On August 24th, 2009, I wrote the first post on my secret blog.
Ten years later, I’m writing this post.
Ten years is a decade. Double digits.
The decade mark at this job I made up is a great time to consider my past and my future in it. So, I thought I’d share my current perspective with those of you who have been loyal participants in my deslobification journey.
Things change over ten years.
Ten years ago, I had little faith that I would ever actually figure out how to get my home under control. I’d failed so many times before that I assumed this would be another burst of focus on my home that would fizzle.
Ten years ago, I was petrified of anyone finding out that I was the person behind the blog. Behind the fake name, the photos of an excessively cluttered home, and the confessions of what went on inside my head.
Ten years ago, I believed in my heart that sharing my deep, dark secret was temporary, and that one day I would move on to writing about things that didn’t make me feel like a failure.
Ten years later, I know how to keep my home under control. I understand what I was and wasn’t doing and why my home would continually go back into chaos. I know what causes the fizzle, I know that life will never be fizzle-free, and I know what to do pre-fizzle or mid-fizzle or post-fizzle to get things back on track.
Ten years later, I understand that there are many people like me in the world. Sharing my struggles isn’t (as) scary with my community of people who understand that self-acceptance doesn’t mean circumstance-acceptance, and that understanding myself is better than trying to be someone else.
Ten years later, I can’t pretend writing about this stuff is temporary. This is the thing I know and the thing I teach.
What is different?
Blogging doesn’t look the way it looked when I started. People read blogs differently than they did back in Aught-Nine.
What was a practice blog has turned into my business. So even though it’s still fun, I’m not doing it for fun.
I’m doing this job because God made it clear that this is the career He designed for me. He wants me to help other women, some just like I was (and many who have never been as bad as I was), to understand their homes and themselves and improve both.
I’m also doing it because the oldest of my kids, who were 7, 5 and 3 when I started, has one more year before he heads to college. And college is expensive.
So what does this mean?
I think of almost everything in terms of The Container Concept, even the hours in my day.
I have to give hours to the most important things first.
I decide how important something is based on how many people it helps, both immediately and long term, and how much I enjoy doing that thing.
A Slob Comes Clean began as a journal chronicling what I was doing, what worked and what didn’t. I wrote every single day, and I loved doing that. Writing my in-the-moment discoveries and internal struggles and victories (and failures) helped me and continues to help people who read those posts.
My deslobification journal continues to exist here on the blog. On any given day, there are many people reading the blog backwards to understand the real-time realities of making changes.
There are two reasons I don’t write in that style very often anymore. First, most people don’t read that way anymore. When I started, the people who read my blog spent most of their internet time reading blogs. I used to have 6-10 favorite blogs that I would check every day. Most blog readers were the same, so reading a journal was the norm.
Now, most people spend their “internet time” on social media. This means people get to my blog from somewhere else instead of coming here directly. They arrive on an individual post, brought here by a Google search on a specific topic or from social media where they’ve seen a link that interests them. Or “my people” tend to arrive from my newsletter.
No matter how someone arrives, my goal is always to help them figure out whether they are one of us and then help them find more of what they need.
Second, my house and I have changed.
After ten years, I’ve figured it out.
I’ve journaled it.
I’ve cleaned or decluttered or re-cleaned or re-decluttered it.
Don’t worry. I will always (ALWAYS) have more to re-clean and re-declutter since a big part of what I have learned about myself in this process is that I’m a gifted re-clutterer.
But I’ve written about it all before. Multiple times. So now, I share insights or new analogies or clarifications that go through my brain as I continue using my hard-learned strategies to maintain my home.
When I can share something that will help make the decluttering strategies clearer, I do. But I no longer write a blog post every time I run the dishwasher or pick up socks in the living room. I would enjoy the challenge of trying to make it interesting every time, but honestly, there are other things I need to be doing with my time.
So what does A Slob Comes Clean look like now?
The blog keeps going. It’s my heart and I love writing here. But as I’ve done for a while now, the articles discuss a certain decluttering or cleaning strategy instead of serving as a journal of everything I do in my own home.
