Unfuck Your Habitat

SO MANY PEOPLE have done serious major unfucking lately, and IT’S AWESOME. I couldn’t be prouder. But once that initial high wears off, you need to focus on maintenance, or you’re going to end up right back where you started. I have a short list of things that, if you can make them habits, will prevent about 75% of the unfuckery that got you to the bad place to begin with. Bonus: most of these take one minute or less, and none are more than five minutes.

• Put your shoes and clothes away at the end of the day. Clothes in the hamper or hung back up, and shoes back in their boxes or wherever they live.
• Dishes: don’t let them hit the bottom of the sink. Wash them right away, or if you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher, put them right in there. If you do this after using three or four dishes, you won’t get the terrifying pile of cookware and crockery.
• Wipe down the surfaces in your bathroom every morning.
• Put stuff back. This sounds so dumb, but when you take something out to use it, put it back when you’re done instead of leaving it on the counter or floor or wherever.
• TRASH GOES IN THE TRASH CAN. If you don’t have a trash can, hang a bag off a door handle. TRASH DOES NOT BELONG STREWN WILLY-NILLY ABOUT THE ROOM. It goes in the trash can/bag.
• When you come home, whether from shopping or a trip or work or school, put your bags away right away, before you do anything else.
• Do laundry at regular intervals. For some people it’s once a week, for others, it’s more. And most importantly, NOTHING STAYS IN THE DRYER OR BASKET. Everything gets put away before you move on.
• Laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and PUT IT AWAY GODDAMMIT.

Other suggestions for quick habit changes that can be done in minutes and make a huge difference?