I've said that my decluttering goal isn't minimalism, it is robot vacuum. I want to be able to keep tidy enough to let a robot vacuum run on a schedule.

As a minimalist for 7 years I can say that using Dana’s processes to go TOWARDS minimalism work’s BEAUTIFULLY. I’ve found No Better method.

I find your clutter threshold concept incredibly helpful. One person may arrive at her clutter threshold with a lot of tchotchkes and color and pattern, and another may arrive at a clutter threshold with a lot of zen space and few belongings and voilà! she’s a minimalist! The important thing is to reach a point where your house is functional and makes you and your family happy.

“Perfectly well behaved and not smell bad” 😂 I have a 3 year old and 9 month old, this is so real it hurts me

There's aesthetic minimalism, and then there is lifestyle minimalism. You can be a minimalist and love colors and patterns, you just keep your inventory at a level that feels manageable with no excess.

I like finding ways that minimalism works for me. For instance, keeping one place setting (I live alone) handy in my cupboard means that I never have a sink full of dirty dishes. But I am not about to get rid of my extras. I like them and paid good money for them, so I simply packed them into not-as-convenient storage where I can get them out for company or to replace a broken item. So I can behave like a minimalist when it suits me without committing to the whole lifestyle.

Have dinner with your red dishes and celebrate yourself for the progress you’ve made and then let them go ♥️

Since you like words, Dana, I want to share the word middlemalist. I heard it years ago and I think it applies to some of the discussion here in the comments. People don’t want their stuff overflowing the container, but don’t want one or two lonely items rattling around in a mostly empty container either. Some of us just want the happy medium between the extremes.

Dana you are SO RIGHT!!! Only aim for minimalism if you feel MORE peace when you think about it, more inspired, more motivated, etc. Otherwise aim for what you feel you CAN DO! YES!

When I look at my belongings I know that I either love to look at it or use it, need it for self care or use it regularly in my daily life. As a result my closet has 40 hangers and a divided shelf for jeans and sweaters. My kitchen is functional and easy to clean with less than a handful of single use items. I love the freedom of being able to clean my three bedroom, two bath condo in 90 minutes and then walk away to enjoy other activities. I will be 77 soon and wish I had undertaken this existentialist journey years ago.

I believe Fumio Sasaki's book Goodbye Things has something useful for everyone - please note he does not advocate everyone should live like him, he does advocate that everyone could benefit from discarding things that do not contribute to their life. Note Sasaki, who is a minimalist under anyone's definition, took five years to declutter his life.

While watching this, I thought, "I bet Reid is going to comment that he's never seen those dishes in his life..." and got a big chuckle when he wrote almost exactly what I said! Your decluttering method has saved me so much. I do also organize, but to me, that's a thing that happens after decluttering an area.

The red dishes were a beautiful idea, but not only were they someone else's memories (from the gift giver) but they were a fantasy. You're decluttering fantasy clutter. Good for you... I need to do that with a few things myself. Oh boy. 😂

Reid, I simply like that we get your credits at the end as an additional chuckle, The fact that you are involved helping your Mom, speaks volumes to me of your family. Go Family White ❤

You said “Justify keeping it by using it.” I love that! It makes so much sense for me and my home. Ty!❤

I get it. You're USED to keeping the red dishes. They have a place , they have a function. (Well,potentially. ) It's hard to let go of something that's been a positive part of our life for so long. Even if it wasn't used and never really fulfilled it's function.

Thank you for your minimalism answer! I see a minimalist’s home and I don’t enjoy it, and know that I have no desire to have it as a goal!! I love the container concept!!

your one hour better has been such a legendary idea. while I get the happy feels 😂 getting rid of stuff, the one life changing idea is not making a bigger mess while decluttering. you’re amazing!

Perfect Dana, hope you don't get too much grief. I don't want to be a minimalist, I like having 3 spatulas I have room for all 3. What I want is to have a tidy home where I'm not embarrassed to have friends round. That I can find stuff on the first look, so don't have to waste money on duplicates (except spatulas). You have motivated me to up my donating and reduce what comes in, craft room still needs work😂. Hence why regularly follow your channel for encouragement and to read the editors comments.😂😂

I am minimalizing but clearly not becoming a minimalist. I often find it too extreme. Having only one of each thing per person (and thus no spare at all) makes no sense to me - there is a gap between having way too much of everything and having what's essential in sufficient quantity to function should an incident/accident/emergency occur.

