Unfuck your Habitat: the app

Sadly, the set of onerous tasks that individually take less than 5 minutes is generally large enough in that instance to prevent you ever getting to the things that actually matter. My solution is to block off time those tasks specifically. If I think of them earlier and do them, fine, it uses up part of that block

Makes sense. I’d use the couch but that’s usually covered in dirty dishes.

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The problem with using the word “fuck” so often these days is it’s lost a lot of it’s impact. We need a new dirty word.

UFYH for the most part, has a specific audience. It’s not really for people who don’t have issues with cleaning (though there are tips there for everyone) ; it’s the most useful for those who have a genuinely hard time doing what other people can easily do, namely housekeeping. A lot of people who follow the tumblr and have the app have ADHD, depression and other mental issues, and physical disabilities or illness. The beauty is it’s a bit of a kick in the pants, but it’s done without any judgement. It’s embarrassing to admit you can’t let anyone in the house because it’s such a mess, but UFYH is a safe place to talk about these issues and to find help and support. Not everyone needs to make their beds every day. But the people who need UFYH should really do it, because it’s a positive step to start their day with.

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Also, I really, really disliked Flylady. Like, bordering on irrational hate. I found UFYH to be kinder and less complicated. Flylady works for a lot of people; UFYH does too. But I find they usually connect with different people.

Trusting you out of desperation…I’ve bought it and am downloading now.

I don’t like cat hair on the sheets, but I don’t care if they are on the duvet cover.

I would simply fold the sheets/bedclothes up at the foot of the bed to air the bed out, thus fulfilling the ‘make my bed’ part

As long as it’s neat, I think that counts. Doesn’t have to be tucked in, just has to be visibly not-cluttered.

Seriously, if you’ve got depressive tendencies, letting a mess get out of control can be a bad feedback loop. Keeping the major surfaces organized actually does help improve mood.

(One reason I host parties or visitors periodically is, in fact, to motivate keeping at least the public parts of the house reasonably tidy. Though the library and one corner of the guest room still have some piles of boxes, and the office is a controlled disaster area.))

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The only reason to do any of this is to keep your neat-freak significant other happy, no?

IMO housework is like emptying the trashcan: wait until it’s full and then empty. When you’re walking on stuff instead of the floor it’s time to mega-clean.

When you can block ads and Bittorrent stuff on your ithing come back and talk to me about doing stuff on your pocket computer. My phone feeds me live data from my car engine using a $15 bluetooth ODB2 plug… does your pocket computer do that?

Sad… so very sad to see people perpetuating this idiocy.

Too many steps! Too many steps!

Take laundry out of dryer, place in basket. Carry basket to room. Take items out one by one and wear them until basket is near empty.

Then of course the washing procedure:
Tip remaining clean clothes into pile, next to basket.
Pick up alternate pile of clothes (filthy) place in basket.
Wash.
Place in dryer.

My bed is also my sofa. So there is good reason to make it, as it looks awful if I don’t and I then have nowhere to sit nor any place presentable for others to sit in. My bed is also the primary seating in the room it sits in. So… there’s that.

I also fold when taking out of the dryer. You fold things (in the air, usually) right when you take them out, and pile them in the basket (wide, not tall, basket).

You take that back to your bedroom and place the clothes wherever they go. The amount of work is the same, just done in different places. Actually, it’s less work.

But there’s clearly a difference of philosophy that’s probably at the heart of this issue. @stephen_schenck and I have a different definition of what it means to fold and efficiently store clothes than you, I suspect.

First, most stuff that gets wrinkly gets hung up anyway… shirts most obviously, but I hang most of my pants up too (on hooks by a belt loop).

The rest of the stuff survives just fine in their not-necessarily-perfectly-folded state that they were put in right out of the dryer. I put all my t-shirts, polo/tennis type shirts, sweatshirts/sweaters on shelves because I don’t like drawers. Because I do have a dresser, I use a top drawer for socks and underwear, but the rest are for storage… once something goes in a drawer it’ll be a while before I see it again (which is why I don’t like drawers).

Anyway… all my clothes are visible and easily accessible. No digging around in a drawer (or worse, in a pile) is ever required. Everything stays neat and as wrinkle-free as it’s going to be.

It does look relatively cluttered because the room is pretty small, but that’s a tradeoff each person has to consider on their own. That type of clutter doesn’t bother me, but stuff on the floor does, so I have shelves all around full of stuff and a clear floor.

I went into all this detail because it’s relevant to the UYH website/app; I often do have an issue with letting things get cluttered and it’s very important for me to find my own systems to deal with it. The whole clothes dresser idea just doesn’t work for me, so I found other ways to do things. I think that’s the intent behind sites like UYH - finding ways to conquer these issues that work for you, which aren’t necessarily the “normal” ways.

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Does my computer – meaning my iPhone – take live feeds from my car engine? Probably from some cars, but probably not from mine, because my car was born before Bluetooth. There’s a million apps in the App Store, including some proprietary ones I need for my work that aren’t available from anywhere else. And I’ve had no problems with ads or ‘Bittorrent stuff’ on my iPhone, so that doesn’t mean anything to me.

Anyway… what does this have to do with housework?

Small stuff can be folded and stacked on the forearm and then shelfed. Fold big stuff on an ironing board or on the laundry rack if you don’t use a tumbler. Easy as that. To dump clean laundry on a bed that’s been used even if it’s made and vented and all is not a very hygienic routine.

Sheets? Get a duvet and you never have to make your bed and if do, all that involves is straightening the duvet. Sheets? In this day and age. Shakes head sadly.

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So true. Especially useful with kids.

I don’t understand this reply. What’s the idiocy? Are you saying an iPhone is not a pocket computer? A digital wrist watch is a pocket computer.

UFYH has really helped me over the past year or so. It provides that little jolt that will get me to do something productive instead of randomly surfing Tumblr. The whole concept of 20/10 (twenty minutes cleaning, ten minute break) really helped me get to a point where cleaning was something I could just do and not be so stressed out about all day.