Survey #258 results
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What useful decluttering or organizing strategies or methods did you take away from the book? | What parts or aspects of the book did you find difficult to grasp or challenging to apply to your home or situation? | Please share your favorite quotations or key ideas and concepts from this book. | How has the “take it there right now” approach worked for you? What are the pros and cons of White’s strategy? | How has the “container concept” helped or hindered your decluttering? What are the pros and cons of White’s methodology? | How has the “visibility rule” helped or hindered your decluttering? What are the pros and cons of White’s approach? |
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| Linda Kay | Dana's honesty of her own problems was very comforting and supportive that things can change. The container concept is obvious, but I love it. I needed it to be reminded that my ability to pack things in is not helpful when I need to get them out. It is also an easier way to tell my husband no more clothes, we just don't have the room. Closet full-container full. I don't do the take it there now every time, but often. It really helps when I am helping someone else to go through things, It keeps the surface clearer and easier to figure out the next step. Focusing on one thing at a time is easier on my brain and I can stop without 30 minutes of cleanup. | I don't go through all the questions--"like did I even know it was there". | Keep going. Container concept. 5 minutes pick ups can really help. | I do use the method but... ..I will stack several items if they are going in the same place. I usually clear my sorting every five minutes so things are still easy to see. | I am still paring down, but do rejoice in getting rid of a container. My garage literally has over a hundred banker boxes from a previous business and just not going through things at the time. | Yes, I like to see my progress and it motivates me to keep it clean. It gets me going to the next level. |
| CJ | Always start my decluttering process with the easy stuff: easily identifiable trash, donations, and items that already have an established home, including what Dana calls “procrasticlutter” = the recurring chores that aren’t quite done like piles of clean dishes or laundry. When I struggle with motivation to get started, or even knowing where to start, these simple basics provide direction & momentum due to taking action and seeing immediate improvement. | I find it challenging to accept the limitations of the space. I also can’t seem to apply chapter 7 about unsorted donating to get things out of my house quickly. I’m still hung up on finding the right destination. I have struggled with the idea of letting go of perfectly good items that are difficult to donate or sell but I know I don’t use. | I like her mission statement: ‘Accept and adjust to the reality of your right now life. Choose to prioritize the present over the future or the past. *Consciously* decide to view my home as a place to LIVE instead of a place to STORE stuff.’ Also, the principles: “the clutter threshold = removing what you can’t consistently keep under control” ; “define a room’s main purpose” ; “where would I look for this first?” & “You can only change you.” | Generally speaking, “take it there now” works great, especially for a quick sort of surfaces where I often know right where I would look for it first and can easily put it there. The task is finished and I can easily find things again. I’ve come to prefer not using a “keep box” that jumbles everything together & needs to be sorted and dealt with again. However, when it comes to sorting a conglomerate mass of items that I’m unsure about, I still struggle with making a final decision on one random homeless item at a time without first pulling out everything and presorting into categories to bring that item into context & provide clarity. | The container concept is a work in progress. I realize that she is trying to help us gain perspective — valuing the livable space over the storage so I’m working on applying the concept. In the kitchen & dining spaces, it has revealed to me which nonessential items were taking up prime real estate & could go to make room for what we actually use. This makes those rooms function so much better! Yet, I don’t want to arbitrarily get rid of items that I love & use simply because the container for that category is limited (ie, clothes). That seems wasteful. | The visibility rule has helped not just my home but my marriage! When I worked in hidden spaces first, I know my husband would be wondering (without saying it), “Has anything actually been decluttered?” Whereas when I do the visible areas first, he walks in and says, “wow you’ve worked so hard and got so much done!” even at times when it didn’t take very long to complete those areas before moving on to hidden spaces. For myself, I enjoy seeing the results of my work on a daily basis. I’m much less stressed about having people come into our home, especially the cat sitters when we’re away. There’s always more decluttering to do but when the visible spaces are clear, everything feels so much better! |
| Ginger | ▪️I enjoyed rereading the book. I read it years ago. I’m not sure if I learned about the “container concept” from her, someone else or from my own “aha” moment. It’s one way I’ve been able to keep craft supplies under control. The other way is to have periodic creative blitz to “use it up”. | ▪️None. All will work. | ▪️“When I declutter, I feel happy as things LEAVE MY HOME. The literal weight of that stuff is gone and I’m thrilled to have open space.” Emphasis mine. ▪️Sometime over the past few years - it became difficult for me to get stuff GONE. It began piling up in a spare room of the garage, This line in her book reminds me to COMPLETE THE CYCLE. Epiphany! ▪️I’m a HUGE believer in completing the cycle. Wash, dry, fold, put away. Get it out, get what you need, put it back. Put it on, wear it, take it off and put it where it goes. Buy it, bring it home, de-package it, recycle the packaging and prep the thing for use and use it! So I don’t know why or when I began allowing incomplete decluttering cycles. ▪️I think it has to do with being older, torn meniscus, inflammation, and having to carry things downstairs to the garage under our crazy stilt house. I’ve lost 75 lbs. the meniscus was repaired, with my diet - the inflammation is seriously down. It’s time to return to completing this decluttering cycle. | ▪️I’m perfectly okay with creating a “relocate” pile and actually putting away the things at the end of a decluttering session. I’ll complete THAT cycle. ▪️UNLESS… I’m trying to get my steps for the day! But, then - I would still create the pile and put away 1 item at a time. ▪️Going off to put something away - is tricky for me. Some days I’m so easily distracted - I may not get back to the task. | ▪️LOVE IT! If it doesn’t fit… of it you must be rid. 😂 | ▪️I don’t like visual clutter. I like things put away in their homes. So, Im totally on board with this concept to the point it doesn’t give me the same feeling. ▪️However, I do enjoy revisiting my decluttered and organized cabinets, drawers and closets. I will open them to admire them. Tweak a few things. I get a little dopamine hit from it. Ahhh! |
| Dawn | I've done it on a limited basis. I usually do it when I'm cleaning my office and find items to KEEP for other areas of the condo. It seems quicker to put items for other areas right away because then it's off of my mind. for paperwork, though, I find it easier to work with a stack of papers all having the same end (e.g. file) so I can make all of the folders at the same time and organize them. As for the DONATE items, it would be ridiculous to do one thing at a time. I prefer to have it be "worth my while" to have a number of things leaving our home. Last week I took a few hours and went through my entire dresser, which has clothes and jewelry. I was able to garner a large bag of items and take it to a friend who could use the items. | Since decluttering is such a long process in terms of reaching the goal of only needing to refresh areas, I'm at this point not saying "only this much" based on a container size. I have two closets in my office. They house scrapbook materials, fabric for gifts and making some new clothes, as well as photos (about 17 shoeboxes on a shelf), in addition to writing materials for three in-progress books. These closets are large containers and I am not at all planning to go beyond that space. Trying to get rid of some books in the living room (DH causing issues) so I can only keep the ones we're actually reading and want to keep so I can 1) donate the remainder as well as 2) have room for new selections. | I prefer to move things so I can think. Just this morning I took some paperwork into the bedroom so I could organize it (I was looking for something specific) without feeling cramped in my office. The bed is a great organizing space for me. I play music and it goes well. | |||
