Author Archives: Dana White

About Dana White

Dana White blogs daily as "Nony" (short for aNONYmous) at A Slob Comes Clean. She tells the completely honest (and never-ending) story of her personal deslobification journey. As she finds ways to keep her house in order, she shares cleaning and organizing strategies that work in real life. And she's funny.

Three Resolutions You Can Cross Off Your List Today

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Honestly, I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions anymore. What seems like a great idea on December 30th (when real life is on pause for a week) often loses its do-ability around the sixth of January.

Or sooner.

But I love the time of reflection and resolve that naturally occurs with the beginning of a new year. As I think about what I want to do differently, it helps to focus on things that I can put into motion right away.

Things I can put in place while life is slow that will change how we live when it speeds back up.

Resolutions/Goals/Whatever-You-Want-to-Call-Them

#1: Be More Hospitable

This one is always on my list. We’re social people, energized by connections with friends. But life gets going, the house gets “lived in” and too much time passes without bringing others into our home. There is one thing, however, that is guaranteed to light my fire, get the house clean, and ensure there’s a hot meal ready to serve.

A doorbell.

If I know the time when my doorbell will ring, things happen. Friends come over, we laugh, and I’m always glad I went through whatever it took to be willing to open my front door.

So what can do today that will make all this happen? Look at my calendar and pick up my phone. It takes five minutes to text (or even call!) two or three of those people we’ve been meaning to have over for dinner. Mark down some dates, and this resolution is well on its way to being met.

#2: Be a Fun Mom

I love it when my kids get crafty. I just don’t love it when their bursts of creativity happen in a moment when we don’t have time to unearth the stack of recycled paper or the package of popsicle sticks I know I stuffed somewhere.

Filling a kid-accessible shelf with scissors, markers, glue and duct tape means my kids know just where to go when inspiration strikes. (It also creates a home for those random items.)

An hour of fun-and-focused supply-gathering today means hours of spontaneous creativity can happen in the future.

#3: Feed My Family Home-Cooked Meals

Oh, the guilt that creeps into my Mommy Soul when life gets crazy and the drive thru starts to feel way too familiar. I’m passionate about eating together as a family every night, but sometimes gymnastics and baseball and church activities combine to make it almost impossible to spend any leisurely time in the kitchen.

I’ve found my own version of freezer cooking to be the solution that allows me to get home-cooked meals on the table in minutes. We aren’t casserole-a-holics around our house, but if I will take an hour or three to brown a jumbo pack of ground beef or bake two cookie-sheets full of chicken breasts, future meal-prep is significantly simpler. Once the meat has cooled, I bag it in meal-sized portions to freeze. This lets me skip the time-consuming and messy step of cooking the meat for most meals.

A few hours (or less) of work today, and my big, daunting resolutions seem significantly more realistic. What resolutions can you check off your list today?

The Hospitality Blues

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What happens when you hear the word hospitality?

Do you feel warm and fuzzy inside? Can you picture yourself curled up on the couch with a hot cup of coffee, laughing with friends in front of a fire?

Or do you panic?

Do you feel the pressure of unreachable expectations? Do you resent the cold weather that means you can’t suggest celebrating Thanksgiving at the park?

This time of year brings natural opportunities to host others in my home. I used to have big dreams of being the hostess with the mostest who threw big shindigs at every opportunity. I gathered ideas for decorating and entertaining. I imagined cooking all day and serving multiple courses to my guests.

I read the magazines. I watched the shows.

When my husband and I had our first home, I looked for opportunities to entertain. I would clean like a madwoman to get my messy house presentable, and then spend all my remaining energy (and money) creating a delicious (and complicated) meal.

When it was over, I was exhausted. Each party required weeks of my time and most of my energy.

And then I had kids. Suddenly, blocking out weeks of time to obsess over a party was not an option.

My hostessing became less frequent and eventually almost non-existent.

My heart longed to have people in my home, but I didn’t think I could.

And then I opened my big mouth (and my trembling heart) and volunteered our home for weekly small group meetings with our church. My husband looked at me with panic in his eyes.

