Unfuck Your Habitat: Archive

Unfuck Your Habitat

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February 2012

309 posts

Volcanos and Bacon and Me

girlunlocked: Two hours later: Not shown: living room and dining room, equally unfucked! Then I put the chicken we had for dinner last night in the stock pot with some onions, hard chorizo, and apples so that I could have amazing stock for all my cooking needs. Chuffed with victory, I decided to take Unfuck Your Habitat’s advice and go after our kitchen floor with VINEGAR. Our floor is...

zazzytazo asked: Okay, sorry for asking something so basic, but I tried looking through all your pages and I couldn't find the answer, so - what exactly is this 20/10s and 45/15s thing?

dorkusmajorkus asked: I think I'm going to apply your awesome 20/10 method to my homework. I'm the worst kind of college student, I procrastinate on my homework, then do it all in a fit of stress and rage. I manage to carry a pretty good GPA so I'm not really learning from my mistakes. At some point it's probably going to blow up in my face (grad school most likely).

edman: Sooooo much is being unfucked tonight. Like, my kitchen will look great and organized for the first time in six months. 20/10s really do work! It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about! Hee. Just kidding.

Unfuck tomorrow morning!

It may be a pain in the ass now, but you’ll be praising your own genius in the a.m.

kittenherder asked: My own tip: For cleaning between stove and cabinet, I try to save those bits of hard plastic strapping that some packages come with. I've used some to knock the crumb bits out onto the kitchen floor. If the gap is wide enough, I will wrap the straps with two-sided tape to get more stubborn bits.

paper-and-water asked: I just started following you this evening, and already I'm getting inspired. We're moving across the city in two days, so we're in the process of packing and the apartment looks like it exploded. Neither my roommate nor I are the most organized people, past my CDs and DVDs which I'm OCD about keeping in order, but I'm hoping that this will kick at least me into gear with...

m00ndog asked: It's monday at 515. i have until friday at 8 to get my house spotless. best advice for a full residential cleanup? I'm a 21 year old bachelor. you can imagine the state of the place, there's a party every weekend. I need some motivation!

thelearnedcat asked: Honestly, I just want to thank you so much for what you've done, which has got me doing it and blogging about it and realizing just how many of us don't know how to do this stuff. You have been a force of major awesomeness and inspiration and change in my world, and I'm so grateful for the presence of you.

mariatatuada asked: Any tips on unfucking laptop screens? Try as I might, I can't convince the family to keep their damned fingers off my screen (IT'S NOT A TOUCHSCREEN, DAMMIT!), and I'm very, very neurotic about fingerprints. I'm afraid of damaging the screen material with chemicals or even vinegar, but just using water and a microfibre cloth (as I have been advised before) never seems to...

supposedcat: No excuses, no adorable Husbandthing in it. Bed’s made. Reblogged for tags.

agnisdaughter: unfuckyourhabitat: And please, just ONE day without excuses? Please? Here’s a thought, folks. If you absolutely, positively feel like you have to make excuses for Failure to Unfuck, perhaps just fail to tag them as well. That way only you and your loyals have to see them. Or just tag them “boring”. I know the excuses are tempting, but they are not in the spirit of the thing. ...

betweentheworlds asked: I have a question about making beds. I totally understand the reason behind it and what not. But, I sleep on the top of a bunk bed and get up and leave before my roommates. Do you have any suggestions for "making" a top bunk with limited noise and in a way that I don't have to stand inches from my sleeping roommate?

triskelmoon asked: I wanted to say thank you for liking my posts on UnFucking! I have found myself fighting AvoidanceBeast and one of the things that is helping is that if I post about something I did, maybe UfYH will like it. That means she read it! I want to make her proud! GO GO GO.Yay for positive reinforcement! More exclamation points!!!

mariatatuada replied to your post: Make your bed! I just want to let you know that I have been making my bed every day, even on a pain day (since my wake-up is different from y’all’s I can’t check in at the same time). Thanks for prodding me to greatness. AND SHE’S IN A DIFFERENT TIME ZONE. ONE ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE WORLD, IN FACT. Want to know how many excuses I’ve heard from...

derpstalker replied to your post: Make your bed! Is, “It’s 11:07PM” an excuse? Yup. Note: UfYH runs on Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5). If you live in a different time zone, challenges may appear at the wrong time of day for you. Rather than gleefully gloating that you can’t do the challenge because it’s not the right time of day (and why are all of you gloaters so gleeful, anyway? I’m well...