| Ann | She's clear she is about decluttering not organizing. That's helpful. I think I need both — but for me, if decluttering PRECEDES organizing, then I have a bunch less to organize, plus my brain can be stewing and scheming on the organizing system that is best / simplist / most natural and suited to the stuff at hand. I'm relieved to hear her pile-of-paper strategy. She says to go thru the big pile once fast. That way I weed out a bunch of obvious stuff, and I'm getting acquainted w the rest. My brain is working on where to put those ?? papers. The prevailing wisdom I've heard is to touch a piece of paper once. Sounds cute and ruthless. Doesn't work for me. If I have to figure out where to put something the first time I see it, I'm going to procrastinate a LONG time before I feel up to all that decisioning. Things from Speed of Life I want to try • Start w the visible. Especially the visible to a visiting guest. • Her 4-pass system per room: Trash, Easy, Clutter, Fit into Containers | I don’t really get her 2 decluttering questions, about where would she look for something, and something else.… Not sure I grasp what she calls trash, and how that's different from duh cluttering. | p4 I define clutter as anything I can’t keep under control. If a space in my home consistently gets out of control, I have too much stuff in that space. p5 I accepted that people with homes that are consistently under control prefer living with regret over living with clutter. p7 [letting go of] totally-useful-in-the-future stuff p9 I did not understand that my overabundance of stuff was directly related to my inability to function well in my home. The more stuff I brought into my home, the more out of control it felt. The more out of control my home felt, the more I looked to the future as the time when I’d finally have things figured out. The more I focused on the future instead of the present, the more I justified collecting things I might need one day. | I'm aiming for a compromise on the "no keep pile" approach. For me, I don't call this a KEEP box. I call it my I DON"T KNOW box — as in I DON'T KNOW WHERE TO PUT THIS ITEM. I find this super useful. Instead of a whole unsorted box full of scary stuff I don't know what it is, I sort that box into piles of 1 RECYCLING/TRASH, 2 DONATE, 3 I KNOW WHERE THIS GOES, including various categories like "concert programs," and 4 I DON'T KNOW. Most of that box I can put away in #1-#3. Only a much smaller pile goes in the I DON'T KNOW box, to be kicked down the road for future enlightenment. That I DON'T KNOW box really helps me breath easier and have the gumption to face de-cluttering without too much stress. So what’s my compromise? I keep my I DON’T KNOW boxes. But I aspire to getting my house de-cluttered to the point I diminish them, and/or put time limits on how long they get to stick around, remembering Dana’s NO KEEP BOXES reasoning. | I like the container concept and I want to try it out. Especially, the part where I work with the containers I have, and don’t constantly go get more. I have a lot. I will say I love containers. Always have. When I was three and asked what I wanted for Christmas, I said BAGS. The adults tried to get me to think more grand, but I insisted I wanted bags. My parents got me this beautiful glossy colored bags. I don’t know what to do with all of my containers. I have containers for the containers, especially all the bags. (LOVE all the reuseable grocery bags.) In de-cluttering, I have a challenge. I will decide to de-clutter a box full of stuff. Okay, done, it’s empty. Now what do I do with this empty box?? It takes up the same amount of space as it did when full, so I don’t feel a spaciousness improvement. Also, keeping boxes. I wrote a whole essay called “My Parents’ Boxes” about how I spent half a day breaking down & recycling the lifetime of stored boxes in their attic. Why this love of bags and containers? I’m intrigued. | I’d like to try this. Of course the fear is that I’m only going to have time to get to the visible stuff — over and over again — and never get to the more hidden away stuff. I like the idea of starting with what guests see when they walk in the door. We have a house guest expected in 4 days. I’m thinking about what she sees when she walks in the door, which is a rickety trash-picked shelf with random stuff on it, mostly things I want to remember when I go out the door, but they’ve stalled out. Would it be possible to address this visible little clutter collector? |
| Anita | The container concept really helped me. It is quite a visual image and I like that you can keep things… but you keep your favourites first and then you realise that some of the things you have sent so important after all. | I suppose ‘Where would you look for it first’ Some of my items don’t really have a home … so trying to put something where I’d look for it is challenging. Also as I have the ongoing house issues: rainwater, leaking pipe, and the possible mouse I can’t really put some things where I’d like to. | As I’ve read a couple of her books I’m sorry if I quote from the other book! My favourites ‘Do the dishes’ so simple but effective. It encourages regular putting things away. It is as she try’s to explain quicker than one thinks and if done regularly it takes just minutes. ‘Take it there now’ as I have a tendency to to do things later rather than than straight away. I think what we learn is to form habits of tidying which in turn gets us decluttering. ‘Start with the easy stuff’. I like her clear approach to things. Unlike Marie Kondo where you have to pull everything out , fold it special ways for clothes. The simplicity of Dana’s methods means it’s more achievable and she doesn’t say you have to get rid of stuff just accept your space. | Although a struggle as I am a bit lazy ; It really encourages me not to just stuff shuffle which I can do if I put things in boxes. Having to move about keeps the momentum. | Sometimes it’s difficult when you have a lot of favourites or a big collection but equally it challenges you to really think about your item’s importance. | I really like this rule as the number of times I’ve cleaned and decluttered a cupboard and the only person who knows you’ve worked hard is yourself. It’s nice to get some appreciation from friends or family.(That’s why I hate cooking all that effort and people enjoy the food but then the satisfaction of this is short lived) Seeing a clean decluttered space is so satisfying. Down side is if where you take the item is full and there doesn’t seem to be to be anything to exchange it with. |
| Linda | Take it there now really helps eliminate procrastination piles | If I needed this thing, where would I look for it first. | Take it there now. Container concept eliminates buying unnecessary storage bins. | Working great. It's a habit now and I love how my home stays neat and organized much longer between cleanings. | This concept helps minimize over buying. One in one out method also keeps the containers functioning. | I don't use that method. |
| Barbara | Container concept and don’t make a bigger mess—although I still may dump out a drawer, I wouldn’t empty a whole closet because I’d never finish it in one session. | When I first started decluttering, I struggled to sell or find the perfect recipient for my stuff. St. Vinnies, not Goodwill for clothes & household items. Foster care for old suitcases. Siblings for family “treasures”. It made things more complicated. I also see that my daughter’s progress is so much slower as she deals with her aunt’s estate plus her own basement full of “stuff”. She spends so much time finding the best place for things. I read the book when it first came out and it took me a long time to realize that donating was usually the answer | Container concept. | I use this at night when I’m doing a 5 minute pick-up. I think it is really useful for a young family so that you can stop at any point without another step necessary. | I think the container concept is brilliant. That doesn’t mean I’ve totally adopted it. For me, it works well for clothes, cleaning supplies, rags, tableclothes, linens. I no longer have a basement to store extras of anything so it has to fit in the apartment. But I have a very tiny desk and my extra office supplies live in a plastic container under my bed. (Although, now that I think about it, I realize that I did give away a lot of extra folders, pads of writing papers, pencils, post-its during the early stages of the downsizing process. I kept some extras but gave away more than I kept.) | The visibility rule works really well if you have a lot of visible clutter like Dana did when she started her decluttering journey. It’s less useful to me at my stage of life. I am a very messy person. But I have learned to clean up my messes. I might leave the bathroom counter cluttered with my toiletries and toothpaste. But later in the morning, I see the mess and put everything away. I pile things on the kitchen counter but put it away before I go to bed. Decluttering never ends so I might as well have a pleasant place to live while I clear out my extra kitchen utensils. |
