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Space for Space – The Key to Maintaining Decluttering Success

December 28, 2020 By Dana White | 20 Comments

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kitchen drawer space for space key to decluttering at aslobcomesclean.com

This handy-dandy apple slicer came into our home at Christmas. My daughter loves it since she loves apples, but she has braces, so she has to eat them sliced.

key to decluttering space for space apple slicer at aslobcomesclean.com

When the apple slicer came out of the dishwasher, my husband asked where it should go. The place where I’d look for it first was my utensil drawer.

But the utensil drawer really needs to be decluttered.

But I didn’t feel like decluttering right then.

But without decluttering, that apple slicer was never going to fit.

In My Personal Olden Days, I would have groaned audibly, slumped my shoulders, and placed the Apple Slicer We Knew We Wanted on my kitchen counter where it would have joined, or started, a Clutter Pile.

Thankfully, I know better now. I know that while the Ideal Thing would be to stop whatever I was doing and declutter that drawer, if the Ideal Thing isn’t going to happen, waiting until it can happen is actually the Worst Thing I Can Do.

So I One-In-One-Outted that apple slicer.

One-In-One-Out is the key to maintaining decluttering progress. Even though my drawer needed to be decluttered again, I didn’t add clutter to my home because I didn’t make it any worse. The drawer closes and I can (eventually) find what I need in there.

If I shoved that apple slicer in with all the other stuff, the drawer wouldn’t close. That drawer is a container and its size determines how much stuff can go in it.

I didn’t have an apple slicer to replace, but that’s not what matters. One-In-One-Out is about space for space. All I have to do is remove enough stuff that there’s space available for the apple slicer.

Space for Space. When I looked at the drawer that way, I didn’t feel the usual “Ugh, I don’t have time to deeealllll with all this right now!” feeling.

I just looked for Easy Stuff to remove. Within 2 minutes, I’d found all this:

space for space key to decluttering kitchen drawer at aslobcomesclean.com

A random spice lid from a long-gone spice. A meat thermometer cover I’ve never used. A knife I hate intensely dislike. The scoop from a package of drink mix we’ve long since replaced (by one that has its own scoop).

And more. Except for the canning lid, everything went in the trash.

Yay for finally understanding that I can’t keep everything, I can’t add new stuff to drawers when there isn’t any room for it, and most of all, yay for grasping that all this isn’t as complicated as I once thought.

 

space for space key to decluttering at aslobcomesclean.com

--Nony

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Filed Under: decluttering | 20 Comments

Comments

  1. Hayley says

    December 28, 2020 at 12:41 pm

    Love little updates like this Dana! I too thought “one in one out” only applied to replacement items – 1 T-shirt for 1 T-shirt for example. To reframe it as “space for space” makes SO MUCH SENSE but would never have occurred to me. Thank you!!!

    Reply
  2. Nell says

    December 28, 2020 at 8:33 pm

    Hi – Can you put a link on your website to your Amazon list? Thanks !

    Reply
  3. Angela says

    December 29, 2020 at 6:54 am

    This is awesome! Had someone visit for Christmas and brought an apple slicer over to make something and, “oh merry Christmas, it is for you”, left it for us. We rarely slice apples and a knife works for us. I will let it go today. Thank you for this article!

    Reply
  4. Rachael says

    December 29, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    You are my hero. Thank you for your blog, books, and general authenticity.

    Reply
  5. Suz says

    December 29, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    This is such a great reminder. I get so overwhelmed when I wait for the Ideal Circumstances to do the Ideal Thing. Maybe space for space can help me interrupt that cycle.

    Reply
  6. Susan says

    December 29, 2020 at 2:59 pm

    It’s also worth saying that, if the items that you need to keep are overflowing that ‘containing drawer’, it’s okay to use a DIFFERENT, LARGER drawer and pull a switch-a-roo on how you’ve been using them. For example. If I have 12 mugs, but only 10 can fit on a shelf, I could put the DISHES on that shelf, and use the larger dish shelf for the mugs instead. Don’t let old habits get in your way.

    Reply
    • Donna says

      January 29, 2022 at 10:20 pm

      That’s a good idea.

      Reply
    • Donna says

      March 6, 2023 at 5:54 pm

      I like that. I wish they had the ability to like a comment on here.

      Reply
    • Donna says

      March 6, 2023 at 5:56 pm

      Looks like I already commented before my last comment, and didn’t realize that when I put my last comment.

      Reply
  7. Linda K Slayton says

    December 29, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    Thanks for Space for Space..

    Reply
  8. Jennifer Schrank says

    January 1, 2021 at 2:46 pm

    This was a very helpful tip for me. Thank you for your honesty and reality. This is helping to reframe my thinking and I really relate to how normally the apple slicer would end up in a clutter pile!

    Reply
  9. Harriette Grant says

    January 21, 2022 at 10:18 am

    If you haven’t gotten Dana’s newest book you are missing out. When it came in the mail I started reading it and could not put it down until I finished it the next day. Even though I have been a member of “Take your house back” for the last year I still learned new things and understood old tips better by her examples.

    Reply
  10. Beth says

    December 27, 2022 at 8:41 am

    This is SO timely here in post-xmas 2022. Thank you Dana, for all the good you do in the world.

    I am currently working on turning my office/sewing room of doom into an office/sewing/guest room. I am leaning hard into the container concept, and accepting that I will have to GET RID OF STUFF to make room for what I want. I know… right?

    Reply
  11. Susan Chavez says

    December 27, 2022 at 11:49 am

    My daughter loves the apple slicer so I put a hook on my cabinet near where we keep the apples, and that’s where we keep it.

    Reply
  12. Rebecca says

    December 28, 2022 at 12:23 am

    YEEES, this is one of my 2023 intentions, 1 in 2 or more out (I’m in serious declutter mode). The kids and hubby have both been informed and this is going to make 2023 amazing

    Reply
  13. Gaby says

    December 28, 2022 at 12:54 pm

    I thought that after reading all your books I knew all your concepts but this ‘space for space’ idea is new to my conciousness. I kind of knew it subconciously but I like that I know it conciously now. (Yeah, I’m one of those people who reads decluttering and organising books for fun.) Your two decluttering questions really help me when I get stuck while decluttering.

    Reply
    • Donna says

      March 6, 2023 at 6:00 pm

      I could see reading a decluttering book for fun. I’d like to read a decluttering book by her.

      Reply
  14. Lydia Van der Veen says

    December 30, 2022 at 9:20 am

    Ah, the verb, to “one-in-one-out”…as in, I one-in-one outed the apple slicer!!! Add that to the continuous list of fabulous terms that Dana as invented over the years!! Perfect!

    Reply
  15. Kelly says

    March 1, 2023 at 1:34 pm

    I used to buck against this rule as a child, and now that I finally understand it as an adult, I have begun to practice it and put it into place. My kitchen is starting to feel like a joyful place to cook and be in, as I have begun to declutter things I don’t need or use.

    Reply
  16. Robin says

    February 16, 2025 at 7:30 pm

    Oh-oh. I avoid eating apples because biting into them irritates my gums, and I can’t face the mess and time to wash, slice, compost, wash knife, etc. And, sticky hands. I evidently need an apple slicer! I’m investigating where I could prune stuff to make space for it. Maybe that will be a win/win: fewer rarely used items and more frequent healthy eating.

    Reply

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