Decluttering at the Speed of Life

Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff

By: Dana K. White

Narrated by: Dana K. White

You don't have to live overwhelmed by stuff - you can get rid of clutter for good! Decluttering expert Dana White identifies the emotional challenges that make it difficult to declutter and provides workable solutions to break through and make progress.

While the world seems to be in love with the idea of tiny houses and minimalism, many of us simply can't purge it all and start from nothing. Yet a home with too much stuff is difficult to maintain, so where do we begin? Add in paralyzing emotional attachments and constant life challenges, and it can feel almost impossible to make real decluttering progress.

In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, decluttering expert and author Dana White identifies the mindsets and emotional challenges that make it difficult to declutter. In her signature humorous approach, she provides workable solutions to break through these struggles and get clutter out - for good!

Not only does Dana provide strategies, but she dives deep into how to implement them, no matter the listener's clutter level or emotional resistance to decluttering. She helps identify procrasticlutter - the stuff that will get done eventually so it doesn't seem urgent - as well as how to make progress when there's no time to declutter.

In Decluttering at the Speed of Life, Dana’s chapters cover:

• Why you need this book (You know why)
• Your unique home
• Decluttering in the midst of real life
• Change your mind, change your home
• Breaking through your decluttering delusions
• Working it out room by room
• Helping others declutter

As long as we're living and breathing, new clutter will appear. The good news is that by following Dana’s advice, decluttering will get easier, become more natural, and require significantly fewer hours, less emotional bandwidth, and little to no sweat to keep going.

©2018 Dana K. White (P)2018 Thomas Nelson

This book is spot on!

Would you listen to Decluttering at the Speed of Life again? Why?

Yes, I have listened to it two times already and will listen again.

What other book might you compare Decluttering at the Speed of Life to and why?

Unf*ck your habitat. Love this book as well!

Which character – as performed by Dana K. White – was your favorite?

N/A

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me realize that I am not alone in my struggle!

Any additional comments?

Awesome book with great, realistic, good solid advice. Love it!

So incredibly helpful, simple and motivating

Dana does such a great job breaking down what is a stressful, emotional process into easy steps and help train you to realize that it doesn't all need to be stressful. Put that fork back in the kitchen. Throw away the old wrappers lingering in a box, and donate that 4th chess set. I love the container concept and that it allows you to keep those emotional items you can't part with. You just won't necessarily keep items that dont have as much emotion attached to them... And the question - where would I look for this first? That helped me so much to realize I probably wouldn't look for a particular item.

Since I started listening to this book, I have donated over a dozen boxes worth of stuff that I don't use. Including 4 whole boxes of yarn from my crochet collection! Ouch!! My wallet and heart protest, but you know what? I can fit my coats back in my coat closet! And thus I got rid of the ugly clothes rack I was keeping those bulky coats on in front of my ONLY kitchen window. And why do my husband and I each need 8+ coats anyway?? Decluttering those coats and yarn and getting my window back makes me more happy than the piles of yarn that sat in my closet in tubs for years and I didn't even know what yarn I had. And someone else can use that heavy leather coat that only was worn a few times.

And guess what? I still have PLENTY of yarn for future projects that I have definite plans for. And I dont want to go to the craft store, because now I know what I have and my container is already full. And my hubby and I each still have different coats to choose from for a variety of weather and occasions. But just a few, not 8+! There is so much more that I want to tackle in my house and I know will extend soon to my parents house as well. Dana has advice for that too.

Dana is a great writer, narrator and motivator! Every time I would listen to this book, I just want to go home and help make my home the comfortable, functional space I know it can be. Thank you, Dana!

A new perspective

Dana's idea of viewing everything as a container was a totally new idea for me. I've read lots of organising books. Buy more boxes, label and sort and file. Dana's idea of getting rid of anything that doesn't fit the space you currently have now, how to decide what to keep and what to get rid of are very inspiring to me. This I can do.

Definitely a new fan of Nony!!

Quite possibly the best book on decluttering that I have ever read. Not to mention, she's funny so it makes the subject matter that much more entertaining.

This author gets it. She's a mom. She has family and a busy life and other obligations. She doesn't have 2 weeks to dedicate to doing nothing but decluttering the entire house. You do what you can with the time you have, and as long as you are getting stuff out of your house, you are making progress.

I love her concept of determining your clutter threshold. And her process of starting with trash and easy stuff, then moving on to the things that require decisions. And starting with the visible areas, that was a big "aha" moment for me, and it makes so much sense. I loved this book and am planning to go back and purchase her first book. Plus, she has a podcast that I've already subscribed to!

She makes it practical and easy!!

I like the author's upbeat and encouraging tone without being condescending. She motivates and gives you the tools to declutter your life without harping too much on the fundamentals of minimalism. This is real and a real solution. Loved it.