| Gabriella | (taken from Dana K. White's videos, since I didn't read her book) - "10 minutes matter": a revelation, that I've tweaked for myself intto "every item decluttered makes a difference" and into doing many "30 second pick-ups" distributed throughout the day. This can work wonders for maintaining any high-trafic clutter hotspot and feels extremely rewarding. - The "container concept": the house as a container that holds only a finite amount of stuff. Of course this pertains to every subcontainer as well. - "No mess decluttering" is especially useful in preventing decluttering messes during times when interuptions are highly probable to occur. I usually prefer to pull everything out of a very restricted space or category and then reverse declutter though. The "5 step method": especially steps 1 -3 make it much easier to clean/ declutter an overwhelming space (I used to do this long before I came across the 5 step method, however) | See question #1 | I sometimes find it hard to make a final decision about every item I come across - and I give myself grace to decide whenever I'm ready for it. I like the idea of taking every item to it's designated place immediately, as it prevents "remnant clutter" sitting around after decluttering, that tends to act like rock candy cristals for future clutter. I have mixed feelings about "Where would you look for it first": Positive: It helps people find a place that suits their particular way of functioning, instead of what they "should do." Potentially problematic: For example, I would look for my keys in my entryway. This space is massively cluttered, however. On top of that, there are other members of my family who move things around and add more clutter to this space continuously. Where would I place the key in the midst of all this mess so that I'd be sure to find them again? I have no idea where I would look first for the item, but I definitely want to keep it - even though Dana K. White brings up some well-founded reasons for decluttering it in that case. | The container concept is great! It's very down to earth and realistic and, in my opinion, one of the best elements of her method. Taking the idea further though, it's not just about keeping a container from overflowing. There's a qualitatve difference between a container that's filled almost to its limits but is still OK and a container only moderately filled, making it easy to spot and access the items contained. The latter can be a great safeguard against recreating a mess. The Minimal Mom advises to keep containers no more than semi-filled. I find the idea extremely useful, especially when applied to frequently used items. | Pro: - Quick, visible wins and therefore very motivating Con: - This will hardly help if you need to take something out of a particular cabinet, but when you open its door an avalanche of random objects spill out. I decide on spaces to declutter first according to what my current situation asks for: e. g. I gave priority to decluttering my books that were neatly tetrissed away behind the doors of a big cabinet, even though decluttering the small number of unnecessary items sitting out on the kichen counter would have been a quick and easy win. | |
| Johanna | I can only keep as much stuff as there is space. My place and every room and every closet or drawer is a finite container. I keep my favourites and my least favourites need to go if they don't fit. I also apply the Konmari 90% full rule, so I don't stuff everything in but leave space to manoeuvre. | That everything is progress. I'm a perfectionist. It's only progress when everything is done. Which is never... | That I can break everything down in the smallest tasks possible and I don't have to do it all in one go like I always used to. I applied this concept over the last week to my bedroom/craft room. Today I will finish by dusting the top of my armoire, the final task on a really long list. My room is now decluttered, organised and dust free. I have an overview of all the craft and sewing/knitting projects I want to do with the materials I already have, so no more decision paralysis. Many unfinished or not in this lifetime projects were let go. And I can breathe and don't trip over craft stuff in the dark because everything has a home now. | I have always used this method because otherwise I forget my decision or where I put the item or that it exists at all and have to handle it again and again. I have found too many boxes of stuff that was supposed to be donated or recycled months or years later. Many materials like fabric and plastic disintegrate and little visitors make their home in the boxes. | Like I wrote before, as a Konmariist I already used a similar approach. A definite pro is that I love love love clear plastic bins to only keep my favourite items because I need to see everything. This way every item has a home, so tidying is a breeze because I know where to put it (and yes, sometimes I even put it there right away!) A con is that I am a master at playing Tetris until everything somehow fits, so I still keep too much. | I prefer decluttering and organising from the inside out. Yes, I do pick the low hanging fruit, eg stuff on the floor, first. But if my closets and drawers are a mess, there is nowhere to put the things. I keep my kitchen and bathroom as organised and tidy as possible for functional and hygienic reasons. My living room on the other hand is a battle field, I haven't been able to sit on my sofa in months. It's visible, but not a priority. |
| Jane | I start decluttering with trash, easy stuff, and duh donations. Even if I don't get any further, things are better (especially if I use the practice of "taking it there now"). Better is always my goal. As a recovering perfectionist, accepting better has been a big win! | I struggle with getting beyond the duh donations. Progress is being made though on using the question "Where would I look for this first?" It was enlightening to hear there's not necessarily a "right" place to store something (stemming back to my perfectionist tendencies). 🙂 | The container concept has been a huge win. Once a container for a category or items is full, it's time to consider what in the container should go. | I use a modified version of "take it there now." Things that need to go elsewhere are categorized and I leave time at the end of each session to move things to their appropriate home. Due to mobility issues, this works best for me. | The container concept is much like the one in one out rule. I use both rules. Deciding on a container, gives everything a place to live and keeps overflow at bay. | Historically, I've liked to declutter a specific space during a decluttering session (closet, drawer, pantry, etc.). Recently though, I stood at my front door and looked in to see what folks see from there. This was hugely helpful in reducing my fears of opening the front door. The space seen is relatively small and also pretty easy to keep tidy. Knowing that gave me more motivation to keep that area clear of clutter. |
| Sandra | I regret this book was not available to me when my children were little. No, I did not declutter back then, and I had more stuff that I could manage. I also organized the invisible spaces first, thinking I would make room to store the overflow, which I did but more was coming in constantly. Total waste of my time! | A bit too much emphasis on trash, something at least we did right. | A heartwarming quote in chapter 23: Decluttering isn't easy. It's heart-wrenching, takes time, and requires changing the way you've done things in the past and the way you view your stuff. Also, in chapter 25: Don't start with the stuff that makes you feel like you're donating a piece of your soul. | Cons - Hers is a very hands-on approach. It takes a lot of time to see results. Pros - I fully agree with the "take it there right now" approach. My personal variation: when our children were little and I didn't have enough time or energy to tidy up, my goal was to have any random items taken to the right floor (we have 3 floors we use). Then it progressed to all items going to their proper room, and nowadays I store things right where they belong almost "right now". | Just one comment: the container method is very good for clothes. When you start keeping clothing items away from their "normal" storage, then you lose track of what you have. Non-transparent containers are the graveyard of storage, even with labels. | I found this method counterintuitive as I answered earlier, but now I know it makes sense. When I started to enjoy a decluttered space on a daily basis, I kept decluttering instead of trying to free up storage space in the depths of my house. |
