3 Difficult Decluttering Decisions (And How I Made Them)
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- Опубликовано: 26 окт 2022
- While there are many people who wouldn't care about the things that were hard decisions for me, I know a lot of you will relate to how difficult it can be to make decluttering decisions. So I'm sharing my thought processes.
My books: aslobcomesclean.com/book
My podcasts: aslobcomesclean.com/podcasts 
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Your "talks" help me more than you can imagine. I'm NOT a minimalist, but do want a home that's not overrun with items that simply clutter our lives. You help me know how to make decisions, and remember "doing it now" is the way to go! Thank you!
" remember "doing it now" is the way to go! " thank you to have expressed it that way, it made a click for my own process to dive it now, thank you :) good process to you too :)
@@artdeco123😂
Do people really think this hard about this stuff? YESSSSSS!!!!! Oh heavens YES!!!
Oh
And my conversations with family and friends usually starts with "and my friend Dana K White says.....". I don't even have to tell them who you are and where I know you from! You, Dawn and Cas are household names in My house.🤣
That laugh at 6:10 - “when life gets less crazy 😜 - like that ever happens!” FACTS!
I have tried various and numerous ways to decluttering over the years. As most of us watching have. I found you and the other two ladies in your crew last Feb and FINALLY it clicked ! I started your 5 step process during recovery from knee surgery and in just days I saw a huge difference. You make sense. Even when I am shouting at you to just toss those dang costumes ! You still get me. I don’t have visible clutter, but every closet was / is stuffed. My problem is brand new stuff , never used. How do I get rid of something like that?
Keep talking , you are changing lives out here ! Thank you for keeping it real . You speak our language and it is working !!
Dear Dana, please keep sharing your thought processes. It is sooooo useful to hear you saying out loud the same excuses, thinking patterns and creative strategies that my brain comes up with that prevent me from getting junk out of my house. ❤😀👍🍾
I know there are people that think it’s ridiculous to debate over a broken item….. but I’m so glad you talk about this because I AM THAT PERSON!!! 😅❤
I’ve been dragging around for 30 yrs a beautiful hand blown rooster that I got in Europe ..unfortunately it had a broken leg..I couldn’t find anyone that could heat the glass and repair the leg…I’ve opened the box mr. Rooster lived in sooooo many times looked at him and thought..I’m going to get it fixed “one” day….wellllll…Jesus spoke..the sea parted..the outside trash can lid flew open..and mr.rooster and his box jumped right in..the next morning Mr. Trash truck came by and gave Mr. Rooster a final resting spot 🤣😭… now mind you..I almost kept the box !…it took several days of looking at Mr.rooster and said box before I MADE myself open that outside trash can lid but I knew trash truck was coming the next morning so there was no turning back…annnndddd 🙄…I kept thinking ..what can I make out of the beautiful broken glass if I just went ahead and totally killed Mr rooster….thank ya Jesus for the trash truck ! 😂🚛…
I'm a hard-core broken stuff keeper. Im finally at a place where, if I find it valuable, I give it 2 tries at gluing or upcycling. If it breaks a third time, then I hand it to my husband and tell him, "This needs a home." It then finds a home at Camp Landfill.
Me too!
Love your thoughts! One thing I've done is "wow, I'm so tired of this same thought about this same damn thing" that I actually throw out/donate items SIMPLY BECAUSE I hate thinking about thinking about them!! It's sort of paradoxical right, because our brains think "lots of energy must mean this is important" but often it's the opposite. The hemming and hawing is your brain saying you could be relaxing, solving some world problem, but instead you're doing round 10 of stewing on what to do with this item you constantly forget you own.
Bravo 👏
like the broken 🐸
It’s true...it is SO helpful to hear your thought process. I really don’t find sped-up, silent decluttering videos very helpful at all. It’s the thoughts about each item that hangs me up, slows me down...stops me sometimes. So, thank you for articulating your thoughts, doubts, and reasoning behind each decision.
Sped-up videos are the worst because hours or days of cleaning happen in the blink of an eye. Dana's one-hour better videos show what actual people can actually do in one hour and it's realistic.
