Donna Smallin > Quotes

“Once your home is ordered, you will feel more satisfied with yourself and at peace with the world. You’ll have more time to nurture yourself and the people you share your life with. Time to relax. Time to express yourself through the arts or to pursue a lifelong dream.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Once an item enters your possession, you are not obligated to hang on to it forever. Give yourself permission to let go and enjoy the sense of liberation that results.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Here’s an example of an affirmation you might use as you proceed toward your goal of uncluttering your home: “I am doing this out of love and respect for myself and my family.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Clutter is anything for which you have no use or need — everything from outgrown clothes to expired coupons. It’s stuff you don’t want anymore — things you bought too soon or held on to for too long. Uncluttering is the act of restoring balance to your life by eliminating these unimportant things — and doing it will free up time, energy, and space for the things that really matter.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“In assessing your situation, it helps to think of your home as a reflection of yourself — your interests, beliefs, and passions. What does your home tell others about you? Where there’s clutter, there’s confusion — not just in your home, but in your life.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Clutter takes the joy out of living. It’s frustrating when you can’t find what you’re looking for and maddening when things get ruined because they weren’t properly stored. These negative feelings create negative energy in your home — and in your life. Change your surroundings and you can change your life, according to proponents of feng shui, the Taoist art and science of living in harmony with the environment.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“We tend to develop emotional attachments to our belongings that make it difficult to give them up even when we no longer love them. So we keep holding on to stuff in this unhealthy relationship. Why? Because breaking up is hard to do!”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“What I have discovered is that it takes a certain amount of courage to let go of the bits and pieces of our lives that we no longer need. But letting go can set you free in body, mind, and spirit.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“In many cases, clutter develops from an instinct for self-preservation and feelings of insecurity. We surround ourselves with the familiarity of our stuff, blocking ourselves off from the people and possibilities that have the potential to create true happiness and security in our lives.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Change your surroundings and you can change your life. You might find that letting go of clutter is the start of a new you!”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Another reason clutter collects is indecisiveness or deferred decision making. This is especially true of perfectionists. Think about it: If you’re a perfectionist, you want to do everything just right — or not at all. So if you haven’t got the time to organize your filing cabinet, you put it off and keep putting it off.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Tackling all the housework yourself doesn’t do your children any favors.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Treat unwanted gifts like flowers. Yes, they express a sentiment you appreciate. No, that doesn’t mean you have to keep them forever. — Don Aslett”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“A large part of getting organized is learning to act from a place of self-esteem, knowing what we want and don’t want to do, knowing what we can and can’t do, and taking good care of ourselves. — Marilyn Paul”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Tackle a pile of papers. Start by flipping over the pile. Because the papers on the bottom are older, many are outdated, making it an easy decision to toss them. One by one, make a decision to either file it, act on it (for example, pay a bill), or toss it.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“The hard part of decluttering is having to make decision after decision about what to keep and what to toss. One way to make it easier is to create umbrella rules that you can apply to all items. “If you don’t love it or use it, lose it” is an example of an umbrella rule. “If you have duplicates of something, keep just one” is another.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“If the idea of going through your house deciding what to throw out is unnerving, think instead in terms of deciding what you’re going to keep. Keep those things you use or love and let go of the rest.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Never enter or leave a room without improving its appearance. Make every trip count. When you go to the basement, attic, garage, and up or down stairs, take something with you to put away.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Clutter serves no purpose; it just takes up valuable space in your home and creates unnecessary stress and extra work. Clutter is what you end up with when you have more stuff than you need.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Progress is the path to your goal. Sometimes that path is like a highway that you travel at top speed. Other times, it’s more like a scenic byway. Go where it leads you. Rest when you need to.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Declutter to the Power of 10 Choose to complete 10 small decluttering tasks a day every day without fail. Before you know it, chaos will give way to organization and you’ll have the confidence to tackle larger decluttering projects.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Material possessions demand our attention. They need to be put away, cleaned, maintained, and repaired. And the more possessions we have, the more time we need to spend caring for them.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“When you cling to things you don’t need or want anymore, you are holding on to negative energy. You are also acting, whether you realize it or not, from a belief that you don’t have enough. Donating those items to others sends positive energy into the world.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“If an item is Hot (used frequently, such as the remote to your television), find a spot where it’s handy to where you use it. If it’s Warm (used occasionally, such as a muffin tin), it’s okay if you have to cross the room for it or retrieve it from a lower cabinet. If it’s Cold (rarely needed, like last year’s tax return or your turkey roasting pan), store it on a high shelf or in the attic or basement.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Recognize that you are not the same person you were 10 years ago. Your interests, tastes, and styles have changed. Make a decision to keep only those things that are meaningful to you at this point in your life. That goes for gifts you’ve received, too.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“But if you can bring yourself to let go of the things you no longer love or use, you will gain more time and energy for living, loving, and celebrating life.”
― Donna Smallin, Unclutter Your Home: 7 Simple Steps, 700 Tips & Ideas

“Instead of removing everything from surfaces, move everything to the right to clean the left side, and vice versa.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Ask Yourself “Does this belong here?”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Instead of aiming for perfection, aim for speed.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life

“Do I still love or value this item?” If not, it’s time to let it go. Give that thing an opportunity to be loved by someone else. Give someone else a chance to love it. And give yourself the gift of giving.”
― Donna Smallin, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness: One-Minute Tips for Decluttering and Refreshing Your Home and Your Life