Night Crew Challenge: Trash Time!
Collect all the trash in your house. Take it out to where the trash goes.
DO IT. RIGHT FUCKING NOW.
December 2011
I have learned something about unfucking coursework - thanks to your original method - I can't do the 20/10 method. Some stuff requires deep reading and lots of cold, hard thinking. So, I have started this method - and aside from my inability to just understand the material - it's going well: 60 minutes of "Falling In" to the assignment followed by 45 minutes of new media - if I was on the computer, I walk away. If I was reading, I watch a movie. Repeat. Hope it helps!
Yes! I’m really interested to know what systems work for coursework, since it’s been mmmblmmph years since I’ve had to do anything for school.
This might be a stupid question, but when you say to put cleaner in the toilet before bed, does that mean so I can clean the toilet in the morning? Or is the cleaner just to fight off dirtiness with little effort?
Yes! To both! Dump a little cleaner in before bed (and with caution if you have animals, kids, or clumsy adults), and then give it a quick scrub and a flush in the morning.
It's Wednesday night! Time to unfuck Thursday morning!
You know what this means:
- Get your outfit ready. Accessories, too.
- Coffee/tea/breakfast stuff all set up.
- Find your keys. Put them in the most obvious place.
- Wash whatever dishes are in your sink.
- DANCE PARTY! I’m rocking out to some Destiny’s Child right now SHUT UP DON’T JUDGE ME.
- Wash your face and brush your teeth.
- Pour a little cleaner in that toilet. I know you skipped this step a few times.
Dear Unfuck Your Habitat,
Thank you. I know you aren’t telling us anything new (clean yo’ house before you treat yo’self, damnit!), but you inspired a movement and you inspired us. You have taken time out of your very busy schedule to show us that keeping things a little more organized and a little cleaner is not only possible, but easy. You have made us hold ourselves accountable and have shown us that the Tumblr community is there to support our successes, no matter how small. Thank you for the ideas. Thank you for the gifs. Thank you for the motivation!
Here’s some gifs for you!
Love,
angellyfish and the rest of our little circle
(You’re awesome!)
(Thanks for always keeping us motivated!)
(replace that with “Behold the Glory that is YOU!”)
I AM FOR REAL LEGIT CRYING RIGHT NOW.
SERIOUSLY.
STFU Sexists: Officially Unfucked.
So I just spent two days going through my Tumblr inbox, sorting through, responding to, and deleting messages that had backlogged back to probably December of last year. And I’m proud to present to you the result:
NO MESSAGES. Not even a slot for messages because there are NONE!
HOLY SHITBALLS. ZERO. ZERO MESSAGES.
I just discovered this blog and it's great because I seriously need to unfuck various aspects of my life! I've been looking through a few pages of posts but I haven't been able to figure out what 20/10s are. Help?
20/10s are my incredibly lazy way of saying to do 20 minutes of hard work followed by a 10-minute break. Some people think that’s too high of a work to break ratio, but I know lazy people. I am a lazy person. That reward needs to be within reach, and it needs to be substantial.
Not to mention, four hour cleaning sprees are satisfying and all, but you NEVER want to do them again. 20 minutes is doable on a regular basis.
Today I managed to unfuck my vanity and work on unfucking my computer table! Thank you for the motivation!
This blog has helped me out so much! I wound up unexpectedly moving out at the end of this month and used your blog and the 20/10 method to keep me motivated and sane. Thank you so much!!
For paper advice, 20/10s is def great but also TAKE NOTES! Get sources and make sure you mark page numbers! When it comes to actually writing the paper, it will fly out of you. My research was about five hours but the paper is getting done in only 1. For reference, I am an upper division college student in case this frightens any HS students. Now, I do have a qs for you. I have an entire fucked up room. The ENTIRE thing is fucked. Should I go in sections? Put stuff in a box and move it outside?
Good paper advice!
As far as the room goes, sections are the way to go. Start in one section (I’m partial to flat surfaces, followed by things under that surface, like a dresser top and then the drawers), and work on it, remembering your breaks, until it’s done. Also, I’m a fan of doing the worst, most dreaded part first.
Night Crew Challenge: How's Your Stovetop? Gross?
Take five minutes and wipe it down and de-scuzz it. Take an extra two minutes and Windex the front of your oven and the part of the drawer that always collects grime.
BONUS CHALLENGE: De-grease your vent hood. Vinegar works well for this, as does a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. (Mr. Clean should pay me for endorsing those things. They really are fucking magic.)
Morning Unfucking
I woke up this morning with a lingering headache from an eye ache last night. I knew I wasn’t up to my therapy appointment, so decided to cancel it and use the time I already had off work to ease into the morning.
After pilling up and showering, I felt better a bit better, so I decided to use the opportunity to do a quick pass of unfucking before I left. Things I accomplished:
- Took all the shoes from under the living room table and put them on the shoe racks in the closet.