The examples you gave in your video made me think of the similar stuff I have - an espresso machine waiting to be repaired (it would cost a lot of money to do so and I already have replaced it), some brand new printer cartridges (!), and a gazillion trinkets, in good condition or broken, kept in drawers and boxes for sentimentality’s sake 🤦🏼♀️
Your reasoning and train of thought is going to be really helpful as I have embarked on a major clearing of unnecessary objects which clutter my space (garage - helloooo) and my mind !! Thank you ☺️
I think my favorite part is the comments at the end from your son 😂
Your thought processes are so great to hear. Hearing your realistically thoughts makes me stop being so hard on myself and just “take it there now”.
Your videos really help those of us with procrastination and are overwhelmed by stuff especially sentimental stuff. I am guilty of the emotional MUST KEEP. I never realized that everything is a container and is a limit. Thank you so much!!!
This has helped me immensely. I remember in a previous video a while back where Dana said that she fought with her house about what it could hold.
I believe she said something like ~
I am going to win over the house because I want to keep this stuff. The house is just going to have to accommodate me! 😈 🤬 I don't have to accommodate the house. I'm in charge and I say I can keep what I want to dammit! Regardless of reality! 😜 🤪 🤯
I realized that's exactly what I had been doing all this time. What a revelation! Now I realize I can't win against physics. The space is the space. The container is the limit. My temper tantrums and stubbornness won't change that fact!
That just rocked my world! Now I'm doing much, much better. 🤩 Reality has intervened! Whew! 😆 😂 🤣
Thank you so much, Dana from a fellow stubborn Texan that also argued with her 🏡 home 🥰 🤠 My utmost thanks to you and Reid.
Wow I have never seen someone make sense to me. Like you do. Trying to get people to understand what I was going through was making me crazy. When you talk about things I swear it’s me. I have been trying to declutter my house feels like forever. I have cleaned my garage out. It’s not perfect but you can walk around in it now. 🤣 Anyway thank you so much!! I am so glad I have found something that is helping me understand myself. Oh wow that sounds crazy. Ok I am stopping now. Thank you!!
It seems like the more we look at things as making something better today, the less stress there is that our home isn't perfect. One item decluttered a day starts adding up. It does get easier the more you do it. Thanks Dana
Before finding you & “Taking Your House Back” I had SUCH a hard time letting go of items (donating, for “free” posting, etc) that were expensive…or “worth something” in my mind…
That printer ink?!? Ha! Looking back at my “8 shades of crazy” days, I would’ve thought to sell it, as getting some money was better than no money.
Goodness! It was like me gripping sand…the tighter my hold, the more I lost…(like my sanity in a clutter-filled home)…
Faith also played/plays a HUGE part in my letting go of anything…I am (& will be) taken care of.
Yes !❤
Excellent advice! I have a 1978 record player sitting in my closet that I can't bring myself to let go of, but Im not using it and it's just wasting away sitting there. I must let it go. Thanks! Lety from Chicago
Dana, the color of your eyes is most beautiful. Thanks for organizational help. I'm doing Swedish Death Cleaning and I'm 75, mother of 7, so I have a lot of items in my house that I have to handle, make decisions about and get them to their new owner. I love the idea about the printer ink. Once you make a definitive decision, you never have to think about that item again. Ever. Love you. Anita.
Do it now. My parents died within 6 months of each other. We looked at the house filled full of furniture, papers, fabrics (my mom was a seamstress) tools and such. The 6 children took 3 or 4 items and left a house still full of stuff. In the end we ordered a 40 yard roll off and filled it, took a massive amount of furniture to Goodwill and didn't look back. At the time it was a little traumatic for me to see the things we threw away, but I didn't want the stuff either.
I told a friend of mine what we threw away, (loan papers from 1905) She told me that she also had something similar and was saving it. I told her that her children were going to throw it away when she dies. (She looked a little crest fallen)
Been decluttering off and on for years and still benefit from your thought process. Thank you! ❤
You are not alone. As we speak I have printer ink that I don’t have a printer for! Thanks for donate idea. Was trying to sell it but now just want it gone. Don’t need the reminder!
Thanks for being courageous enough to share this with all of us who DO need help but maybe would be too intimated to ask! I would be mortified if my friends with "perfect" houses (i.e., clutter free) knew i had no clue how to make these decisions!! Creative brains can find uses for Everything! 😁❤It can be SO overwhelming
Oh Dana. I am the Printer Ink example. But I have yet to conquer the second part. Struggling with just doing it. I love when you talk in that alter voice. Yes, we do really have these conversations with ourselves over the smallest things. I thank you for every situation you have covered in your books, your videos and Take Your Houseback course. I am on my second year. It may be small, but progress has been made. And that is amazing.
