The cover of Dana White’s VERY helpful book. Find her at www.aslobcomesclean.com.
Do you often have dirty dishes in your sink (and on your counter and table and nightstand…)? Have the individual piles of bills, important papers, coupons and catalogs grown, fallen over and merged into a frustrating mess? Are you surprised by the dog and/or cat hair tumbleweeds collecting in the corners?
If you’re not (Hooray for You!), take a break and find another post to read. If this sounds familiar, you owe it to yourself to embrace your inner slob.
Almost three years ago I discovered the blog “A Slob Comes Clean” and knew I’d found a soul sister. As a newbie to podcasts, I started “binge-listening” to her weekly podcasts while I jogged or cleaned. She totally “gets” my creative, daydreaming, distracted, clutter bug, disorganized, “project brain” self.
She put a name to a tendency that has frustrated my husband (who lovingly calls me “Random Woman”) for decades: Time Passage Awareness Disorder (or TPAD, for short), which is totally a thing. And now, I see I’ve used “totally” twice in one paragraph, but I’m just so excited and I can’t hide it!
Really, I could gush on and on about this slob soul sister. She, too, sees that most books (and blog posts) on cleaning and organizing are written by people whose brains are, well, organized.
If you struggle with the never-ending cycle of dishes in the sink, piles of clutter on the dining room table and dirty laundry overflowing every hamper in the house, “How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind” is the book for you.
Dana shares the key to bringing a home under control (over and over again). There is no once-and-for- all-time solution because cleaning the house is not a project. It’s a series of boring, mundane tasks that must be done over and over. Idealistic creatives want to think we just need to find the right method, but methods don’t clean my house. I do.
When the mess in the house threatens to overwhelm me, I follow her advice and “just do the dishes.” When the dishes are under control and not piled in the sink and on the counter, cooking is easier. Meal time is less stressful because I don’t have to scramble to hand wash spoons while bowls of chili get cold on the table.
I’ve also started doing all my laundry over the weekend instead of a load a day (when I could remember and when I had time). Since I taught my kids to do their own laundry – a wonderful thing, if you have teenagers – I only wash clothes for my husband and myself and linens for the household.
I have “slob vision” which means I visually tune out clutter much of the time, so I don’t notice a space is bad until it’s overflowing. That’s why the five-minute daily pick up can be a game changer.
As an idealistic creative, getting spaces organized can be paralyzing. I used to think, “This closet is messy because I haven’t found the right system!” No, the closet is messy because I have too much stuff. Dana advises us not to worry about the organizing system and get rid of clutter. Once a space isn’t overflowing, it’s easy to find what I need, and – correct me if I’m wrong – that means it’s more organized.
I also appreciated her advice to put something away immediately when you’re decluttering because I’ve experienced making a bigger mess when I ran out of time or the baffling mysteries of items lost in a “keep box” that never got unloaded.
If you struggle with home management and organization, this book will bring you hope. Dana is the best cheerleader a slob sister could have. You CAN do this. When you embrace the little tasks, you begin to see big results. Now excuse me while I go do the dishes.
This post contains affiliate links, which means when you click on the link, go to Amazon and purchase ANY product, I get a small commission. The product does not cost you any more to buy, but it helps support Plum Prairie Ranch. Thanks!