Sweep or dust mop your bathroom floor, then mop it, paying careful attention to around the toilet and in the corners.
Bonus: Change out your bathmat and hand towels for clean ones.
Microwave a bowl of water (add some citrus if you have it on hand) for 2-3 minutes. While the water is heating up, wipe down the outside of your microwave. Once the microwave is done, (carefully) open the door, take out the bowl of water, and wipe down the inside. The steam will have loosened up a lot of the caked-on crud.
Clean off your desk or computer workspace. Shred, file, or deal with paperwork, clear off all items that belong elsewhere, and wipe down all surfaces.
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.
Let’s talk dishes, people. I know they’re there. In your sink. Being gross. It’s OK. This is a big challenge, but it’s worth it. Roll up your sleeves. Grab your sponge and soap and rubber gloves, if you have ‘em. Have a clean, dry dishtowel on hand to dry with. If you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher, empty it if it’s clean. If not, open it up and start loading. No dishwasher? Start washing. Wash until your dish drainer is full. This applies to you dishwasher-having people for all that stuff that can’t go in the dishwasher. Once you have no more space for clean dishes, start drying. Put them away. Go back for round 2.
You guys, I know it sucks, but it’ll be DONE. Think of how nice it’ll be to have it DONE. You won’t have to dread it anymore. Just suck it up, commit yourself to a few minutes (OK, maybe more) of annoying, repetitive activity, and do it. Do it now. Go.
Report back when you’re done.
Look up from your computer (or phone). Find five things that aren’t where they belong. Put them away.
Attack your junk drawer or reusable container cabinet. Make sure everything has lids. Throw away anything broken or useless. Reorganize items in a way that makes sense.
Spend one or two (or more) 20/10s getting all the clothes up off your floor or furniture, out of the laundry baskets, and put them back where they belong. Dirty stuff goes to the laundry basket, clean stuff gets put away.
Your purse is a black hole of accumulated crap right now, isn’t it? Unfuck your purse, backpack, briefcase, or bag. Take everything out. Throw away any receipts, papers, and trash. Remove any assorted accumulated crap that doesn’t belong in there. Shake out the dirt and crumbs, wipe out if necessary and possible. Put everything back in neatly.
Oh, hello there, closet. You’re looking awfully full these days.
Grab a garbage bag or box, and then spend the next 30 minutes weeding through your clothes and bagging or boxing up anything that would be more at home in someone else’s closet. Shirt you haven’t worn in six years? Bye-bye. Jeans that fit sixteen-year-old you perfectly, but that mmblfrrgh-year-old you will never be able to zip again? See ya. Be honest, and be brutal here. It’s really hard to be confronted with how much money you’ve spent on things that no longer serve any purpose for you, but by getting them out of your space, you’re freeing up room for pieces you love and wear, and putting the things you no longer use in the hands of someone who could use them.
After your half hour is up, bring your bag out to your car (if you have one), or set it in a place where it will make its way to the donation bin in the next 48 hours. If you don’t have a way to get your stuff to a donation center, in a lot of areas, Big Sisters will come pick up your stuff if you schedule a time online. You just have to set it outside, clearly marked.
Half an hour. Go. Do it now. Right fucking now. Go.
Report back and tell me how much stuff you got rid of.
We all have one of these. It’s the pile of shit that’s been there so long that it’s become part of the furnishings. It’s invisible to us because it’s been untouched for ages, but it doesn’t belong. It’s full of stuff that should be elsewhere, but we’ve sort of allowed the room to grow around it. Find that space. And fucking deal with it. Set a timer. 20 minutes on/10 minutes off until it’s dealt with. That pile of shit that’s become part of your landscape? Unfuck it. Your landscape deserves better than an eyesore pile of shit.
Earlier today, this was the kids’ room at my daughter Des’ house. Right now the 7yob and 4yog share a room because Des’ family took in a friend who became homeless.
Not only do her kids have a LOT of toys, but the toys themselves have a LOT of pieces. And last night we grownups were doing stuff like talking and drinking and making food and painting kitchen cabinets while 5 kids (hers and mine, ages 4-14) played, largely unsupervised, in this room.
When we were packing up stuff to go home I said, do you want me to stay a while and help you clean the kids’ room? She said, “I don’t even know where to start.” I said, “Let’s just START.”
They need to put in a new, taller bookshelf unit, so some of that couldn’t be organized. We filled 2 large trash bags and hauled several toys out to my trunk to be dropped off at the thrift store by where I work.
But in ONE, 45-minute session, the two of us working together accomplished THIS.
(Panorama photos done using Photosynth app for iPhone)
(Day 1.1 of 2013 FMS Photo a Day challenge - “Today”)
Thanks to Fernando being off work Friday, having that sickness Saturday, using Sunday as a recovery day, and Fernando being off Monday, I really slacked in keeping the living room clean. Though, I was kinda hoping that having it clean would inspire my husband to keep it clean… that didn’t work out.
So I reunfucked it, the floor is vacuumed, there are only a few ornaments to put back on the tree because of
satanthe kitten, and I found a small box for Sly to keep his trucks in while they are out of his main toy box.
Crappy quality because it was taken on my phone.
So I completed a challenge that my therapist gave me for today: clean off at least one surface.
This is to help handle my anxiety and to get my house back in shape.
One of my son’s counselors for his intervention program told me that it concerned her that my house was in this shape, namely for the mice that are slowly taking over our house. I expressed this concern to MY therapist and she’s helping me take control of it by setting goals based around Unfuck Your Habitat’s challenges (I told her about it). Tomorrow’s goal is to clean off another surface that is twice as big and Friday’s goal is to tackle the floors. We are focusing on one item/problem at a time and this week is trash. Since this was a small space to for me to clean, I did the whole job throwing out things that I didn’t need/junk, cleaned off any food crumbs, and wiped it down.
Oh, and if your sponge smells disgusting from sitting in water/stagnated while drying, just pour some vinegar straight on it. It kills most of the smell. Seriously.
Since underneath is part of the floor, I decided that I shouldn’t stress myself out too bad and wait for it to come around because I know back behind the desk is a “hidden corner” and will make my anxiety rise.
Remember, procrastination isn’t usually laziness. It’s a reaction and escape from anxiety. So be brave and get to work! (Taken from this photo)
One step at a time…
Take five minutes and collect all the dishes in your house and bring them to the sink/dishwasher. Bonus points for actually washing them. If that doesn’t take five minutes, round out the time by throwing away some obvious trash.