Better is good 😉
me too!!! I would hear Dana's voice telling me to act on it (looking up the info) but then try to talk myself out of it, knowing that I get distracted easily (if I go online to look that up, I will end up checking my email, and oh - hop on social media real quick... then 2 hrs go by and i forgot what I went online to look for...) LIGHTBULB MOMENT: I recently discovered that this is another benefit of having someone there to help with the decluttering/downsizing process. My friend was helping me go through my basement (yikes!) and we came upon a few of these "but what if/ just in case" items, and I struggled. Hard. We talked through them. She knows how distractible I am. I had HER look up the info, while I continued with the decluttering!!! It was a big win, and the decluttering project stay on track.
@@katiegleaves3792 That is so awesome. Because sometimes I'm the helper and it's good to know what is actually helpful.
I call you “my youtube friend”. You’ve helped me so much with the emotional side of decluttering. I still have a lot to do but Better is Good 😊
Your clarity is empowering, Dana. Your teaching gift is helping so many of “the rest of us” truly change our ways” for the better, and for good. I’m grateful to have found you. 💜
You end captions are one of my favorite parts of your videos. They always give me a nice little chuckle
I sort of know the idea of the Swedish Death Cleaning, and having my mother die in April 2023 and still going through her MINIMALIST belongings (I shudder to think what if she were not a minimalist!), I will now be thinking of my "broken frogs" from the perspective of someone going through my stuff when I die. They will have ZERO need or concern for my "broken frogs". Now, I'll take a picture and then trash the "broken frog". I might even eventually delete the picture in a future digital declutter, who knows? Also, all the clothing I'm going to mend... I don't know....maybe time to take that pressure off myself and let it go, too. After watching several of your videos, it feels like my house is about to vomit out a lot of toxic waste, so to speak. It's also very motivating to be able to do spaces without making a big mess first. I really like that method.
I couldn't have become a minimalist without you. I know you say you're not a minimalist [although your house looks pretty minimalist], but this was the only method that jolted me into reality about my storage capacity and how to approach it. I'm a sewist and I even stopped using one of my spare bedrooms as a "sewing room." I sew on my dining table now so I can be downstairs. Everything is in the closet closest to the dining room and I put it all away when I'm done. Because I don't need a room full of sewing stuff anymore. 🤣 who knew you could sew owning 2 seam rippers and not 55? I know where my seam rippers are now whereas when i owned 55 of them, i could never find one. 😅 I don't need 17 boxes of stash fabric, I use the fabric cut I purchase, make the garment, then there's no stash. I compost or donate the scraps. If there are any crafters or sewists out there, this method is life changing. It won't hamper your creativity. It won't be demotivating to sew because your stuff will be contained to only what you need. I continually check my sewing storage boxes to ensure I'm not keeping something I'm no longer using or to replenish what i need. Sewing this way also saves tons of $.
I truly appreciate hearing your thought process for handling different items! I have discovered that my brain works like yours and it has helped me get out from under so much stuff that I was buried under. Thank you!!
I loved how you scheduled in your calendar when you are going to deal with your sewing machine. It makes sure it's not just procrastinated for eternity. Nice.
Good morning and thank you!
Dana! I have been binge watching your videos this summer in anticipation of hunting season! Why? Because my husband is gone for weeks and I had a plan to declutter the entire house while he was out stalking innocent, furry beasts. I am happy to report that I DID IT! I am so proud of myself and you were there with me, wearing your inspirational t-shirts and cheering me on. Thank you for your channel, your advice, your self-deprecating humor and laughter. It has helped me to transform my home. I'm so grateful.
You always make me feel better about myself in the midst of my mountains of messes bc our brains work alike. You’ve helped me a bunch!
Dana, I find your videos more helpful than you can ever know. It's about a year since I found you and I have been plodding along slowly, coming to grips with the reality of the small container I live in and the amount of stuff I have accumulated. Every time I have a particularly big victory (as I did this week, sending away a large object that was once central to my identity) I think of you and send a big "Thank you, Dana!" your way. Hope you felt it ☺
After donating my wedding dress, everything else feels so much easier! I really enjoy these talks you do - our decluttering muscles need them :). You are such a blessing!
Yes! It's like getting rid of the hardest thing makes everything else so unimportant!
