I literally look for even five minutes to work on the next step in my process of decluttering my house.
Magic and wonderful!
I’m having surgery on Tuesday, April 9! Since my hip is being replaced I will be down for awhile. I’ve been cleaning clutter out in preparation for the recovery. I’ll be spending time reading your book which I have had for awhile but not yet read. Thank you and speedy recovery for you!❤️
We are in the process of having the master bath remodeled and found out they had to go under the house the next morning. No big – right? Wrong. Access to under the house is in the closet under a bookcase and surround by all the crap we toss in there because we don’t have a place to put it.
I used this method to do my side and when my husband got home at 8pm from work, I convinced him to do the same for his. I did A LOT of walking, as I put his stuff away to make it go faster, but we got rid of four bags of trash and three bags of donate. The closet looks amazing, even if it’s not 100%, and I’m ready to work on the rest of the bedroom. 🙂
Thank you for your two questions! It’s so much easier.
I desperately need to read the book that I bought when you appeared in Lufkin, TX. I can definitely can identify with this lady. I am planning to tackle some clutter while I’m off work next week.
I’ve been trying the layer way of decluttering, too. It makes so much sense once I get into it. Plus it is less intimidating (as long as I don’t move stuff to another pile). Another thing I’ve been doing is as I see things when passing by that are out of place or not wanted anymore, I pick it up and either put it where it should be, throw it away or put in a donate box.
I like the layer method because if I have to stop in the middle, I can go back later and tackle the next layer. I love the idea that I don’t HAVE to do it all at one time. I have health issues and pain often stops me before I can finish. It took years to look like this and if I’m honest with myself, It will take more than a weekend to clear it out.
Your hints have been so much more helpful than any other method I’ve seen. Thanks!
Oh my gosh! So fun to see this here. You wouldn’t believe how much more I’ve done in about a week. I was decluttering my ‘already reorganized shelves’ in the basement. The second question was the winner for me this time. I knew where to look for extra shampoo, etc but . . . “If I needed this item, would it ever occur to me that I had one?” Uh, no. If I needed a hand moisturizer I’d just go buy one, never mind the 30 bottles creeping toward their expiration dates in the basement. It’s like those shelves are the final resting place for cosmetics and tolietries – totally forgotten. So I went through all of it. Tossed the icky or expired, but filled two boxes of unused, new products and donated them to my local shelter ( my second trip this week – I’m their new best friend lol) You are amazing, Dana and I thank you for the gifts you share with all of us. And make me chuckle while doing it. And I will keep you in my prayers for successful surgery and a quick recovery <3
I also love the effects on my Fitbit steps when I, “take it there now”!!! Steps and stairs, all the numbers are affected in a positive way!!
Good luck with your upcoming surgery and I wish you a smooth recovery.
What do you mean by layers?
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She’s talking about working through the five step process in Decluttering at the Speed of Life ( https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/book ), which removes clutter by layers instead of pulling everything out of a space to sort.
Dana thank you so much for writing your blog. I didn’t know there were other people like me! I love your humor and your love for God! Thanks again