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 reader'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.

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.