I’m still working towards those “hardest things” I know in my head once I release them everything after that will be so much easier! Mine are not sentimental but WERE expensive. I don’t sell things, not worth my time . And donating to an unknown is so hard, If I have an actual person to donate to I’m all in . I’m thinking I will be ready for the hard things soon . I’m building those declutter muscles and feeling stronger with every bag and box I get rid of.
Dana has a great video about donating her vehicle....it addresses the "donating to the unknown"
It will give you a fresh prospective on the issue.
@@bethr7726 see Danas video from June 29 2021 with a white vehicle on the thumbnail. She elaborates on the unknown recipient of your donated item. Excellent content. Will have you thinking.
These videos of working through step-by-step real life examples is so helpful. Helps me understand how to banish the excuses. Thank you!!
I think you just came up with Dana's new sweatshirt tagline: "Banish the Excuses!" Good job, Melissa!
I moved to our house 34 years ago a my portable sewing machine has been in the same top shelf of a coat closet. I use it to fix things that need mending. I mostly use it for craft projects. I know where it lives and it is good to have one that works. Take it there now means putting the machine in your car and take it to the repair shop. The items I donate I tell my husband to take them because if I go I will buy more stuff from the thrift store. Win, win it gets done! ❤
I saw a clip on a tv daytime show where the host talked about cleaning out her medicine cabinet. She knew that most of the things had expired. But in order for her to tackle the problem she decided to take it day by day and get rid of one thing daily. That way it doesn’t become a project. I love that. I thought of you Dana! Am doing this to my storage closet.
Your thought processes are so helpful! Your point about being sentimental about the frog but not knowing what the original sentiment was was such a lightbulb moment for me. I have a box of sentimental items I keep putting off dealing with and I just realized...I don't know why most of these items are sentimental!
You said , and the garage still had a bunch of junk in it.
Bingo, junk is the problem in my house. I need to sort through junk vs keep. Again, thank you!
Dana, Thank you so much for this video. This video reminded me I have a broken typewriter that needs repair. It has a spot in my house so just need to find somebody to fix it.
Dana, you're the best- I'm so happy you have stuck with RUclips this time around! And thanks to Reid for all the support that makes it happen! I love the podcasts, too, but seeing your expressiveness is a delight 😊
Thank you Dana so much, I have been applying your concepts in my yard where we are renting. It has been a nasty jungle for many years as I don't know the first thing about managing the outdoors. BUT I decided I would just make ONE little part better, with the tools and know-how that I have, and little by little I have transformed the place. Will be tackling the scariest nether regions soon as the motivation factor is so real once you see progress. TY again, Love You!
FYI: I don't know where you buy your printer ink, but Staples takes back ink, so does Wal-Mart. Ink is too expensive for me to toss it out. It costs an arm and a leg. If you buy a new printer from HP, they will even refund you for the used ink in your old printer, if the cartridges don't fit your new printer.
Dana, thank you for another round of Decluttering Talk Therapy!!! Listening to your "thought process" truly does make a huge difference in our lives.
Thank you, Dana, for sticking with us! I need to hear your decluttering recommendations over and over. Each time I hear that my containers are my limits, I am reminded - and encouraged - to keep working. Your no-mess decluttering system is perfect for my short attention span and limited physical ability. Thank you! Keep up the wonderful work!
Defining the space is so helpful! I have been defining small spaces lately. The top of my dresser, which is very visible from my bed, is a space for pretty things. There's a jewelry box, a potted plant, and some cool rocks I collected on vacation. It's not a place for me to dump keys & receipts & junk. I do dump those things on my desk (which probably needs to be decluttered more often) but I no longer dump them on my dresser.
You chose the perfect items for this video!
I had used my 1981 Singer sewing machine for 30 years when it started showing signs of needing replacing (after making over 1,000 costumes and numerous other projects). I put it on a stool in the garage to take it "later" to a charity that brings old sewing machines to Mexico and South America to help poor women start a business to support her family. I was so excited to do this! But, alas, it got knocked off the stool and several pieces when flying. It ended up in the garbage instead of blessing a sweet mother's family.
I love these videos about specific items. The hard examples really help me! The really great box video is my all-time favorite Dana K White video, but this one is up there. I also happen to have a broken sewing machine that I have not used since having kids. It is taking up space in my husband's work-from-home office. Additionally, I have so much crap in our garage that we can't park in it right now. While I don't have a "broken frog" in my life, I have a lot of "broken frog-type items" in my life. This video has inspired me to tackle a few today :)
I feel an overwhelming need to watch the “really great box” issue. Never knew that “good boxes” was a thing ! I thought I was the only one with this disturbing habit !!! Going down the rabbit hole now . This is going to be a good one. Thank you !