| Kathy | Its okay to do 1 shelf. Its normal to have interruptions | Discovered i purchased another container instead of fitting into the 1st space. | Throw away trash. Put it where it belongs right any. | If i have the space or next space is cluttered also. | Once space area is established it's easier to refresh cleanning with time. | My night mare .. " My husband used to say my house looks clean but just check the drawer. Nightmare echo if my drawer appears like I threw it in and closed it. |
| Suzanne | Dana’s Container Concept is pure gold. Also I like the idea of addressing an area and only focusing on one step at a time - just remove all the obvious garbage and recycling first. Remove the duh stuff. Remove and take the items that I know belong in another location to that location now. | For the way my brain is wired, everything was written for me to easily understand and grasp. | The concept that a container is limited to containing what fits inside it, no open space to exceed. Set the limit for an item or a category and set the container size limit. Fill the container by what I deem the most important to me - once the container is full there is no adding an item unless an item already contained is first removed. Choices must be made, limits observed, and excess must leave via donation, recycling, or garbage. (I’m not a seller.) | The method of taking items straight to where they belong is something I learned on my own, even though my mother role-modeled this method throughout her entire life. My mother was not a procrastinator and dealt with each item, issue, or situation as it came up. I just never realized that she wasn’t a magician. The pros, endless. No clutter buildup, no overwhelm, no burden and added weight in my mind and soul, no having to say no to opportunities that come up, no forgetting what an item or pile is supposed to mean or what action was initially intended for it, getting something done, dealt with and over with in one shot, feeling good about accomplishment and not feeling bad about myself, living in the moment and not extending the past far into the future, cleaner home, more actual cleaning is possible, better air and living environment, no tripping hazards, actual exercise, being able to find things, going to sleep knowing something was done and not postponed, space not being occupied by squatters (items that don’t belong where they’re sitting), absolutely the best way for an ADHD mind and a NON-ADHD mind, great to reduce anxiety, etc… Cons - there are NO CONS TO THIS METHOD. | The brain shifts gears. If there is a container there are limits and the brain must stick to thinking of what fits inside the box. If there is no container or limit set then the brain is dealing with infinite space and unlimited quantities. The brain thinks of solutions and calculations to work outside the box. Sky is the limit. The brain will not discipline itself to observe parameters or perimeters. There will never be satisfaction or contentment. Well it can easier to apply in areas that are generally used to contain specific items providing the person observes the limits. If the person designates extra areas for those items, extra care should be taken as you’re now out of the container concept and playing with fire. If your kitchen should contain all kitchen items but you now need to create extra space outside the kitchen for small appliances, canning supplies and goods, cake-decorating items, special serving dishes or flatware, and so on - how or will you observe limits for kitchen items outside of the kitchen. Will you just keep expanding your stash elsewhere? | The visibility rule makes so much common sense. It is so smart and yet I repeatedly am attracted to working on the non-visible. I find I am lured to working on areas that nobody sees or that only I am aware of or bothered by. Don’t ask me why. The visibility area works! Especially when I really open my eyes and see what is right there in my face. The visibility rule always works in the time immediately preceding someone’s arrival into my space. |
| Intignia (inn tig (as in pig) knee ah) | The 5 step process: first, Trash; second, Easy Stuff--things that have a home--take it there now; third, Donations; fourth, Where would I look for it first? Take it there. Would I even remember that I had this item? and finally, step five, Make it fit--the Container Concept. The Container Concept was life changing for me, a new way at looking at things. Containers are not just to hold things in, they are there to limit the amount of stuff you have. | No Mess Decluttering. I know Dana said not to dump the contents of the drawer or whatever you are working on, but I just couldn't do it--shuffling around amidst the stuff and pulling out one item at a time. My brain would fizzle out on me. I know her method is great for when you have to stop abruptly as it leaves no mess to discourage you. I do everything she says except I have to lay everything out to look at it. I get a clearer picture of what I am working with and can then go on with the Five Step process. If I have to stop suddenly, I just throw everything back into its container, where it was to start with, but now there is less as I've gotten rid of trash, easy stuff, donations, etc. | Avoiding Procrasticlutter. Procrasticlutter is when you leave something unfinished and it's sitting around making your home look junky instead of tidy. Such as laundry left on the couch instead of being folded or hung up and put away. | I love the Take It There Now approach. I used to have piles around me when decluttering. Things that went upstairs, things that go in the kids' room, things to take to the recycling bin in the garage, etc. Then when I had to stop decluttering I was left with all these piles to put away, but I can't put them away because life got in the way. Johnny skinned his knee and needs taking care of. The baby's nap time is now up, She needs a diaper change and a bottle. When that's taken care of it's time to start supper before hubby gets home. And there are all the piles. The kids get into them, they get knocked over, and all my work is undone. I can't think of a con to this concept. It actually takes very little time to put something away right then and there are no piles for children to get into. The work is done. It's wonderful. | The container concept has really helped me to understand that I can't just keep buying more stuff and more bins to store it in. My home used to be organized like the game Tetris. I could really fit it in. I was the Master of fitting it in. But once you take something out it's awkward and time consuming to put it away, so it sits out gathering dust and cluttering up the space. By limiting I've learned to leave room for maneuvering things so they are easy to get out and easy to put back. My husband is finally understanding that he can't keep buying books and having piles all over the floor for us to trip over because the bookshelves are too full to fit any more. You keep your favorites, and when you buy something new you make room for it by getting rid of a less favorite thing. | Her Visibility Rule makes great sense, but it doesn't work for me as I have a chronic illness that severely limits my strength and vitality. By the time I've straightened up the doorway (again) I've used a good portion of my energy and nothing else ever gets done. So I just start on the next space. |
| Jacqueline | Take it there now, 5 minute pickup to reset | Look, look, always look. As much as you think you know or remember what is in a space or container, you’re probably wrong and look anyway. Even if you just close it up and put it back without moving or decluttering anything, your memory is now refreshed. | When I look at a bunch of things or a pile, it can be overwhelming to me. When I view it as single items, and pick up one or two items, I only have to make a decision about what is in my hand, and I take it there now and put it away and it is done. If I make piles, then I have to remember again later what each pile was and I still have to take it and put it away, and I have to decide twice for each thing what to do with it. Before I read her book, for example, when I was tidying up the kitchen, I might find something that belonged in the bedroom or bathroom, so I would take it and set it on the bathroom vanity or the top of the dresser in the bedroom to deal with when I was tidying those spaces, where it would sit, sometimes for weeks, becoming part of the background. | I think the container concept has helped me pay more attention to what is actually in a drawer or cabinet or other space that is getting used or not getting used and can be decluttered. I like to be able to see everything that is in a space without having to rearrange it or shuffle things around in it, so getting rid of stuff that’s not being used makes that much easier. Things need to not only fit in the container, but they need to be easily accessible, easy to take out and put back. | My house has a “great room” kitchen/living room with a big island which is generally where I start, because that is where most things get set down that need putting away. I have decluttered quite a lot, so the rest of the house stays pretty clutter free. | |
