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362 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
362 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
The book didn't have much information that is different from what she shares on her podcasts, the only difference is that the book is well organized, on her podcasts it's disorganized and she often side tracks. The book is an easy quick read. Didn't like the fact that it often had certain infos repeated in a box (immediately after reading it in the above paragraph) and she has a few pages at the end of each chapter that is just other readers' comments on the subject to show that she isn't the only one who struggles with keeping her house under control.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Came here based on recommendation from the Feminist Survival project podcast episode on decluttering (which is very good and motivating).I am not a the target audience (stay at home mom) so I found the narrator a bit unrelatable at times. I didn't like the "slob" labelling either. Still, it's nice to read from somebody who's not naturally organized (no Marie Kondo here). I preferred Unfucking your habitat and How to Keep House while drowning for my own needs as a young person. I still liked the one week after another program and the decluttering tips.
However, what I take away from this book:
1. Do the dishes everyday. The dishes are the foundation of having a clean house. (I use this tip: dishes are before bed, laundry is a morning task).
2. The size of the container gives you how many things you can own. If you cannot access your stuff without destroying the container, you need to declutter. Otherwise you're fine.
3. When decluttering, first remove trash. Then whenever you find something you need to put elsewhere, do that, instead of making a pile. That way, if you stop in the middle, you will still have made progress and not made a bigger mess.
4. The reason cleaning is hard that some of us LOVE a project that they can just get done and optimise. Cleaning is about regular habits, not projects. It takes some acceptance.
However, what I take away from this book:
1. Do the dishes everyday. The dishes are the foundation of having a clean house. (I use this tip: dishes are before bed, laundry is a morning task).
2. The size of the container gives you how many things you can own. If you cannot access your stuff without destroying the container, you need to declutter. Otherwise you're fine.
3. When decluttering, first remove trash. Then whenever you find something you need to put elsewhere, do that, instead of making a pile. That way, if you stop in the middle, you will still have made progress and not made a bigger mess.
4. The reason cleaning is hard that some of us LOVE a project that they can just get done and optimise. Cleaning is about regular habits, not projects. It takes some acceptance.
Stumbled on this accidentally, but was very impressed and entertained throughout. White reminds me of Dave Ramsey but for housekeeping... She suggests non-intuitive and inefficient techniques in order to overcome human nature, and they're really good ideas. Highly recommended.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Just in time for the New Year: 2020 I will finally master my routines and home.
So I discovered Dana K. White through another favorite blogger who highly recommended reading White's 2 books before the New Year. What makes White interesting and different from the bajillion get-your-life-together-clean-declutter voices is that she admits that she is NOT naturally an organized person. She describes herself as a slob with a "slob vision" who just can't see the mess, trash, the clutter around her. She practically kept everything and could assign a fabulous potential use to everything she used. She just felt surrounded with happiness and all the "potential" simmering around her. Yet, she was tired of always feeling overwhelmed with managing her household until she realized that "normal and neat" people don't struggle like she does because they have certain routines, skills, and habits in place. As she struggled to adapt those qualities, her home and life transformed and she shared her journey anonymously through a blog "A Slob Comes Clean."
In this book (book 1), she focuses on sharing those struggles and then basic realizations of every day tasks that need to be done. Boiled down to every day: 1) Do Dishes morning (clean put away, dirty in dishwasher) and evening (dirty in dishwasher and start dishwasher), 2) wipe down counters and sweep the floors, 3) pick up bathroom clutter, 4) Do a 5 minute pick-up. She shares a few other time saving hacks too like pre-cooking meat once a week/month to speed up meal prepping and cleaning, etc. About a 1/3 of her book talks about decluttering and realizing that your home has limits to what it can hold and whether or not your home is museum for your stuff, a storage unit for potential dreams, or a place to spend time with your family living and making family moments and memories now.
Personally, I loved her latest book, [b:Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff|35540769|Decluttering at the Speed of Life Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff|Dana K. White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498855842l/35540769._SY75_.jpg|56963994], better. She has more personal stories in this book and she goes into what helped change her mindset, her failed attempts, her repeated attempts to keep going and eventual success. The way she explained just clicked for me. When I have a hard time differentiating my feelings and everything either feels overwhelming or "sparking joy" (as another cleaning guru would say), Dana White's simple format/formula took those emotions out of the picture. I also loved that her suggestions involved not making a bigger mess to "clean." You start with the layer visible: get rid of obvious trash, put things away where they obviously belong somewhere else, you either keep or donate/trash and take that item right away. There is no 50 questions or a maybe pile. You just make that decision and move on. When you get to the next layer whenever you have time again, you repeat the steps and the key is progress. Eventually you get to the heart of the pile which may actually have more sentimental items and she has a couple of tips for these. Overall, you make progress each day in little as 5 minutes (or more if you can afford) and make significant changes at the "speed of life." Loved this latest book and would highly recommend.