Your method for immediate decision making is the sure-fire way to get the job once and for all while keeping the process of decluttering moving ahead to completion. I use this method for all kinds of decision making while building self confidence as l go. Thank you for your contribution to helping others lead better lives.
I am encouraged as I still feel “pain” with these decisions. And the anticipation of the pain can trigger procrastinating.
But the pain is manageable and just stopping my procastaclutter is progress.
I use my timer for a prompt for the difficult areas. My reward is once the timer rings I am done and there is no residual mess.
And the pain is often relieved just by starting and following the steps.
Thanks for this video, the follow through is a new skill for me.
So true about getting the sewing machine fixed and not getting back to it to take care of it. I have to leave things like that out so I keep running into it. When that one is taken care of, we grab something else to fix.
Appreciate the videos. Little by little our hime is getting decluttered!
I love the comments at the end, especially your son Reid's comment. :)
Yes, I do appreciate your talking about your thought processes, because it reassures me I am not alone! :) Thank you! You are so helpful to those of us who think completely differently from traditional organization "help." I have a book from the library right now that basically says, "Right-brained people have so many gifts that benefit society, and we love you. Now here are 590 ways to become more left-brained so we can put up with you." 🤨 I need strategies that work *with* my brain, not against it! I, like most people, am not going to succeed with a system that is completely unnatural to me. Thank you for filling a most-needed niche. 😊
Yes, people really do debate this much over stuff like that!!! 😃I'm struggling right now because I need to donate several items that I want to keep, but they don't have a place in our home now that we've moved my 88-year-old dad in to live with us. I have already gotten rid of so many sentimental items that I'd been holding on to, but these last ones are so hard so I am having similar conversations with myself over these things every single day.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for the lesson on taking it to where it belongs instead of tossing it back in the jumbled mess to deal with "later". True confessions: a game piece from Battleship has been in a countertop container for over 10 years because I was too lazy to go down in the basement to put it away. It took me 30 seconds to do it tonight! Thanks for all the inspiration!
This may sound crazy coming from a stranger but as I read your comment I smiled and said I'm proud of you. Hey progress is still progress. Take care.
" I have to give it a place if I'm going to keep it." Wow! Thank you! This one sentence alone is going to help so much.
As an avid stitcher, I was terrified you were going to just get rid of that machine! lol If you have a quilt store in your area, give them a call. Most have a traveling machine repair guy/gal who picks up machines at their store and returns them when they are fixed. Or the store can tell you who to use. Good luck!
All right! Need a new decluttering video to help me get going. Very lethargic today. Now, gotta go do my dishes!! Love your books! :)
Honestly, it’s so refreshing to hear someone openly and honestly share the specific even drawn out thoughts that are involved in our happening inside our heads when it comes to the concept of keeping an orderly home and trying to Declutter. Cause I’m tired of pressing play and watching some decluttering video that someone does where 95% of everything they say focuses around trying to convince me of the benefits of decluttering and the relief that will come from doing it. It feels like all that does is just waste my time because if I’ve gone, searching to watch a decluttering video clearly I am like already . By ‘there’ I mean, I am already completely agreeable that I need to Declutter and will benefit from decluttering. The reason I actually watch a decluttering video is because I need real hard skills and strategies.
Some of them eventually get there, but in this video, it felt like you got there (giving some tangible, helpful ideas like how things need to have a designated place, which means we need to give that some thought) a lot faster, and more efficiently and effectively than other You tubers, so thank you . Because personally, I spend time watching RUclips videos to learn something. Which to me is a better use of time versus watching a RUclips video that is simply going to verify that I need to learn something. Right?
I have my moms TWO sewing machines stored because I might use them. After listening to you I will be donating them. If I ever decide I NEED one they aren’t too expensive and have so many more features these old ones do not have. Thanks!
💝💝💝💝💝 everything you said here! Isn't it funny how we try to justify keeping stuff we don't need or use on a weekly basis.....well, only funny when it's happening to someone else (or it's you, reminding us of what we need to declutter and get out of our house and garage and basement and attic. If it doesn't have a place where it's going to get used, then you don't need to keep it.