The podcast keeps going at full force, every week.
When I meet people in real life, the vast majority (like, approximately, 19 out of 20) say they are podcast listeners. It’s a medium that works so well for the things I share. You can listen to me talk about routines and cleaning and decluttering while you’re doing those things!
I love doing the podcast, it helps people, and now that I have sponsorships most episodes, it requires space in the Container of my calendar.
Another book is coming.
My main focus for the upcoming school year (which is also my blog year), is on writing another book. A VERY different book. Still related to cleaning, but different.
It’s a book that has been on my heart for over a year now, so it’s time to arrange my Calendar Container to give it the space it needs.
Books expand the reach of my message of hope. People learn in different ways, and many people who would never read a blog will read a book. And the whole reason I wanted to blog so badly that I was willing to practice with one about my deepest, darkest secret was that I wanted to be an author!
Other Things Going On:
The newsletter, which goes out once or twice a week in a normal week, is where I write about more day to day stuff. I share what is currently going on and the struggles or victories in my home along with a link to either the newest blog post (so you don’t miss it) or an older post that has proven to be helpful. Join me there.
Instagram is another place where it’s easier for me to share what I’m currently working on in my home. Easier = I can share a picture and a quick explanation instead of writing an entire post. (Feeling like I “need to blog about this” can cause me to put off a cleaning or decluttering project, which defeats the purpose of why I started this blog in the first place!) Follow me there.
I’m continuing to work on expanding the reach of what I’ve already done. A Continuing Education Unit that I helped create for mental health professionals who work with clients with ADHD is coming out soon. I also have projects planned for working specifically with realtors and professional organizers. If that’s you, click on those titles to get on the email lists I’ll use to let you know when those things are ready!
If you wonder what my typical day looks like or what goes into the different things I do around here, listen to this podcast.
Thank YOU!
If you read to the end, there’s a good chance you’re one of “my people.” I can’t thank you enough for joining me on this fun ride. I continue to be in awe that I don’t have to do this deslobification thing alone.
--Nony
Congratulations on 10 years (and the new book)!
Congratulations! I just picked up Decluttering at the Speed of Life to nudge along my vacation goals, then I found your website. I’m looking forward to decluttering my house and reclaiming it after a couple of years of turmoil. It really is a lifelong journey, isn’t it?
I use an RSS reader to follow blogs, but I may be unusual in my habits. I don’t follow other social media options because I get sucked in and waste too much of my day.
Can’t wait for the new book!
Similar!
I like reading blogs, and I miss them the way they used to be. I only do one of the social medias, and facebook at that. And I can’t even do it more than once or twice a week.
And I just never got into podcasts, I went the youtube route instead, so I’d watch videos if you had them. But I still miss blogs.
You are missing so much valuable information by not listening to the podcast! You should try it! 😊
Congratulation on the new book and 10 years!
Thank you for what you do and congratulations on the milestone! Looking forward to hear more about the new book and other future endeavors!
Happy Blog Anniversary! Thanks for sharing your journey!
So excited to hear about a new book! I don’t do Instagram but I do go stalk you there once in a while withou a login. I already have Facebook and don’t want to do more for social media. I’ll be here ready to help if I can. Your systems have truly helped me become a mother and go from stay at home wife to stay at home mom. I read the blog backwards and it helped me not focus on morning sickness. Now with two under two we aren’t all put together, but I know what to do, 5 minute pick ups, do the dishes when I can and do the jobs little by little. I still often make a bigger mess before I finish a decluttering/organising project and I can’t do laundry day because we don’t have a dryer. But I love your honesty and your care for others and your help with this homemaker life. Thanks so much!
I am slowly on my way, but I have truly started telling my friends about The Container Concept. Thanks for EVERYTHING!!
I AM one of “your people.” Thanks for all you do for “your people.”
One of my biggest ah-ha! moments is when you shared the Container Concept. (Heavenly Chorus Sings here)
Congratulations on 10 years of your blog. I sent someone to your site from another one who was trying to tell people how to have a neat home. The person made the comment, she doesn’t understand a person like me because I don’t see what others see when they look at my home. I replied, you have slobovision just like me. Go visit A Slob Comes Clean. She gets us.