I follow another KZfaqr called New Retired Me and his version is not minimalism but instead asks the question of does the item have a function or not? If not, I get rid of it. So I call this "functionalism".

I think you should give your editor those red dishes…he’s so special, he deserves them all of the time! 😊❤😊❤😊❤😊

For me and I imagine some others my concern re minimalism was almost the reverse. It's like I would know my house needs to have less stuff and be more organised but after seeing some pictures of some minimalists horses and rooms I also knew I didn't want that as some, not all, looked almost cold and sterile and I didn't want that. Knowing that decluttering and minimalism are not the same thing is actually much more freeing and a relief. I'm sure there are different types of minimalist but my ideas of a warm and cosy home, that's still organised, functional and inviting have probably scared a lot of people from wanting to be like that. Honestly your channel shows that a home can be both warm soft and inviting, without being over stuffed with things as well as being practical/functional, tidy and organised for every day living. So Thank you!

I’m in the midst of another decluttering phase, using Dana to motivate myself. Her processes are running through my head and I’m doing really well. I had some money sitting on my bedside table for months, payment for a commission project that would normally go into a separate wallet but for some reason hadn’t. When clearing the bedside table, I held the $ and told myself, “Take it there now”. Voila! Inside the wallet, I found an extra $310 that I had forgotten about. This made me smile. Thanks, Dana, for all the inspiration.♥️

I need to declutter so I can find things and so my children won't have to do it when I'm gone.

Thank you for this video. Smiling at the thought that people correct you after 15 years of keeping organized successfully. I suppose there will always be critics 😅

Love the red dishes story!

Gmorning Miss Dana, It's 6ish am here and there are no dishes in my sink. Lady I just luv u! You have changed my life. I've been struggling since 200NINEEEEEEEEEEEE that's FOURTEEN YEARSSSSSSSS trying to get organized, ugh. I used to say I wasn't born with the organizational gene, til I saw your vids, now I know that I had no clue of the container concept and thought organizing cleaning decluttering were all the same thing. Now I'm making progress and only progress. My dishes took literally 2 minutes to do and I look around my place and I see the progress and no mess. UGH I can't thank you enough. YOU ARE CHANGING PEOPLE'S LIFE, YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD OF YOURSELF!!!! You're an angel! And I think minimalism and organizaion reek of perfectionism and austerity and they don't appeal to me at all. I just dump everything I don't give a rat's a$$ about and keep as much as humanly possible of the things I love AHEM CLOTHES AHEM. lolllzzzz But I'm a 3rd generation clothing designer and clothing is art to me so.....

Less to manage is less stress.😊

I like the term essentialism, decluttering to the essentials. And yes it is the container concept.

I now want one set of red dishes! lol

Congratulations on getting rid of the red dishes. It's ok to not be the red dish lady. At one time I thought I was going to save all the wax from my used up candles and make new candles with all that wax. I had a lot saved up, it was overwhelming and I only made a few candles over a few year period. I had a friend who saw my situation and said she thought I should throw it all away. I never even thought about that, I was so stuck on the idea of making a bunch of candles. I did it reluctantly, I knew she was right. That was the best thing I could have done. It was so freeing and was the catalyst I needed to declutter for many years to come. I have learned so much from you by the way. I have taught much of what I have learned from you to my children as well. They know to put things where they would first look for it. That one thing right there has changed my life. Thank you!

Yes! I’ve always said I have an all or nothing personality & hadn’t heard it talked about in this context. Brilliant and meaningful! We all strive so hard for perfection. I think of an old boss who sagely advised it’s better to get things done without perfection because things actually get done. Good enough. You give me hope. Embracing progress & not perfection feels so much better. Thanks for all you do. And, Reid, thanks for your cool editing skills and wit and humor and for what you do to help your mom’s message to get to us in a way she approves. Appreciate it all!

Ahhhh yes the special place setting😂😂😂. I was given a set also. Never used mine either they were peach though😀. I did get rid of mine

I have to remind myself I’m an all or nothing person sometimes. You’d think I wouldn’t forget because it’s “written” all over everything I do. But the little saying you say “You can keep anything. You just can’t keep everything.” Helps me so much! 🖤💕

No! Very helpful! Like my holiday dishes that i never used … nor even once.