I’m SO glad you didn’t declutter your sewing machine 😅🙌🏻
Ha ha, Reid’s comments at the end always make me laugh! And yes, it IS helpful hearing you explain your thought process, thank you!
The way you talk yourself thru the decisions to be made is helpful.
I was talking about your 5 steps and "take it there now" and "do the dishes" to a friend and she said, this woman should be a friend of ours! So true!
Just went to look for the recharger to my cordless vac and it wasn’t where I first looked for it - Soooooo when I found it and charged my vacuum when I went to put it up I put it in the spot I looked for it first. 😊 Thank you Dana!
Originally I came to my computer to do some online bill paying and instead I've been watching your videos getting nothing done!! The printer ink story hit home with me too! Had just bought brand new ink cartridges when my last printer went dead. I walked around those for like 3 years until I finally bit the bullet and pitched them. I didn't want to but the printer was 13 years old so I doubt anyone even has an old printer like that anymore. Shout out to Epson for quality manufacturing, Lol.
It is really helpful to know your thought process. Thank you so much!
YES YES WE debate this much over stuff.
Thanks again, Dana. It's the next step, the follow-through process which trips me up. Items make it to a designated container with intentions to list online, but I avoid that part. Why? Maybe because it's work, maybe because I don't want to be upset if no one buys the item and I've 'wasred' my effort and money, maybe because it's not fun for me. With soaring prices I find it harder to donate instead of trying to sell items. Deadlines don't help and just make me feel bad about myself so for now, I limit those items to one container and start small researching sale prices and letting that information sit if needed in my brain until I am willing to take more action. I also take items to work where we have a free to take area
Hello!!! Thank you!
I'm that person, I'm that debate person, too! It was a shock to me to find other people don't do that! One of my other problems is, by the time I open the computer and open a new tab, I have truly forgotten what I meant to look up. I am totally serious. For instance, as soon as you spoke about the printer ink, I remembered that there were two things I needed to look up, but still have no idea what. So frustrating!
Me too in same club “ yes, we do”🙈🙈
Extremely important & guiding.💕
Printer ink person right here 😂. I have ADHD and your steps help me so much. I’m a minimalist so I don’t have much, BUT when I’m cleaning and doing chores, THAT is when it helps. I’ll be folding laundry and see the floor is dirty and just stop and go get the vacuum. Now I’m like, “no, what are you doing RIGHT NOW, finish the process and take it where it goes THEN you can move on!” It takes effort for us ADHD folks to finish a task of any sort. Also, your “where would I look for this?” Has helped me tremendously. Now that I ask myself that question. I can find what I’m looking for right away. I used to just set things down randomly. No mind you, I don’t have a lot of stuff so finding something lost usually isn’t that big of a deal however, with this question, stuff isn’t getting lost that much anymore so THANK YOU ❤
You are unique. Talking things through-the thought processes-you excel.🤗
You’ve made me think I must do something about the broken carpet cleaner in the shed 😆
Things need a defined place to live/ it’s ok to donate valuable items if I don’t use or need them / even if “brand new” but unused items need to go if they are taking up space I need for something else of value that I do use!/ loved the “broken frog” but I had no place for it even if it is sentimental- and that’s called REALITY 😅 thank you Dana ❤
Great video👍
I would love to see a video about finding your clutter threshold and being able to identify when you've gotten under it. Maybe defining what keeping your house under control looks like?
I think she has a video on that or talks about it frequently that you do your 5 minute pickup and if it’s taking you longer than 5 minutes to reevaluate where you are and where you’d like to be. It doesn’t have to be 5 minutes, but that’s what I hear her say. I hope that helps...
i just saw the thumbnail for Dana's video on that topic, over on the side of my RUclips page, as I was scrolling through the comments here. Let's see if this gets ya there: ruclips.net/video/S2opr5i0QVk/видео.html
@@katiegleaves3792 Thanks!!👍😊
Dana, I love your videos and your audiobooks and I recommend you all the time! You have improved my life by helping me remove the stress of clutter. 💜
Your videos are great! They are helping me take final actions instead of just moving things around from pile to pile.
Love these step-by-step real life examples..."Doing it now" is my new motto!! Too funny...I have a "needs-attention" sewing machine & a tiny broken glass elephant(needs letting go) right this very moment!! 🤭🤫
Mine is a quartz broken turtle. It's head broke off at the neck. It's a beautiful turtle. I love this turtle 🐢 🥺 🐢
Thank you so much for your videos. Yes, your explanations do really help us, to make decisions we need to make (instead of just deferring them for later.... always, 'later/someday').