| Katharine | Questions to ask myself- Where would I look for it? That’s my favorite part since it takes out so many other questions for me! Taking it right now to the place is perfect since it keeps down my getting sidetracked & I can stop at any time without extra clean up. Much less overthinking for me😃 | It’s my favorite way of handling clutter. It can be applied to different areas of items. It makes me decide if it’s worth the real estate in my home. | Space is finite; so if it’s not going to fit, then I decide to keep and let something else go to make room. It’s not about if I have used it or not, it’s knowing where I’d look for it & is there space for it. Remove trash & work in the most visible area first. Finishing the project is a part of the process of decluttering. | Brilliant idea! When I realize I’m not keeping items, I create a box to place those items inside. My only issue is getting that box dropped off to the thrift shop. I drive to the opposite side of town, so I’m less likely to go back & bring it home. 😉 | Having collections were easier to keep since they all fit in the room. I had to change my algorithm to slim down the collections. Often, I use the question of do I want to keep maintaining these items? Every time I do a quick cleaning of the room, I question myself at that moment. When I notice how long it takes to clean or the difficulty getting to certain parts; I think maybe it’s time to pass on. | Gives me the relief if someone decides to show up. I stay focused where needed instead of overthinking the inside of drawers. It’s been helpful to start out. |
| Trish | Take care of each item as you decide... where would I look for this (if I even knew I had it). This takes care of things as you go, without a big mess. It may seem slower, but it gets it DONE! | As previously stated, it may be slower, but it gets DONE! | Anything that fits in a container is great and can be adjusted/limited. Other larger items (extra lamp, small table) seem to be harder decisions. | Visibility is key... if you can prioritize one room to keep organized, go for it! | ||
| Evelin | the container concept | the "no mess" decluttering method is not for me because it seems so slow. I prefer to take everything out of a drawer/closet/shelf... because it forces me to really deal with the stuff until I'm done | no, I get distracted so easily, if I would "take it there right now" I would find something else to work on there | the container concept: your house is a container, a room is a container, a drawer is a container - which means that you just can't keep everything. there is a physical limit. this mindset helps a lot in every area. | most visible stuff in my home is things that I left outside after using it and they just have to be put away. it's more about tidying. the rest is probably boxes,wrappers, etc... so it's probably either used regularly or trash 😀 | |
| Allison | The container concept and "Where would I look for it first?" | None. It was all easy to apply. | The container concept Where would I look for this first? | I don't tend to do "take it there right now" and if I do it's more due to David Allen's two minute rule. | The container concept was useful when I moved a few years ago especially for toiletries. My favorites went in the box first and everything that didn't fit got pitched. | The visibility rule makes things look more presentable but it isn't a huge priority for me as my home is usually okay enough for unexpected visitors. |
| Lynn W | The container concept, as well as decluttering one section or shelf at a time so you can complete the task rather than leaving a mess for another time. Another is OHIO, only handle it once. Immediately take it to its home rather than making big piles to deal with later. Never leave a room empty handed if there are things that belong in other places. | None | See answer to first question. Same answers here. | I adapted it to my physical abilities. I use small baskets to sort 'keep' things into rooms they go to. When leaving my project area, I take the boxes/baskets to the room I am going to and deal with all the items in the box before returning to my project atea. My project isnt complete until all those boxes/baskets are empty. This adaptation saved me many steps by not transporting each item one at a time. The roadblock from this concept is for items that don't already have a room to call home or an already assigned container to reside in. It means I make quick arbitrary decisions rather than thoughtful ones and it usually changes. This is where her question of asking 'where would I go to look for this' helps with working out the logic for the item location decision. | I love this concept. It helped immensely in sorting through my mother's things while incorporating my own into the house. It forced me to make choices about any duplicates or currently unuseful items and helped me sort the 'keep' things into logical container categories that fit my needs rather than continuing to use mom's unorganized system that wasn't working for me. I still use it even when revisiting previously decluttered rooms for a second or third decluttering or reorganizing. | No, not visible, most congested was more important for me. My house is mostly clutter-free on the surface. It is the internal congestion that isca peeve. I focus on areas that give me a problem such as not being able to quickly find things in a container or having to look in several places rather than going directly to the location it logically belongs and then returning things to that location. My visibility concept is to start each decluttering session with an easy win to get the momentum going. Sometimes, it is loading or unloading the dishwasher or putting a load of laundry into the washer. This gets the appliances working for me while I use the washing cycle time as an incentive to clean other things in the house before the cycle finishes. The visibility prompt isn't useful incentive to me unless I am having visitors into the house. Then, I try to take a look around with fresh eyes. Taking a photo of a room helps with that. I notice things in the photo that I've become blind to and that goes onto my to do list. |
| Jennifer | The container is "the bad guy" (the boundary) I can have as many socks as I want...as long as I keep them in ONE dresser drawer. This keeps me from having...a lot more socks than that! | Making individual trips rather than grouping a few things together and making one trip. If I have a finite amount of energy (or have to do something like take a bunch of stairs), 'one things at a time' is not the best way. | Pro is I can stop when I want and I'm not leaving a mess. As mentioned before, having to take a zillion trips rather than grouping is a recipe for wearing myself out way faster. | I LOVE THIS CONCEPT. It keeps me from having too much of one thing. I think it works the best for small things that are easy to collect or be gifted. Things like socks and mugs. I have ONE shelf in a small kitchen cabinet for mugs, which limits me to about a dozen. I don't need any more than that and if I do, I have to decide whether or not it's worth it to get rid of one of my older mugs/pair of socks for a new pair. (Socks are a little easier as they do eventually wear out.) | I think it's very useful if guests are coming over. Clearing the kitchen counter, dining or coffee table, and getting things up off the floor in the room where the guest will be (likely, kitchen or living room) can go a long way to making the house look a lot less cluttered and a lot cleaner than it actually is. | |