- Took all the socks from under the table and put them in the hamper.
- Remembered to spray down the shower.
- Put the dishwasher on (forgot to do that last night).
- Cleaned up my morning tea stuff.
- Gathered up trash and dropped it off on my way out.
It’s little stuff, but I know that seeing a clear area under the table and having clean dishes when I come home will feel great!
OMG I can see my desk!
So today… I decided to get up off my ass and actually unfuck my desk, which is something that I’ve been thinking about doing the last few days anyway. I practically live at my desk any given time of the day so it’s generally a disaster area. But I got up off my ass and totally and completely unfucked it!
No, I don’t have a before picture because holy god it was that bad. But just imagine stacks of paper, randomly throw clothes, pens and pencils everywhere, bottles of pills randomly scattered (I keep them on the desk since that’s the first place I go in the morning), and books all fallen over. And that doesn’t even touch the clutter that was on the floor around it.
Now look!
Desk = officially unfucked!
Unfuck the room: the beginning.
I FINALLY made it home to Maryland (MARYLAND) at about 2am last night. So no unfucking happened until this morning.
1) 1/3 suitcases unpacked and put away
2) Sheets changed.
3) Dirty sheets, towels, PJ’s in the wash as we speak.
4) Room aired out.
5) Goodwill pile started.
6) Floor cleared for walking.
7) About to go do 30 minutes on the elliptical in the name of mental health.
Things I need tips for, o wise unfucker mod:
- Clearing out a closet and dresser: what stays and what goes?
- Clearing out my school stuff: what’s worth keeping and what can I sell back?
-How nasty do your socks have to be before you’re obligated to pitch them?
Stuff that stays: things that fit, things you wear. Stuff that goes: things that are broken, torn, too big, too small, falling apart, or ugly.
Keep anything you might need for another class, or may use later on. I still have most of my Norton anthologies and my Complete Works of Shakespeare. Most non-lit stuff gets dated really quickly, though. You’ll get ripped off on the buyback, but consider it a commission for taking shit off your hands.
Holes or missing mates: chuck ‘em.
I just want to tell you that this blog is exactly what I needed. I scheduled an all-day massive unfucking of my room and computer room tomorrow. Any tips? (besides the 20/10 rule, that is)
Start with your flat surfaces (dresser, desk, nightstand, floor), keep a trash bag handy, and don’t neglect your breaks.
Is there a unfuck resource for writing finals papers? Because I really need someone to yell at me to get these things done.
20/10s, baby. Works for everything.
So far today I have unfucked my phone (which was a hot mess of disorganized apps all over the place), my RSS feeds (over 200 that were "lost" when I backed up my 'puter to my external HD) and my carport (leaves of 10 trees, put the bikes in the basement, got all my winter supplies out & ready to go). I'd unfuck more, but I've got a class to get to. More unfucking tomorrow. W00T.
YESSSSS. Good job!
Last night I decided to unfuck my closet and hang up all my clothes! Then, like, 5 min later, my closet rod felt out (again!) and reminded me why all my clothes had been on the floor :( I would LOVE to unfuck my closet, but I need some ideas. I live in Japan and closets here don't come with rods. I've bought sturdier rods, but they keep falling down. Dressers are expensive and even plastic dresser-things here are a lil pricey. I might want to build something, but I never have before. Thoughts?
Crowdsourcing this one. Any ideas, unfuckers? My only thought is to somehow reinforce the rod, but I don’t know how you’d do that.
I think you might have changed my life, which I know sounds cheesy, but it seems true. Your system helped me get so much done last week and I finally feel like I know a tried and true way to get shit done. I unfucked 40 student papers in under 48 hours by using my brain power and and egg timer. I call that genius. My husband is tentatively joyful about how clean the house is and how easy it is to clean up now that it's unfucked. So thank you for what you've done for me. That is all. AGC
You have no idea how happy reading that made me. Thank you.
November 2011
Special challenge: job search edition
Hello to all the unemployed, funemployed, underemployed, or people who just plain hate your job! This challenge has three parts. Pick the one that’s applicable to you, or do all three if you need to.
- How’s your resume? I bet it could use a little work. Take half an hour and really polish that thing up.
- COVER LETTERS. I know. They’re painful sometimes.You really should have a semi-generic one all set up to customize, so work on that for a half hour or so. Have a specific job in mind? Take this time to tailor one for that job. It’s really only a few paragraphs. You just need to get started.
- Time to apply. Let’s give a goal of three applications/resumes sent out today. Three is easy. Three is doable.
Bonus challenge. If you’ve haven’t left the house in a while, go ahead and hop in the shower. I promise it won’t hurt. It’ll feel really nice. After your shower, put on something a step up from pajamas. Trust me, it helps.