Congrats! That is a big accomplishment, and one to be proud of! Reading some of your post were life changing to me. I was a decent housekeeper before I had two kids and a full time job, and will be interested to see as I transition to empty nesting this month how things go. I know I am way more efficient now, so we will see. Please don’t stop blogging, I may be the lone holdout, I don’t do podcasts at all! If I could be convinced to listen to one it would probably be you. Congrats again!
Congratulations! Can’t wait to hear more about the book!!
Congrats!!!
just curious, are you really sure there are no men among your readers? I’m sure many of them can also benefit from your blog.
Thank you. I do believe you have helped many people because your struggles match ours and makes us feel like we can make a difference in our homes too. I know you have helped me. Many thanks!! 🙂
Congratulations on your 10 year blogiversary. I don’t do other social media and rarely listen to podcasts, so I’ll echo some other commenters and say please don’t abandon the blog.
Dana, congratulations on 10 years! I am one of your people. I read every newsletter and listen to every podcast. I continue to work to get my home under control because I’m a person who “doesn’t like cleaning and organizing”. I’m looking forward to another 10 years with you and a new book! Please keep us updated the next time you are in New York because I would love to meet you!
Congrats on 10 years!!! I am a newbie to you, I discovered your books about a month ago, bought them both and read them both nonstop! ( I am older and no longer have kids at home and my hubby was out of town for a couple of days) I have struggled MY ENTIRE LIFE with clutter and have tried everything. Your books gave me hope that I might just be able to learn how to deal with this. I am working on reading your blog backwards and listen to your podcasts. I LOVE the declutter TV segments (you are very funny!). I look forward to learning with you and it is encouraging to know that I am not the only one who struggles with this! Good luck on your new book and other projects!
Congratulations, Dana!! I am so thankful for you being brave and starting this blog 10 years ago. I first found you about 7 years ago after I had given birth to my third (and last) child and was feeling completely overwhelmed with the piles of chaos in corners of my home and the constant cycle of meals and dishes and laundry and diapers and toys and baths, etc that caring for a preschooler, a toddler and a newborn require. You helped me with my mental health in being able to see that I could just do one thing and that even just that one thing meant progress. Your encouragement and the concept of just doing the basics and doing them regularly has helped me SO much over the years. I tell my friends about your methods all the time because they are not overwhelming.
I have recently started a program called Balance365 about creating life-long habits for health and wellness. I do hope to lose weight with these habits, although not everyone who does this program has that same goal. I have been discouraged this week thinking that I will always be stuck here where I am now, but this post today about reflecting on where you were 10 years ago and seeing the progress 10 years has made because of habits, has been so encouraging to me. I know that if I continue to work on my new mindset and habits, that change is inevitable. Thank you.
I thought of you this morning. “Something” was on the entryway floor. I leaned down and squinted until I was sure it wasn’t a bug. Then I stood up and started to walk away…..Then I thought of you, stopped and went back and picked up the wrapper and a couple other things on the floor.
And it looked 100% better. Not perfect, but better. Waiting for someone else to pick that up would not have made it look better.
Congratulations! I am almost here since the beginning – I remember that I “only” had one year to read back to!
Maybe you could do a week of “old style” blogging as a celebration? I completely understand why you changed your way of writing, but I sometimes miss the old reports – they had such a good energy! (And I still visit your blog every single day out of old habits. Often even during the summer. :D)
Congratulations! And thank-you so much. I don’t remember how I found your blog about three years ago but I am so glad I did. I have both of your books and have given them to my sister. You helped me start to figure out how to declutter and to clean. I still struggle but I go to your books or blog to help get me get back on track. I am so looking forward to your new book and to the work you are doing with ADHD. I am a health care professional but struggle with ADHD every day. I am so happy you let God use your struggle to help so many others. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
Dana, I don’t know if you ever came across my TWO HINTS about a 3rd book, but here’s my THIRD HINT: You’ve got the first two layers of cleaning down- the daily stuff and the decluttering. Now I am truly, for really, breathlessly awaiting a book BY YOU on the third layer: CLEANING cleaning. I hope you do. I voraciously hope you do! So many people our age and younger merely exist from day to day without the slightest clue of what cleaning consists of and how to do it ‘good enough’….like -” ‘even grandma would be pleased’ good enough”.