And please, just ONE day without excuses? Please?

Bathroom and Coffee Corner: Unfracked!

jmbauhaus: The Great Bathroom Unfrackination is complete, y’all, and it is glorious. I can’t even remember the last time my whole bathroom has been this clean from top to bottom. I’d even be proud to let my mom do her business in there. I don’t have any (more) pics and I’ll spare the details, since all of the exciting stuff already got blogged. But today I took care of the floor and baseboards...

Unfucking an art shelf

teabq: I try to be organized but every so often there are the places that get defined as being cluttered and therefore “used” even if what’s cluttering them is of no use to me. Case in point: The top shelf is covered in dust and all kinds of items that were put up there for the sake of putting them somewhere. The shelf below it is one that I designated for my pastels, ergo the boxes of...

Accidental Press-Ganging

agnisdaughter: Interesting development: Without being nagged, without me even mentioning it, The Husband and The Son take small measures not to fuck what I have unfucked. For instance, even though food is consumed after I have cleaned the kitchen in the evening, I still wake to an empty sink. I think I shall bake them cookies. They can be taught!

tamlane asked: Declogging the drain. How do I do this outside of buying some sort of liquid plumber stuff that seems really... scary and possibly bad for my pipes? I've tried baking soda and VINEGAR to little effect. :/

barbryallen asked: I keep white vinegar on next to my washer to throw in with particularly smelly clothes. I found a new use for it yesterday! It works great for cleaning out smelly cat boxes. The combo of cat urine and vinegar smell oddly like old man BO, but it works great and dries really fast! Just pour, swish, drain and wipe.

It's Sunday night!

Which means it’s time to make Monday morning you love right now you. Unfuck tomorrow morning. Start your week in a less chaotic way.

burningvegan asked: I had a problem similar to wailingbeansidhe's, and I found spraying the area with hot water and vinegar, letting it sit for a few minutes, and then using elbow grease and a heavy-duty sponge took care of it. It might take a few cycles, but it works.

alkalinity asked: What does your own habitat look like?

mustamuseme asked: Dear UFYH, This weekend I not ony made my bed for the first time in 3 months, I also washed my sheets and flipped my mattress all by myself!

kayburg asked: I've made my bed four days in a row, and I never ever make my bed. UFYH you are amazing :) LOL

darlingdyad asked: you are really really great! thank you so much.

shadowsculptor asked: As a thirty-something freelance artist working out of the home, this site has been the kick in the pants that I needed to start getting my shit sorted. I am a chronic slob like you wouldn't believe. I've been this way all my life. I've realized, though, that the environment you're in DOES have a tremendous impact on every aspect of your life, especially when it's a...

wailingbeansidhe asked: Do you have any advice for removing the layer of greasy dust that has settled on the tops of my kitchen cabinets? It's unfinished wood, and no matter what kind of solvent I try, all that cemented-on gunk just makes sponges and paper towels pill and crumble if I try to wipe it away. Please help! It's disgusting!

dannyfinn asked: Jars of change are taking over my house. I am overwhelmed on how to deal with this amount of change. Should i invest in a change sorter? help please

omshantikate asked: Got up this morning and made my bed. Then I babysat my 18-month-old nephew for an hour or two, so I hadda remake my bed. Discovered cat puke on the quilt, so that's gonna go in the wash, and then you know what? I'm gonna make my bed. LIKE A BOSS.