I've noticed in myself, & some other family/friends who struggle with clutter, a certain common theme: We tend to see "value" in EVERY little thing, even items that are currently broken or unusable.
We keep thinking 'someday', all those items will well-used by "someone", someday.... someday! I'm beginning to finally remove some items (especially clothes, right now), that I've finally accepted I DON'T 'fit into' now, & it's unlikely I will, ANYTIME SOON. These clothes have already been "sitting" for 6 months (waiting until I'm skinny again).... but I'm still not skinny....and realize it may not occur, until much later into the future.....so I'm saying Goodbye to those particular pretty clothes, now, so someone else can ENJOY THEM NOW. I still "see value" in so many things that I'm not currently using, or that may need repair.... but I'm starting to ask myself REALISTIC questions, about the REAL LIKELIHOOD of me repairing/using them in the future. It's helping me to donate them, in hopes that someone else might MAKE USE OF THEM NOW.
This has nothing to do with decluttering but I just wanted ti say you look really pretty today. I love all your videos!
I too debate with myself on everything. That is why these decluttering questions and process is so useful. I’ve done it so long now it is automatic and cuts on debating time. 9 times out of 10 it gives into donate box .🤦🏼
Love these explanation videos!
Oh wow I am relating to you and these comments so much! It’s so good to know I am not alone. LOL! Please keep these videos coming, I have binged so many of your videos but with my ADD brain, hearing the steps and thoughts over and over really cements them in my discombobulated brain. Thank you! :)
Hi from Australia. Love all your videos - they're helping me keep on track!
Love it! My garage is my next big declutter project…. Can’t start until I take all of the things I decluttered from inside the house to donation site. LoL.
Just giving a plug for todays podcast here since I have no idea how to comment over there!!!
When you said been there, done that, I was waiting for you to end with “i have literally MADE the t-shirts!” 😂
Maybe that’s just an Ohio expression (been there, done that, got the t-shirt)
Thank you so much for “getting me”! Sometimes we just need someone to come along with some good old common sense and whop us over the head, lol.
Love Reid’s comments too. Comedian 😅
helpful, entertaining, and encouraging. please keep sharing. yes, a lot of us go through that same thought process. most of us get trapped in an endless loop. but completing the process by making a final decisions creates a new path for our brains to follow. we don't have to get trapped in the mess. there's light at the end of the tunnel. and our brains can adapt and learn and get better at figuring out the way to a final resolution.
thank you for sharing!
I have a wooden ironing bord that was made by my great-grandfather for my grandmother. It has been nothing but clutter in my life for 30 years. I thought about trying to contact other relatives who might want it, but they don't know it exists. And there's the complication of contacting everyone, getting a taker, arranging meet-up. To make it a worse, sometime during our many moves and storage, it warped, so it's not even really usable. I believe I will inscribe on it with my Dremel tool who made it (if I can find out who - I do have 4 greats) when and where it was made, and donate it. And be free of it!
Ha! Was currently working on my spare bedroom (ie: catch-all room) when I clicked to listen to Dana today. I am encouraged, and more determined to get it back to its intended purpose.
This was incredibly helpful. I actually have a printer cartridge that I bought by mistake and opened, so can't return it. Just sitting with my other cartridges. Duh!
Your thought processes are just like mine🤷! Thanks so much for your insight!
I really appreciate you sharing these stories. I have so many "I'm going to fix that"s lying around... Yikes! And I'm constantly leaving stuff sitting because I'm going to get to it later. It helps to know that this is 1) something other people deal with and 2) something I can change. Thanks.
This is so helpful! I deliberate so long but I don't force myself to get back to the questions. Now I am determined to make the decision because then I don't have to ever come back to it again or at least not for a long time. Freedom!
Thank you Dana. Yes I do debate with myself! lol Recently, I tried to take some shoes to the thrift store but they WEREN'T accepting donations at that time. OMG. So the bag is in my car. At first I had it in the trunk but that's no good because out of sight, out of mind. So now it's on the backseat. I think today is a good day to take them to a thrift shop. If one doesn't accept them, I'll try another. So many people are clearing out their houses. I don't go in the store; I just stay at the donation door. I don't need to shop for ANYTHING!
Your tips are so good!!
Thank you! Please tell Reed I love that he makes me chuckle 🎉
Yes, this was so helpful! I think the same way