| Lisa | "Take it there now." | Hmmm. Her concepts work - most challenging, actually getting things being decluttered out the door. Most challenging re her methods actual steps would be using the container concept and choosing what goes to make space within the container for the most valued items. Requires a mindset shift of letting someone else put the item to use. | Again, "take it there now." And the concept of you can keep anything, you just can't keep everything. Another key concept of Dana's is the action of looking. The encouragement of "looking" often helps reveal that the pile that has been avoided often surprisingly contains a percent of trash. And sometimes missing items! | "Take it there now" truly does make things better, rather than potentially creating a pile to be dealt with later. "Take it there now" translates into a series of wins... even small wins help build confidence and clarity, and definately helps strengthen decluttering muscles. I'm a fan of the method. | I think the container concept definitely works well for collections of supplies, like sponges, for example. So often things get purchased in excess, especially when we forget we already have extras of particular supplies. I think it does help reign things in for clothing. Coffee cups... the usual culprits. | If only I could apply the visibility rule effectively. I'm someone who perfers things visible so I know what I have and what's in process. I know it would be more calming to declutter visible areas. They tend to get cluttered again. The solution would be to intentional about homes for things. They can be hidden if the designated home is clearly defined. Want to get there, it is a challenge. |
| Leslie | The difference between decluttering, organizing, and cleaning and how I was conflating those in my mind like the author did. The no mess method is okay for short time sessions of decluttering or if you have toddlers around interrupting you constantly. It's not my favorite method but it does have value. | The "take it there now" is a bit too scattered and unfocused for me. I rather finish a small area and then move items back that have a designated home elsewhere in the house. | The distinctions and difference between decluttering, organizing, and cleaning. Also, I like her advice on dealing with elderly parents clutter. | The cons are its too unfocused and scattered and easy to get sidetracked by something on your way to taking it there now. The pro is its good for short decluttering sessions, low mental and physical energy times, and if constantly interrupted by toddlers or babies. | I love this concept! It helps me to buy less because I consider where the item will live. I've designated drawers for certain items like kitchen towels, clothing, etc and have a rule that the drawer must close all the way. Same for cabinet and closet doors. If it does not close, I've exceeded the container. I won't just buy something because it's cute, it must have a place in my home first. | The visibility rule is okay, but I don't follow it. I declutter and tidy whatever area is bothering me the most, regardless of visibility. For example, my bedroom is not seen by any guest, yet a tidy bedroom has the most positive impact on my mood. |
| Anonymous user | A lot! Container concept, The No Mess Method is genius! | None that I can think of. | I loved the crapalanche. There was a lot that amused me. Everything is a container was great. Oh, and: You can keep anything but not everything. Also the question: "Where would I look for it first?" Extremely helpful when answered and followed without much thinking. Instinct is so important. | I love, love, love that strategy because I can stop at any time and the situation is always better. | Well, I love the concept but I do make a few exceptions. Sometimes I find a new container (place) for stuff of a category that I do want to keep e.g. scarves or hand-knitted socks. But in general I do follow that concept. Mostly I combine Dana K. Whites ideas with what I've learned with the clutterfairy (you). I reflect why I want to use something or if I'm just reluctant to let something go because of grief over the fact that I can't do certain things anymore or that my life has changed or is in another season (circumstances etc.) I think her methodology lacks gender awareness. She mostly addresses women or rather she never speaks about dividing household tasks. Very practical system overall but no feminism or gender equality in sight. Never any inclusion of LGBTQ or talking about the influence of culture/race. That is what I don't like. And that is why I LOVE you clutterfairy-teamsters! Yay! | I think this rule is valid but I don't need it because I followed that already. I see more to the fact that I want to move comfortably in my living space. |
| Danetta | Small decluttering actions add up Get items as close to where they should go as I can I try to limit like items to one shelf, one closet, or at least one room Keep decluttering and get the items into the trash, to family members, or to the Goodwill store | I can’t pare books and yarn down to one container, but other items are easy for me to pare down: baking dishes, shoes, make-up, clothes… | Any amount I can declutter leaves the space easier to clean and manage. | I don’t get rid of anything I hesitate over so that I have no regrets. Nevertheless, as the house becomes easier and easier to maintain, I’m encouraged to not be too sentimental with every additional pass. | If I can only declutter 10% or 20% of my yarn or books or stationary or dishes, I am happy because it’s not easy and I’ve made progress. Sometimes it still doesn’t fit in the designated space but over the years I’ve eliminated some pieces of furniture and the boxes and baskets on the floor. It’s easier to clean and that encourages me to try another pass. I rotate from room to room, category to category, slowly chipping away at it. I’ve recently realized that I am held back by a few procrasticlutter projects and I have tackled a few of those too. I imperfectly hung pictures in my master bedroom to get them off the floor. I finished sewing sweater pieces together so that the knitted pieces weren’t sitting in a bag in the corner. | It’s nice to have a few clean rooms so that company can come over, but as soon as I have access to blocked out-of-the way areas, the amount of space I can free up is wonderful. The oldest and most easily declutterable categories can be in the hard to get to spaces. Paperwork from 1996 is a breeze to go through ! |
| Kit | - The Container Concept was crucial for me understanding that I really just needed to get rid of excess perfectly good stuff. Once I saw every space in my home as a container - and began to Define the Spaces - decluttering and organizing became much easier. Defining the Space has made all the difference in our gameroom, and we're starting to apply it to the garage as well. - The Visibility Rule and the No-Mess Decluttering Steps made knowing where to start easy, which was critical in overcoming overwhelm. I just started in the front room entryway and got rid of trash. After that, following the steps in the front room got it tidy and peaceful, and moving on to the next most visible rooms was simple. - Dana's tactics for dealing with clutter have been extremely useful. Dealing with the procrasticlutter is key in our house. We still have cool pictures that need to be hung in the gameroom - after Spouse decides which ones are less favorite and can go. I still have a box of clothes to remove cat hair from before they can be washed and put away. But I have completed many other "I'll get to it someday" tasks to make our home much more tidy. - Her recommendation to Use It Up has been very helpful with excess cleaners, pantry items, and holiday and sentimental things. I've created lots of space under my sinks and in my cupboards by actually using things I had spent money on. And when I accidentally broke an heirloom tile trivet on Mother's Day and *no one else* in the family felt sentimental enough to glue it back together, it was easy to let it go. - Also, the assertion that driving things to the donate center is a valid use of your decluttering time has been key for me. Making that task a formal part of the process has meant that it actually gets done! Spending a Saturday and nearly $200 to finally get large donations and trash out of our house and garage eventually made sense, got done, and opened up room for us to function. - Dana's advice to look, look, always look has recently been helpful in the garage with sentimental/heirloom items. This spring, I found it easier than expected to donate things I'd been fearing to deal with, because I gave myself permission to just open the bins, look at the things, put the lids back on, and walk away for a few weeks. I'm now taking the same approach with boxes of my children's school papers. - Finally, using the recommendations in Part 3: Helping Others Declutter - especially doing my own stuff first, building trust by being non-judgmental, and focusing on functionality - worked really well with Daughter and Spouse, who didn't