2 years ago I saw Dawn the Minimal Mum and thought Wow I want to be like that, but I didn't know how to get there. Then I watched A slob comes clean. Dana changed everything for me!! Because of her I wasn't overwhelmed with my goal, she taught me each step of being able to achieve what I wanted without ever being overwhelmed. I now pass on what I've learnt to anyone (who'll listen 😂) who is struggling with their home and say you must watch or read Dana K White! Thank you for all your videos I couldn't have done it without you X

I can appreciate the getting rid of things a little at a time. I try to make a donate bag every couple of weeks. I have put things on sale and they not move and got tired of looking at them and donated them. I even had been holding onto some glasses I had loved, but didn't use often. They weren't big enough and didn't get utilized. I donated them, when I no longer felt the attachment to them. And I haven't missed them. I love the concept of "getting to able". The quickest ways to frustrate me is to have to fight to get something out of a cabinet or playing Jenga with stuff.

Minimalism really appeals to me but for years of following minimalist I never got close until finding and using this method which has got me so much closer.

Absolutely love you, Dana, and your approach. It's helped me AND my family. I'm so glad you're getting rid of those red dishes! Someone said to me once that I should never keep anything in my house that makes me feel bad about myself (clothes, mistaken purchases, etc.) Although you didn't say it, I get the feeling those red dishes may have been doing that to you. Well Done for removing them from your life!

Reid is the reason I make it to the very end of the video every single time! The cherry on top!

Dana I love you. In the beginning of my decluttering journey I ran from one person to another on youtube all with "the way" to get rid of my stuff. These are all wonderful people I still follow. But I have found, when I am down in the very cluttered trenches of my home, your method is THE ONE that helps me make the biggest difference. Progress! Thank you so much!❤

I love thinking of it as inventory, i do not want to manage all this anymore!

I love Reid’s comments at the end of the videos.

The Container Concept is genius. It works wonderfully for me. Sometimes you ramble, but that's okay... I love you!

Reid, your mom is so lucky to have you, and you are so lucky to have such a loving mom!

I am trying to deprogram myself from the "all or nothing" mentality. Therapy has helped me learn that I am actually a "perfectionist". Why bother starting, if I know I don't have time for things to be perfect. I am really focusing on being ok with working for a half hour or an hour, and feeling good about that, instead of beating myself up at not making more progress. I realize that I DID make progress, which is better than no progress at all. Thank you, Dana!

"Correct me if I'm wrong - and I know that you will - " 😁

I don’t aspire to minimalism, I enjoy my pretty stuff everywhere. I appreciate the zen aesthetic of minimalist homes. It’s just not for me. Do I need to declutter? Absolutely!

I relate so hard to that dishes story. You made me cry Dana. The mom I wanted to be.... and then my real 'flying by the seat of my pants, crazy, ditsy' life. It's still good and my kids don't know any different, but I still cry a little for that other mom. I wanted to be her so bad. Goodbye red dishes.

When i first started decluttering I chose the Kon-Mari method on clothes. Huge mistake as I wound up with a big mess for a long while along with frustration and quit for a while. Then started just occ. plucking things off shelves, elsewear randomly to donate. It took a while and I'm the only one that saw a difference but it was real. That allowed me to move on to drawers, entire shelves, and closets. The no mess method and the container concept is a huge help. I now know where all the tape and batteries are because they are not here and there. I don't think I'll ever be minimal so I'm striving for essenitalism and order for now and there is a huge difference lately. Less wasted time looking for things,picking up, and cleaning. The no mess method and the container concept rule!

Get to-ably & Use-ably!! ❤️

I love Dana & I love the credits,

Yes! The container concept is what has helped me most in my decluttering. I have to make the decision between items and which ones are worthy of the space I have. Thank you for everything, you have helped me change my life and house!

First, I am not a minimalist. When I came across your channel, I was in the process of determining what to keep from handling multiple estates. Your concept has helped me immensely. Thank you for continuing to share .

The lady who is making the progress in her every aspect of life wheather it's mental clutter or physical clutter wants to thank you for your valuable content you really don't know how much it help me to transform my life thank you so much

I went pretty extreme for a short bit in 202 and got rid of things I very much regretted and could not replace and for the feeling of having less. Now I’m doing to again but want balance. This video was nice 👍 thank you. Oh I can so relate to the all or nothing thinking! What overwhelms me about decluttering is all of the questions I have to ask myself about every single item. The space I have is helpful but one can stack 😂

Oh. My. Goodness. This is what i needed to hear. I just want to fit into the space I have. Someone will love getting those red dishes!

Getting rid of the items that belong to the person you thought you were going to be is rough. Ive been struggling with some items lately that have went unused for years.