Your books have delighted me, gave me a great laugh on each page and given me insights-not just to my household, but my personality, OTHER people’s personalities, and other life issues. You’ve given me some skills that have been missing in other areas of my self-discipline. Who knew you were capable of all that, right? Thanks! 🙂
I view your books as great gift ideas for new brides and mothers, and well, ANYONE. I have 9 kids, so 9 x 3 books equals 27 book sales. and that’s just MY kids. Keep Writing.
Congratulations on 10 years of a job done well! Woohoo!
Congrats on 10 years! I found you very early on, and I am one of those who went back and read from the beginning! I listen to the podcast too. It’s exciting to see the new opportunities that have come your way to help more people by working with mental health professionals, etc. Looking forward to the new book!
Congratulations, Dana, on 10 years. That’s a long time for anything, especially in our fast-paced, constantly evolving world. Give yourself a pat on the back!
There are simply no words to express how much you have helped me not just with my house, but with my home-based job, my life, and my relationships with others (and I’m rarely at a loss for words!)
Just Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Your podcasts and audiobooks are my constant companions and I’ll await with anticipation your next book.
Oh, and you ARE funny!
Peggy
Thank you for all you share and congratulations on 10 years!!! I’m excited for the new book!
Thank you and congratulations on sticking with us gifted reclutterers for 10 years. I am a recent convert and tell everyone that is like me about you. You have helped me so much and my house, family, and life are better because of you. You are the only person who has every understood me and now I don’t feel so alone. I look forward to your next book! Love and blessings
What a fun look back and forward, Dana! I started my blog just a few months before you and, wow, have things changed all around. Sometimes I miss those old days where I’d just throw up anything. 🙂
Well I just wanted to say congrats – it’s been so fun watching you grow, change and become a well-know author through the years. Here’s to 10 more!!
I’m late to the party, but congratulations on 10 Great Years!
My all time favorite line (which crushed me) is: “Methods don’t clean your house. You have to clean your house.”
I realize that and am slowly finding the energy to do it.
Congratulations, Dana! I found your blog via Google search and read from the beginning. I still love reading your daily struggles in the beginning as I frequently backslide. I am not big on social media although I finally got on Facebook a couple of years ago. I like the continuity of discourse and narrative, rather than the sound bites of most social media. Please continue to give us occasional news of your life. It will help backsliders like me.
Congratulations on ten years! I also want to say THANK YOU!
Recently I almost didn’t pick up your audio-book from the library (at which I’d stopped as my boys (aged 11 and 8 years) and I left town for a cross-country road trip. The title intrigued me, but my history of failures scared me away. But I borrowed the audio-book, and am glad that I did!
Today we achieved thirty days of sobriety in what I have come to call SA–Slobs Anonymous. I am so proud of this accomplishment.
There are more details to my story–how God orchestrated so many details of this journey. Just know that you were used by God to spark hope, to lead the way, to empower me, to encourage me, and to teach me how to manage my home. I had even asked the mentorship program at our church to teach me this in the early years of my marriage, but felt somewhat scolded for asking people to clean my home–which was not what I wanted. I wanted someone to say, “This is the way. Walk in it.” You are that voice, and I am so, so grateful for your gift. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
Yvonne
Congratulations! as you can see I am a bit behind in my reading! I haven’t been with you very long but I have found the Container Concept so useful and de-cluttering without making a bigger mess is just so helpful. I have a tidy home but it is large and only houses two people an da dog so it is easy to store everything but then guess what? it fills up and then, you have to work out what to get rid of, opening a nice tidy draw or cupboard just makes me shut it again, its great, why make a mess? I think but I need to reduce the load because tidy or not its hard to find thinks when you have too much. Thanks Dana