want to follow the steps but still felt overwhelmed. Gently suggesting changes that might make their rooms more functional, then pointing out that various shelves, drawers, and bins were reasonably-sized containers that they could put their favorites in first, somehow made their decluttering projects feel manageable. | - The Container Concept is harder to apply to books in our house, primarily because Spouse's mantra is, "Books are our family. We don't get rid of family." He was very distressed when I started trying to declutter our front room bookcases to hold only a single row of upright books on each shelf, rather than 2 rows deep with books piled horizontally on top of them and more on top of all the bookcases! Daughter and I - knowing that his very favorite books were the science fiction and fantasy ones - defined the front room bookcases for those genres only and moved or donated the others. Then we and Son purged hard on the sci-fi / fantasy books that we personally had no interest in and thought Spouse might let go too. We put them in boxes and asked him to veto and put in his personal collection any that he couldn't bear to part with. I gave him my bookcase in the bedroom, which he quickly filled up. He's now putting books on top of the 6-foot-plus cube storage shelves in there, too. But he did let go some computer programming textbooks from the 1990's this spring, so I think there's some hope.... - Dana's thoughts on minimalism, where "maybes are nos," "what-ifs become let's-assume-probably-nots," and "wouldn't-it-be-nice-to-haves turn into I'm-sure-I-could-get-replacements," are harder to embrace in practice when one is out of work and uncertain of the future. At least when thinking of getting rid of perfectly good things that you very well might use again. It feels like a fraught balancing act when deciding on tools and organizing supplies. - I mention the Head Explosion Rule to Daughter when she's overthinking an item and spinning out on whether to keep it, but honestly we're all too cautious about getting rid of things to embrace it. Instead, we use Dawn Madsen, the Minimal Mom's, Time-Will-Tell bin instead. Just a few weeks ago, we rearranged items on the kitchen counter and in the nearby cupboards to make room for a new small appliance. To do so, we removed a lot of cups and glasses. Though many were donated, a sizable subset were instead moved to the cupboard above the refrigerator for "just in case." Sure enough, only a week later we had occasion to pull some down when we had guests over! A whole-family rejection of the Head Explosion Rule and creation of a Time-Will-Tell shelf helped us navigate a decluttering project that initially felt impossible. - Dana's No-Mess Decluttering Steps clearly can work well for storage areas; I've watched her help people use the process in their attics, basements, and garages. And I generally embrace them when decluttering my functional spaces. And yet somehow, for my own garage, they're still difficult for me to feel hopeful about implementing. Even looking at the corner of yard tools and thinking, "Just look for trash," feels overwhelming. And that's *after* we used that truck to haul away donatable and broken furniture and appliances! My current theory is that we're going to need to define (zone) the spaces in there, moving the yard tools to the newly-defined space, and getting rid of things as we move them over there. Then do the same for each of the other categories. I'm not sure, it still feels like other people can do this fine (I know because I peek in their garages as I walk around the block), but we're still hopeless. Still, we persevere. | - "If a space in my home consistently gets out of control, I have too much stuff in that space." I'm noticing that this goes for small spaces as well as large ones. If my Get-Ready Bin is messy and poorly-functional, if my desktop makes me stressed and avoidant, I have too much stuff in those spaces and need to get rid of some. - "My family needs space in the container, too." No more goat trails in here! I'm aiming for lots of floor space, and we recently cleared enough in the front room to have guests over *and* a large LEGO project on the floor, if we want. (Maybe at the holidays....) - "Take it there now." This step eliminates procrasticlutter just as it's about to be created. It also bleeds into other parts of your life; you start doing lots of smaller tasks now instead of putting them off. Then they're done! - "Less is good. Better is good." Such peaceful permission to just get started and do what you can for now! It's made a world of difference in our household. Both Spouse and Daughter quote it back at me, especially about the blackberry patch and the bedrooms. - Procrasticlutter (is a thing) that must be dealt with, not ignored - a major lesson in our house. Dana often says to "go ahead and do the thing" when it's difficult and would normally halt the process. Do the research, make the phone call, list the item for sale; take care of the procrasticlutter. - You can keep anything, but you can't keep everything. This means that sure, you have to let things go; but also, you can keep your favorite things. - "Decluttering is a constant task and will be a constant task for the rest of your life." This means that I don't have to get my home to a perfect state and keep it there. Instead, it's always in flux and can be worked on a bit at a time. | Take it there right now works most of the time for me. It absolutely helps me accept the realities of my space in real time and make adjustments while I am in the midst of the project, instead of trying to muster the willpower to do so after I've run out of energy. However, sometimes I am firmly on the bubble about whether to keep something. In those times, I use a tactic promoted by Dawn Madsen, the Minimal Mom: the Time-Will-Tell Bin. I'll designate a real "we'll see if we actually use it" space out of the way - like above the refrigerator - and let the item live there for the next 6-12 months. About 1/3 of the time, I do rescue something and give it a real home integrated with the rest of the stuff instead of donating it. But "take it there now" is a little nagging voice in the back of my mind when I'm doing things all day long. It's a reminder to just do whatever small task it is now, because I'm ADHD and will get distracted. But the task will already be done! Of course, I *might* get distracted on the way, but that's actually *less* likely than leaving a Keep Pile on the floor indefinitely. | The Container Concept was crucial for me understanding that I really just needed to get rid of excess perfectly good stuff. Once I saw every space in my home as a container - and began to Define the Spaces - decluttering and organizing became much easier. Our front room bookcases were containers that properly should have limited how many books we held in them, if they were going to be both functional and under control. Our bedroom closet was a container that should have limited how many clothes we kept on the hangers. Our gameroom was a container that needed space for people and games - not for boxes of keepsakes that I didn't know what to do with. With practice, I think the container concept is properly understood as a physical fact of nature. There actually is a physical limit to how much stuff a space can hold. But it's also open to personal interpretation, in that it also incorporates "room for people" and room for them to do stuff in the space. So feeling reluctant to give up some kinds of things to make that room for people seems inevitable. In our home, the more difficult categories are books, computer stuff, sentimental things, and seasonal items. I think this is mostly because we want to be infinite collectors, have difficulty decluttering identity items, or preserve things that somehow feel even more precious because no one else would care about them. I'm noticing this last one with Daughter's pennies and the kids' school papers that they doodled on or said funny things in.... | The Visibility Rule makes knowing where to start easy, which is critical in overcoming overwhelm. I was mortified of my house when my in-laws came to visit, but had no idea where to start or what to do. Dana's advice to start in the most visible places in my home really spoke to my specific situation and offered an easy-to-implement solution. She actually has a blog and video series called "14 days to opening your front door to guests." I used that method to prioritize the rooms in our house, then began decluttering them in that order. I started in the front room, where we sit and talk with guests, then moved to the game room, where we eat with them. Once those 2 rooms were mostly tidy, I moved on to the guest bathroom and the kitchen. The greatest pros for me were that my embarrassment was being alleviated each and every time I worked on my house, and that having any kind of bit-by-bit strategy felt doable. The only con I've noticed is that spaces do get recluttered, so you might feel like all that work was wasted. This is where Dana's (nearly) daily 5-minute pickup comes in. Since implementing a daily tidy of our front room and kitchen, I've felt much more capable of keeping our home under control and of welcoming our guests with only moderate amounts of stress. I've adapted this strategy in the yard, too. Nearly every yard work session, I work on things in visibility order. So I generally focus on brambles, weeds, and pruning in the front yard before the back yard. I work on the blackberry patch in the back yard before the thistles in the lawn. And so on. We've also decided to focus this year on the front yard xeriscape project instead of balancing our time between that and the back yard project. Of course, if focusing more on the front means that the weeds in the back garden plot get out of control, then that means that they're now more visible and must be destroyed! |