Loved your explanation of minimalism and giving us permission to not put pressure on ourselves at this stage. Anyone can become a minimalist at any time they choose to, however, if it makes them not even start to declutter then it's not for that person or it's just not time yet. Alot of us also watch you when you group together with Cas from Clutterbug and Dawn, the Minimal Mom, which shows how all 3 of you can embrace your own method and lend credit to the other's strong points as well. Like a recipe with perfect ingredients, you give the A, B, Cs and the 1, 2, 3 steps of how to even start, which is more then 1/2 the battle for some, with others it's moving past the messy middle and then the rest of us, needs a kick to finish and never give of ground gained! thanks Dana, for all you do and for who you are!!! God bless you and your family.

Great video and I love Reid’s credits at the end 😂

I thought your video was great because I look at minimalism and think how am I going to get there. So maybe not worrying about that right now is just where I currently am, so I will just keep decluttering the things I can.

You are awesome! I'm overwhelmed and can't even get to the place I'm declittered

"I can keep anything, but I can't keep everything."

I can only say Thank You!

I would totally turn around and run into that cabinet door. 😂

I progressed from cleaning and organising to decluttering amd eventually to minimalism and have fallen back in love with my home

Great editor comments Reid!

I love that you are answering this. Sometimes too much focus is put on minimalism IMO as it will supposedly solve all your messy person probs. Thx for all you do! ❤

All minimalism is is marrying your values and possessions so they are in alignment. You're externalizing your core changes. It's self work. The social media cookie cutter perfection pressure can be bad for people's mental health. If you look at it as a journey of self work it's an awesome tool. You choose your values.

I loved your answer. I am not and never will be a minimalist. I love my stuff. Do I have a minimalist wardrobe, yes, but I don’t care about clothes beyond function. Can I get rid of most tchotchkes, even if they were gifts, yes to that. But I love my books and my craft/art supplies and will get rid of tons of other stuff in order to fill my container/house with the things I love. I am currently decluttering again after a period where I was too overwhelmed with life to keep things from creeping back in. So look at my thousands of books and laugh at the idea of me as a minimalist, but decluttering actually lets me have more of the things I love. And yes, I do re read my books or use them for reference.

I read something recently that said we either keep stuff on a fear basis, or hope. Fear that we will loose it forever. Or hope - that this item is part of the person we hope to be, but how much guilt that item echos every time we see it. The size down clothes. The saved baby items. The holiday brochures. The 20 plates for hosting. The gardening or craft supplies. This video sums that up beautifully ✨

I prefer essentialism.... It is what I need. I have five bags worth of stuff that needs to be gone. Decluttering is a constant thing for me. Decluttering is totally different from minimalism.

Those red dishes are a great idea but they are somebody else’s tradition not yours. Great idea to let them go. You’ve carried an unrealistic expectation and guilt for not doing it for way too long! Thanks for another awesome video!

Dana, I realize you are the gift I need to declutter my confusion of thought & cluelessness & disfunctional housekeeping. I am especially touched by your serious voice explaining your growth process...though the humor in your writing was delightful & helpful. I agree with those who recognize you focus on clarifying thoughts over videos of decluttering. I SO related to the 3 visual layers of mess! Those separate layers just released me from perpetual guilt & shame! All this is my response to several posts after I finally subscribed!

Reid - you're doing great 👍🥰❤️🙏

I think, you are the best on KZfaq. Thank you for mothering all of us out here.....❤

Your humor is just such a delight. Thank you for another lovely video and explanation with *all* the words that I love so much!

The EXAMPLE of the red dishes is extremely valuable. Thank you. It reminds me of the wood scraps I am decluttering today because I used to have space (shed) to store them for future spontaneous building needs. Now I want that space at the new rental house to be used for socializing (carport). I can buy a couple piece of wood if I suddenly want to build a little shelf or something (1% of the time) and the space will be free 100% of the time for a nicer purpose.

What a touching story. It's so hard to part with things like gifts given with specific sentiments like that! Maybe have a big family dinner to celebrate whatever each person is proud of, use the dishes, get a photo of the family around the dinner table, then donate. You'll have not only the memory of the beloved gift and its sentiment, but a great family memory as well.

Wow, I love your story about the red dishes. Letting go when you are ready to, b/c you also had the space to remember their meaning along the way

I can so much relate to what you are saying, it’s like you’re in my ADHD brain! Please keep saying all these things over and over, you are helping people so much. I struggle so much with these concepts. I pretty much stopped watching Dawn, even though she is so great, I just don’t think I can ever have a closet with 5 tops, or whatever. It makes me feel like a failure, which, looking around my house, could totally be corroborated! I think I’m ready to start getting rid of things, I just need to start small. Thank you so much!