omgpurplefattie asked: 'Unfucking' my habitat by a 20/10 or 45/15 at a time instead of 'cleaning ALL THE THINGS' is making all the difference! I just unfucked my bathtub with vinegar cleaner in a spray bottle, easy as pie, even the gunk line from my oily bath bombs is entirely gone, and I kept only the products that I am really using! I'm now on the '15' part of the 45/15 it's...

vinegarfairy asked: Just spent 3 hours cleaning up after a massive 27-30 person party. Did all the dishes, washing all the tablecloths +dishcloths, picked up cigarette butts...even unclogged the drain using vinegar and baking soda. Wish I had taken photos, it was pretty epic!

cherrispryteaintsobrite asked: My entire apartment is the cleanest it's been in FOREVER (seriously, last time things were this good, it was because my parents were visiting) and I believe this is all your fault. I HOPE YOU'RE PROUD OF YOURSELF!

jumblejo asked: I really, really wanted to reply to that unfucked beads post with that Gob/Lindsay gif about bees/beads. /irrelevant.

Beads: Unfucked

agnisdaughter: Right. We went by Micheal’s (the craft store) today, so I had some help picking what I was going to do today. I purchased a couple of items I would need - which I will get to in a bit - and very pointedly did not buy more beads. This was actually step one in the unfuckery; I have a hard time resisting beads. My bead storage, as it began the day: Lovely, yes? It gets better. ...

fireundermyfeathers: Two and a half hours and I OWNED this fucker. to: That’s right, the vacuum deserves some credit. That rug on the floor there was unbelievably filthy. New plan: vacuum it every Friday. The Boyfriend (I call him A. in my real life journal, so he shall henceforth be A. here too) will get in on this too. Slacker—I’ve been at him for WEEKS to wash the bathroom floor...

daleksandhallows asked: Oh god magic erasers are a gift from god. I got sharpie off of a wall with one once. Gr8 for cleaning converse too.

valeyikes asked: Tips for cleaning a really nasty toilet bowl?

feminerdism asked: This morning I unfucked both bathrooms. But was that enough for this bad-ass? Hell no! While the boyfriend mounted the knife and spoon racks (Christmas gifts) in the kitchen, I unfucked the tool box, the junk drawer, and the random box of crap we didn't know what to do with. LIKE A COUPLA BOSSES. Boyfriend is new to unfucking, but after today's huge success, I think he's a convert....

daggerpen asked: So, I've noticed that my laptop and auxiliary devices (e.g., mouse and keyboard) are getting somewhat filthy (food splatters, etc.), but I'm hesitant to clean them b/c I know that water and electronics do not mix. What's the best way to clean & sterilize them?

unfucking my tea

thelefthandedwifeinhiding: ok so it could be said that my mom/aunt/I are a bunch of tea freaks. I forgot to get a before picture, but just imagine all of this crammed into about a 2.5’x1’x1’ space. I sorted by type and consolidated them into sandwich bags to get rid of extra boxes, then put them back in the tiny space. tea: unfucked.

omshantikate asked: I WILL HAVE YOU KNOW that after reading this blog for LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS that I have MADE MY BED for the first time in probably FIFTEEN YEARS YO. My cats are looking at me like I've grown another head. WHAT IS THIS FLAT BLANKET THING MOM. WHAT.

jmbauhaus asked: I saw something on Pinterest about how to make a DIY zip-it from a plastic bottle. I can't link it but searching "Plastic Pop Bottle Drain De-clogger" should bring it up. No idea how well it actually works, though.

blueandbluer replied to your post: If drains are clogged, a Zip-It is both incredibly effective and doesn’t involve any chemicals. What is a “zip it?” http://zipitclean.com/

fireundermyfeathers asked: You really push making your bed and, as someone who hasn't made her bed for... well, years, except very occasionally, I don't really get it. Why? I get up, I leave the boy sleeping there (thus making it hard for me to make it when he's all using the covers to be cozy), and I don't return to the bedroom until I'm ready for bed, by which time I am too tired to care if...