| Jetta | The container concept! | Her "laundry day" idea just doesn't work for me. When I have a load of laundry, I do it regardless of when it is. Waiting is not good for me. | When I'm decluttering an area I don't "take it there now," but I do "take it there" when I stop working on area. That way I don't stop my momentum, but will have it where it needs to be immediately afterwards. | I use this idea! I used to cram in a lot of stuff, but now I have some "margin" in our house. I have come to understand the I have a low threshold for clutter and this helps me keep my items manageable. | I understand this, but I don't know if that will work for everyone. I think that a person's biggest pain point should be where they start. | |
| Leana | Start in visible spaces. "If I needed this item, where would I look for it first?" rather than "where should this go?" Steps: trash, easy stuff (Take it there now!), duh donations. These 3 are the low hanging fruit, giving early success and thereby aiding motivation). Then you can start making actual keep-toss decisions. Container Concept. You can keep anything , you just can't keep everything. Do the dishes (and other habits to adopt) to help the home look better and life flow better during the decluttering process and to help ensure long-lasting results. Letting daily tasks accumulate into weekly tasks makes those tasks take more total time (Dishes Math) and increases the sense of overwhelm. "Your house is not a project." (i.e., do your basic chores rather than let them accumulate. Not sure if this is from online content.) | The book was a nice read (and I love listening to her videos because she is so down-to-earth and humorous!). My challenge continues to be inertia. I have long been able to visualize myself accomplishing tasks, but am sorely lacking in execution of those tasks. I can make lengthy to-do lists, but fail to get much done (I tend to choose less important tasks because they are easy; am not so fond of "unpleasant adulting"). Not sure what is going to "cure" me of this. I suffer from perfectionism as well as poor time estimating. I spend too much time doing unimportant things perfectly. I think if I could design some self-talk (like one of your listeners' "I'm acting like a crazy woman") it might help. Also considering use of a timer to perhaps get me to switch activities periodically through the day so I get SOMETHING useful done. (I do have a number of timers but find them noisy [tick tick tick] and jarring when they go off. Don't want the sounds to bug my poor husband. It would be more helpful to use the "crazy woman" motivator periodically through the day (as appropriate) rather than at the end of the day when finding that little has been accomplished. So perhaps a timer could be used to help me periodically refocus and ask myself whether or not I am acting like a crazy woman. | Please see my answer to question 1. | All of my many piles of paper are basically a series of "keep piles." That isn't really working out so well. I think when working with papers, they can be sorted into stacks and then distributed to their "homes" at the end of a work session rather than moving papers individually. Dana does suggest when looking for "easy stuff" (stuff with an assigned home but not located there for whatever reason) that you look around the area being decluttered for other items that can be taken to the same "home" at the same time to save on steps. I do think "take it there now" is key to not ending up with multiple piles of stuff that never actually get dealt with when "life happens" and your work session ends prematurely; you might end up just stacking a bunch of piles and then you might not remember quite what you were doing whenever you get back to the project. I think "take it there now" is important to ensure the "no mess" aspect of her system. With her system, it should be possible to make forward motion in just 5-10 minutes. (So why am I not?...) | Well, I think it has turned out that I have too much space. I can always find room for stuff by stacking things just a little differently. 😉 My office is a disaster and items that belong there have definitely spilled out of that container! I'm working on taming that area, in particular. Because I am kind of "Out of sight, out of mind," things get spread out too much. There is not a surface (or container) in the world big enough for my papers! 🙁 Otherwise, when things are actually put away, we pretty much adhere to the container concept. Books are kind of a problem area, though. (We are working toward downsizing in a few years and have some idea of the size of place we hope to go to. So we are trying to be mindful of the size of the "containers" (rooms & closets) in the new place as we decide what to keep vs. donate.) | I like the visibility rule because if you can make those areas presentable, you won't be so reluctant to invite people over. Unfortunately, some of my papers have escaped to the public areas; and I do find that I need to do some decluttering and organizing in the office itself to make room for the "escapees." The "public areas" are also the areas most shared with other family members, so focusing there first is also beneficial for relationships. |
| Anonymous user | That decluttering and tidying go together. | I actually found that starting from the back ignored areas helped a lot more because the stuff that is out were actually things I used often. Decluttering things that I had forgotten about happened much quicker, and then the stuff that was out could easily be organized into that empty space | ||||
| C | one doesn't have to take everything out to declutter a space. ( a la Marie Kondo) It's best to have a place for everything. Also, the question to know where to put something is: where would I look for it first? | . | as in the first question: one can start uncluttering in a small space too. Not everything (of a category) has to be done at once or in one go. | I sort of use her method: I use trays/baskets when decluttering /tidying one room. Each tray is designated for items that have to go to that particular room. Since walking is a bit difficult for me, it saves me many steps. When done tidying, I take each tray to the room and place it there, and start procedure again from that next room (Some trays stay empty sometimes) When I notice that I am always taking an item back from one room to another room, I figure out that it really should have a place in that first room (or get a duplicate if really logical to do so) . | It has worked for shoes and linens. Also somewhat for house plants: if no more shelf space, something has to go. Also after DH retired, an over supply of stationary items had to be donated: DH saw there was no more space in the desk drawers. | yes, I always start tidying/decluttering in the public rooms (to be visitor ready= akin to what FlyLady says too) Unfortunately we have a room full of delayed decisions ( DD's former bedrm) and we just shut the door making it all "invisible" . |
| Name (click to view full survey response and comments) | What useful decluttering or organizing strategies or methods did you take away from the book? | What parts or aspects of the book did you find difficult to grasp or challenging to apply to your home or situation? | Please share your favorite quotations or key ideas and concepts from this book. | How has the “take it there right now” approach worked for you? What are the pros and cons of White’s strategy? | How has the “container concept” helped or hindered your decluttering? What are the pros and cons of White’s methodology? | How has the “visibility rule” helped or hindered your decluttering? What are the pros and cons of White’s approach? |