So helpful

If you give away or sell sentimental items, take picture of sentimental things so you have it with you always. Put it in an album or scrapbook so you can go back and tell stories to your children and loved ones.

I'm going for curated and not minimalism. I want to have variety creativity and enjoy my things. I grew up and lived 1/2 of my life with very little. Just not that much fun. So the container concept and clutter threshold are great ideas. I hope some day to achive and maintain that. I apologize to the minimalist, I can't embrace, for myself that mode of living.

It's your videos like this that have made you my very favorite person to refer to and refer others to when it comes to getting a house under control. I'm not, nor will I ever be a minimalist, but I like my home to be orderly. Favorite lesson...each item I make a decision about, using container concept is progress. It's what keeps me going, sorting, donating, finding a home for. Thank you so very much!

Thank you so much… ❤❤❤

Correct me if I'm wrong,....and I know you will😂😂😂 Girl, you crack me up! I want you to come over for coffee and hang out! Love your videos! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom 🙏

Reid is forgiven. I did wonder about it. Thanks for another great video Dana!

You're cute Dana! Love your sarcasm and honesty!! ❤

Thank you 🙏🏻 ❤

Had to stay to the end to see what Reid said about the red dishes, he did not disappoint. But I would have watched to the end because I love what Dana has to say about getting rid of stuff and keeping your house under control. Thank you so much for your very down to earth processes to a better home.

Dana…. You are truly the light at the end of my tunnel! For those of us who can 100% relate to what you’re saying especially the part of being overwhelmed and going thru pure panic with the idea of decluttering and letting go of stuff - you’re THE ONLY one who gave me hope (and made sense) that I can finally “declutter” and still be okay even if it’s done “imperfectly.” And I’ve listened to so many people in YT who had talked about this similar topic. Thank you for making sense of it all for so many of us with such a mindset. As you’ve said, progress and not completion is what counts in this journey.

You are my favorite. I love your videos. You get me! I make it better daily.

IMHO, minimalism is an attitude that leads to a process, that human beings with all of our individual needs, timing, and emotional responses, imperfectly engage in to let go of things that don't help us and reduce acquiring things that will become a problem. The purpose of minimalism is to have a more peaceful life. It's like anti-excess. I've also heard it called enoughness. And essentialism - which I take to mean what is essential for one's wellbeing, including emotional wellbeing, not just continued physical survival in the short term. :-) I've probably got 20,000 unnecessary items in my apartment that I haven't gotten around to decluttering, and I seem stuck lately, unable to let things go, but I wholehearted identify as a minimalist. Engaging in minimalism has made my life so much easier. I have a functioning kitchen! Yay! I can clean my bathroom anytime I decide to and have the spoons for it. Yay! My living room and bedroom, not so much. Yet. Maybe next year, or the year after that. And labels are tricky - it's clear you've got some association with the word "minimalist" that makes you feel uncomfortable. It's a human tendency to look at other people who claim a particular identity and find something about them that seems different from ourselves, and say I'm not like that person in that one way, and I don't WANT to be like that, so I must not be x. So I'm curious what it is about the word minimalist that sets you on edge?

Yes those dishes are in your blog in the first year, just read it this week! I recognized them in the thumbnail immediately. It’s a lovely tradition ❤ my immediate thought was that I would probably never remember to get them out

Well Your Methods Absolutely Work foe Me !!!🙂🙂🙂

Oh Dana, I so enjoy you. You make perfect sense to me, and I love your real faces you make, I smile each time. I feel so relaxed watching you, and get pleasantly inspired to just pick a couple of things off my desk to clean up my sight line as I watch you. Thank you!

Such a good explanation. Thanks Dana. Thanks for the hope.

LOL - "The Red Dish Syndrome" is exactly my problem. I can organize stuff well enough, but the idea of decluttering was what I needed to learn because I am not a minimalist either. I have been following you, Minimalist Mom & Clutterbug for over a year and it took about 1/2 of that time to finally get the hang of it. I love my stuff but I want my house to be tidy too cause my stuff looks better when it is and makes me happy instead of stressed which was where I was at when I started. Thanks! This week's task is to repot my plants which were so rootbound they were dying! Plus it gets me outside...and the side benefit was that I was able to reorganize my garage storage cabinets and throw out a BUNCH of junk.