Overall, I rate this first book a 3. There is a quite a bit of overlap between both books. I read the Decluttering at Speed of Life first and it is exactly what I needed and therefore found this book ok. But if you struggle with dishes daily and laundry each week, this may be the book for you.
So I discovered Dana K. White through another favorite blogger who highly recommended reading White's 2 books before the New Year. What makes White interesting and different from the bajillion get-your-life-together-clean-declutter voices is that she admits that she is NOT naturally an organized person. She describes herself as a slob with a "slob vision" who just can't see the mess, trash, the clutter around her. She practically kept everything and could assign a fabulous potential use to everything she used. She just felt surrounded with happiness and all the "potential" simmering around her. Yet, she was tired of always feeling overwhelmed with managing her household until she realized that "normal and neat" people don't struggle like she does because they have certain routines, skills, and habits in place. As she struggled to adapt those qualities, her home and life transformed and she shared her journey anonymously through a blog "A Slob Comes Clean."
In this book (book 1), she focuses on sharing those struggles and then basic realizations of every day tasks that need to be done. Boiled down to every day: 1) Do Dishes morning (clean put away, dirty in dishwasher) and evening (dirty in dishwasher and start dishwasher), 2) wipe down counters and sweep the floors, 3) pick up bathroom clutter, 4) Do a 5 minute pick-up. She shares a few other time saving hacks too like pre-cooking meat once a week/month to speed up meal prepping and cleaning, etc. About a 1/3 of her book talks about decluttering and realizing that your home has limits to what it can hold and whether or not your home is museum for your stuff, a storage unit for potential dreams, or a place to spend time with your family living and making family moments and memories now.
Personally, I loved her latest book, [b:Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff|35540769|Decluttering at the Speed of Life Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff|Dana K. White|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498855842l/35540769._SY75_.jpg|56963994], better. She has more personal stories in this book and she goes into what helped change her mindset, her failed attempts, her repeated attempts to keep going and eventual success. The way she explained just clicked for me. When I have a hard time differentiating my feelings and everything either feels overwhelming or "sparking joy" (as another cleaning guru would say), Dana White's simple format/formula took those emotions out of the picture. I also loved that her suggestions involved not making a bigger mess to "clean." You start with the layer visible: get rid of obvious trash, put things away where they obviously belong somewhere else, you either keep or donate/trash and take that item right away. There is no 50 questions or a maybe pile. You just make that decision and move on. When you get to the next layer whenever you have time again, you repeat the steps and the key is progress. Eventually you get to the heart of the pile which may actually have more sentimental items and she has a couple of tips for these. Overall, you make progress each day in little as 5 minutes (or more if you can afford) and make significant changes at the "speed of life." Loved this latest book and would highly recommend.
Overall, I rate this first book a 3. There is a quite a bit of overlap between both books. I read the Decluttering at Speed of Life first and it is exactly what I needed and therefore found this book ok. But if you struggle with dishes daily and laundry each week, this may be the book for you.
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Helpful and motivating. The tone was very light and enjoyable, and the book was better organized than many other home management books that I’ve read.
That said, it’s definitely a book to cover the basics, and many of the principles she’s mentioned are things that I’ve already learned on my own. I could have definitely used this a few years ago, but I think I’m looking for the next steps.
Basically once you know how to manage the essentials, what do you do if everything else is still driving you crazy? I may check out some of her other books. This one is great, but definitely for crisis intervention or for teaching you the essentials
That said, it’s definitely a book to cover the basics, and many of the principles she’s mentioned are things that I’ve already learned on my own. I could have definitely used this a few years ago, but I think I’m looking for the next steps.
Basically once you know how to manage the essentials, what do you do if everything else is still driving you crazy? I may check out some of her other books. This one is great, but definitely for crisis intervention or for teaching you the essentials
funny
informative
fast-paced
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
For a slob like me, this is the real life-changing magic of tidying up. Highly recommend if you are like me and struggle incomprehensibly with keeping your home presentable.