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363 reviews for:
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets
Dana K. White
4.1 AVERAGE
363 reviews for:
How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing with Your House's Dirty Little Secrets
Dana K. White
4.1 AVERAGE
An organization book written by someone who actually understands the struggle! Dana White is a self-proclaimed slob, and not just one of those people who is like, “I’m so messy, look, my throw pillow isn’t level with the back of the couch.” So her advice is super practical and helpful to a slob like me!
Neither James nor I are naturally clean people. We are both the youngest, both creative, both laid back, both type B. As whimsical as that may be, our house can get real messy as a result, and lately I’ve been feeling like I’m failing at being an adult because we can’t even stay on top of dishes, vacuuming, etc.
I’ve looked up chore schedules online and knew immediately I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. “Every Monday: Vacuum whole house, dust every surface, shine silverware, retile kitchen, replace bathroom grout, burn house down and start from scratch.”
I’ve tried the Marie Kondo method and told myself that if I could just declutter good enough the first time, I would never need to again. Lol. Sure, some of her methods have helped me, but I still don’t know what it means for an item to spark joy. If I got rid of everything that didn’t spark joy, all I’d have would be James and my dog. Maybe that’s all a girl needs?
One of my main issues with the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up was that I just couldn’t relate to Marie. She talks about how she’d stay back from recess to organize her teacher’s supply cabinet. How she talks to her objects and thinks of them as having feelings like people. How she once cried because she had let mold grow in her shower caddy. That is just so not me! Mold growing in a shower caddy would be the least of my concerns. I’m more concerned about mold growing on the towels I forgot in the washing machine for three days. And the only reason I stayed back from recess to help my teacher was because I was scared of other kids and the recess monitors. (Anyone remember Miss Novak? She was terrifying.)
Anyway, Dana White is not like Marie Kondo because she isn’t naturally organized. She’s a slob like me. She is down to earth and so so practical. Her “hope for your home” steps feel completely doable. She sets realistic goals. She rocks.
My one complaint is probably that she seems to have inadvertently selected a very small audience for readership (white, middle-class woman, married, potentially stay-at-home mom). It might be hard for people from other groups/walks of life to apply some of her more specific tips, though most of this is doable for just about anyone.
Neither James nor I are naturally clean people. We are both the youngest, both creative, both laid back, both type B. As whimsical as that may be, our house can get real messy as a result, and lately I’ve been feeling like I’m failing at being an adult because we can’t even stay on top of dishes, vacuuming, etc.
I’ve looked up chore schedules online and knew immediately I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them. “Every Monday: Vacuum whole house, dust every surface, shine silverware, retile kitchen, replace bathroom grout, burn house down and start from scratch.”
I’ve tried the Marie Kondo method and told myself that if I could just declutter good enough the first time, I would never need to again. Lol. Sure, some of her methods have helped me, but I still don’t know what it means for an item to spark joy. If I got rid of everything that didn’t spark joy, all I’d have would be James and my dog. Maybe that’s all a girl needs?
One of my main issues with the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up was that I just couldn’t relate to Marie. She talks about how she’d stay back from recess to organize her teacher’s supply cabinet. How she talks to her objects and thinks of them as having feelings like people. How she once cried because she had let mold grow in her shower caddy. That is just so not me! Mold growing in a shower caddy would be the least of my concerns. I’m more concerned about mold growing on the towels I forgot in the washing machine for three days. And the only reason I stayed back from recess to help my teacher was because I was scared of other kids and the recess monitors. (Anyone remember Miss Novak? She was terrifying.)
Anyway, Dana White is not like Marie Kondo because she isn’t naturally organized. She’s a slob like me. She is down to earth and so so practical. Her “hope for your home” steps feel completely doable. She sets realistic goals. She rocks.
My one complaint is probably that she seems to have inadvertently selected a very small audience for readership (white, middle-class woman, married, potentially stay-at-home mom). It might be hard for people from other groups/walks of life to apply some of her more specific tips, though most of this is doable for just about anyone.
medium-paced
I’m not a “self-professed slob” as the author claims to be, but I read some great reviews of this book and picked up the audiobook on sale. I thought there was some great content in here.
I read the KonMari books a while back and found 85% of it useful, and it did help me declutter and has permanently changed the way I tidy up and organize. But no doubt, her approach is really a scorched-earth method. You have to be willing, dedicated, and have the uninterrupted time to carry out the initial planning. I was packing to move at that time anyway, so I could do it. Maintenance is the easy part.
In this book, the author takes a much more practical approach. Life is busy, interruptions are bound to happen, and lots of people don’t live alone. This author takes all of that into account. Her methods might be slower and less efficient than a one-time reset /purge, and she admits that. But it strikes me as a method that’s much more doable for the average person, “real people” with busy schedules.
I read the KonMari books a while back and found 85% of it useful, and it did help me declutter and has permanently changed the way I tidy up and organize. But no doubt, her approach is really a scorched-earth method. You have to be willing, dedicated, and have the uninterrupted time to carry out the initial planning. I was packing to move at that time anyway, so I could do it. Maintenance is the easy part.
In this book, the author takes a much more practical approach. Life is busy, interruptions are bound to happen, and lots of people don’t live alone. This author takes all of that into account. Her methods might be slower and less efficient than a one-time reset /purge, and she admits that. But it strikes me as a method that’s much more doable for the average person, “real people” with busy schedules.
I love Nony. I have loved Nony for a long time, but could never read her blog because of what it meant for my own home. Read the introduction before you buy or read the rest of the book; you might not be the right audience.
If you're ND like me, and need to figure out how to juggle your household while being a person, you would like this book.
Wow this lady gets me. We both have the same project-oriented brains and issues with clutter. Maybe she actually IS me… in the future… when I have a nice clean and organized house?! I sure hope so! I feel so seen and motivated to start changing habits.
Fabulous audiobook to aid you through daily life of the hustle and bustle. I listened while doing my daily cleaning and eventually swapped to her podcast.
I actually enjoyed this book as it was practical, and more gave you tools that you could then use them however you wanted.