Today's challenge: Clutter oubliettes

Take one box/bag/basket/etc. that's filled with random stuff and has been untouched for months/years/since the dawn of time and either find a home* for each item or get rid of it. These clutter oubliettes take up a lot of physical and mental space.

(*If things don't have a home, you either don't have enough storage for the amount of stuff you have, or your current storage isn't meeting your needs. This can start to be fixed with more/better storage or less stuff.)

Let's talk about clean laundry.

Where's yours? In a basket? Still in the dryer, days later? Making up the bulk of your floordrobe*?

Try tackling it just a couple of pieces at a time. If you put 5 things away a few times a day, it'll get done. It doesn't have to be all at once.

(*chairdrobe/couchdrobe/ellipticaldrobe/tabledrobe/etc.)

Four minutes, six and a half seconds. That’s how long it took me to empty the dishwasher just now. Think about the day-to-day tasks you put off because they seem like too much of a time investment. Do you have actual data for how long they take you?

Today’s challenge: time yourself while doing a hated routine household task (putting away a load of laundry, vacuuming, doing the dishes, etc.). It’ll give you a real, proven reference point for how long you actually need to invest in that task, as opposed to how long your brain is telling you it’ll take. Do with that information what you will.

Let me know in the replies if you surprised yourself or if your original guess was accurate!

I’m curious — what cleaning/housekeeping/organizational tasks do you struggle with because you don’t know how to do them? What things do you get stuck on because you never learned the steps? What would you do more of if you knew a better or easier way to do it (or a way to do it that better accommodated your neurodiversity/disability/other life stuff)?

I’ve been doing this for so long that I’m interested to see if there’s been a shift with all of that since I started out, and also to find out where I can focus my efforts in getting more resources out there.

Talk to me. What household shit has you confused and overwhelmed? (Yes, “everything,” I know, but I’m looking for specifics here.)

Today I emptied the dishwasher within an hour of it finishing, and I put two loads of laundry away right out of the dryer, so I basically win at life right now. January is often a tough mental health month, so I’ll take the victories where I can get them.

What’s your tiny victory around the house today?*

*Don’t have one yet? Set yourself up for an easy win with one task you can tolerate that only takes a minute or two.

Are you existing in a depression nest right now?

Checking in on my depression nest buddies out there. If you're currently burrito-ed in bed or peeking out of the blankets like a couch goblin, keeping up with the mess is probably the last thing you want to do. However, if you can muster up a tiny bit of energy for a few minutes, taking care of your immediate environment or yourself a little really can make such a difference. Can you try one, part of one, or more than one of these?

If you can only do one or a small part of one, that's great! Every little bit helps you get through and makes things easier on yourself once you're coming out of it. Be kind to yourself and remember that taking care of yourself is important and worthwhile.

Half-assing it is fine

I want to touch on this idea that housework only counts if it's done the "right way," which is almost always the hard way. Like, if you only do part of the task or if you take shortcuts or use convenience items, it's somehow not valid? That's bullshit! The hard way is not inherently more virtuous! There's no moral victory in only doing something in a very specific, difficult way. Half-ass it! Do part of it! Get it done whatever way works for you.

Do five minutes and then give up for a while! Bribe yourself! Any little bit you do, however you do it, is good. Try to stop feeling guilt and shame about it and start figuring out what will work in your life as you're currently living it.

There are so many reasons people may not be able to clean how they've been taught is the "right" (hard) way. Disability, neurodivergence, lack of time, never learned how, associated trauma, etc. There is not a single thing wrong with finding the way that works for you and doing that.

Did I just get the tumblr blue checkmarks because it's objectively hilarious and all my friends are doing it? Yes, absolutely. My twitter blue check is basically worthless and sort of embarrassing now (although it has been quite helpful for dealing with imposter accounts) but this is the good sort of chaos and I love it.