Weekly. That meant every week. Like, every single week. He knew how crazy I got when I was expecting the doorbell to ring.

Four years later, I look back on that what-was-I-thinking moment as one of the best decisions I ever made.

My entire view of hospitality has changed. The relationships my husband and I have made with those in our small group have meant so much to us.

And that’s what it’s about. Relationships.

True hospitality isn’t about impressing people or creating the most gorgeous fall display. It’s not about serving bacon-wrapped shrimp or filet Mignon.

It’s about providing a place to be. A place to sit. A place to relax and let down your guard.

A place where people can be themselves and share their lives with one another.

There have been weeks over the past four years when I have served a meal and there have been weeks when I popped popcorn. There have also been times when friends stopped to pick up pizza because no one had time to cook.

There have been weeks when my sink was full of dishes that wouldn’t fit into the dishwasher because I got off my kitchen-cleaning rhythm over a crazy weekend. There have been times when people had to walk across newspapered floor to get through a half-painted entryway.

And no one minds. We’re all thankful just to be together. To have a place to be.

I rarely host the big events anymore. I prefer to host people.

How Many Sweaters Does One Woman Need?

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I am awesome at living on auto-pilot.

Sometimes it’s the good kind (emptying the dishwasher as soon as I get up in the morning), and sometimes . . . not so much.

Like when I’m standing in my closet and something soft and fuzzy falls on my head. I look up (after recovering from my small heart attack) to see that the teetering stack/pile of sweaters has finally tipped and fallen.

I think, “Where did I get all those sweaters?”

And I really don’t know the answer to my question.

Some were gifts, some were bargains, and some were hand-me-downs from well-meaning friends who lost or gained weight.

And then there are some that I’m pretty sure just appeared.

Really, I don’t understand how I collect so many sweaters. (Or sauce pans. Or children’s books. Or wooden spoons.)

So I look for natural bumps in my road.

Changing seasons are wonderful bumps. There’s nothing like walking out the door in short sleeves on the first chilly day of fall to help me break out of my auto-pilot reverie.

I love the motivation of a seasonal clothing changeover to help me declutter my closet.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t love it in a yay-oh-yay-another-excuse-to-ORGANIZE-something way. More of a how-in-the-world-did-I-end-up-with-all-these-sweaters way.

I have a few tricks I’ve come up with over the years that help me break through the angst that happens whenever it’s time to decide which sweaters stay and which ones go.

1. Only Keep What Fits . . . in the Drawer

This is such a simple concept, but it’s one that took me a long time to truly grasp.

I need limits. A drawer is a natural limit.

I fill the drawers with my favorites first. Once the drawer is full, my decision is made. It’s so much easier to part with the ones that won’t fit into the drawer because I have already prioritized them.

2. Only Keep What Fits . . . Me

I’m going to blame it on the years of pregnancies, but I tend to keep things that I’m pretty sure I might fit into again.

Someday.

When I’m at a weight that doesn’t feel like me, it’s hard to part with an item of clothing in the size I think I should be. But heading into a new season means that even if (IF) I started working out and eating right today, I probably wouldn’t fit back into it before the weather changed again.

And if it has already been a year or two since I wore it . . . it likely won’t be in style next fall.

3. Only Keep What Fits . . . My Personality

I lived for many years as the Dream Friend for people who wanted to clean out their homes.

Don’t need that fishing pole? Give it to Dana. Replaced your curtains? Give the old ones to Dana.

Right. I saw the “beauty” and “potential” in every random item other people didn’t want.

But as their homes cleared out, mine became more and more cluttered. As I switch out clothing for the new season, I pay extra attention to each item that I didn’t personally buy.

Do I love it? Do I actually wear it?

I used to keep hand-me-downs out of guilt. My friend had entrusted me with something that she wanted to have a good home!

Except that she didn’t want it in her home, so it couldn’t have been that special. I only have room (and mental energy) for the things that I love and can use in my home.

Do you use the changing season as an opportunity to declutter your wardrobe?

Heidi St. John

Speaking the Truth in Love