Real world solutions to the clutter of real homes

I've nothing against Marie Kondo, but come on. I live in the USA and have a real American home and lifestyle in an American community and it's all become cluttered with the abundance produced in a consumer society. If I lived in a tiny Tokyo apartment, I've little doubt Kondo's ruthless guidance for downsizing and love for each object would probably be useful. Yes, I read her book, and put it aside as impractical.

Dana White's decluttering advice is real world, real homes, real connection to places and things. She gets it. Her advice for making homes livable is not just useful, it's home-life altering and can be accomplished without [too many] tears or angst. White's approach is practical not spiritual. You don't have to shed tears to clear a cupboard, you just need to ask yourself if everything in it should be there. Is it useful? Is it in a logical place? is it duplicated? Does it fit the "container", be that a shelf, drawer, tub. box or even the room which contains it? Or would it be better tossed, recycled or donated? You start with asking yourself some basic de-cluttering questions, used for all rooms and situations. She repeats those questions in each chapter, for each space and situation. She also offers some sound general advice for helping de-clutter other people's spaces, including kids, significant others and yes, even deceased or downsizing loved ones.

The author narrates her book with an engaging voice, so that it almost feels like she's there with you, anticipating your questions, gently helping you decide what stays and what goes, but never hectoring. The decisions are always yours. You don't have to love each object, you just have to decide if it's useful or necessary to your particular life.

I just cleared out a cupboard in the kitchen. It was so stuffed with things I rarely use, I couldn't readily find or reach the things I use often. As an example, some years ago, someone gave me a set of beautiful heavy hand made sushi plates and soy bowls. I don't make or eat sushi at home, so even though I appreciated the gift, it wasn't hard to decide the unused set could go in the donation box. Magically, there's now more space in the cupboard so I can easily see, remove or put away the dishes we use often. It's liberating !!

Excellent book read by a talented author

I have listened to this audio book twice and am really impressed with how much easy to follow information is in the book. Her stories and examples are very relatable. I also admire that she is also a "recovering " clutter-er. Her system was developed from her own personal experiences. She knows what it is like to be in the reader's situation.

I have been overwhelmed with stuff in my home for years. I love a clean home but it was difficult to maintain because I did not know what to do with most of my papers and memorabilia.
Dana gives the reader easy to follow instructions on how to reduce the clutter.

I found her "container" concept to be especially helpful. Like many people, I always thought I needed a larger house to fit all of my many treasures. The truth is, my house is large enough and now that I understand the container concept, I can more easily let go of things that no longer serve me.
I also realized that I needed to find a proper place to put many of my possessions in my home. Finding a place for them or donating them was a big step for me that really helped.

Dana also has a reassuring, soothing, and non judgmental voice that it perfect for an audio book on this topic

a good listen

Had some aha moments. I am a crafty person and I have a whole room and closet dedicated to what I think will become Something, Someday. This book helped me realize that I can do all these things someday …. forever and have to live with feeling overwhelmed with what project I want to start. Or I can get rid of most of this stuff that is actually stifling me from doing what I really want to do. I can't bounce around if I keep only a few of the half started projects, or the someday stuff. I might actually Finish some things, and be able to start some new projects!! The book goes through your whole house. Definitely got me thinking about the things I love, the things I don't use, the things I have no idea why I keep holding on to. Already started throwing away trash, and useless Stuff. Can already feel the relief of just feeling stifled. I will listen to this several times. She just got me energized to ' get rid of it already!!!"

Real problems, helpful insights

Some of this book seems like it's kind of obvious: but that makes sense because decluttering is just getting rid of stuff, right? Simple, right? Except that for some of us it's a struggle. So that is the target audience for this book. If you have things in your house pretty well in order this book isn't for you. Personally, I enjoyed this book. And the author's explanation of "the container concept" alone made it worth listening to for me. It was a light bulb moment for me - that also felt kind of like "well, that's obvious" after she explained it. But when I say it was a light bulb moment it's because I instantly grasped why I am struggling with stuff in my current living situation when I didn't in my last living situation. I didn't decrease the amount of things I had to fit well into my current "container". Most people I know naturally associate moving with decluttering but I had failed to do that. I didn't think I had to. She struggled with the same thing until she realized that she didn't need a bigger house she just needed to accept the limits of the one she currently lives in. I feel far more at peace with the limits of my own small space after reading this book, even while my own decluttering is an ongoing process.

This came to me at the perfect moment!!!!!!!

I inherited this issue from my mom, from time to time I dispose things but apparently not in the amounts I should... I save a lot of stuff, there are boxed cups from my mother wedding over 70 years ago, we store and store and store and I keep buying things, this book was a wake up call for a problem I did not even realized I had, and I purchased it not even knowing what it was about... cuz I like to read new stuff you know... I love it, and will come back to it from time to time to remind me of the things I should do to keep my place liveable.