I absolutely appreciate the tumblr community being protective of this space with the implosion of twitter, but there's something pretty comforting about being back, so I'm unapologetically sticking around. Go do some dishes if you're mad about it.

Oh, hey all! I just learned that there are other tumblrs using the name Unfuck Your Habitat, I guess? This one here is the official one, like, the one with the registered trademark on the name.

It’s probably also a good time to mention that any “Unfuck Your _____” books out there are completely unaffiliated. I only write Unfuck Your Habitat stuff, and I’m the only one who does.

Endlessly scrolling and so overwhelmed by your mess that you don't know where to start? Find ten things within sight that aren't where they belong* and put them away/dispose of them as needed. For better or worse, tumblr will still be here when you're done.

(*"But my stuff doesn't belong anywhere! That's the problem!" Now is a good time to find or make a home for something near where you use it or where you'd first look for it if you needed it. If there's no space to make homes for stuff, you have a "more stuff than storage" problem, and that has only two solutions: less stuff or more storage. Need your stuff to be out and visible? Try open storage like trays, clear containers, risers, spinning organizers, etc. You can have your stuff out where you can see it and still keep it organized.)

Has it been a while since you've seen Sink Zero?

If the stacks of dishes are overwhelming, remember you don't have to do them all at once. Even dealing with five dishes at a time will help get you there. Wash more dishes than you use and you'll eventually get caught up, even if it takes a while.

If you can't seem to catch up, consider using disposable dishware until the dish situation is back under control. There are plenty of environmentally friendly options these days if that's what's stopping you, and giving your brain a break from the ever-growing pile might help you chip away at it.

I'm curious: Tell me your biggest UfYH-related success in your life since I've been gone from tumblr.

Have you made hitting Sink Zero a regular thing?

Did you finally get your closet of doom under control?

Can you have someone over with little notice without a full meltdown?

Did you finally deal with that decade-old invisible corner?

No successes you can think of? Still struggling? Let me know what your biggest UfYH goal is. What would make you feel like you've got your mess under control? What's one thing you want to accomplish when it comes to your living environment?

Updated Emergency Cleaning List!

As thanks for the warm (and, at times, hilarious) welcome back, here's an updated, significantly less wordy version of my Emergency Cleaning list. The original will be a decade old in a few months, if you can believe it!

You may need to modify or adjust the steps on this list based on your own situation — it's meant as a general guideline for those who need a little help pushing past the "Where the hell am I supposed to start?" feeling. This is also not meant to be a comprehensive "How to clean your house properly and maintain it forever" guide. It's for those moments when you have to quickly half-ass it because someone is going to be in your space soon and it's a disaster. If you can close some doors and cut some steps from the list, even better. Definitely do that.

(This is one of many checklists and downloadables available on my Patreon, if you're into that sort of thing.)

Greetings, Unfuckers!

Let's go ahead and get it out of the way: Yeah, yeah, I'm one of those assholes dipping their toes back into tumblr after an extended time away. I'm hoping you'll show some mercy due to my many previous years of service here and the fact that this is UfYH's original home.

Also! This coming Monday is 11 years since UfYH started. ELEVEN YEARS. So hello to everyone who's been here since the beginning.

What's been going on in UfYH's world in the past few years? Some highlights:

I haven't decided yet where I'm going to go with UfYH on tumblr this time around. I'm gonna be honest, folks. Social media is wildly draining and not always great for my mental health. And constantly creating content (ugh, I hate it, but that's the most accurate word) is exhausting.

But! I think a similar approach to what I've been doing on Twitter might work here — sending out random small challenges with an occasional meandering monologue on my cleaning philosophy or whatever. I'm probably not going to resume scheduled reminders or reblog a ton of before and afters, mainly because that's all really time-consuming and involved.

Anyway, I'm reminded that one way tumblr is great for me is that I can post these ramblings and don't have to create a graphic or plot stuff out a month in advance. The most I can promise is that we'll see how it goes, but, well, isn't that kind of what UfYH is about anyway?